The "big three" news anchors

[Anonymous]

For those old enough to remember them, who was your favorite of the big three anchors Tom Brokaw (NBC), Peter Jennings (ABC) and Dan Rather (CBS)?

[Anonymous]

Tom Brokaw! But we were definitely an NBC evening news family.

[Anonymous]

Peter Jennings all day.

That was the end of an era. Three white guys.

[Anonymous]

Tom Brokaw.

I couldn't even tell you who the current anchors of the ABC, CBS and NBC nightly news are. They definitely don't have the same stature of their predecessors.

[Anonymous]

I was a Peter Jennings fan.

I do like David Muir too. I actually got back to watching the nightly news. Prefer a 30-minute recap to cable news, which is now all domestic stuff and panels telling us what to think about the news.

Good news is something like 18-20 million people still watch the three nightly news programs whereas Fox News barely misses 3 million viewers on a good night.

[Anonymous]

I loved Walter Cronkite the best. But then I'm an older Gen X person. After that, Peter Jennings.

[Anonymous]

Any of them over all of the current anchors

[Anonymous]

Dan Rather. No question

[Anonymous]

Peter Jennings but I came to appreciate Dan Rather later-- he's very smart, surprisingly funny, and has a good sense of self-awareness, especially about his age and privilege, which enables him to speak to a broad range of people. But Jennings was my favorite anchor at the time.

I always thought Brokaw was a self-important blowhard. I think NBC news has always been a crappy org though, and have never really liked the people who come up through it, except Tim Russert.

[Anonymous]

Dan Rather. I agree with PP upthread that Brokaw seemed like a blowhard. I don't think I ever watched Peter Jennings. I know people were turned off by him, but I liked Brian Williams.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Peter Jennings but I came to appreciate Dan Rather later-- he's very smart, surprisingly funny, and has a good sense of self-awareness, especially about his age and privilege, which enables him to speak to a broad range of people. But Jennings was my favorite anchor at the time.

I always thought Brokaw was a self-important blowhard. I think NBC news has always been a crappy org though, and have never really liked the people who come up through it, except Tim Russert.

Oh, c'mon. Lester Holt seems like a decent fellow.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Dan Rather. No question

I subscribe to his Substack.

[Anonymous]

Dan Rather.

[Anonymous]

Dan Rather, too. He had a really sense of our place in history, I think.

Jennings was a pretty boy. I don't even remember Brokaw.

Today it's Muir, Holt and -- least of the least -- Nora O'Donnell, who is literally Nightly News Barbie. I wish someone would tell her that saying "Tragic" after every story doesn't make her seem empathetic.

[Anonymous]

Met all of the above and was particularly charmed by Jennings. IIRC, he only had a HS education and was therefore surprisingly modest. Seemed to have a case of imposter syndrome.