Robin Red

I don't generally watch David Muir on a daily basis but I can easily tell you that NBC's coverage has been atrocious. They seem too gung ho in their reporting, NBC needs to do an overhaul in their reporters or hire some tv consultants. 

I am so happy to see Kristen Welker promoted to Weekend Today, it may not seem like much but hopefully this promotion will have a ripple effect in changing the Today show to focus more on promoting hard news journalists to these spots then getting these fluff no experience people to these jobs. The Today show lost their momentum for a long time cause they kept on promoting fluff no hard news experienced people to these jobs and it watered down the product and lowered the morale.  They are losing their viewership year by year as cable news like Fox and MSNBC continue to grow in viewership. It should be an indicator that hard news/informative content sells and what matters then a lot of this entertainment fluff in the morning. Congrats to Kirsten and I may watch Weekend Today the first time in a long time since Lester Holt's promotion to Nightly News/ 

1 hour ago, iron_lion said:

Lester is a solid evening/morning host and brings a great hard news presence.

 

As for Nightly News,  I liked Brian Williams' in the chair more given his narrative style of delivery.

 

No matter who is hosting, Today (GMA included) needs to dial back the silly human interest/pop culture stories and get back to it's pre 2013 tone. 

 

 

I respect your opinion but Brian Williams more narrative style was one of the reasons why he got in trouble. He suits the cable news format very well but for  being a more down the line news anchor Lester is the best one. You tune into evening news to get the headlines in a fast pinpointed format and he is excellent in doing that. I can't watch too much MSNBC cause a lot of them can't always get to the point. I am not trying to be political but Fox News is better in their approach to the cable news then MSNBC. 

 

I agree that morning shows have gotten silly but I think we are that point where since not many people are watching they have watered everything done. I don't know who really watches morning shows aside for stay at moms or most likely people who are assisted living or nurisng homes. I don't know any young people watching morning show. 

4 hours ago, jbnews said:

I doubt that will happen. Hoda and Savannah have really good chemistry and it's be beyond dumb for NBC to take Lester off of Nightly News when they are in the middle of a close ratings battle with WNT.

 

I think they need to enhance Lester's platform. He needs to make more of a presence on the digital landscape. 

 

7 hours ago, iron_lion said:

Hopefully 'Today' improves in the 20s. I liked seeing Hoda anchor with Lester this morning. That might be a solid paring with Al on weather, Carson on entertainment, and perhaps Savannah at the news desk. 

 

I love Lester in any program he is in, he has good chemistry with everybody and they all seem relaxed when he is around. I think he would be great on the Today show in a more occassional occurence due to the elections coming up. Craig Melvin is a nice guy but you can't take him seriously when it comes to hard news oriented aspect of the Today show programming. Lester can fill that void and I am sure he be MVPing on the network with the elections and interviews. 

4 minutes ago, Drew said:

I have a feeling Johnson will take weekdays at 3pm. 
 

I heard MSNBC Live might be expanding more into primetime on Saturday’s. 
 

I wonder if they will shake up weekday daytime and put Stephanie in for 2 straight hours and move everyone around. I’m surprised Craig Melvin is still doing MSNBC  after his role grew on Today. 

 

I think Craig Melvin should leave MSNBC and devote his duties to the Today show.  Craig Melvin is not a political reporter and since there is an election coming they need to devote their energy to filling in as many political reporters on these daytime hours. 

 

They should give the 11 AM slot to Morgan Radford or Kristen Welker to build up more of their younger correspondents. 

 

Stephanie Ruhle may likely keep 9 AM or she will be moved to two hours in the afternoon. 

1 hour ago, rkolsen said:

In the new year Ali Velshi will be leaving daysides and will be hosting his own show from 8-10am on weekends, replacing UP and David Gura will host MSNBC Live from 2-4pm.  It’s up in the air who will take Velshi’s 3pm weekday slot but sounds like Stephanie Ruhle will be staying at 9 and 1pm. 
 

