In 1989, NBC's News executive Dick Ebersol, sensing a need for a change, replaced Pauley with Deborah Norville in what turned out to be a public relations, let alone ratings, disaster. But Pauley walked away from "Today" nonplused, seemingly pleased to no longer have to live by the early morning show's schedule, to have more time for her children and husband, "Doonesbury" cartoonist Garry Trudeau. She stuck with NBC News and the network immediately gave her a special "Changes: Conversations with Jane Pauley" (1990), in which she interviewed celebrities. Later that year, she did five "Real Life With Jane Pauley" programs as a prototype for primetime newsmagazine. While "Real Life" aired weekly during the 1991-92 season, it did not click with the audience. Pauley was then teamed with Stone Phillips on the revamped "Dateline: NBC" (1992- ). Although it was slow to build, by the outset of the 1995-96 season, "Dateline" was seen on the primetime schedule twice weekly and many nights its ratings were higher than that of ABC's older "20/20", ironically co-hosted by Walters. So buoyed was the network that early in 1996, it scheduled yet another "Dateline" night--Sundays--against CBS' formidable "60 Minutes". Pauley has also served as a substitute anchor for Tom Brokaw on the "NBC Nightly News". With the launch of a new cable news channel, MSNBC, in 1996, Pauley was also tapped to host "Time and Again", a nightly look at history as viewed by NBC News.