Look forward to seeing this piece.  Am so thrilled that you are doing follow ups on this series.  When the original series aired, it began a conversation for many of us with our parents along with making us think toward the future.

Dear Brian,

I'm sure the story on Ann Curry's father will be very emotional, particularly because her loss is so fresh.  I'm sorry for all the health issues your father is experiencing; I know it takes a toll on you and the rest of the family, as well.  My father died of bladder cancer nearly 17 years ago - Wednesday, June 5, 1991.  He was only 60.  I was only 20.  I said when Mr. Curry died that it's a hard thing for a daughter to lose her daddy.  It certainly is.  My mother has a myriad of health problems now, at the young age of 69.  Yesterday, I got one of THOSE phone calls at work.  I was in a panic the whole way home.  Fortunately, it was just a false alarm.  The thing is, before I got that phone call, I was all geared up to weigh in on the Bush  vs. Engel "controversy," and on the snide post left about Lisa, Jackie, Anna, Matt, and me within the responses to the Steve Capus/Ed Gillespie correspondence.  I mean, I'm no Tucker Carlson, but when I get wound up, I can give you a good dressing down!  But now, it just seems like such a waste of energy.  People are going to say their hateful things, but it's not going to change my world.  I am simply grateful to have one more day.  I am not a cyclone victim in Burma, nor an earthquake victim in China, nor a victim of the genocide in Darfur.  I do not face the battle that Senator Kennedy faces.  I do not live a charmed life, but I am luckier than most.  Instead of adding to the negativity, I need to strive to be deserving of the gifts I have been given.  Maybe we all need to just stop and take a breath, sometimes.  Anyway, I have my friends here.  Take care, all of you!

Lisa:  You see, June 5th holds a negative memory for me.  I am glad you will be able to make the same date into a positive one!  Think of me!

Celine:  I hope you saw my "Verbal Kint" update on Saturday's blog.  Kevin Spacey will be a guest on Charlie Rose tonight.

To all my friends:  Lisa, Jackie, Stephanie, Celine, Claudia, Anna, and Matt - lots of love.  XOXO

Good Evening Mr.Williams, This will be a truly emotional series as I remember Ann Curry's original piece she did about her father. He raised a wonderful daughter and I'm sure this will be very touching, moving and very emotional to watch. Your own father has been through so much and I recall your piece with him. It was very moving and special for you of course and for the viewers to see. He certainly raised a fine son who has accomplished many things and become a terrific anchor. This series is very important and I think having people from NBC sharing with the viewers their caring for their parents makes it quite special for everyone. Looking forward to the broadcast Mr.Williams. Peace to you and to all!

Lots of Love to Laurel,Jackie and Stephanie!
Hi to all great ladies of this blog!
Be well always!

Mr. Williams,

Illnesses and death reach so many people on a personal level sometimes, even when they don't know each other. Ann Curry is one of my favorite people to watch in the news industry, and its hard to see this part of her life in such a public forum. I think a large part of the discussion obviously revolves around health care in our country. It's almost everyday we hear about a new person that has been diagnosed with cancer, or any other form of illness. I try not to post on here when the topics revolve around someones death, as I feel I have nothing of any value to contribute on that day. But I will say that I wish both yourself and Mrs. Curry the best and continued support through these times.

Good Evening Mr.Williams, I just want to say that it is very hard for a daughter to lose her daddy. My father passed away in February of 1995 and he was only 65. I still have my mother and she doesn't have any major health issues. But I am always concerned if she shows any signs of problems. We are very close and I always spend time with her and besides we are alot alike. I know this will be a very emotional piece and I think Ann Curry is truly special. There are many things happening in the world and many people are in desperate need of help. My thoughts and prayers go out to all who are in need. I know it is difficult to see your parent ill. I hope your father recovers nicely Mr.Williams. My thoughts go out to you and your family. Peace to you and to all!

Laurel-I will think of you and my thoughts go out to you. I hope everything is okay with your mother. I will think of you on that day. Take extra good care Laurel!

