Way Too Early with Willie Geist
| Way Too Early | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Genre | Morning news show |
| Presented by | Chris Jansing |
| 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 – August 5, 2016 |
| Chronology | |
| Preceded by | First Look |
| Followed by | Morning Joe |
| External links | |
| Website | waytooearly |
Way Too Early was an American morning news show which aired 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. The final host was Chief White House Correspondent Chris Jansing. It ended August 5, 2016, as its lead-in program First Look was expanded back into the full hour and re-branded as Morning Joe First Look to build continuity with the later program, and presumably because the timeslot is now nearly universally programmed as a morning news slot on local television stations in both the Eastern and Central Time Zones, making the title Way Too Early an artifact.
The original executive producer was Chris Licht, who was also the co-creator 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 were 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 had similar graphics packages, are broadcast from the same set, and frequently reference each other.
Phil Griffin, President of MSNBC, announced the show on July 15, 2009, and described it as a "pre-game show" for Morning Joe.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).
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