Also didn’t know Velshi taught at Wharton....

 

https://variety.com/2019/tv/news/msnbc-ali-velshi-weekend-schedule-1203449474/

Additionally Alicia Menendez will anchor MSNBC Live at 4pm Saturdays and 6PM (bumping a rerun of Meet The Press) Sunday’s. 
 

Would like to know where the Phoenix anchor and Kendis Gibson will fit. 

 

Velshi lives in Philadelphia cause his wife has a business there but he commutes between NYC and Philly. They are trying to figure out the new co-host with Stephanie Ruhle. I wonder how that is going to work out cause when Velshi and Ruhle first got started their main objective was to focus on business/finance topics. They have skwed further away from those topics and have become polticial advocates on the show. 

15 minutes ago, Eat News said:

 

She is no longer considered  damaged goods with that blackface thing...that was like 2 years ago.

The Governor of Virginia has at least 2 pics in blackface...and the PM of Canada was also exposed with pics..

Both men are still in office.

Kelly had NO pics.

It was a bunch of 'cancel culture' fake outrage, that most sane people now see right through.

 

I think Kelly is gonna bounce back...Big time. There are a whole bunch of suburban tv news watching mommy's just looking for a new moderate/conservative idol to follow.

 

Her return is being carefully plotted right now, and will be sprung in time for the elex fun.

 

What could be a better way to score points with conservatives then to say...

 

"NBC Screwed Me Too".

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Megyn needs to rebrand herself and spilling right wing talking points and saying Jesus is white, is not going to win her any viewers or crossing over. The way she talks is bad if she wants to cross over cause you are trying to appeal to more then just white right leaning men, you want viewership from white liberals, African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asians etc.

 

The thing about Megyn Kelly is that she has put herself in a corner cause most of her success came from being female eye candy to right wing leaning viewers. I know she is more than that, she was a former litigator at a big time law firm but how she presented herself at Fox News was a blonde barbie doll host and majority of Fox News female hosts present themselves like barbie dolls. It is hard to escape that typecasting, she tried when she made the big jump at NBC but it is like sticking a Zebra in the North Pole. She does not have that kind of warm fuzzy connection to people to be a morning show host and she got full of herself thinking she can be like an Oprah.

 Megyn's best bet is to stick to what she is and that is law and politics. There is always going to be a niche for those two areas, don't pretend to be something you are not and going back to Fox News won't change that. She needs to go a place where there is support for women in journalism, she got enough money know it is all about doing what she loves.

On 10/28/2018 at 8:49 PM, JacobC said:

That was NOT a good choice. NBC needs to end weekend editions of TODAY. Peter needs to stay in Washington to help his wife Alison Starling.

Weekend Today has been non existent since Lester's promotion. The magic is gone, there was a time were weekend Today was a superior product to weekday version. I miss the team of Lester and Campbell. I think it should be cancelled and maybe let the weekend crew do the 4th hour of the Today show. 

On 10/26/2018 at 6:31 PM, TennTV1983 said:

When did PBS NewsHour get cut down to a 30-minute program?

 

The buck definitely stops with Andy Lack and how he has handled the scandals at NBC News. It may be time for him to go before long.

I think he is in the bubble but since they are in the middle of hot political news right now I guess NBC does not think it would be wise to change management right now, 

 

 

On 12/16/2018 at 11:27 PM, TVNewsJunkie15 said:

Jenna is very popular with people who watch Kathie Lee and Hoda. 

I guess so but in my opinion she is much better being a correspondent or contributor. She really does not need that gig like other on air hosts do. I think Sheinelle should get it and let her do a test run with Hoda. 

46 minutes ago, JCB4TV said:

I believe that NBC should drop the 4th hour and either replace it with another show or return the time to the stations.

I heard that they have Kelly Clarkson's show in the running, maybe her show should take over. 