Best of everything to Laurel,Jackie and Stephanie!
All the best to all the great ladies of this blog!
XOXO

Dear Brian,

Just watched the touching piece on Ann Curry's dear father and it was indeed very moving. I'm so glad you have all let us into your personal lives to connect with what we of the "sandwich" generation all go through. It bonds us all together. Hope your father's health improves. Best wishes to Ann.

Aww, I loved it (the story).

Good Evening Mr. Williams, I have never read your blog but had to touch base tonight.  Please thank Anne Curry for her story of her father's life and his death.  I buried my father in Dec. of 2004 after a two year battle of colon cancer.  He raised three girls after my mother died suddenly at age 40 in 1972.  

I treasured watching him live and die gracefully.  I told him I would be fine when he left me.  I am fine but truly miss his humor, advice, and his love.

Anne touched me and many others.  
Thank you for that wonderful story.  
Jack's daughter,
Becky

Dear Brain, My heart goes out to Ann and her family. I watched the show and was very touched my the story. I myself went through something simalar almost 2 years ago. I took care of my Dad untill he passed away. Thank You for sharing your personal lives with us it helps us with facing the same sad times in our own lives. I pray your Father will get better everyday and that you will have many more days left to enjoy him in your life. My Prayers also go out to Ann  

dear ann, what a great dad you had and what a great way the family honored him and to be able to be with him up to his last days, i could'nt be with my dad when he died, and 50 years later it still bothers me , thank god every day for a wonderful life he had, and the grear family,,,

Mr. Williams,
I don't know how to contact Ann Curry, so I am sending this to you in hopes that it will somehow reach her. My name is Lizzy Gonzalez and last year, on April 16th, I lost my father very suddenly, a victim of a massive heart attack. He was 51 years old, had spent that same day on the barbeque feeding our entire family in celebration of my 25th birthday, and was 3 months away from walking me down the aisle. That night, I got a call from my mother, rushed to the hospital, and he was gone. I cannot express how hard watching Ann's story was for me. It reminded me so much of my own loss. However, as hard as it was, I am so thankful to her for opening her heart and her life to the public in such a beautiful way. As Ann's family did, my mom, my sisters and I spent most of the wake and burial laughing, telling each other jokes and celebrating a life that was cut short but that brought so much happiness to us all. There is no doubt that that is how he would have wanted it. I look at my time with my father and I am very grateful and proud of the time that I had with him. In a world where so many children are ignored or abandoned by their parents, I had two people who loved me more than life. I was given 25 years worth of a man who encompassed so much integrity and so much goodness that he made friends everywhere he went. It almost seems selfish for me to be sad that he's gone because I was so blessed. I can only be grateful that he was MY dad... that I got to experience that kind of goodness first-hand and that he still lives on inside me. I just want to thank Ann for reminding me how blessed I was to have such a man in my life and for so beautifully articulating so many of the thoughts that I have in my heart. As hard as it is to relive the day I lost him, doing so makes me remember all the days that I had him, and for that I can only thank you.

Good Evening Mr.Williams, First of all I will say the "Trading Places" piece by Ann Curry moved me to tears and I remembered my own dad and the things he would say and do. It was extremely moving to hear Ann speak about her father and recall all the jokes he would say. Seeing and hearing him make funny comments about things and the laughter coming from the family was so very touching. Having the photograghs of him and reading what he wrote down are treasured memories for Ann and her family to cherish forever. He brought such joy to the people around him and that is something the family will hold in their minds and hearts always. Even laughing at the funeral because that is what he would have wanted was so very poignant. It speaks of the person in such a special way. Live and love life and love those around you. Cherish your family and the people around you. Love the friendships you have in your life. Ann is a very special person and it was a very moving tribute to her beloved father.
Regarding the rest  of the broadcast, It was nice to hear from Senator Kennedy. It is good he is back home at near the water where he enjoyed so many memories growing up.
On another note I hope the wildfires in California get put out soon and that twister is Denver looked really scary. I am happy those children in the day care center were spared.
Thank you for the broadcast Mr.Williams. A very moving tribute by Ann. You are very special. Peace to you and to all!

