Dateline NBC

Dateline NBC (also known simply as Dateline) is a weekly American television news magazine that airs on NBC and Telemundo. It started in 1992 and was first a general news show, but later it mostly told stories about real-life mysteries and problems.

The show is known for looking closely at complicated situations, often focusing on unusual events. It usually comes on Fridays at 10:00 p.m. Eastern Time, with special longer episodes sometimes shown on other nights.

History

Dateline has been a long-running show on NBC since it began in 1992. Before Dateline, NBC tried many other news shows, but most did not last long. Dateline was created to help a reporter named Jane Pauley.

The show started on March 31, 1992, with Jane Pauley and Stone Phillips as hosts. Over time, more nights were added so that by 1999, Dateline aired five nights a week. Later, the number of nights was reduced because people wanted to watch other types of shows, like reality television.

In the late 1990s, Dateline was very popular and often had important news stories. The show moved to different studios over the years and had many different hosts. In 2008, it started broadcasting in high definition. Lester Holt became the host in 2011 after Ann Curry moved to another show.

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Special series

Main article: To Catch a Predator

To Catch a Predator was a special series hosted by Chris Hansen. It showed how some adults tried to meet children they met online. The show worked with a group to catch these people when they came to meet someone they thought was a child. After talking to them, Chris Hansen would ask questions about their online chats. Police would then come to take them away.

“Wild Wild Web” was another series where Chris Hansen went undercover to answer unsafe or tricky ads online. With hidden cameras, he met people offering bad services or scams.

To Catch a Con Man was a series that used hidden cameras to catch people trying to trick others for money. Chris Hansen reported on these stories, working with a group that watches out for credit card fraud.

Richard Engel hosted The Real Blacklist, a tie-in version leading into The Blacklist, focusing on big crimes and secret plans.

The Widower is Dateline’s first docuseries. It looks at a long investigation into a man from Las Vegas who was accused of harming his wife. The show shows how the investigation found that this was not the first time one of his wives had died strangely.

Dateline: The Last Day is a spin-off series that started on June 14, 2022, on Peacock.

Comparison with other news magazines

Dateline NBC tells true crime and human interest stories. Each show usually focuses on one big story. It helps viewers feel connected to the people involved.

There is a special Friday night edition that highlights true crime stories. Some Sunday shows have topics for younger audiences, like teen drivers and staying safe.

Over the years, the show has added special segments. These include stories of people who lived through dangerous situations, guessing the year of popular products or songs, and investigating common problems with products or food safety. These segments aim to inform and interest viewers in different ways.

Staff

Current on-air staff

Anchor

• Lester Holt (September 23, 2011–present)

Former on-air staff

This section lists people who used to appear on the show but no longer do.

Syndication

Hour-long true crime episodes of Dateline air on different cable and satellite channels such as Investigation Discovery, E!, USA Network (E! and USA are owned by NBC parent company NBCUniversal) and OWN. These episodes often include the network name in the Dateline title. Other versions include Dateline: Secrets Uncovered on Oxygen, Dateline: Real Life Mysteries on TLC, and Dateline Extra on MSNBC, all owned by NBCUniversal. NBC News puts all episodes under its non-fiction Peacock Productions name. Since July 2020, the NBCUniversal streaming service Peacock has a full-time channel for Dateline episodes. NBC News Now also shows Dateline NBC every weekend.

Since September 25, 2017, Dateline has shown older true crime episodes daily in broadcast syndication without the NBC name. These episodes are also part of MyNetworkTV’s schedule. In February 2025, NBC News announced a Spanish-language version of the series for sister network Telemundo, presented by Noticias Telemundo anchor Julio Vaqueiro.

Nielsen ratings

When Dateline NBC first started, many people watched it. About 17 million people saw it at first. The most viewers ever saw it in one night was about 21 million. This happened on October 4, 1994. The show keeps track of how many people watch each season, and these numbers have changed over time.