Rather to Host His Own Farewell Tribute on CBS

Reuters ^ | Thu Feb 17, 2005 08:31 PM ET | Steve Gorman

[Arnold Zephel]

Rather to Host His Own Farewell Tribute on CBS Thu Feb 17, 2005 08:31 PM ET By Steve Gorman LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - No sooner will Dan Rather bid viewers a final good night as anchor of the CBS Evening News than he will be back on the air to lead viewers through a retrospective of his 50 years in broadcast journalism. CBS News said on Thursday that an hourlong special, "Dan Rather: A Reporter Remembers," will be telecast on March 9, at 8 p.m. EST, within an hour of his stepping down as host and managing editor of the "Evening News." The broadcasts come exactly 24 years after Rather assumed the anchor chair from legendary newsman Walter Cronkite. The prime-time special is billed as a "candid memoir of Rather's extraordinary career, told in his own words." CBS said it will span the past five decades of his life and include never-before-seen archival footage. A network spokeswoman said Rather would address the controversy surrounding his now-discredited "60 Minutes" report last September questioning the military service of President Bush. The program will undoubtedly highlight the more celebrated points of Rather's career, including his coverage of the Kennedy assassination in 1963, the tumultuous Democratic National Convention of 1968 and the Watergate scandal during the 1970s, not to mention testy on-air exchanges with President Nixon and then-Vice President George H. W. Bush. It remained to be seen how CBS would handle Rather's less flattering moments, such as walking off the set in 1987 after a tennis match pre-empted the start of a newscast, or the jokes he endured after being assaulted on the streets of Manhattan by a man who asked him: "Kenneth, what's the frequency?" While TV retrospectives have become ubiquitous on prime time, paying homage to figures ranging from Johnny Carson to "Laverne & Shirley," a self-hosted special paying tribute to a living broadcast journalist on the day of his retirement is rare. "I don't remember them doing one like this for Walter Cronkite, but you could bet they would if Walter Cronkite were retiring today," said Robert Thompson, director of Syracuse University's Center for the Study of Popular Television. On the other hand, Thompson said, "He (Rather) has got a lot of good clips."

[LRS]

Hey Danny boy: like they told you in Chicago in 1968, just get the he11 out!

[MikefromOhio]

well I have a list as long as my arm of suggestions actually :)

but I had a vote for the first week or so after I got back from Iraq and it was like 30 to 8 to keep the name as it is....

I probably will change it eventually...we will see...

[Brian Allen]

<< There is only one GOOD 'RAT: one that has been voted OUT of POWER !! >>

There is a better one, yah know, Meeky -- and that one has never gained office in the first place!

Blessings -- Brian

[An Old Marine]

Unquestionably Danny hates the Bushes but then so do most of the MSM. My point about Danny is that he's a pathological liar. If one were to take the time and carefully look at all of the stories that have made him a name I wonder how many could stand the light of day and truth?

He lied about being a Marine at one end of his life then lied about W at the other. Why would the middle differ?

[Swanks]

I will make a forgery of the admission pass and let myself in. After all, it could have been that I was invited.

[Cultural Jihad]

> . . . with President Nixon and then-Vice President George H. W. Bush......

So Spiro and Gerald were just figureheads ?

I dwelled on that sentence a while, too. We don't say "then-President" Nixon, since it's an honorary title kept for life. But in the case of GHWBush, he was both the VP and President, and hence what the article tried to say was that the discredited reporter had "testy exchanges with him" (read: rude, ideologically-addled barbs thrown at him) when he was the VP.

[Cultural Jihad]

I will make a forgery of the admission pass and let myself in. After all, it could have been that I was invited.

Your invitation will be real, even if the admission pass is a fake.

[Arnold Zephel]

LOL...Irony is funny. Irony can also be tragic, but obviously that doesn't apply in this case.

[MeekOneGOP]

What's really funny is I recall that when I made that pic, the Ra^ther
head fit PERFECTLY over Nixon's head. I didn't have to touch up
the edges to "clean" it up afterward.

[George Smiley]

Given his history of chronic rectocranioitis, he should have no trouble whatsoever kissing his own ass.

[expatpat]

I'm sure you were invited -- you just haven't been able to find the invitatin that you know exists.

[highflight]

BINGO!

You nailed it.........again.

[Starboard]

The broadcasts come exactly 24 years after Rather assumed the anchor chair from legendary newsman Walter Cronkite.

---

Derailed his own career and never made it to the quarter century mark. 24 years of biased arrogance.

[sevry]

and include never-before-seen archival footage.

I wonder if it's going to be Gunga-Dan on 'safari' to deepest darkest Abilene? and a roadside Kinko's?

A lot of unanswered questions, there. Or if he didn't pick them up, then I wonder if they have studio footage of the review when someone laid out the memos on a table, and Ra^ther got his first look at the narrow serif font, with matching superscript, and so on. Would be fun to see if there was a twinge of disappointment on his face. "We'll run with it!" After all, gotta get BOOOSH - who is the real enemy.

It's just a WONDERFUL legacy for a 'serious journalist'. They compare Eastwood's film to Goebbels award-winning effort over a half century ago. Well, I wonder that CBS is trying win some Emmy award named after ole Joe, for 'excellence' on television or something. Then again, it does seem as if the entire LM is after THAT award.

[Lancey Howard]

(( ping ))

Check out posts #107 and #160.
Also, lots of other goodies on this thread.

Regards,
LH