http://www.buzzfeed.com/peterlauria/why-i-tuned-out-brian-williams

As he’s become a viral “Tonight Show” sensation, the NBC Nightly Newsman’s ratings have tumbled in the key demo.

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/02/brian-williamss-jack-shafer-114974.html

Williams has hosted Saturday Night Live, made multiple cameos on 30 Rock, lent his voice to Family Guy, roasted Don Rickles, and slow-jammed the news with Jimmy Fallon. He's appeared on numerous late-night talks shows, from The Daily Show to Conan O'Brien to Jimmy Kimmel to Letterman. Other network anchors have also dabbled in the entertainment world. But as Jack Shafer notes, "the frequency of Williams' appearances on entertainment programs indicate he's forgotten what business he's in." And that desire to mix entertainment and news may be what finally bit Williams in this Iraq War helicopter fiasco, says Shafer. "The examples of Williams exaggeration or embellishment advanced by his critics capture Williams speaking at his most entertaining best," says Shafer, who wonders if Williams prioritized being entertaining over telling the true story. PLUS: Williams seemed to strive to be a "cool celebrity" (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/brian-williams-years-courting-celebrity-770876) who is the mainstay of NBC's brand, and why NBC won't fire its "$200M man." (http://pagesix.com/2015/02/06/why-nbc-wont-fire-brian-williams/)

The only person who damaged Brian Williams is Brian Williams!!

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/michelle-malkin/2015/02/06/fallon-ization-lyin-brian-williams-and-freaky-deaky-lena-dunham

Take Brian Williams. For the past year, Fallon has inflated the NBC News anchor's hipster points by setting his newscasts to popular rap tunes ("Rapper's Delight," "Baby's Got Back," and "Gin and Juice," for example). The videos have all gone viral, vaulting Williams to pop icon status.

Small world: Williams is close family friends with Freaky Deaky Dunham, whom he affectionately calls "Leens." His daughter, last seen engaging onscreen in graphic anal sex, is a co-star on Dunham's TV show.

Mainstream media outlets have elbowed each other like One Direction concert fans in the VIP section to show their love for Williams. On Tuesday, Time magazine breathlessly urged readers to "Watch Brian Williams 'Rap' Snoop Dogg's 'Who Am I (What's My Name)?'" Esquire magazine gushed over the running gag, praising the anchorman's "flow." E Online exulted: "B. Dubs is just a cool dude!"

Outside the entertainment industry bubble, however, reality bites. American troops who were fed up with long-lyin' Williams busted his tall tale of being "fired on and forced down" in a military helicopter in Iraq in 2003. Williams has smoothly spread the "harrowing" bullcrap story far and wide multiple times over the years — from NBC News to the "Late Show with David Letterman" to rageball actor Alec Baldwin's radio show. But when he repeated the lie at a New York Rangers hockey game this week in front of veterans who knew the truth, it was the last straw.

But cool kids in the bizarro land of make-believe gotta stick together. As with Dunham, the infotainment establishment has invested too much in Williams to throw him under the bus.

Prediction: The bloviator NBC calls "one of the most trusted journalists of our time" will be back in Hollywood's good graces soon enough, getting his Fallon-ized cultural absolution through inane rap/news mash-ups.

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2015/02/williams-wishes-he-were-tonight-show-host.html

NBC News chief Deborah Turness, in announcing the suspension, said the NBC News anchor's embellishments covering the Iraq war and "on other occasions" was "wrong and completely inappropriate (http://t.co/tEr6rXUM1f) for someone in Brian's position." Meanwhile, the New York Times (http://t.co/tEr6rXUM1f) and New York Magazine (http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2015/02/williams-wishes-he-were-tonight-show-host.html) report that when Leno announced he was leaving the first time, Williams lobbied to replace him as "Tonight Show" host. "Brian wants to be a late-night comedian," a former colleague tells NY Magazine. "He traded on being Nightly News anchorman-war-reporter to ingratiate himself with Jimmy, Lorne Michaels, and Jon Stewart." PLUS: Will Williams ever appear on a late-night talk show (http://www.pantagraph.com/entertainment/television/did-brian-williams-overload-the-talk-show-circuit/article_ddf7c93c-f200-5055-9b73-8066140c64ff.html) again?, Williams became a parody (http://www.salon.com/2015/02/11/how_brian_williams_lost_his_gravitas_to_nbcs_relentless_marketing_machine/) of himself with slow-jamming the news and other entertainment appearances, don't be surprised if Williams' suspension becomes permanent (http://money.cnn.com/2015/02/10/media/brian-williams-nbc-suspended/index.html), and Williams' name to be removed (https://twitter.com/brianstelter/status/565321524098654211) from NBC Nightly News title.

