1 of 1- RadioActive
- Moderator
Offline 
"Nightline" Goes Back To The Future
Talk about deja vu - or view in this case. Those of us old enough will remember when ABC's Nightline debuted in 1980 for non-stop coverage of the Iran hostage crisis, complete with that infamous countdown. ("Americans held hostage, Day 180!") It made a star out of host/anchor Ted Koppel. But when the network decided to get into the late night game with Jimmy Kimmel, the show was moved to around 12:38 AM and lost a lot of its lustre.
(To be fair, there weren't a lot of all news stations around in the early 80s - CNN came on that same year, but hadn't built itself into anything yet and wasn't taken all that seriously.)
Now that Kimmel and all the other late night shows have been pushed into permanent reruns by the Coronavirus, ABC is moving Nightline back to its original 11:35 PM spot - and will devote itself almost solely to covering COVID-19. It's a full circle turn for the once trailblazing show, that, frankly, I was surprised hung on for so long.
Perhaps as the only new thing on at that time of night, it might regain its old prominence. Another unexpected effect of the virus on the TV landscape.
Jimmy Kimmel Live! to Swap Time Slots With Coronavirus-Focused Nightline
- Media Observer
- Member
Offline
Re: "Nightline" Goes Back To The Future
Media Observer wrote:
Talk about deja vu - or view in this case. Those of us old enough will remember when ABC's Nightline debuted in 1980 for non-stop coverage of the Iran hostage crisis, complete with that infamous countdown. ("Americans held hostage, Day 180!") It made a star out of host/anchor Ted Koppel. But when the network decided to get into the late night game with Jimmy Kimmel, the show was moved to around 12:38 AM and lost a lot of its lustre.
(To be fair, there weren't a lot of all news stations around in the early 80s - CNN came on that same year, but hadn't built itself into anything yet and wasn't taken all that seriously.)
Now that Kimmel and all the other late night shows have been pushed into permanent reruns by the Coronavirus, ABC is moving Nightline back to its original 11:35 PM spot - and will devote itself almost solely to covering COVID-19. It's a full circle turn for the once trailblazing show, that, frankly, I was surprised hung on for so long.
Perhaps as the only new thing on at that time of night, it might regain its old prominence. Another unexpected effect of the virus on the TV landscape.
Jimmy Kimmel Live! to Swap Time Slots With Coronavirus-Focused NightlineThis reminded me of Letterman in '02 being approached to move his show over to ABC; displacing Nightline. To his credit, he agreed with the public sentiment that Koppel's show did not deserve such a fate.