51 minutes ago, TVNewsJunkie15 said:

Jenna Bush is the frontrunner to replace Kathie Lee. Hoda may decide she doesn't want to do the 4th Hour without KLG. They could  cancel he Kathie Lee &  Hoda Show (since technically that what it had been for many years despite being under the tODAY Brand) and have Jenna and Sheinelle hist the 4th Hour 

I don't dig Jenna Bush Hager nor should she get it cause she robs the space of others cause who she is related to. She will be a turn off to a lot of viewers especially in the hyperpolitcal environment.  They should get Sheinelle Jones, she was a big deal in Philly, did very real doing the same format. Sheinelle deserves it, she has been there for a while and she is professional. Sheinelle can help bring in more diverse viewership and make up for it in NBC letting Tamron Hall go. 

I think Sheinelle Jones should get it. 

Congrats to Lester Holt for being the most trusted news anchor in America.

 

I think most viewers already knew he was trustworthy but in the age of ideological hyperpolitics, cat fighting, verbal fights and disillusionment. Lester Holt showed who he is, he is the only anchor who kept his dignity in tact and never resorted to losing who he is as a journalist.

 

I have been saying on this forum for the last year, that Lester is by far NBC's greatest stability force and gem. He is more valuable then most of the hosts on the network. Majority of viewers know this.

 

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/who-are-americas-trusted-tv-news-anchors-poll-1160597

The funny thing is, those “bad men” that Megyn threw under the bus also were the same ones who stood by her and never gave into Trump’s demands for her removal (after she asked pointed questions at him as a debate moderator). And it’s pretty simple as to why; she got ratings and revenue for the network, the flap with Trump never put her show in danger of cancellation, and actually raised her profile enough for NBC to lure her away.

 

And given the prime 25-54 demo fights between Fox and MSNBC in primetime, it’s not a stretch to see Fox welcoming back Megyn as if nothing had ever happened. Shore up all the star power you can get your hands on.

 

I think Megyn has no country cause Fox News viewers stopped liking her and that was she decided to do the big jump. Fox News is doing well without her I am glad Harris Faulker got the biggest boost in her career after Megyn Kelly. I think Harris Faulker should move to primetime. around 7 PM.

It’s about time Al Roker leaves as well.

 

So funny to me how hypocritical they’re all being over a simple mistake. This the same bunch who sat and let Matt literally rape and berate women with no issue, but now a mistake by Kelly has them out with pitchforks.

 

I think Al Roker should retire and possibly focus on getting a cooking show on Food Network or something. I agree that Al Roker is part of the culture problem at NBC News, he worked with Matt Lauer for many years. He probably knew his personal life better then anyone and he let him get away with his nonsense. Now Al Roker should not be responsible for his actions but as "leader" of the Today show, when a anchor preys or harms backstage staffers, the job of the leader is the report it.

 

To me Megyn had no chance with her show cause she had enemies the very minute she walked through the door at 30 Rock. She probably brought it on herself but she was an outsider. Also she was too fool of herself and NBC News is a very political place. She wanted to be everything the next Oprah, next Wendy Williams, next Ellen and it never worked. She made a career in politics and making her do fluff news and talk show is like forcing a Dalmatian to get rid of their black spots.

 

NBC misused her and set her up to fail everything from her Sunday show. The disaster with Putin and her wearing a cocktail dress.

If NBC were to replace Letster any thoughts on who they would replace him with?

 

It would be an asinine move to ditch Lester just because NBC is #2. They’re still winning where it counts.

 

The thought of replacing talent to cure these shows problems is also stupid because to me the shows don’t give a compelling reason to tune in anymore.

 

CBS replacing Scott Pelley with Jeff Glor is a prime example as to why replacing Holt would be a bad move. Outside of bringing back Williams, there really isn't anyone that would be a compelling draw.

 

I does not matter who replaces Lester because the problem is the product sucks.

 

Fix the process, and the execution of the actual newscast and it's contents.

