Election Watch: NBC Nightly News With Graphics--Er, I mean, Brian Williams

I tuned into NBC Nightly News With Brian Williams just a few minutes ago, and guess what? The special guest of the evening in not Tom Brokaw. Instead, it's whirly colors, neon maps, giant logos, and the distracting breezy- flagpole-meets- waterfall backdrop that is "Decision 2006" in Rockefeller Plaza in New York.

We open with a Brady Bunchesque grouping of squares in which sit our analysts for the evening. The team includes includes Campbell Brown, Chip Reid, Tim Russert, Tom Brokaw and David Gregory–and I was half expecting them to start looking up and down at one another and smiling. 

The broadcast was a really comprehensive and well-organized , and Williams led it expertly with his usual confidence, competence and charm (sidenote: can a girl swoon sometimes over Brian Williams? His inexplicable carrot-hue aside) but Williams was the least of my worries when it came to this years anchors.  Too bad I  kept being distracted from what was being said by an enormous NBC logo that was dwarfing their All-Star lineup.  At one point, Campbell Brown was edged out of the picture to make room for a virtual graph.  My eyes!

But it's 7 p.m.–so let's see who calls what when what starts rolling in….

By Caroline Palmer