NBC holds fast to dueling town halls despite celebrity anger

NEW YORK -- Moderator Kristen Welker — with the help of an offstage mute button — helped give Americans the substantive, crackling debate over leadership that had been missing so far during the 2020 presidential campaign.The NBC News White House correspondent worked hard Thursday to keep control of the second and final encounter between President Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden, steering but not stifling exchanges.Midway through the debate, she even received a compliment from the Republican

Saturday Night Live is tackling the dueling town halls between President Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden.

Alexandra Del Rosario Associate Editor/Nights & WeekendsSaturday Night Live took on the competing ABC Joe Biden and NBC Donald Trump town halls during its latest episode.  The show kicked off with a cold opening that saw Alex Baldwin reprise his role as 45 and Jim Carrey transform into the Democratic presidential nominee and former vice president.The jokes about the conflicting town halls found its way into the latest “Weekend Update” installation.

once again mined the endless mill of comedy that comes from a presidential election season for this week's «cold open.» The show mocked Joe Biden and Donald Trump's simultaneous town hall appearances that were held on NBC and ABC on Thursday.Jim Carrey returned to play Biden at a town hall moderated by George Stephanopoulos (played by Mikey Day), who described the vibe they were going for as, «Poorly attended college lecture.»The sketch switched back and forth between Biden's town hall and

Ted Johnson The opener of Saturday Night Live was a skewering of the competing town halls between Joe Biden and Donald Trump.It was an easy target: There was an outcry earlier this week when NBC scheduled a town hall with Trump against one already planned on ABC with Biden. But Savannah Guthrie, moderating the NBC News event, earned widespread praise for pressing Trump with questions and followups.Kate McKinnon, playing Guthrie, opened by saying, “Good evening America.

Ellise Shafer editorPresident Donald Trump took to Twitter on Saturday afternoon to criticize NBC News anchor Kristen Welker, who will be moderating the final presidential debate on Oct. 22.“She’s always been terrible and unfair, just like most of the Fake News reporters, but I’ll still play the game,” Trump tweeted.

Jimmy Kimmel joined the chorus of Hollywood entertainers calling out NBC and its decision to air a “dueling” town hall for Trump directly against Joe Biden’s previously scheduled ABC event. With many of his fellow hosts on break, including NBC’s Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers, the face of ABC late night took solo shots at the Peacock network during his opening monologue Thursday.

Donald Trump. She changed the subject for her bosses.NBC was reeling heading into Thursday's event, under widespread criticism for scheduling it at the same time as ABC's town hall with Democratic opponent Joe Biden.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorExecutives at NBCUniversal, NBC News and the NBC broadcast network are not-so-quietly thanking an employee who has only limited command over the Comcast-owned company’s corporate direction: Savannah Guthrie.Guthrie’s handling of President Donald Trump during a town-hall broadcast organized in last-minute fashion by NBC News helped blunt waves of criticism of the media conglomerate, which scheduled the event directly opposite one with Joe Biden, Trump’s Democratic

Dominic Patten Senior Editor, Legal & TV CriticAfter all the concerns about threats to democracy in the pursuit of ratings, Thursday’s dueling town halls between Donald Trump on NBC and Joe Biden on ABC ended up being a very good night for Savannah Guthrie, a very very good night for the Atlanta Braves and an excellent night for the former Vice-President.Sitting down with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos and voters at Philadelphia’s Constitution Hall on what should have been the night of the

During President Donald Trump's town hall on Thursday, current and former showrunners, producers and stars — including a handful of current and former NBC talent — who signed aletter of protest against the event continued to criticize the network for its decision and how the event played out. More than 100 top figures in the industry had criticized the network on Wednesday for choosing to air the town hall during the same day and time as ABC'stown hall with former vice president Joe Biden.

Todayco-anchor Savannah Guthrie kicked off Thursday night's NBC town hall in Miami with President Donald Trump addressing the scheduling chaos and controversy around the debate-turned-solo event. "We want to say right off the top this is not how things were supposed to go tonight," theTodayco-anchor said at the top of the debate.

Today show co-host Savannah Guthrie moderated a town hall with President on NBC October 15 and is garnering a fair amount of praise for her handling of the situation, which once again saw POTUS avoiding answering questions and going off on rambling tangents. Before the town hall even aired, it was surrounded by controversy.

conspiracy theory that claimed Joe Biden had SEAL Team 6 murdered after the bin Laden — which the conspiracy claims was actually unsuccessful.“You’re the president! You’re not someone’s crazy uncle who can just retweet whatever!” Guthrie replied during the town hall.

President Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden will participate in separate town hall events Thursday, hosted by NBC and ABC, respectively, and airing in the competing time slot of 5 p.m. PT.

Also Read: Savannah Guthrie Pushes Trump on QAnon, Conspiracy Theories: 'You're Not Like Someone's Crazy Uncle Who Can Just Retweet Whatever!'“Again, the reason we got here is because President Trump dropped out of the second debate,” Rachel Maddow continued. “Vice President Joe Biden then scheduled a town hall at ABC News, that is ongoing.

Ted Johnson, Dominic Patten As puzzling as it was that NBC News scheduled its town hall with Donald Trump against ABC News and Joe Biden, credit is due to moderator Savannah Guthrie for turning it into much more of an hourlong interview than a series of softballs from everyday folk.Throughout the hour, she peppered the president with questions on his COVID-19 testing, on his retweets of conspiracy theories, on whether he’s indebted to the tune of $400 million.It was a bit of a recovery for the

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorPresident Trump wanted to run and ramble. Savannah Guthrie wouldn’t let him.In what may be the performance of a career, the popular “Today” anchor kept a tight rein on the proceedings of a controversial town-hall event with President Donald Trump that put NBC in the cross-hairs of critics and Hollywood A-listers.

Ted Johnson, Dominic Patten Donald Trump’s town hall with NBC News — competing against a similar event with Joe Biden on ABC News — opened with a contentious series of questions with moderator Savannah Guthrie.At times, Trump sounded angry and irate as Guthrie grilled him over the details of his testing results, his failure to immediately condemn white supremacists and his trafficking of conspiracy theories.Guthrie, co-anchor of Today, asked Trump why he retweeted a tweet earlier this week that

Gene Maddaus Senior Media WriterNBC went ahead with a town hall with President Trump on Thursday night, brushing aside criticism that the event coincided with a similar event with Joe Biden on rival ABC.Trump said he did not remember when he last tested negative for COVID-19, ducking a question from “Today” co-host Savannah Guthrie.