- published: 11 May 2016
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Dateline NBC, or Dateline, is a U.S. weekly television news magazine broadcast by NBC. It previously was NBC's flagship news magazine, but now focuses mainly on true crime stories. It airs Friday at 9 p.m. Eastern Time and after football season on Sunday at 7 p.m. Eastern Time.
Dateline is historically notable for its longevity on the network. The show started in 1992 with Stone Phillips and Jane Pauley as co-anchors. Tom Brokaw and Katie Couric joined the program when Now (not to be confused with the PBS program) was converted to Dateline Wednesday. Gradually the program expanded with a third night in 1994 and a fourth night in 1997 until it aired for five nights a week in mid-1999 and 2000. The program started to lose its luster as reality television shows became more popular, with nights being eliminated beginning in spring 2001, and the historic Tuesday night slot eliminated in 2003.
Dateline was the first "multi-night" franchise that "established brand power by 'stripping' editions", an entertainment division strategy that placed a program in the same time slot every week." The program was considered one program rather than multiple weekly programs and included many teasers and multiple installment interviews. In its prime, from 1995 to 1999, Dateline provided significant breaking news coverage. Dateline sensationalized news stories and drew viewers in with multiple-installment stories. By 1999, an hour of Dateline was in the top 10 among all viewers most weeks. NBC capitalized on its relationship with CNBC and MSNBC through repackaged stories on Headliners and Legends and Time and Again. NBC later tried a similar strategy of "stripping" with The Jay Leno Show in 2009.
"The Man" is a slang phrase that may refer to the government or to some other authority in a position of power. In addition to this derogatory connotation, it may also serve as a term of respect and praise.
The phrase "the Man is keeping me down" is commonly used to describe oppression. The phrase "stick it to the Man" encourages resistance to authority, and essentially means "fight back" or "resist", either openly or via sabotage.
The earliest recorded use[citation needed] of the term "the Man" in the American sense dates back to a letter written by a young Alexander Hamilton in September 1772, when he was 15. In a letter to his father James Hamilton, published in the Royal Dutch-American Gazette, he described the response of the Dutch governor of St. Croix to a hurricane that raked that island on August 31, 1772. "Our General has issued several very salutary and humane regulations and both in his publick and private measures, has shewn himself the Man." [dubious – discuss] In the Southern U.S. states, the phrase came to be applied to any man or any group in a position of authority, or to authority in the abstract. From about the 1950s the phrase was also an underworld code word for police, the warden of a prison or other law enforcement or penal authorities.