As he was getting a new EP in New York, Brian Williams was in LA appearing on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. It didn't take Jay long to ask Williams about the big TV news story of the week:

Leno:Now, I got to ask you, the speculation that David Gregory will be the new moderator on "Meet the Press," what do you think? What have you heard? You're the top guy. You're the top dog. You make the decisions. What do you think?

Williams: On the lives of my wife and two children, I have no idea. I've read the same...

Leno: Really?

Williams: Yeah, yeah, yeah. And, you know what? I work for smart people, and that's probably the way it should be. They're hearing my advice and they're hearing Tom Brokaw's advice. And we're almost too close to it.

When Jay asked, "Now, who do you think? Do you have a choice?" Williams responded, "My, look at the time..."

THR's Paul J. Gough scoops that NBC Nightly News EP Alexandra Wallace is returning to the job she once held with NBC News — front office VP. Longtime Nightly News senior producer Bob Epstein will be named executive producer.

Wallace stepped aside from the VP job, which was essentially #2 to news president Steve Capus, and took on Nightly in March 2007. Capus has been without a #2 since the summer when Mark Whitaker was named Washington bureau chief.

Nightly News has won the ratings race in Total Viewers eight of the last nine weeks, and won the 2007-08 season in both Total Viewers and the A25-54 demo.

Breaking: TVNewser has learned NBC Universal will be cutting up to 500 jobs in a round of layoffs which are now underway at all levels of the company — television, film and parks. That amounts to about 3% of the workforce. An insider with knowledge of the situation says the cuts are expected to continue into next week.

The NBC News bureaus in Dallas and Los Angeles (Burbank) are already experiencing cuts, with the insider saying Dallas will experience more layoffs than in Burbank. Among those losing their jobs, NBC News correspondent Don Teague who has been with the network since 2002.

This is all part of an effort to cut $500 million from the NBCU budget announced by company president Jeff Zucker in October.

Last month, TVNewser reported the network was offering buyouts to "virtually everyone." If enough employees did not accept the offer, layoffs were to be the next step.

...Developing...

> Update: Los Angeles correspondents John Larson, who reported for many years for Dateline and Mark Mullen, who just returned to Burbank after a nearly two-year reporting run for NBC in Beijing, are among the cuts. As many as seven people in Burbank have been let go, including Heather Allan who's been with NBC more than 30 years. Allan was the bureau chief for NBC News special events which involved coordinating Olympics coverage for the news division.

As we await an official announcement that David Gregory will be the new moderator of "Meet the Press" we want to pull back the curtain about how this story broke.

Gregory was at the top of most lists to take the reins of the show, so the news, if true, is no surprise.

But this is the kind of story that usually appears first in the Washington Post, the New York Times or even the Wall Street Journal. The story is that big. But it didn't. It was first reported by Huffington Post Monday evening. Danny Shea attributed the news to no one, but rather wrote, "the Huffington Post has learned."

Other write-ups followed, right until this morning — the New York Times, the LA Times and the Washington Post. The Associated Press story appeared in dozens more newspapers and Websites today. An NBC News spokesperson told The AP's David Bauder Tuesday, "We have nothing to announce. Just because the Huffington Post says something doesn't make it true."

So, was Huffington Post lucky or good?

These announcements are usually well-coordinated press department affairs. Perhaps NBC was, and still is, hoping to make the news real Sunday morning...on the show...with Tom Brokaw handing off to Gregory.

But, as one network insider speculated yesterday, maybe NBC is slighting the paper of record for its unflattering story on NBC News military analyst Barry McCaffrey.

Our call to NBC News today requesting an update on the situation was not returned.

Politico's Mike Allen talks with NBC "network executives" who seem to confirm HuffPo's reporting that David Gregory will be named moderator of "Meet the Press," "as soon as today." Allen writes, "The executives provided elliptical information that did not either raise or preclude the possibility that a supporting cast could be named along with Gregory." And:

NBC sources described the choice as partly a process of elimination, and spoke of a fear that the network would eventually lose Gregory if he were denied the prize, since "Today" or "NBC Nightly News" might not have a lead anchor opening for years.

If Gregory is chosen, that may leave an opening in MSNBC's schedule as Gregory's "1600 Pennsylvania Ave." airs at 6pmET. And, if Chris Matthews actually runs for the senate from Pennsylvania, a hole will be left at 5pm & 7pm too.

NBC News anchor Amy Robach and NBC News correspondent Luke Russert will be a part of this year's New Year's Eve celebration on NBC. Hosted by Carson Daly, this year's show is also expanding into prime time. It will air live from 10-11pmET and return for an hour at 11:35pm. Robach and Russert will be giving live reports from Times Square.

The press release is after the jump...

continued...

Huffington Post's Danny Shea reports NBC's White House correspondent David Gregory will be named moderator of Meet the Press.

But an NBC News spokesperson responds, not to HuffPo, but to Politico's Michael Calderone with this: "I don't know where they are getting this. We have nothing to announce."

Meanwhile, Gregory's agent Richard Leibner would neither confirm nor deny the report when the NY Observer's Felix Gillette asked.

So, maybe David Gregory will be the new moderator of Meet the Press, or maybe he won't be, or maybe he'll be part of a panel, or maybe not. Stay tuned.

The NYTimes' David Barstow continues his reporting into U.S. Generals-turned-TV analysts.

He focuses on retired Army Gen. Barry McCaffrey and his work for military contractors while providing war analysis for the networks of NBC News.

NBC News president Steve Capus told Barstow, McCaffrey was a man of honor and achievement who would never let business obligations color his analysis. Capus added that as a consultant, McCaffrey is not required to abide by the network's formal conflict-of-interest rules. Nor is he required to disclose his business interests. But Capus said that the network had conversations with its military analysts about the need to avoid even the appearance of a conflict, and that McCaffrey had been "incredibly forthcoming" about his ties to military contractors.

In his 5,000-word piece Barstow also concludes, "Access was part of what drew NBC to General McCaffrey. Mr. Capus said General McCaffrey 'opens doors with generals and others who we would not otherwise be able to talk to.'"

At the end of today's Meet the Press, Tom Brokaw announced Pres.-elect Barack Obama would be the guest next Sunday. This will be the third sitdown interview Obama has conducted since being elected. First with CBS's Steve Kroft; last week with ABC's Barbara Walters, and now NBC's Brokaw.

Next Sunday could also be Brokaw's final appearance as moderator. Last week the LATimes reported NBC is closing in on a decision for a permanent moderator or panel of moderators.

The Associated Press' David Bauder calls attention to a blog that pays more attention than most to one specific aspect of NBC Nightly News — Brian Williams' ties.

"The Brian Williams Tie Report Archive is a snarky, occasionally appreciative and flat-out funny read that will have you looking at Williams as never before," writes Bauder.

Here's Wednesday's entry about Williams' selection (pictured):

Debut Tie. Oh! my dear Brian Williams. You have given me much for which to be thankful on tomorrow's Thanksgiving Day! That lush, deep verdant cravat — with its tasteful trios of narrow pearlescent stripes widely spaced upon its grassy field — helps to close that Fashion Gap in your Tie Wardrobe. Can...paisley be next?

What does the anchor think of the site? "I'm flattered," he tells Bauder. "But with all due respect, I've got to keep my eye on the ball."