Lots of Love to Laurel,Jackie and Stephanie!
Hi to all great ladies of this blog!
Big Hug to you Laurel! My thoughts go out to you and your mother.
All be well!

Hi Brian I read Ann's post about her Dad and made my comment, I hope it helps her and others.

Now it seems Senator Obama isn't waiting for the voters to make a choice, he's moved on and made himself the nominee. This shows how much disrespect he has for the voters. But with this conduct he might get a bigger surprise when the voters don't show up for him. I know it's his advisers who are directing him. This is the first time in history and black man/ woman have run for President. Obama will soon learn it might be the first time Democrat voters don't vote in Nov.  Never take anyone for granted as Howard Dean and Nancy Pelosi are doing.  Without Hillary on the ticket John McCain wins. At lease the Democrats can't blame Karl Rove.

Good to see John McCain picked a new Minister to bad he's just like Hagee. I saw McCain on Ellen's Show. Talk about losing votes one would think he'd had more since then to disrespect gays on national Television. He could have simply said let the States make that decision, but with little brain cells left he said something stupid yet again.

As the gas prices go up and just might reach 5 dollars by mid June, Russia's gas price is $1.45 and China $1.54 per gallon.  Not only did the Chinese Government quickly handle the Earthquake damage but they also worked hard for low gas prices for their citizens. Maybe the White House could learn something from them, as we saw how the US Government handled the Katrina Storm victims and gas prices quickly going up

We're seen many medical problems and stories of cancer victims. I realized if I have a health problem it's over. Like 95% of Americans health care to only for those who can afford it even if they have insurance it might not be enough. With the two possible McCain/Obama I can only pray the God blesses me with no medical problems and yes I have to take care of my health to. Hillary spoke during the 90's about Universal Health Care, but like many baby boomers who were in good jobs with great insurance plans we let opportunity get away. Now with the US National Debt close to 11 Trillion dollars, US recession, Billions of taxpayers money going to Iraq/Afghanistan/Contractor/Pockets of Law Makers and big business it doesn't look good.  We have borrowed so much money from Foreign Countries and the Bush Administration is working as fast as they can to steal as much before the term is over.  I'm still hoping my daughter gets a job in Canada then I'm saved.

best always to my friends Lisa, Laural, Stephanie, Anne and Matt

See you at 6:30pm

This story makes me upset.  My dad is dead and I would love his story to be on the national news.  I don't get it.  We all suffer hardships and many of us love parents.  I am insulted by this story.  I miss my dad but he was just a common guy and so am I so his story is not worthy.  
Let's have news on the news hour.  

You were right yesterday, too much sadness. Mary, look at it this way, Ann's telling her story tells the story of many, and honors, not just her father, but all the good fathers in this country. I'm truly sorry it upset you, that wasn't the intent.

I guess what struck me was how hard he tried to make easier for his children. I've tried to do that for mine, all the plans in order, even left a daughter in  law in charge, just because I don't trust 3 sons not to argue like they did as little kids ! Told them that too!

A special word about Nathan, who I think we should nominate as an honorary regular, how wonderful that someone so young would reach out to someone he doesn't know ( and at 16 I don't expect him to understand the place of Ted Kennedy in history) with such an uplifting message. i do hope someone shows Sen. Kennedy that clip.

I find the series on "Trading Places" to be nothing more than a
sentimental Tabloid-like piece of fluff..
It is also Self-Serving with Self-Adulation on the part of
Brian Williams, Maria Manounos, Nancy Snyderman and
Ann Curry to profile themselves and their ailing/dying parents
in such a manner.
All are affluent and financially well off, enough to be able
to provide for your parents as you rightfully/ethically should.
Given your status, it would be almost sinful not to do so.

Yet you seem to be self promoting and seeking admiration/recognition for what you are doing.
There are so many, many other such stories of
less fortunate people who are struggling/sacrificing
even more and harder to provide that same love/care to
their parents/family.
Those are the untold stories that would be more
newsworthy, and to which a bigger portion of your viewers
could relate/appreciate.