 

Stop producing crap aimed at 6th graders.

 

Lester is the most stable force at NBC right now. Lester is respected not just for his work ethic but because he is not fool of himself and he is very professional. A majority of viewers in this country don't like a lot of news talent but Lester is still respected by a lot of people which is saying a lot. To me I think Lester would benefit on a versatile platform. I think evening news is very limiting and in my opinion what is killing evening news is commericals and watered down content.

 

PBS Evening News is way superior news product and with no commericals they can inform the audience more in 30 minutes then commerical evening news.

 

 

Cause news right now is not dependent on talent anymore. Mainstream news is in the gutter, and just a repeat of same old stories which insults your intelligence. Unless you are a partisan commentator, people don't care about news anchors anymore. Nobody cares about larger then life news anchors or hosts anymore.

 

Lester is not the problem. To me he is only doing what he is told. An insider told me that after Brian Williams scandal, Andrew Lack is putting a tight leash on the evening news.

 

NBC News is a bad news organzation and ran by immature management people. They seriously do need to overhaul the evening news content, same old news and people you see on MSNBC with their bias and they are on "netural" evening news is bad optics. I see Hallie Jackson with her Trump bashing on MSNBC and she shows up on evening news trying to act like a netural reporter. It is an insult and really a joke.

 

The content is poor and the same old consumer stories of coffee being bad for you. How many times can you insult your viewers.

I don’t think viewers are watching Lester anymore, I feel like the network has lost it completely. Lester doesn’t care about everything what’s going on right now, like come on NBC it's been three years of no viewers, no winner. NBC News needs to catch up because the other networks are winning in total viewers and demographics!!!! Nightly News needs to change dramatically!!!!

 

Network news in general has been on the decline for the last seven years.Cable news has been on decline the last five years, they are enjoying a slight high right now but it is a fraction of viewers in a mass population of millions of people. It is no pinpointed on talent anymore, it is a trend and it will continue cause not many people don't watch television as watch. As a Nightly News viewer I don't often watch it live but I will watch it on demand or on my mobile device.

 

Also mainstream news is on the decline in general people are scattering to get their news they don't rely on just one source anymore.

The Lester Across America series is such a hit! I think it is great.

 

I love seeing Lester outside of NYC and among different cities to reflect the country. It makes the broadcast more refreshing and less uptight. Anytime I watch programs that come from NYC and DC, it comes across more uptight. I think Lester feels more lifted being around the people and outside the studio.

Didn't even think about that but it makes too much sense. LOL at the idea of networks still changing the personalities of these newscasts instead of overhauling the antiquated format.

 

I think it is more format then it is personality driven.

I just heard that Megyn Kelly will be gone from NBC sooner or later. The network needs to stop being #1 everyday with the lowest ratings on The Today Show and the anchor team is worse than you thought. Next step is to axe weekend editions as well. Yikes! NBC is not a good network to watch!!

 

I am not a fan of NBC News management. I don't deplore what Megyn Kelly said about Matt Lauer and her using the forum to discuss these issues. Part of building trust is being transparent and that includes reporting what goes on in your own home. It is scandal likes these is the ultimate reason why majority of people don't watch mainstream news anymore. Laurer has been a known pervert and sexual predator for years and yet NBC kept him only cause of ratings and not ethics or decency and goes against their so called "family friendly" image pushed on the Today show.

 

I don't have a problem with Megyn Kelly as a host but NBC trying to make her warm and fuzzy and her thinking she can be the next Oprah is a turnoff. Megyn going rogue or expressing her opinion is classic Megyn Kelly, she is out for herself and her image not about being the perfect company woman.

 

Andrew Lack needs to be fired cause his behavior only shows how complict he is. Yet they banned Ann Curry from television. They have the nerve to criticize regular people and play a moral game. Megyn Kelly is only out for herself she does not care about NBC management. The problem is that they are caught in a jam cause they can't just fire her, they may buy out her contract. Also there is some rumors that she using classic backstabbing politics to get what she wants.

