BRIAN WILLIAMS, BROKAW'S SUCCESSOR, A LITTLE BIT STIFF.

Byline: David Kronke Television Critic

Brian Williams signed off his first newscast as anchor of ``The NBC Nightly News'' on Thursday paying tribute ``friend, mentor and leader'' Tom Brokaw, his colleagues and, on a particularly personal note, ``my own family.''

Williams replaces Brokaw, who concluded his 21-year run as anchor of ``Nightly News'' on Wednesday. Williams is hardly a newcomer to the job. He served as NBC's full-time substitute anchor for the past two years and subbed for Brokaw occasionally throughout the past decade.

Williams' brisk, efficient performance underscores a semblance of stability NBC is hoping for amid the rapidly changing landscape of network news. While an estimated 25.8 million viewers tune in to one of the three network evening newscasts, their Nielsen ratings have dropped nearly 30 percent over the past decade. Moreover, CBS anchor Dan Rather will also be retiring in March, leaving ABC's Peter Jennings as the lone veteran anchor among the evening network newscasts.

NBC hopes Williams can maintain the program's standing as the top-rated of the three network evening newscasts; Brokaw's show has been top dog the last eight years. On Wednesday, his signoff drew 15.4 million viewers.

``It's absolutely critical for NBC to maintain ratings success with the `Nightly News,''' says Marc Berman, television analyst for Mediaweek. ``They have so many other problems they can't afford to screw up the news.

``I don't think Brian Williams will negatively impact the broadcast. He's very good, and he's no stranger. He's what (the other anchors) were when they started, 45 years old. I expect he'll sit there for 20 years himself.''

Lee Siegel, television critic of The New Republic, agrees that Williams is in the job for the long haul, even if early reviews are unkind.

``These people are like buildings - every new building I can think of that reshaped New York City's skyline was deplored,'' said Siegel. ``A short time later, and the people who deplored them couldn't even imagine the skyline without them - same with the anchors. You could put a chimpanzee in that chair, and six months later everybody would be racing home to watch The Chimp.''

``The strange thing is,'' Siegel added of Williams, ``sitting in the anchor chair, he looks strikingly like Peter Jennings.''

Of those responding to an America Online poll, only 7 percent said they would quit watching NBC's newscast in the wake of Brokaw's departure.

Network newscasts' woes are exaggerated, Siegel believes, noting that ``no cable channel comes even close'' to the networks' news audiences. ``Just because you're not drawing every demographic group in every part of the country, it's not a crisis.''

In his maiden broadcast, Williams, in a charcoal suit and lavender tie, introduced stories about the iffy proposition of Iraqi security forces ensuring a safe election in January, President Bush's evolving Cabinet, a thorny predicament involving a United Nations employee accused of genocide and baseball star Jason Giambi's admission to steroid use, and the rather unsurprising revelation that despite what their marketers may say, video games aimed at toddlers are not good for them.

Many have criticized Williams' ostensible stiffness as he reads the news from a teleprompter. There's a pronounced difference between his booming anchor voice and his more conversational tone as an interviewer, as demonstrated on Thursday's broadcast when he queried NBC's Tim Russert on sundry issues.

The difference between Williams the man and Williams the anchor is more marked than would be said of Brokaw, Jennings or Rather. When you interview any of the veteran anchors or see them on a talk show, their personalities fairly line up with what you see while they perform their anchoring chores.

With Williams, on the other hand, there's a wide gulf between the staidly earnest anchorman and the real man, who appeared quite witty. When he appeared Tuesday on ``The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,'' his quick wit had comedian Stewart trying to keep up.

``If I err, I err on the side of believing this is a serious business,'' Williams explained of his anchoring philosophy in a recent interview.

But New York Times cultural critic Frank Rich divines perhaps an insincerity in Williams' anchorman guise.

In a column that will appear in Sunday's Times, Rich writes, ``We need honest information to help us navigate, not bunkum skewed to flatter one segment of the country, whatever that segment might be.''

Rich went on to quote Jeff Zucker, the NBC president, who described one of Williams' strengths this way: ``No one understands this NASCAR nation more than Brian.''

David Kronke, [phone]

david.kronke(at)dailynews.com