Will Brian Williams Have Anything to do at MSNBC?

Now that the Peacock has banished Brian Williams to their low rated cable network, this question is, will he have anything to do there?

The Washington Post's Eric Wemple writes that the fact that dropping Williams into MSNBCville opens a freshly exposed flank for a news operation that already has too many of them.

With that exercise accomplished, how on earth will this arrangement work? Asked about that matter, a MSNBC spokeswoman responded that Williams will be “specially focused on dayside programming,” which could mean any number of things:

1) MSNBC’s prime-timers refuse to yield airtime to a proven embellisher.

2) MSNBC isn’t so committed to newsy coverage that it wants to boot the commentary of its primetime lineup.

3) Williams is tired of working evenings.

Network executives can glibly talk about sliding a big name into the programming stream to cover breaking news. That’s an easy thing to say. Much tougher is actually doing it. Fox News in 2013 declared that Shepard Smith would be its breaking news czar, equipped with all kinds of big-screen monstrosities and a shiny new studio, the better to break in any time news comes calling. Smith had the advantage of acceding to that arrangement without a whole docket of documented untruths.

Will the longtime anchor big-foot a reputable workhorse like Andrea Mitchell (noon slot) or José Díaz-Balart (9 a.m. slot) just because something significant is happening? The MSNBC spokeswoman didn’t provide details on the mechanics of the arrangement, saying that there are a couple of months to sort out such things.

If BriLie is really bored, I guess he could help Al Sharpton with his taxes.

Just saying....