Weekend was a television

Television

Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

 newsmagazine

Newsmagazine

A news magazine is a typed, printed, and published piece of paper, magazine or a radio or television program, usually weekly, featuring articles or segments on current events...

 that ran on NBC

NBC

The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

 from 1974 to 1979. It was originally aired in the same time slot as Saturday Night Live

Saturday Night Live

Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...

,http://www.americanpressinstitute.org/content/1462.cfm rotating in on those weekends when the SNL cast was not producing a show, which averaged about once per month. The program was awarded a George Foster Peabody medal

Peabody Award

The George Foster Peabody Awards recognize distinguished and meritorious public service by radio and television stations, networks, producing organizations and individuals. In 1939, the National Association of Broadcasters formed a committee to recognize outstanding achievement in radio broadcasting...

 in 1975 and attracted a small cult following

Cult following

A cult following is a group of fans who are highly dedicated to a specific area of pop culture. A film, book, band, or video game, among other things, will be said to have a cult following when it has a small but very passionate fan base...

.

The program was hosted by Lloyd Dobyns

Lloyd Dobyns

Lloyd Allen Dobyns, Jr. born is a former NBC news reporter and correspondent.Born in Newport News, Virginia, he graduated from Washington and Lee University in 1957. He started his broadcasting career in his hometown, eventually serving as an anchor at WAVY television in Portsmouth/Norfolk/Newport...

.http://www.asne.org/index.cfm?ID=51 The show's creator and executive producer was past (and future) president of NBC News

NBC News

NBC News is the news division of American television network NBC. It first started broadcasting in February 21, 1940. NBC Nightly News has aired from Studio 3B, located on floors 3 of the NBC Studios is the headquarters of the GE Building forms the centerpiece of 30th Rockefeller Center it is...

, Reuven Frank

Reuven Frank

Reuven Frank was an American broadcast news pioneer.Born in Montreal, Quebec, Israel Reuven Frank earned a bachelor's degree at City College of New York and a graduate degree in journalism from Columbia University...

.http://www.thepomoblog.com/archive/2006/12/ Together, Dobyns and Frank were largely responsible for the distinctive writing and quirky style of the program.

In 1978, NBC moved Weekend to prime time

Prime time

Prime time or primetime is the block of broadcast programming during the middle of the evening for television programing.The term prime time is often defined in terms of a fixed time period—for example, from 19:00 to 22:00 or 20:00 to 23:00 Prime time or primetime is the block of broadcast...

 and placed the program in head-to-head competition with CBS

CBS

CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

's 60 Minutes

60 Minutes

60 Minutes is an American television news magazine, which has run on CBS since 1968. The program was created by producer Don Hewitt who set it apart by using a unique style of reporter-centered investigation....

.http://www.americanpressinstitute.org/content/1462.cfm Linda Ellerbee

Linda Ellerbee

Linda Ellerbee is an American journalist who is most known for several jobs at NBC News, including Washington, DC correspondent, host of the Nickelodeon network's Nick News, and reporter and co-anchor of NBC News Overnight, which was recognized by the jurors of the duPont Columbia Awards as...

 was added as Dobyns' co-host. Placed against the perennial CBS powerhouse, the show eventually died of poor ratings

Nielsen Ratings

Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...

. A few years later, Ellerbee and Dobyns reunited to anchor another late-night NBC news program, NBC News Overnight

NBC News Overnight

NBC News Overnight was a television news program on the NBC television network airing weekday mornings from 1:30 a.m. to 2:30 a.m. from July 5, 1982 to December 3, 1983 for 367 telecasts...

.

The program was known for a somewhat less serious tone than such programs as 60 Minutes

60 Minutes

60 Minutes is an American television news magazine, which has run on CBS since 1968. The program was created by producer Don Hewitt who set it apart by using a unique style of reporter-centered investigation....

; comic relief included the use of humorous images (e.g., a trio of magazine covers, New York

New York (magazine)

New York is a weekly magazine principally concerned with the life, culture, politics, and style of New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to The New Yorker, it was brasher and less polite than that magazine, and established itself as a cradle of New...

, The New Yorker

The New Yorker

The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...

,
and the completely fictitious New Yorkest), and the occasional animated cartoon.