Weekend (1974 TV program)

<h2 id="more">More</h2>
The program was hosted by <a href="/facts/Lloyd_Dobyns/o96qfaQP">Lloyd Dobyns</a>, who also did much of the reporting.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:3" href="#fn:3">3</a> The show's creator and executive producer was past (and future) president of <a href="/facts/NBC_News/hWQ2wFfx">NBC News</a>, <a href="/facts/Reuven_Frank/E2DwNr0Y">Reuven Frank</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:4" href="#fn:4">4</a> Together, Dobyns and Frank were largely responsible for the distinctive writing and quirky style of the program. The opening theme was the guitar intro to "<a href="/facts/Jumpin%27_Jack_Flash/Jvqz9pXU">Jumpin' Jack Flash</a>" by <a href="/facts/The_Rolling_Stones/15fCN7RF">The Rolling Stones</a>. As a forward-focused executive, Frank brought in a woman, Clare Crawford-Mason, as the show's producer.
In 1978, after four years of critical success and moderately good ratings for that hour, NBC moved Weekend to <a href="/facts/Prime_time/6NYMrYPL">prime time</a>. After airing once a month in various time slots in September, October, and November, the network placed the program weekly on Sunday nights at 10 P.M. Eastern time starting in December 1978. <a href="/facts/Linda_Ellerbee/A7cdDd5v">Linda Ellerbee</a> was added as Dobyns' co-host and co-lead reporter. Placed against strong programs on ABC and CBS, the show eventually died of poor <a href="/facts/Nielsen_ratings/PJ1HH4H8">ratings</a>. A few years later, Ellerbee and Dobyns reunited to anchor another late-night NBC news program, <a href="/facts/NBC_News_Overnight/AvjxT3Lv">NBC News Overnight</a>.
The program was known for an offbeat format, a somewhat less serious tone than such programs as <a href="/facts/60_Minutes/ejjadp1E">60 Minutes</a>; comic relief included the use of humorous images (e.g., a trio of magazine covers, <a href="/facts/New_York_(magazine)/aU1yeUCA">New York</a>, <a href="/facts/The_New_Yorker/2RfeBrsR">The New Yorker</a>,
and the completely fictitious New Yorkest), and the occasional animated cartoon, such as Mr. Hipp. At the end of each broadcast, until the program began airing weekly, a sequence would be played of a rotating <a href="/facts/Phonograph/VcNQRYVT">phonograph</a> record with <a href="/facts/Voice-over/6DNxyS1W">voiceover</a> explaining when the next broadcast would take place.
In the spring of 1978, when Weekend's late-night run ended, Dobyns noted that "Your Subscription Has Expired", but stated that Weekend would be back that fall, in prime-time.
At the end of the last broadcast in 1979, the voice intoned, "...there will be no more Weekends."

<h2 id="references">References</h2>

<ol>
<li id="fn:1">"Lloyd Dobyns imparts lessons of a lifetime - American Press Institute". www.americanpressinstitute.org. Archived from the original on May 28, 2003. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20030528231637/http://www.americanpressinstitute.org/content/1462.cfm" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20030528231637/http://www.americanpressinstitute.org/content/1462.cfm</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:2">"SNL Season 1 Episode 1 Skit list". IMDB. Retrieved May 25, 2024. <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0694432/" target="_blank">https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0694432/</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:3">[1] Archived December 17, 2005, at the Wayback Machine <a href="http://www.asne.org/index.cfm?ID=51" target="_blank">http://www.asne.org/index.cfm?ID=51</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:4">[2] Archived March 13, 2007, at the Wayback Machine <a href="http://www.thepomoblog.com/archive/2006/12/" target="_blank">http://www.thepomoblog.com/archive/2006/12/</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
</ol>

Weekend (1974 TV program) open-in-new

Weekend (1974 TV program)