‘NBC News Overnight’…The Final Minutes & More
‘NBC News Overnight’…The Final Minutes & More In Two Video Clips
Many have called this “the best written, best executed news program ever produced”. I agree…I watched it every night. Before I get too far along, at the link above, Linda Ellerbee talks about ‘Overnight’ in the same style that endeared her to so many. The embedded video is the last few minutes on the air and the full 60+ staff and crew credits with video of all of them! You may see some familiar faces!
‘NBC News Overnight’, a live one-hour news program, aired from 1:30 till 2:30 AM for about seventeen months starting on July 5, 1982. Its debut coincided with a lunar eclipse, and despite science reporter Robert Bizel’s disappearance during the live broadcast (he went for some coffee), it was a success from the first night.
It never talked down to its viewers because, from day one, it never assumed that the lowest common denominator was the way to go. Entirely the opposite, in fact. The writing was crisp, witty, and smart. Overnight closed its doors in the first week of December 1983, after NBC management dropped it because of low ratings.
The first co-anchors, co-writers, and co-editors for Overnight were Linda Ellerbee and Lloyd Dobyns, who had, a few years previously, co-written and co-hosted Weekend, an offbeat weekly magazine for NBC.
After about six months of helping to shape Overnight, Dobyns left to do other work for NBC. Bill Schechner ably took his place as co-anchor and co-writer until ‘Overnight’ went off the air.
‘Overnight’ featured literary quotations, subtitled reports from overseas news programs for a new perspective, the best features (or sometimes just the silliest) from local affiliates, and a whole grab bag of things never before seen on national news programs. As Bill Schechner said on the final program, it proved that there is more than one way to deliver and to receive the news. Overnight must have been puzzling to some, though, because it had an unexpected mix of both seriousness about important issues and irreverence for nonsense.
As with any live broadcast, goofs occurred from time to time on the program. However, the anchors always made the best of it. They would chuckle instead of becoming mortified and simply corrected their mistakes, often injecting a bit of humor. Ellerbee once said this on the program after one such mistake:
“Live TV is a great time saver. It allows you to make a fool of yourself in front of large groups of people instead of one at a time.”
Shortly after Dobyns left, an NBC News executive suggested to Ellerbee that she take Lloyd’s seat now that she was the senior anchor. Ellerbee said she felt no need for that, but agreed to give it a try. Some nights later, she returned to her old spot. During that broadcast, she explained, after showing a tape of her position changes:
“Lately, you may have noticed a bit of musical chairs being played on this program. But in three nights, I have spilled three cups of coffee because the coffee was where it should be, but I was not. So I have moved back. And if the executives don’t like it, they may jolly well come and do the show and spill their own coffee.”
A year and a half after its birth, NBC decided to cancel Overnight in November 1983, due to low late night ratings and corresponding lack of ad revenue. In the following days and weeks, thousands of viewers (ten thousand, to be exact) called and wrote letters or telegrams of protest to NBC management. Some even sent checks and cash to defray the costs of producing the program (all the money was returned).
NBC’s news release on the program’s cancellation said the program remained “the model of a one-hour news program,” but it was being canceled because “being the best is not enough”. And so it goes!
By the way, Linda is a distant cousin of mine through marriage. Even if she wasn’t related, I would still think she’s still one of the best and most unique in the business! Enjoy and share! -Bobby Ellerbee
#t=37″ target=”_blank”>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKBMuyZFmhQ #t=37
For all the devoted Overnight fans out there, this is (in parts) the last Overnight broadcast, with Linda Ellerbee and Bill Schechner. In this part, say bye-…
Loved “Overnight”. Linda and Lloyod (and later, Bill) made it tough for me to go to sleep for several months.
I was hooked the first time I saw the show. Incredibly well done.
Great show. Cancelled way before it should have.
I only vaugely remember this program. ABC World News Now was also very well written and was a big fan in the 90s. I’m not so impressed with it now.
I caught the show on rare occasion as I was juggling a work/school schedule at the time. The rhythm of the show was very odd for a news program. There was definitely some comedy timing going on there. Stories moved quickly, but the anchors did not. They’d pause and almost stare until you laughed. Linda Ellerbee was so perfect for this, but so talented, she could probably make anything work. I loved her comment (paraphrasing), ‘It’s not as important that NBC took the program off the air as it was that NBC put them on the air…’
Another show ahead of its time
This shows the fan appeal of Overnight. http://www.nytimes.com/1983/11/26/arts/tv-notes-despite-fans-appeals-nbc-s-overnight-to-go.html
There are those who say that ABC’s World News Now was inspired by this show.
you have got to wonder if the problem was that executives did not Any examples of “serious News” certainly seriousness is VERY rare on TV these days.
I loved “Overnight” – and think I still have an audio copy of that last broadcast (didn’t have a VCR back then). I have to think that for NBC, cancelling it was more a matter of money than ratings, since if it could have made money, they would have put up with the low ratings – and all the critic’s praises, too.
I also went to school with Dobyns’ son. One night in the late Fall of 1975 his Dad Llyod Dobyns said to us come on get in the car we are going down to 30 Rock Studio 8H (the same studio his show “Weekend” broadcast from). There was a new show called “Saturday Night”. He walked us in and introduced me to John Belushi, who was very nervous about how long they went over in rehearsal that day. I never saw someone take such a huge drag of a cigarette. He walked us over to seats right next to the stage. The host was Robert Klein. We went to another show that same year and Steve Martin was the host, that was the show that Dan Aykroyd and he did “Wild and Crazy” guys. Don’t ask me how I knew, but at age 15 after those experiences I made up my mind I would work for NBC at 30 Rock. I have been doing just that for the past eight years and loving it!
I remember watching the premiere with the eclipse. Great program!!
I was a regular viewer. It was an excellent program. Linda also did a program with a similar tone called “Weekend” with Lloyd Dobyns.
I love Linda Ellerbee. She & Dobyns made a great team. Often wondered whether you were related to her. Now we know. 😉
back when ‘news’ meant something.
I enjoyed seeing the video credits of my coworkers many decades ago. Great way to end a show!
I went to High School with Dobyns, Son… (for some reason, a lot of people I went to High School with, worked in Broadcast)
I was lucky to be able to watch a lot of the broadcasts because I worked an evening shift. The most unusual event I remember on the program was when Linda was at the Kennedy Space Center covering the launch of Space Shuttle Columbia in August 1983. Bill was in NYC. Linda was describing this night time launch. Bill then asked if the sound vibrations shook her bra. She just looked into the camera with no response as I recall.
A few of those faces are still there.