Hi Laurel:

I try not to reply to folks that are so rude.  It is not worth it.  Life is too short.  I am 110/70 here and don't want to ever have high BP.

The main thing is that the "regulars" may not agree with everything said by Brian or Richard but we are smart enough to not to be so rude to each other and attack each other.

All that media bias non-sense.   People see what they want to see, believe what they want to believe and feel what they want to feel.    You can't change a person's mind on this media bias.    

Who is the media anyway?   What is mainstream media vs. the gay media vs. radio vs. print vs. television?
 
For many, many people on that Capus post I believe their cups are 1/2 broken.   I mean who could be so, so mean and rude.

Bests to all!  

@ Brian:

Sorry to hear all the bad news about your Dad!  I hope he is doing a little bit better.

@ All:

Just purchased my Mom a ticket on Airtran tonight.   Did you know they have the rate plus a SEAT charge?   We had to pay $6 extra each way for a seat.   If you want the exit row, they were $20 each way.    Inflation again!   But seat charge?  Go figure!  

Mikal no need to worry as in heaven everyone is equal. Now people lead different lives and so have and some don't. What you missed from the story is it's not about the financial wealth of a person it's the love that is the wealth.  Try renting the movie It's a Wonderful Life, as the lesson of wealth is told. When we come in this world we have nothing and we leave this world with nothing.  The NBC staff that spoke of their families earned what they have and shouldn't be ashamed of it. I understand how hard it is today as I'm a baby boomer, I live with my daughter and I'm supported by all my kids. Life is the value I see and wealth isn't important. All the money in the world can't give you health and happiness as was pointed out in the Trading Places series. Each American has their own story and it's good to hear everyone.  I wish you the best this world has to offer and it was interesting reading your point of view.

My goodness, has Ann Curry no shame?  It has been barely a month since her father passed away, and she is already exploiting him in the hope of gaining a ratings point or two for Nightly News.  In fact, your entire "Trading Places" series is nothing more than a shameless exercise in narcissism for your correspondents.  In case you haven't checked lately, your broadcast is called "NBC Nightly News".  There is not a shred of news in these fatuous, inane stories.  On Thursday, you did not even bother to mention the disasters in China or Burma, but you devoted almost 4 minutes to Ann Curry's narcissistic segment.  Brian sure was right when he said Ann's story will be tough to watch.  It's always tough to watch something so excruciatingly devoid of content.  The executive producer of Nightly News should be fired and replaced with someone who has a clue about what constitutes actual news.  And Brian, concerning your promise to update us on your father:  Please don't.  We're not really interested.  Give us some real news instead.

Meanwhile, NBC News continues to receive a failing grade in grammar.  During Thursday's story about the Texas polygamist cult, Don Teague told us that an appeals court decision stated that "...the lower court abused its decision in failing to return the children to their parents."  One of the transcript excerpts that flashed on the screen read "abused it's (sic) decision".  When are the NBC producers and editors going to understand that "it's" (with apostrophe) is only used as a contraction for "it is" or "it has".  Any other use of the word (such as to indicate possession) does not take an apostrophe.  Next time you run a story about how American students are lagging behind students in other countries with regard to math and language skills, keep in mind that you are contributing to this widening gap with your poor grammatical examples.

Why keep covering up for McCain? McCain called Pastor John Hagee a great supporter of Israel. It turns out Hagee once said that God sent Hitler to help Jews find their way to the promised land. NBC only reported a remark that was shocking but not as clear.

NBC also let McCain get away with saying he didn't know about all of Hagee's past remarks but they have been posted all over the Internet.

Why not give McCain the same 30 night long scrutiny that Obama received over Pastor Wright?

This is not news and has no place on a serious newscast.  You can't justify this story just because he was the father of an employee.  Really disappointing

Brian, I was wondering if you could give an update on when your story on the retired military generals propaganda program is going to be?  It's been nearly a month since you last addressed it, so I'm guessing you're really putting together a hard-hitting in-depth look at it!  Please keep us updated!

