Director's Cut Blog with Frank Macek

Ann Curry is the news anchor of NBC News' "Today," America's number one morning news program, and the anchor of "Dateline NBC," the network's award-winning newsmagazine. Curry joined the "Today" show in March of 1997, and in May 2005, she was named co-anchor of "Dateline NBC." Curry also regularly substitute anchors for "NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams." Curry has distinguished herself in global humanitarian reporting frequently traveling to remote areas of the world for under-reported stories. During the span of one year, from March 2006 to March 2007, she traveled three times to Sudan to report on the violence and ethnic cleansing taking place in Darfur and Chad. While there, she provided in-depth reports focusing on the victims who have been caught in the deadly conflict of that region, and she also conducted exclusive interviews with Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and Chadian President Idrsiss Deby. In spring 200...

Long a renowned comic talent, Jimmy Fallon's ability to deliver versatile, standout performances on the screen has allowed him to join the exclusive ranks as one of the "Saturday Night Live" alumni at the forefront of a diverse line-up of television and film projects -- while always staying grounded in his stand-up roots. Most recently, NBC named Fallon as the replacement for Conan O’Brien on "Late Night" emanating out of New York City. The show -- which will serve as a platform for comedy, music and A-list talent to promote their upcoming projects -- is being executive-produced by Lorne Michaels and will premiere in March 2nd. In the months leading up to the broadcast debut, Fallon has produced video blogs that run online nightly at 12:30 a.m. on NBC.com. Fallon first garnered attention in 1998 when he joined the cast of "Saturday Night Live" and quickly became an audience favorite for his impressions of Jerry Seinfeld, John Travolta, Adam Sandler as ...

NBC's Thursday stalwarts, "My Name is Earl," "The Office" and "ER" joined forces with the new comedy "Kath & Kim" and the first of three Thursday "Saturday Night Live" election specials to propel the network to its highest Thursday rating in 18-49 since last March, excluding sports, according to "fast affiliate-based" "live plus same day" viewing figures from Nielsen Media Research. NBC finished within one rating point of the nightly lead in adults 18-49 and won this highly competitive Thursday in adults and men 18-34, pending updates. "Saturday Night Live Weekend Update Thursday" began its three-week Thursday run with a 47 percent gain over NBC's time-period averages last season in adults 18-49. "It's already been a historic season for 'Saturday Night Live,' with its earliest premiere ever and its biggest audiences in 14 years," commented Ben Silverman, co-chairman of NBC ...

In this edition of "Meet the NBC All Stars," we focus on a broadcaster who has been charged with handling goliath duties for the 2008 Beijing Summer Games. This Olympics will be Bob Costas' eighth for NBC Sports and his seventh as primetime host. After serving as late night host in 1988 from Seoul, Costas has won acclaim and Emmy Awards each year for his work as primetime host from Barcelona, Atlanta, Sydney, Salt Lake City, and Athens. Costas, who has the longest tenure of the network's sports announcers, joined NBC in 1980. He has handled a wide array of assignments, including play-by-play, studio hosting and reporting. The 19-time Emmy Award winner is one of the most respected and honored broadcasters of his generation. In 2005, Costas was named host of NBC's "Football Night in America," an exclusive and complete look at each Sunday in the NFL. "Football Night in America" encompasses more than four hours of NFL coverage, including a primetim...

In this edition of our "Meet the NBC All Stars," we are featuring Country superstar Billy Ray Cyrus who joined the NBC family this summer as host of the new hit show "Nashville Star. Spanning the last 15 years, Cyrus has had a phenomenal career, not only in the music world, but in film and television as well. Last summer, Cyrus released his tenth album, "Home At Last," on Walt Disney Records. The first single from the album, "Ready, Set, Don't Go," is a heartfelt ballad he wrote for his daughter, Miley, as she prepared to leave for Los Angeles from Tennessee to start production on "Hannah Montana." The duet (featuring Miley Cyrus) and album both topped the Country charts. Billy Ray recently recorded the Sheryl Crow-penned track "Real Gone" for the forthcoming "Country Sings Disney" CD, slated for release in July. The song will also be included on his next studio album which is currently being recorded in Nashville and...

Lester Holt is the weekend anchor for the flagship broadcast "NBC Nightly News," and is also the co-anchor of the weekend edition of "Today." In addition, Holt serves as fill-in anchor and correspondent for "NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams" and the weekday "Today" program. He also contributes to MSNBC, NBC's 24-hour cable news network. Holt has reported from many of the world's hot spots. In 2006, he reported from the front lines in Lebanon on the war between Israel and Hezbollah and from London on the terror threat to U.S. bound-airliners from the UK. In 2005, Holt was on the ground for Hurricane Katrina covering events both in Louisiana and Mississippi, and later that fall covered Hurricane Rita in Texas. Before becoming co-anchor of "Weekend Today," Holt anchored "Lester Holt Live," a daily news show on MSNBC in which he covered breaking news and provided news updates and analysis. Holt has also served as the l...

