Posted on 02/06/2005 9:45:37 PM PST by Dont Mention the War
8:58 PM PST, February 6, 2005
Three years after narrowly surviving the ax, ABC's long-running "Nightline" is in jeopardy again.
Network parent Walt Disney Co. is serious enough about replacing the late-night news show — hosted by Ted Koppel since 1980 — to have ordered executives to start devising alternatives, according to sources familiar with the plans.
ABC News last week shot a pilot for one possible "Nightline" replacement, a freewheeling show hosted by Washington reporter Jake Tapper and Bill Weir, the co-anchor of the weekend edition of "Good Morning America," according to two people inside the network. One of the pilot's top stories was about the Michael Jackson child molestation trial — exactly the kind of tabloid-friendly fodder that the generally sober-minded "Nightline" has tended to avoid.
Disney's ESPN, meanwhile, is said to be developing an all-sports program for ABC's 11:35 p.m. slot, presumably in hopes of luring the relatively abundant supply of young men watching TV at that hour. An ESPN spokeswoman reached late Friday said she was unaware of such plans.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
That's gotta hurt.
If Viacom was smart, they would put the Daily Show into the Nightline spot.
Opposite the Nightline slot? Viacom = CBS.
He was yesterday a long time ago. The most contemptible thing I've seen him do was interviewing ex-Vietcong to impugn the integrity of the Swiftees.
Iran Crisis: America Held Hostage!, circa 11/4/79.
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