Brian Williams to depart NBC after 28 years. He was offered a new contract but declined.
He is noted for being on MSNBC as well as 10 years and 2 months on NBC anchoring âNightly Newsâ and filling in for Tom Brokaw
Considering Rachael Maddow is expected to end her nightly show sometime next year too, MSNBCâs primetime line-up is about to undergo a significant shakeup.
A lot of rumours CBS was looking at him to replace Nora O Donnell.
You mean CBS
Norah was a former colleague of Brian on NBC before the formerâs move to CBS
Thought Williams was the perfect replacement for Brokaw on NBC Nightly News. Heâs a great newsreader but heâll never live down the âlyinâ Brianâ controversy. His credibility and audience trust in him evaporated after that episode. I never warmed to Lester Holt and prefer David Muir on ABC these days.
Apologies yes
Are these recent rumours? Edit: Iâve read recent articles about the rumours.
It seems just like with CBSâs Morning offering, they canât seem to stick to a particular formula for a long duration without a refresh/relaunch only a few years later.
Should be interesting to see if changes are potentially afoot at CBS Evening NewsâŚ
I have the same view of Muir as you have of Holt. Not only has World News Tonight become less substantive IMO under his tenure but I donât like how the bulletin has become centered around him rather than ABCâs reporters.
To be fair, World News Tonight has always been centered around its anchor, no more so than Peter Jennings (one of the best primetime news anchors and broadcasts to come out of the US).
Havenât the US bulletins always kind of been centered around the anchor though? Or at least thatâs the way I view their nightly news coverage.
I was annoyed NBC dumped Brian from Nightly News but I think Lester has been great. So Brian exaggerated a few things, big deal. News is full of it these days.
I was happy they gave him another chance on MSNBC though and he redeemed himself there. Brian is excellent with breaking news and elections. It wont be the same without him.
Williams and Maddow anchored the 2016, 2017 VA/NJ Gov, 2019 KY, 2018 Midterms, 2020 and the recent 2021 VA/NJ elections on MSNBC
Williams addressed his departure at the end of his program today:
Have to say, Williamsâ final signoff was impressive
And heâs gone, Itâs a shame since I really like Williams and he was by far the best of the cable news hosts I followed over the last few years. He didnât go OTT like most of the Fox News crew do nor does he come across as overbearing as some of the CNN hosts can (though I like Taper and Blitzer) he was also pretty good in some of the main channel anchoring I have seen him do mainly from when he was #2 behind Brokaw.
I notice the hosts on the Today show are social distancing at the desk again.