Will Brian Williams ever return to NBC Nightly News?

[24994J 5276]

I don't know why I didn't think of this before, but why not give him a late night talk show?

 

For a few years, there's been talk of reformatting/blowing up Carson Daly's show, especially as he's expanded his network presence with roles on 'The Voice' and 'Today'. While 'Last Call' does well against local programming, it would seem like a low-risk arena to feature the wounded anchorman. Yes, it would seen as controversial, but when you consider that Alec Baldwin was once considered for that time slot, a Williams-hosted show would at least be reliably consistent (in that Williams isn't prone to public meltdowns and tirades).

 

This forum would give Brian the non-news/comedic role he desires, and with some creative control, he could possibly turn out an interesting product. i personally picture a low-key interview show, with either a small or non-existent audience, in the same vein as Costas or Snyder years ago. He and the guest, be it a celebrity, newsmaker, etc, would just shoot the breeze for 30 minutes. Playful banter would be encouraged over outright opinion, and a short leash would be established when it came to telling of personal experiences within the conversation, for incredibly obvious reasons. It would also be casual in tone, opening the door for Williams' wit and humor, a delivery that wouldn't be well-suited for a traditional monologue in front of a studio audience, in my opinion.

 

Could it be seen as insulting towards Williams to offer such a poor time slot? Sure, but he should realize by now how lucky he is to have a second chance. If he doesn't like it, then he could turn it down and leave the network. If it failed in the ratings, then it could be canceled, but being a low-budget production with minimal promotion (like Daly's show), it wouldn't be a big hit against the bottom line.

 

Just throwin' it out there.

[Asomrjsurf 6]

Bryan Gumbel? Dan Rather?

[brianpr3 173]

they say the decision is due to come down this week

[alex979 118]

This just in... CNN's Stelter reporting that NBC and Williams have reached an agreement which will keep him at the network, but not as anchor of Nightly News. An announcement could be coming tomorrow.

 

http://money.cnn.com/2015/06/17/media/brian-williams-nbc/index.html

[DanielMaron 5]

 

This just in... CNN's Stelter reporting that NBC and Williams have reached an agreement which will keep him at the network, but not as anchor of Nightly News. An announcement could be coming tomorrow.

 

http://money.cnn.com/2015/06/17/media/brian-williams-nbc/index.html

 

I surmise that this is similar to the Ann Curry saga a few years ago. They don't want to pay him out of his contract or upset any of his fans so they will let him run out his contract then he is gone.

 

 

My question is what type of reports will he do? His journalistic integrity is shot so I cannot see him doing any serious stories.

 

 

 

Update:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/18/business/nbc-plans-to-let-brian-williams-stay-but-not-as-news-anchor.html?module=Notification&version=BreakingNews&region=FixedTop&action=Click&contentCollection=BreakingNews&contentID=36138477&pgtype=Homepage

[Andrew2016 2]

Looks like he is returning to MSNBC according to the NYT Article.

[TheRolyPoly 1847]

 

Looks like he is returning to MSNBC according to the NYT Article.

 

The News with Brian Williams, perhaps?

[Jess 1110]

Annnnnnnnnnnnnnd NBC News shot itself in the foot.

 

In this business, credibility is all you have. He embellished events at the very least. At the very worst, he lied.

 

Every time I see him anchoring on an NBC News platform, despite it being MSNBC, this will come up. How will I be able to trust coverage coming from his lips knowing he lied?

 

If I worked at NBC News I would be pissed as hell.

[Mannym13 15]

NBC 5 here in Chicago just teased the fact that "NBC made a decision" about Brian Williams as one of their stories on the 10 o'clock news, so I'm curious as to what info they have since they are an O&O.

 

 

EDIT: I watched the whole newscast, and unless I missed something, they did not cover the Brian Williams story although it was teased at 9:49.

[RCA TK47 274]

I think Williams would've been better off if NBC had just let him go altogether. I honestly could've seen him become somewhat of a sidekick or special correspondent for Stephen Colbert's upcoming iteration of the Late Show on CBS, or a "Senior TV Journalism Analyst Guy" (lol) on CC's The Daily Show. Why not capitalize on the past four months? Now he's probably locked into some crappy Ann Curry type gig on MNBC. He'll slowly fade away with limited screen time on MSNBC for the next 2-3 years and then they'll unload him. Have fun with that BriWi.

[rkolsen 1679]

Annnnnnnnnnnnnnd NBC News shot itself in the foot.

 

In this business, credibility is all you have. He embellished events at the very least. At the very worst, he lied.

 

Every time I see him anchoring on an NBC News platform, despite it being MSNBC, this will come up. How will I be able to trust coverage coming from his lips knowing he lied?

 

If I worked at NBC News I would be pissed as hell.

If he goes to MSNBC I'd hope they would revived Rock Center (still have 37 episodes on TiVo) where he weaves stories together. But I can guarantee one thing if he does have a news show on MSNBC it certainly won't be on at 6PM. If it's a news programm perhaps move Chris Matthews at 5 and revive The News with Brian Williams at 7 PM.

[B2r4a6n 102]

Annnnnnnnnnnnnnd NBC News shot itself in the foot.

 

In this business, credibility is all you have. He embellished events at the very least. At the very worst, he lied.

 

Every time I see him anchoring on an NBC News platform, despite it being MSNBC, this will come up. How will I be able to trust coverage coming from his lips knowing he lied?

 

If I worked at NBC News I would be pissed as hell.

Do you trust Al Sharpton? ...Belive me it can't get any worse at MSNBC.

[nickp 297]

the nightly news half hour is a short presentation of news stories; rarely is there even time, much less reason, for Brian, or any of the other reporters, to proselytize or offer opinions on the stories of the day as they do at the 24-hour news networks.

[TVNewsLover 728]

Seems like Brian will be given a "breaking news" anchor role at MSNBC initially, and if all goes well, he may be given a show. I wouldn't mind if "The News with Brian Williams" made a return to the line-up at 8pm (Chris Hayes can move to 6pm and Al Sharpton doesn't need a show). It would be a million times more bearable than the other garbage that airs on MSNBC right now (particularly Rachel Maddow and Al Sharpton).

 

Most reports also have Lester getting the NN weeknight spot permanently. My bets would be on NBC going with a split anchor role on weekend NN (like ABC and CBS do) with frequent sub Peter Alexander getting Saturdays and Kate Snow getting Sundays (don't really like Carl Quintanilla when he's subbed). Craig Melvin likely gets weekend Today (although Willie and Carson are both great but I doubt they'd want to lose them from weekday edition).

 

Harry Smith gets Dateline.

[USNewsie 49]

NBC News has officially made Lester Holt weekday anchor of Nightly News. (S/N: I'm new here; couldn't post the link). Williams will be a breaking news anchor at MSNBC as said above as well as special reports for NBC News if Holt is unavailable.

 

As for who I think should replace Lester on the weekend and Dateline, I would say: Weekend Today (Craig Melvin or Thomas Roberts), Weekend Nighlty ( Peter Alexander and/or Carl Quintanilla), Dateline (Harry Smith and/or Kate Snow) they could adopt the two anchor format like 20/20.