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The newly revamped Nightline, sans Ted Koppel, has launched to less than stellar reviews. The show that premiered on ABC on Monday night just after Monday night football was, from all accounts, a solidly produced newscast. But its new format - three hosts presenting three stories rather than a single host on a single topic for a full half hour - left something to be desired, according to Robert Bianco of USA Today. He called it a competent newscast, but “one that has gone from a show you stay up to see to one you watch if you’re up.”
The New York Daily News coverage of the show agreed that the three major stories from the new hosts, Cynthia McFadden, Terry Moran, and Martin Bashir, left more questions unanswered than answered. New York Newsday reserved judgment for awhile at least, writing “…this is all just beginning, and - considering all the hand wringing that’s preceded it - a perfectly respectable one at that.”
But it was a Philadelphia Inquirer blogger who arguably made the most interesting point, at least for media buyers: the fact is, the new Nightline launched after Monday Night Football, making it, as usual, a late night. Viewing tends to drop from MNF to Nightline, so why, asked Inquirer columnist Gail Shister, was ABC determined to air its first post-Ted show in the wee hours of Tuesday morning?
Perhaps because it gives the new Nightline a chance to make some mistakes on its first night out when fewer people, and fewer Nightline regulars, are watching (Nightline on Mondays has averaged 3.32 million viewers on Mondays, 3.37 million Tuesday through Friday when it airs at an earlier time, according to ABC).
But another, sneakier reason could be behind the move: ABC owner Disney is said to desire Nightline’s time slot for an entertainment show that would be more lucrative, and a weak showing from Nightline would serve to support the argument, Shister writes.
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Yesterday at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer announced the development of a coveted liaison with Verizon Wireless.
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Kroger,…
