Analysis: MSNBC's D-Day Coverage

So earlier tonight, I was watching this experimental "newscast" on MSNBC that focused on the 60th anniversary of D-Day. Apparently willing to throw in the towel to other cable news outlets like CNN and Fox News, June 6, 1944: As It Happened is a two-hour block of news that pretends that today really is D-Day, and thus filtered through "modern news technology".

For the most part it is surpisingly entertaining: there are correspondents reporting from Churchill's bunker and Berlin (replete with grainy MPEG-ish video quality), and anchor Lester Holt casually refers to FDR as "the President". But I've identified a couple of problems and their respective solutions:

1. Lester Holt
   The affable MSNBC anchor who often subs for Matt Lauer on The Today Show, where the rapport between him and Katie Couric goes so far as: "So, Lester. What did you do this weekend." "Ah ha ha." The problem with Holt here is that he's just too young.
   The solution: Replace Lester Holt with an elderly newsman with dyed hair. Possible candidates include Walter Cronkite, Andy Rooney, and the reanimated body of Charles Kuralt.
2. The ticker
   Indeed, the scrolling ticker at the bottom is redesigned to deliver "pseudo-live" coverage. But, [in whiny designer voice] the font is all WRONG! What's this Helvetica Bold doing here flashing by in a broadcast supposedly from 1944? Hello, type anachronism alert!!!
   The solution: They should've actually had a hand-drawn ticker tape physically scrolling at the bottom of the frame. MSNBC must have interns! Come on.
3. No Chris Matthews
   Sure, Chris Matthews was probably busy doing his own D-Day coverage, but what is an MSNBC newscast without the straw-haired braying pundit we all know and love?
   The solution: Put a hat and glasses on Matthews, refer to him as "Christopher O'Matthewson the First"
4. No reenactments of famous figures
   If this really were news "as it would look like from today's technology", we wouldn't be relying on scratchy radio addresses as our principal source.
   The solution: Put a hat and glasses on John Lithgow, refer to him as FDR.
5. No Old-Tyme Commercials
   Scattered throughout the 2-hour block are commercials for Lexus and ING. This is ridiculous.
   The solution: Replace with cartoons of Donald Duck selling war bonds, and vintage commercials for stool-softening ointment (called "Dr. Feelgoode's Fabulous Deexcrementizer Creme")
6. No Deloreans, Magical Mirrors, Harp Glissandos, etc.
   For every time-traveling show, you need a time-traveling device. It's just that simple.
   The solution: In the very last minute of the show, dissolve to Lester Holt in bed at night. His eyes open. "It was all just a dream," he says, in wide-eyed wonder. A body next to him shifts. "Go back to sleep, Mrs. Roosevelt," he coos gently.