DIRECTOR'S ALERT: -READ MORE ON THE DEATH OF TIM RUSSERT ON OUR HOMEPAGE: CLICK HERE This time around, we are featuring Tim Russert who certainly has a few ties to the Cleveland area, having gone to John Carroll University and Cleveland Marshall College of Law and - most recently - moderated NBC's coverage of the Democratic Presidential Debate at Cleveland State University on 2/26/08. So, let's Meet Tim Russert, one of NBC's All Stars. Tim is currently the Managing Editor and Moderator of "Meet the Press" and political analyst for "NBC Nightly News" and "Today." Russert also serves as senior vice president and Washington bureau chief of NBC News. His two books -- "Big Russ and Me" in 2004 and "Wisdom of Our Fathers" in 2006 -- were both New York Times #1 bestsellers. He has received forty-seven honorary doctorate degrees from American colleges and universities and has lectured at the Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon and Reagan Pr...

Multiple award nominee Jason Lee has been recognized with two Golden Globe nominations for Best Actor in a Television Series and two Screen Actor's Guild (SAG) nominations for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor for his starring role as Earl Hickey on NBC's hit comedy series "My Name Is Earl" which airs Thursday nights at 8 PM on WKYC. Lee not only stars, but also serves as a producer on the show about a hapless crook who has an epiphany after winning a small fortune in the lottery. Determined to change his karma, he sets out to right all the wrongs he's inflicted on people. To date, "My Name Is Earl" has received the People's Choice Award, two Television Critics Association Awards, a SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series, and Emmys for executive producers Garcia and Buckland for writing and directing, respectively. Born and raised in Huntington Beach, California, Lee turned a childhood pastime of skateboarding ...

Host Howie Mandel can be seen on NBC's hit show "Deal or No Deal" where he helps contestants beat the banker and win up to a million dollars in cold hard cash. Howie Mandel's versatile career has encompassed virtually all aspects of the entertainment spectrum, ranging from television to film and stage. From his work on the Emmy Award-winning "St. Elsewhere" to the international (and also Emmy-nominated) "Bobby's World," Mandel has become a mainstay of the American comedy scene. Mandel started his career on a dare during a trip to Los Angeles in 1979. He was at the legendary Comedy Store on amateur night and was coaxed by his friends to get up and try his luck. As fate would have it, there was a producer in the crowd who immediately hired him to appear on the comedy game-show "Make Me Laugh." His appearance on the show led to talk-show appearances, a stint as Diana Ross' opening act and, eventually, to the television series "S...

Let's take a moment to get to know another one of NBC's big name celebrities. This month in our "Meet the Stars" feature, we spotlight "30 Rock" star Tina Fey. Tina writes, executive-produces and stars as Liz Lemon in NBC's Emmy Award-winning "30 Rock," currently in its second season on NBC. Prior to creating "30 Rock," Fey completed six seasons as head writer, cast member and co-anchor of the "Weekend Update" segment on NBC's "Saturday Night Live." Fey is an Emmy winner and two-time Writers Guild Award winner for her writing on "Saturday Night Live." Since her transition to being in front of the camera, she has won much acclaim -- including being named one of Entertainment Weekly's Entertainers of the Year, one of People Magazine's "Most Beautiful People" (twice), and one of Time magazine's "Prestigious Time 100." She has also won a Gracie Award, a Made in New York Awa...

This time around in our "Meet the Stars" feature, we profile "Late Night" host Conan O'Brien - the man slated to succeed Jay Leno in 2009 as host of "The Tonight Show." Since 1993, Conan O'Brien has been combining his talents as writer, performer and interviewer as host of "Late Night" and in 2009, he will take over the reins on the venerable "Tonight Show." In 2002, O'Brien brought his signature wit and style to his hosting duties on the 54th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards, garnering big laughs and critical acclaim. "Late Night" has been honored with nominations for Outstanding Comedy-Variety Series since 2003 and for the last ten years, O'Brien and the "Late Night" writing team have consistently been nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Writing in a Comedy or Variety Series. He and the "Late Night" writing staff have won six Writer's Guild Awards for Best Writing in a Comedy/Variety Ser...

This time around in our "Meet the Stars" feature, we profile "NBC Nightly News" anchor Brian Williams. His recent appearance as host of Saturday Night Live has garnered much interest, so let's take a deeper look at the man who brings us the evening news on NBC: Brian Williams is the seventh anchor and managing editor in the history of "NBC Nightly News," which represents the largest single daily source of news in America. Recently, Williams became the most honored network evening news anchor. He received four Edward R. Murrow Awards, his fifth Emmy Award, the duPont-Columbia University Award and the industry's highest honor, the George Foster Peabody Award. Most were given for his work in New Orleans while covering Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath, and all were awarded to Williams in only his second year on the job. Williams was the first and only network evening news anchor to report from New Orleans before Hurricane Katrina hit and was the onl...

The Director's Cut Blog proudly presents another brand new & exclusive feature called "Meet the Stars" - our insider information on the TV stars you see on NBC and WKYC-TV. We'll kick it off with our hometown favorite Al Roker, who was a big hit here at WKYC before leaving for the network in 1983. Al Roker has been the weather and feature reporter on NBC News' "Today" since January 1996. Until January of 2000, Roker also served as the weekday weather forecaster for News Channel 4's early evening newscast "Live at 5" on WNBC-TV, NBC's flagship owned and operated station in New York City. New York magazine has twice named Roker Best Weatherman. He came to WNBC-TV as a weekend weathercaster in December 1983 from WKYC-TV, the NBC Television Station in Cleveland. Roker began his broadcasting career while still in college by landing a job as a weekend weatherman WTVH-TV in Syracuse, N.Y. in 1974. After graduation he moved on to weatherca...