BY DC CUEVA
■ @DC408Dxtr @ TW / IG / YT
As this is being posted on this Friday night, we at DCBLOG happen to share not only the same time of week that these posts covering a thing this site calls the MTV Trifecta usually begin as your weekend is just starting, but also something that also shares this philosophy of offering compelling storytelling... that would be of TV newsmagazines. This art form is one I'm fascinated with and watch frequently both on TV and YouTube, which along with Olympic-style "up close and personal" storytelling which was explained here before Dirty 30 began, helped to inspire this site's unique philosophy of going beyond just recapping the episodes and offering an immense blog experience that we offer here. That brings us to this...
The year of 1992 was one of transition at the National Broadcasting Company: The Cosby Show aired its last episode, followed shortly by Johnny Carson hosting his last Tonight Show and Jay Leno taking over afterwards. That summer, Bob Costas began his long run as primetime host of NBC's Olympic coverage, which also also saw NBA players play at the Games for the first time. And earlier that year, NBC News took on the daunting task of entering the final frontier in network news after helping pioneer morning television in Today, and Tim Russert taking over moderator of Meet the Press as it eventually became Sunday morning appointment TV in Washington.
March came the Peacock's 18th attempt to create a successful primetime newsmagazine, Dateline NBC. The network had failed in previous tries to conquer nighttime with Connie Chung, David Brinkley and others, but Dateline was ambitious in pairing beloved longtime Today host Jane Pauley with a former Atlanta waiter turned reporter Stone Phillips. It took time but it was a controversy and negative headlines of all things that brought Dateline to prominence: an exposé on gas tank safety on GM pickup trucks were presumed to have design defects that caused fuel tanks to explode. The story included footage of crash demonstrations involving dramatic explosions using "sparklers" below the car, but NBC did not disclose about the footage that was shown.
Similar to the fallout that later surrounded Brian Williams and Matt Lauer, the results of the ensuing investigation were immense: GM brought NBC to court with a lawsuit that was settled after NBC owned up to its mistake on air. The division's president, producers and reporter involved in the story were ousted, and news executives Neal Shapiro and Andrew Lack were brought in to revive not only the show but the news division. Both felt that newsmagazines were the future of TV, and Dateline expanded to as many as five nights a week in the '90s, pioneering the multi-night franchise that's now standard for network reality series.
For a network that's been through a lot since March 31, 1992, Dateline has become one of the constants of NBC's schedule in the past 25 years. Think, it began during the age of Seinfeld, Fresh Prince and Saved by the Bell and when Bryant Gumbel and Katie Couric were anchoring Today, then in the eras of ER, Friends, Will & Grace and The Office, and today in a slate that includes The Voice, This is Us and Jimmy Fallon hosting The Tonight Show.
For a network that's been through a lot since March 31, 1992, Dateline has become one of the constants of NBC's schedule in the past 25 years. Think, it began during the age of Seinfeld, Fresh Prince and Saved by the Bell and when Bryant Gumbel and Katie Couric were anchoring Today, then in the eras of ER, Friends, Will & Grace and The Office, and today in a slate that includes The Voice, This is Us and Jimmy Fallon hosting The Tonight Show.
One of the hooks for many viewers to newsmagazines - and one that's given them reason to stay in Friday night such as these - has been of true crime stories, which after the massive public interest given to the O.J. Simpson trial and the murder of Jon Benet Ramsey, has seen stories of murder and mystery of all kinds eventually take prominence over celebrity interviews, investigative reports and features at not only Dateline, but another Friday night staple at ABC's 20/20 and CBS' 48 Hours on Saturdays. If you see the massive interest given to American Horror Story and ESPN's 30 for 30 films giving focus to the O.J. trial, that is proof of how we are all fascinated by high-profile celebrity cases.
Someone who's been part of Dateline almost since the beginning has been Keith Morrison, a Canadian who began his career in the '60s working at both the CBC and CTV, hosting The Journal (the show that aired after the pubcaster's newscast The National moved to primetime in the '80s) at the former and Canada AM (CTV's long-running morning show) at the ladder. In 1986, he headed south of the border to NBC and pulled double duty: Los Angeles correspondent on the national level including covering the Tienanmen Square massacre, and at local level anchored at KNBC alongside Kelly Lange and longtime sports and weather anchors Fred Roggin and Fritz Coleman. But it's his role reporting stories as varied as major national stories and narrating those murder mysteries at Dateline that has created his legend, and perhaps there's no soothing voice of listening to all those bedside tales than that of him like that the grandpa our families all have.
While Rivals III was debuting last year, another TV original - multiple-time Challenger and one who went on that RV on the first season of Road Rules - Mark Long - spotted Morrison on the streets in Los Angeles and captioned on Instagram, "@justinbieber is no longer taking pics with fans....but Keith Morrison is!" Bananas' bloodline Vince commented, "Toss up between him and Morgan Freeman for best speaking voice", and Mark responded, "He is the best!" He definitely is... if only he can narrate some of my DCBLOG stories like he did giving those traffic directions on Waze.
- I AM DC
