Word: sawyer
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...curtain was about to rise on Broadway's Hair when Jim Murphy's cell phone rang. The call was from his boss, ABC News president David Westin, informing Murphy, the senior executive producer at Good Morning America, that come 2010, GMA was losing Diane Sawyer to World News...
...Diane has certainly earned the job," says Murphy, who called to congratulate Sawyer at intermission. "But it's a heartache and a headache for GMA." (Read Diane Sawyer's essay about Oprah Winfrey in the 2009 TIME 100 issue...
...While most of the reactions to Sawyer's new gig have centered on the seismic change in evening news - two female anchors! - the morning shows are left in far greater flux. A great morning news show is not entirely dependent on talent; breaking news is important, as is landing the biggest, most topical guests. But famous anchors make the other parts easier...
...During her decade at GMA, Sawyer famously snagged highly desirable guests because she was Diane freakin' Sawyer. Celebrities were warm to her because she was married to director Mike Nichols, the world's most genial man. Hard-news guests appreciated her résumé of serious journalism, which includes stints on 60 Minutes and Primetime Live. Plus, she's a legendarily hard worker. (A request for an interview - she must have gotten hundreds - was met with a polite personal e-mail: "I'm not talking right now but will remember you called.") As a booker at a rival show...
...behind the desk of a nightly newscast is the equivalent of a network throne, morning news is more like the couch. But there's money in that couch - more, in fact, than at 6:30 p.m. Despite being a perennial runner-up to NBC's Today show, GMA, under Sawyer, was a huge asset to ABC's bottom line. But the show has struggled recently, allowing CBS's The Early Show to approach it in the ratings. Without Sawyer that struggle gets even harder, and the show may have to reimagine itself as less anchor-driven. "I think what might...