 

I am not surprised if they axe the weekend Today show. They have been wanting to do that for the last five years and replace it with more polilitcal news. There was talks back in 2013 of them having a weekend edition of Morning Joe. Weekend Today has been a nonexistent show since Lester Holt's promotion.

Anyone else notice Craig Melvin is in the Today cast photo on Twitter? Just sayin...

Craig Melvin stepping down as Saturday Today co anchor... He will still be on Monday-Friday on Today and MSNBC... https://www.adweek.com/tvnewser/craig-melvin-is-stepping-down-as-co-anchor-of-saturday-today/374944

 

This seems to be another step in Melvin's rise to third co anchor of the main program.

 

Also, I wonder who will be his replacement on Saturday.

 

Congrats to Craig. I like him joining later in the 7am hour when the show gets more relaxed. I don't really want three permenant anchors. It is not needed.

 

Don't really care for Craig Melvin, his voice is like nails on a chalkboard. Considering the state of the Today show, his rise is not very surprising. A supporting person is better for him then being a leading anchor. I can't listen to his voice on a daily basis. I hope NBC news takes heed and limit his role to be a supporting cast as possible.

 

I don't think a third anchor is necessary cause I think it is just another ego to deal with and we already have enough egos on that table with Dylan, Carson and Al.

 

Savannah and Hoda have good chemistry, to me Today show should have rotating guest fill in anchors to make it more interesting when Savannah or Hoda are away.

 

I am sorry but Craig's voice is just grating he should only fill in once when Savannah or Hoda or away then after you get a guest fill in.

Seriously, everybody is a disaster!!!! Nobody likes the team at the Today Show and I started boycotting NBC UNTIL they can remove weekend broadcasts as well as the team too you know. BTW, Hoda Kotb is not a right person to count as well as Carson, Al, Sheinelle and Dylan, but not Megyn and Savannah. NBC started off well but they went down BIG TIME!!!! So folks, CBS and ABC are choses to watch.

 

In my opinion I never like the Today show, they are very self centered and think the whole entire world revolves around them and NYC. The fact that they kept serial sexual harasser Matt Lauer for only 20 years knowing his behavior shows that they are immoral and nasty institution. The only anchor I liked was Lester Holt who was on Weekend Today,was a superior show then the weekday counterpart.

I am liking the different nightly good segment stories Lester is doing around the end of his newscast. I like the fact he is narrating the stories which is a good way for the audience to reconnect with the anchor again.

I also imagine she got tired of being constantly on the road for days on end for storms when you got kids at home.

 

She stopped doing that before she got pregnant. She just has a good agent, there is nothing really remarkable about Dylan as far as on air talent is concerned she just knows how to network with the right people and get good negeoitiations for herself.

Are they trying to make Dylan a more versatile member of the team. They had her interviewing AARP CEO on the battle against dementia.

She was doing the weather today as well.

 

Yes, I guess that is what she wanted in her contract with her agent. She probably wants to be taken seriously besides just being eye candy weather lady.

[quote name='Webovision']i am in the target demo, and the only reason i watch network news is i work in tv and it's on at my desk... if i wasn't working i wouldn't watch... why? because i've heard it already... i saw the same news on Twitter three hours ago... and i didn't have to sit through a bunch of fluff to see it... i'm not sure you will like how they "evolve"... Its going to be nothing like how it is now... one anchor? long opens? all of that will go away... to attract the kiddos... @Weeters needs to make a pure HTML theme for this site so people can pretend it really is 1995...[/QUOTE] Why do they hash the same old news and script that we heard at 9AM in the morning.

There is a downward trend, regardless of who's at the helm, across the entire industry. News is going to "evolve" into being short bytes on social media. The target demo has neither the time or attention span to sit through a 30-minute structured news program listening to things they really don't care about for the two things they do.

 

True eventually the networks will have to evolve and try to do things different.