He’s already finished.
Peter Alexander is saying goodbye to NBC News after nearly 22 years. Among them, I’m told, he spent 15 years in the White House and eight years as co-anchor of “Saturday Today.”
Our sources say his reasons for leaving are familiar to TV anchors: a grueling six- to seven-day work week and a desire to spend more time with his family and young children.
And while that may be true, Alexander was also allegedly tired of being ignored for top jobs on the network’s more prestigious shows like “Today” and “Nightly News.”
“He will be the first to say publicly that he has had ambitions for the top anchor job. With all the slots recently filled, he is looking to try something new,” the source said.
Alexander, who is also the network’s chief White House correspondent, took over as “Saturday Today” anchor in 2018 from Craig Melvin, who was stepped down to make way for a permanent seat on the network’s flagship morning show. A source told Us at the time that Melvin was given Saturday off “to promote him to a weekday.”
Since then, Melvin has become the star of “Today” and Alexander has lost any hope of getting the job. The same goes for other top jobs. Recently, Tom Lamas was hired to anchor “Nightly News.” Kristin Welker has been promoted to host of “Meet the Press,” and Harry Jackson will anchor “Weekend Nightly News.”
Alexander’s final day will be Saturday. We hear he’ll settle into an 11 a.m. weekday anchor gig on MS Now (formerly MSNBC), the network NBC spun off after its 2025 realignment.
An NBC spokesperson could not be reached. However, Alexander confirmed the news on Saturday morning’s broadcast.
Alexander said she wants to spend more time with her daughter and “try something new.”
“I’ve been away from home more than 80 nights in the last seven months. Over the past seven years, I’ve been away from my family more than 200 Friday nights,” he said. “So, in this limited time…I want to build a better balance between my personal life and work before my daughters lose interest in playing with me.”
According to Variety, NBC News’ Washington bureau chief Chloe Ahrensburg and Today’s weekend executive producer Matt Carluccio wrote in a memo to staff on Saturday: “Peter is a widely trusted figure across NBC News and a friend to many across the Washington bureau, Today, and the broader NBC News team. We appreciate all of his contributions and wish him the best.”
