Posted on 06/29/2005 11:56:38 PM PDT by kcvl
June 30, 2005 -- DAYTIME talk show star Ellen DeGeneres had secret meetings with ABC executives to fill the late-night void that Ted Koppel will create when he retires in December after 25 years as host of "Nightline," a source tells PAGE SIX.
Conventional wisdom was that ABC would tap a host with a hard-news background to replace Koppel. Anne Sweeney, president of Disney-ABC Television, said back in April that the network's news division would be be given first crack at developing a program to air in the post-Koppel era, which is still slated to be called "Nightline."
But a network insider tells PAGE SIX that ABC has not abandoned the idea of hiring a host who could square off against Jay Leno and David Letterman in the late-night ratings war — and has indeed reached out to the popular DeGeneres, who recently signed a six-year deal to continue her Emmy-winning daytime chatfest.
"There have been meetings with DeGeneres going on for a while," insisted our snitch. "If news can't come up with something, this is something they are exploring as a possibility."
The secret negotiations could spell doom for Jimmy Kimmel, whose struggling midnight talk show would be cancelled should ABC and DeGeneres agree on a deal.
But reps for both DeGeneres and ABC pooh-poohed our insider's assertions.
A spokeswoman for DeGeneres told us: "Ellen has not had any meetings or conversations with ABC and she has a long-term contract with Telepictures," which owns her daytime show.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
A tragic choice for a tragic show for a tragic network.
"All this week on Dykeline with Ellen DeGeneres."
OMG! And we think the show has a liberal bias now?
No one will notice anyway.
So Ann wants Ellen... ummm
Or they could spell the best thing that ever happened to his career, and he can go back to being funny on Ben Stein's show, and back to be vulgar and tasteless (but often funny) on The Man Show.
"The secret negotiations could spell doom for Jimmy Kimmel, whose struggling midnight talk show would be cancelled should ABC and DeGeneres agree on a deal."
What does one thing have to do with the other?
She's not a bad choice, really - she is funny and most importantly different from the other two guys in that timeslot. Best guess is that she would cut into Letterman's pie more than Leno's when the dust settles.
Her show is actually quite child-friendly. She hardly - if ever - brings up the lesbian issue. She's not really political in her interviews. Her show is usually just a bunch of innocent fun. However, I don't think this would be a good move for ABC because they'd have to split the latenight talk show audience three ways with two much more established talents in Leno and Letterman. I would instead urge ABC to try a nightly concert series - maybe live from Times Square or something.
bookmark
In a way this would be the ultimate insult to the sanctimonious Koppel - being replaced by a mindless pervert.
Hmmmm...from 'Nightline' to 'Dykelyne'. That little change ought to run up the ratings!
The word "Gig" and a lesbian used in the same sentence? An honest mistake I'm sure.
Now, That was worth getting up early to see.
Popular? With whom? With MSM elites who just love trotting out a lesbian and and foisting her upon us. See, lesbian, you like, got it?
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