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Weekend Today
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Weekend Today | |
|---|---|
 Still from the Weekend Today open used since September 16, 2006 |
|
| Format | news program, live action |
| Presented by | Lester Holt (2003–present) Amy Robach (2007–present) |
| Country of origin |  United States |
| Production | |
| Running time | 120 minutes (2 hours) (Sat);
60 minutes (1 hour) (Sun) |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | NBC |
| Picture format | 480i (SDTV), 1080i (HDTV) |
| Original run | September 20, 1987 – present |
Weekend Today is an American morning news and talk show airing weekend mornings on the NBC television network.
Contents |
Originally, Weekend Today only aired on Sunday. The Sunday edition of the show premiered on September 20, 1987. Five years later, on August 1, 1992, the Saturday edition made its debut, expanding the broadcast schedule of the Today show franchise to seven days a week. The program is broadcast from Studio 1A in Rockefeller Plaza in New York, although Sunday Today originated from Washington for a few years when Garrick Utley hosted both Weekend Today and Meet the Press.
The weekend broadcasts continue the Today tradition of covering breaking news, interviewing newsmakers, reporting on a variety of popular-culture and human-interest stories, covering health and finance issues and presenting the latest weather reports. Just like the Weekday edition, the show offers visitors to New York City a chance to observe firsthand the workings of a live television broadcast with its windowed studio on Rockefeller Plaza. Interaction with the crowd outside the studio is a major part of the program.
Unlike the weekday edition of Today where news updates are reported at the top of the hour, news updates are given every half hour.
Weekend editions are tailored to the priorities and interests of weekend viewers—offering special series such as Saturday Today on the Plaza, featuring live performances by the biggest names in music and Broadway outside the studio throughout the summer.
Amy Chiaro is the acting executive producer of Weekend Today and Andrea D'Ambrosio is its Senior Producer.
The show is live from 7.00 to 9.00 ET on Saturdays and 8.00 to 9.00 ET on Sundays. Unlike the weekday edition where the show airs at 7.00 local time in each of the time zones, the weekend edition is aired either live or with a 1-hour tape delay in all time zones.
- Lester Holt (2003-present)
- Amy Robach (July 2007-present)
- Jenna Wolfe (Nov 2007-present - alternating(?))
Sunday Today anchors included:
- Boyd Matson and Maria Shriver (1987–1988)
- Maria Shriver and Garrick Utley (1988–1990)
- Garrick Utley and Mary Alice Williams (1990–1992)
Weekend Today anchors included:
- Scott Simon and Jackie Nespral (1992–1993)
- Jackie Nespral and Mike Schneider (1993–1995)
- Mike Schneider and Giselle Fernandez (1995)
- Giselle Fernandez and Jack Ford (1995–1996)
- Jack Ford and Jodi Applegate (1996–1999)
- Jack Ford and Soledad O'Brien (1999)
- Soledad O'Brien and David Bloom (2000–2003)
- Campbell Brown and Lester Holt (2003 - 2007)
- Mika Brzezinski (MSNBC)
- Tamron Hall (MSNBC)
- Rob Morrison (WNBC)
- Norah O'Donnell (MSNBC)
- Carl Quintanilla (CNBC)
- Alison Stewart (NPR, MSNBC)
- Jenna Wolfe (NBC)
- Janice Huff (Saturdays)
- Chris Cimino (Sundays)
At the conclusion of the July 22, 2007 broadcast of Weekend Today, co-anchor Campbell Brown announced that she would be leaving the show and NBC News all together after 11 years. She said that she would focus on her family and expected baby but will also be pursuing other television opportunities. Her niece and mother were watching from behind the scenes for her final broadcast. On July 23, 2007 CNN announced that Brown would join the network as host of her own evening news talk show. CNN confirmed that Brown would start work for them in February 2008 (originally November 2007), filling the spot previously held by Paula Zahn, who left the network in turn.[1]
Scherzo for Today was used as the program's closing theme until 1990, and the Mission bumpers were used until 1993. (One of them could be heard as a station break lead-in on NBC's Meet The Press until 2004.) The Today Show opening fanfare has opened the program ever since, with two exceptions. In the summer of 1994, to mark the debut of Studio 1A, the Williams-penned fanfare was replaced by another opening theme, but the Williams theme returned shortly thereafter. In 2004, the show's producers tried out yet another theme, which drew once again on the NBC chimes as its signature, but the Williams theme returned after only a few weeks. It is by far the most enduring theme in the program's history, having now been in use for over two decades.
The Scherzo for Today was iconically accompanied by Fred Facey announcing "From NBC News, this is Today..." until his death in April 2003, except for special editions requiring special introductions. Facey's work is now only heard on the MSNBC program Headliners and Legends.
Currently, a lighter theme employing the NBC chimes is used to open the show's 7:30 and 8:30 half-hour segments, and also used as a closing theme.
Following the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster on February 1, 2003, Weekend Today aired a special edition on Sunday, February 2, with the expanded introduction
| “ | Disaster: The Space Shuttle Columbia. From NBC News, this is a special edition of The Today Show with Soledad O'Brien at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida and David Bloom at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. | ” |
The next day was also a special edition with Matt Lauer at Studio 1A in New York and Katie Couric at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.
When Pope John Paul II died on Saturday, April 2, 2005, Katie Couric and Matt Lauer anchored the weekend editions of The Today Show. Lauer anchored from the Vatican with Campbell Brown offering reports by his side. On the day of the Pope's death, Couric anchored a special report on a Vatican statement updating the Pope's dire condition and Lauer reported for the special report anchored by Brian Williams when the Pope was officially dead. He returned to New York as Couric traveled to Vatican City to co-anchor coverage of the Pope's funeral with Williams.
The program is watched by more viewers than ABC's Good Morning America Weekend Edition and CBS' Saturday Early Show (viewership for CBS News Sunday Morning is not regularly released to the public).
In Australia, Weekend Today airs at 4:00AM Mondays on the Seven Network, followed by Meet The Press. In the Philippines, the Saturday and Sunday editions air on 2nd Avenue on Sunday and Monday respectively at 7.00 local time.