At his apartment in New York last Thursday night, he fussed with the remote, scanned CNN and checked the local news, all while chatting about the fact that two weeks from Monday, NBC will add to the pile of television news with a one-hour show called “Rock Center With Brian Williams.” It may not knock “60 Minutes” off its perch, but NBC, now owned by Comcast, hopes it is good enough to one day be mentioned as a competitor.
Mr. Williams likes the idea of calling the show “Rock Center,” not only because it conjures the building he works in, but because it brings to mind “30 Rock.”
“People could tune in expecting to see Tina,” he said, referring to the sitcom’s star, Tina Fey. “I think the name confusion can only help us, right?”
Right.
“Rock Center With Brian Williams,” an attempt to spread his broadcast charisma over a newsmagazine show, is a smart but not sure bet for Comcast, which made the show a priority after buying the network in 2009 and getting government approval to buy NBC at the beginning of this year. True, “60 Minutes” is more venerable than vulnerable, but NBC, with the “Nightly News” hosted by Mr. Williams, “The Today Show” and “Meet the Press” — all No. 1 in their categories — has a lot of talent and muscle. So it is hard to go wrong adding shelf space in the form of a long-form news show.
The economics of even a lavishly produced news program (typically $250,000 to $300,000 an episode) are much tidier than a dramatic show ($3 million or more per episode). “Rock Center” is taking over a Monday night slot being vacated by the short-lived “Playboy Club” at 10 p.m.
The history of serious attempts at a newsmagazine is characterized by brave rhetoric followed by abundant carnage. Remember that “Dateline” and “48 Hours” rolled out with great fanfare before sliding into the slime of sexual predators and reheated celebrity tawdriness.
But NBC is not just dipping a toe in: “Rock Center” has hired 70 people at a time when other network news divisions continue to shrink, spending substantial money on talent in front of and behind the camera. And the executive producer, Rome Hartman, is a highly regarded veteran of both the BBC and “60 Minutes,” where he produced over 100 segments.
The correspondents include Harry Smith, Meredith Vieira, Kate Snow, Richard Engel and — as was just announced last week — Ted Koppel. They are backed by a group of hotshot producers, a few of them grabbed from “60 Minutes,” a notoriously difficult place for talent to rise because there is so much of it.
Those names and credentials have impressed people in the business, but the rest of us will be tuning in to see Mr. Williams.
Somewhere between the anchor chair and his funny turns with late-nighters like David Letterman and Jon Stewart, there is a runway for his brand of abnormal normalcy. He’s just like us, only better, or at least more famous.
I have heard people in Midwestern V.F.W.’s say nice things about him, but he also received favorable mention at a breakfast of digital media savants I recently attended. In a niched-up world, Mr. Williams is someone we all seem to hold in common, not because he is Uncle Walt, but because he reflects an appealing mash-up of earnestness and knowingness.
The first promo for the show is built on a friendly smirk at the trappings of network television. “I am sitting on the ‘NBC Nightly News’ set and behind us,” he says, with a jerk of the thumb, “is the set for ‘Rock Center.’ My life will basically take place in this room.” Scanning the place, he points to a corner. “There is a plan for a pasta bar back over there.”
The studio segments between stories will be live, which will provide a contrast to the carefully scripted interstitials on “60 Minutes.” But, more to the point, Mr. Williams prefers to work that way.
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