Way Too Early

Way Too Early
Genre	Morning news show
Presented by	Amy Holmes
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
Production
Location(s)	New York City
Running time	30 minutes
Release
Original network	MSNBC
Picture format	480i (SDTV) 1080i (HDTV)
Original release	July 27, 2009 – present
Chronology
Preceded by	First Look
Followed by	Morning Joe
External links
Website

Way Too Early is an American morning news show airing weekday mornings on MSNBC. It premiered on July 27, 2009 hosted by Willie Geist. It has since been hosted by a variety of NBC News on-air talent including Thomas Roberts and others on a temporary basis, including Ayman Mohyeldin. It is currently hosted by former Fox News and The Blaze anchor Amy Holmes.^[1]

The original executive producer was Chris Licht, who was also the co-creater and executive producer of Morning Joe before leaving MSNBC to become executive producer of CBS This Morning and Vice President of Programming at CBS.

The shows are similarly themed, although Way Too Early was not branded "Brewed by Starbucks" like Morning Joe until the sponsorship deal expired in September 2013. Both shows have similar graphics packages, are broadcast from the same set, and frequently reference each other.

History

Phil Griffin, President of MSNBC, announced the show on July 15, 2009, and described it as a "pre-game show" for Morning Joe.^[2] Mike Barnicle often filled in for original host Willie Geist, jokingly referring to the show as "Way Too Old (or Elderly) with Mike Barnicle", while Peter Alexander also covered for Geist. On September 24, 2012, NBC News announced that Geist would be named co-host of the 9 a.m. hour of Today, filling the co-host slot formerly held by Savannah Guthrie (who now anchors the 7-9 a.m. portion of the morning program).

On May 8, 2013, MSNBC announced that CNBC reporter Brian Shactman would be the new regular host of Way Too Early. He began his anchoring duties for the show May 13, 2013.

On January 3, 2014, MSNBC announced that Thomas Roberts would be the new regular host of "Way Too Early" starting on January 13. Roberts left in mid-2015 to do various dayside anchor duties, with no guest host announced.

Amy Holmes, formerly of Fox News and The Blaze, first hosted "Way Too Early" in June 2015. As of October, Holmes is the show's regular host, with occasional hosting duties handled by Jonathan Capehart in Washington.

Segments

Regular segments on Way Too Early include:

• Three Questions – Beginning the show with three video clips of newsworthy events from the previous day, and poses an open-ended question relating to them.
• The News – A fast-paced round-up of the previous day's and overnight news.
• All Up In Your Business – Business and market-related news, with analysis from the CNBC London bureau.
• The Weather – National forecast from The Weather Channel, currently provided by NBC meteorologist Bill Karins.
• Sports – Highlights of the top sports stories.
• Morning Buzz – A "wake-up call" phone segment to a prominent figure, celebrity, correspondent, or politician to discuss a news topic.
• Sound Smart – Random fact or some other piece of information to help you "sound smart" during the day.
• The Cooler – Soft news stories and other conversation starters.
• Louis Burgdorf from the Control Room – Near the end of the program, Burgdorf rounds up feature, offbeat and entertainment headlines from the program's Rockefeller Center control room.

Hosts

• Willie Geist – (2009–2012)
• Brian Shactman – (2013–2014)
• Thomas Roberts – (2014–2015)

Substitute hosts

Substitute hosts for the show have included Luke Russert, Savannah Guthrie, Peter Alexander, Mike Barnicle, Jonathan Capehart and Mark Halperin, along with Bill Karins hosting the entire program.

References

1. "'Glenn Beck Returns To Cable News – On MSNBC? (Sort Of)'". News Corpse. 2015-06-10. Retrieved 2015-10-20.
2. "'Way Too Early With Willie Geist' to Debut July 27 on MSNBC". NBC. 2009-07-15. Retrieved 2009-07-27.

External links

• Official website