Richard Johnson

Richard Johnson

Celebrity News

NBC worried about ABC’s Muir

NBC News execs are said to be worried over the imminent coronation of David Muir, who officially takes over “ABC World News” from Diane Sawyer on Sept. 2.

“He’s already knocked off Brian Williams before he’s even started,” one network veteran told me.

Muir has been filling in for Sawyer on many nights this summer, and his ratings have been just as good as hers.

Last week, when Muir was on all week, ABC had 1.764 million viewers in the key 25 to 54 demographic that advertisers care about, beating “NBC Nightly News With Brian Williams,” which had 1.687 million.

ABC has won five of the last six weeks in the demo, though NBC has the most total viewers with 7.464 million. “CBS Evening News With Scott Pelley” is up slightly but trails with 5.953 million total viewers.

“‘Nightly News’ is solidly No. 1 in total viewers and every demo for the year,” an NBC spokeswoman told me.

No one is panicking, a source at the Peacock Network said. “Muir has been on more than Diane all summer, so nothing will change in September. We know what we’re up against because we’ve already seen it.”

Since British import Deborah Turness took over as NBC News President a year ago, “Today” and “Meet the Press” — both formerly top-rated shows — have been mired in second place.

The last thing Turness needs is for “Nightly News” to slip into second.