A newcomer on the election night broadcasting scene, Amazon Prime’s “Election Night Live” with Brian Williams, is a novel effort to disrupt the big-network monopoly on unpacking race results. The free, online broadcast is drawing mixed reactions, though, with its fever-dream-esque soundstage and divisive on-air talent.
The light-on-production stream is especially fielding criticism for its “budget” equipment.
Election Night Live With Brian Williams has some budget tech. pic.twitter.com/mLrsDX7Q9c
— Patrick Keane (@phkeane) November 5, 2024
“Election Night Live With Brian Williams has some budget tech,” one user wrote on X, in a jab at the household-sized TV powering state-by-state analysis.
Media commentator Max Tani of Semafor described the broadcast as “weirdly lo-fi,” questioning the who’s-who of “ex-cable news regulars whose contracts didn't get renewed.”
Amazon touted the sparsely furnished studio and un-flashy graphics as a refreshing departure from the typical horse-race network trappings, on the other hand, focusing instead on discussion and other media round-ups.
“We are not encumbered by a Decision Desk tonight,” Williams said early in the broadcast. “We are watching everything so you need only watch us.”
But perhaps most striking is the broadcast's difficult-to-describe “cursed vibe,” social media users say. Williams’ desk in front of a “middle of the road” AI-generated rural American scene sparked confusion, for example.
What the hell is going on at Amazon Prime? pic.twitter.com/w7oiurUfNS
— Scott Bryan (@scottygb) November 5, 2024
“They created some type of election Thunderdome with Americana scenes painted on the walls. About 20 pundits appear awkwardly trapped on live stream,” another X user said.
“The Brian Williams election night spectacular is a 500mg gummy that mentioned in the 4-minute orchestral founding fathers montage intro that there was an eclipse this year,” comedy writer Matt Negrin said in a post to Bluesky.
Williams, who left MSNBC in 2015 several months following a scandal over his wartime exaggeration, is being met with mixed reactions, too.
“OY Brian Williams is so awful,” columnist Amy Dickinson wrote on Bluesky. “He's like that carpool dad who is trying really hard to be cool.”