What a wonderful segment about Ann and her father!  Your mentioning of Hospice couldn’t have come at a better time.    With Medicare cutbacks just around the corner there will be many patients that won’t be referred to Hospice or won’t be referred until they are in their final stages of dying.  
Dying is a like a journey and it takes time to prepare the patient and the family.  Our goal is to provide comfort, peace and dignity at the end of life.  Whether a person is in a hospital, home or nursing home they deserve to be comfortable and have their wishes carried out.  This is done by nurses who are highly skilled in symptom management and social workers and chaplains who are trained in end of life care.
As a final point, society celebrates the beginning of life when a child is born, so shouldn’t society make a big deal about the end of life?

Kandice Shepherd RN
DeLand, Florida

What a wonderful segment about Ann and her father!
 Your mentioning of Hospice couldn’t have come at a better time. With Medicare cutbacks just around the corner there will be many patients that won’t be referred to Hospice or won’t be referred until they are in their final stages of dying.  
Dying is a like a journey and it takes time to prepare the patient and the family.  Our goal is to provide comfort, peace and dignity at the end of life.  Whether a person is in a hospital, home or nursing home they deserve to be comfortable and have their wishes carried out.  This is done by nurses who are highly skilled in symptom management and social workers and chaplains who are trained in end of life care.

As a final point, society celebrates the beginning of life when a child is born, so shouldn’t society make a big deal about the end of life?

Kandice Shepherd RN
DeLand, Florida

Dear Mr. Williams,
I am a first time viewer of your blog. I will check it out more often from now on. I am 73 years old and except for the cancer I have had all the things your father has gone through. Unfortuniately I was not able to watch your show last evening because I did not get home from work until after 7PM. Yes I am still working at 73. I thought I would have retired years ago. But with the cost of everything being a lot more then it used to be I have to work. Fortuniately, I have a good job doing auditing for a non-profit organazation that takes care of mentally challanged adults. I usually work three days a week and can pick the days and times that I work so that I can go to doctors appointments when I have to. I average about one and a half visits to various doctors every week. But they are keeping me alive so that I can enjoy my wife of 46 years and the cutiest little grand-daughter in the world. She is almost 3 years old and calls me papa. So I hope to stay around a while longer. Is it possible to see a repeat of the story from last night on my computer?
              Thank you, I will be watching tonight

After reading the responses posted to the blog so far, and I read them all, one thing is certain, this story touched something that illicited an emotional response. . . or many of them! Maybe it's (got it right Norman!) because it was so raw, so fresh, so real, and we so rarely get anything like this on television.  Maybe it's because it's something so many viewers are dealing with and/or have dealt with.

While I definitely agree that the argument about whether this type of story should be on Nightly is one that it valid and should be had from time-to-time, what I don't understand is why that argument was really only made by one person who's posted thus far - Nathan - without some sort of personal attack on Ann Curry, Brian Williams, et al.  

Norman and Mikal, I think I understand what you're trying to say, that the "Trading Places" series in not "hard news," and thus shouldn't be on a nightly news program, but was it necessary to jab at people, real people?  Of course, you have a right to do so.  I guess I just didn't understand why.  

Norman, did you talk to Ann and have her tell you she was exploiting her father's death for ratings?  You said that's what she was doing, so I of course have to believe you heard her say that since you didn't indicate that this was your perception but rather wrote it as fact.  Also, could I ask who the "we" is your statement, "we're really not interested"?  I thought these blogs were us speaking for ourselves.  Perhaps you have polled the entire viewing public of Nightly to find out that everyone isn't really interested, in which case your statement then would be accurate.  

My opinion is that if we're going to disagree or debate things, let's stick to the words people say or the real issue at hand, and ask questions about people's arguments instead of calling names.  

I was just scrolling up from here and I found a section on the right hand side of my computer and was able to see Ann Curry's story. It was very interesting. I always wondered who the parents of this beautiful, talented person was. Now I know it shows that people, all people who love each other can make wonderful parents and turn out great kids.

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