He has overcome it.
Peter Alexander is saying sayonara to NBC News after nearly 22 years — including 15 years on the White House beat and eight years as co-anchor of “Saturday Today,” we’ve heard.
The reason for his departure is a familiar one for TV anchors: According to our source, the rigors of a 6-7 day work week have left him yearning to spend more time with his family and young children.
And while that may be true, we’re told Alexander was also upset at being overlooked for top jobs at the network’s more prestigious shows like “Today” and “Nightly News.”
“He’ll be the first to say he has ambitions for top anchor jobs, and after filling all those spots recently, he’s going to try something new,” the source said.
Alexander, who is also the network’s chief White House correspondent, took over the “Saturday Today” anchor seat from Craig Melvin in 2018 after he was ousted to make way for a more permanent seat at his flagship morning show. Sources told Us at the time that Melvin was given the day off on Saturdays “to accommodate weekday promotions.”
Melvin has since become the leading man on “Today”, thus giving Alexander no hope of ever landing that program. Same is the situation for other top jobs. In recent years, Tom Lamas was hired to anchor the “Nightly News”. Kristin Welker was promoted to host “Meet the Press” and Haley Jackson is anchoring “Weekend Nightly News.”
Sikandar’s last day will be on Saturday. We hear he’s set to settle for MS Now, formerly MSNBC, the 11 p.m. weekday anchor program at network NBC, which was spun off following a restructuring in 2025.
An NBC spokesperson did not reach out to us.
