'Dateline' History Examined: Hosts, Past Stories, Executive Producer Speaks About Show's Longevity

"Dateline" fans have been tuning in to watch the NBC show for decades. Since its premiere, it has not only reported on a wide variety of stories, but it has also featured a revolving group of hosts. Here's a look back at the popular show's history following its debut on March 31, 1992.

According to Broadcasting + Cable, "Dateline" initially aired on Tuesday nights with hosts Stone Phillips and Jane Pauley. Then, in 1994, "Dateline Wednesday" emerged, along with a third hour that was shown on Friday nights. Eventually, new episodes were then added to Monday nights in 1997, which segued into its peak in 1999 and 2000. At that time, "Dateline" was airing five nights a week.

Following the abundance of new episodes, NBC eventually scaled back the number of new programs and eliminated the Tuesday night show by 2004.

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Initially, the show broadly focused on news and human-interest stories, but eventually pivoted to the true crime content that viewers have come to currently expect. As stated by the outlet, the show has started to explore other avenues in recent years. Recently, it began airing two-hour episodes on Friday nights to give audiences more in-depth looks at the cases covered.

"We spend most of our time trying to find really good true-crime stories. We are looking for very rich stories with lots of twists and turns that have very interesting characters, very sympathetic people and victims who will let us into their stories," stated David Corvo, Dateline NBC’s senior executive producer.

Corvo also elaborated on why he thinks the network's show has had such longevity. "We’ve been a very adaptable show that’s been able to change over the years. We have a strong sense of story and we use that skill to cover almost any topic we need to cover. It’s allowed us to adapt to the changing environment," he stated.

As for the current assortment of personalities on the NBC show, viewers have become familiarized with the core five that pass off hosting duties week to week. Keith Morrison Andrea Canning, Lester Holt, Josh Mankiewicz and Dennis Murphy make up the core group that guide each of the new episodes.

Over the course of the past year, "Dateline" has examined a wide variety of cases, including Kelsey Berreth's murder, Lori Vallow's missing children, and Eduardo Garcia Valseca's kidnapping.

New episodes of "Dateline" air Friday nights at 9:00 p.m. EDT on NBC.