I like him, but have not followed his exploits. Unlike most people who get fired, or who will be soon be fired for being an idiot, Brian Williams is quite wealthy and can just retire, or sit on his arse for a bit until the World moves on to something else (in about 15 minutes) and move on to another show, if this is what he wants. A lot of very wealthy people like to work, sitting on arse, and playing golf is not what they want for old age.

There is also something about being a newscaster, that people do not want to give up. CBS had to run off Walter Cronkite when he was 65 (bad move), and Cronkite kept plugging along until he died, what, 35 years later? David Brinkley is another example, Bob Shieffer on CBS....how old is that guy now and still working? Barbra Walters is still around. She is retired, but still around. She has to be emensely Park Avenue New York RICH, but won't stop. Mike Wallace worked until he was 90! Ninety years old!

Even in local news, there are a lot of oldsters who have worked for literally decades, my hometown market has a weatherman who has been around for over 40 years. I think for local media, these jobs are easy, doesn't require a lot of hours, is fun, pays well. For guys in the "Big Leagues" like Williams, it is a huge salary, and then getting to meet the President, celebrities, World Leaders, amd news makers.

Well I can't speak for anybody else but for me yes it did. I just can't take a news anchor that seriously when they go on a late night talk show like Jimmy Fallon's and they're goofing around. For me it ruins their credibility. I don't think too many people will agree with me but I'm OK with that. I'm through with most network newscasts personally anyways.

Ed.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2015/02/11/jon_stewart_and_brian_williams_how_the_rise_of_the_daily_show_hastened_the.html

Stewart's "Daily Show" (http://tvline.com/2015/02/11/daily-show-ending-jon-stewart-leaving-series-replacement-host/) essentially made Williams' (http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/12/business/media/brian-williamss-and-jon-stewarts-common-ground.html?smid=tw-share) Nightly News irrelevant. As John Swansburg explains, "In recent days, some commenters have dismissed Williams' (http://awfulannouncing.com/2015/brian-williams-trying-hard-cool.html) comic moonlighting as the work of a guy who couldn't stand not to have a camera trained on him, or of a newsman who actually just wanted to be an entertainer. A more charitable view would be that he was an anchor trying to remain relevant in a news environment that, thanks in part to Stewart, was turning him into a dinosaur in a bespoke suit. That's not to forgive his journalistic sins—far from it. It's to appreciate the degree to which Stewart, however unwittingly, hastened the demise of the man he shares the media pages with today."

http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2015/04/nbc-news-brian-williams-scandal-comcast

Vanity Fair's investigation into the Williams scandal found that Williams had trouble telling his NBC bosses "I lied." A source tells the magazine, "He couldn't explain what had happened. (He said,) 'Did something happen to (my) head? Maybe I had a brain tumor, or something in my head?' He just didn't know. We just didn't know. We had no clear sense what had happened. We got the best (apology) we could get."

http://www.esquire.com/entertainment/tv/interviews/a33320/larry-king-quotes/?

"I feel sad because I like him," says the former CNN star. "But I think the trouble with him coming back will be, first, he's off for six months. If he came back the story would start all over again. So six months from now when he's going on the air, all the stories would be repeated."

http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/tv/brian-williams-as-the-new-face-of-msnbc-10-reasons-why-1.10230125

The disgraced NBC News anchor could host a nightly primetime show that would mix news and "Daily Show"-type comedy.