Charlie Gibson's Last Newscast as Anchor of World News Tonight

[The Voice of Reason]

Tonight (December 18th) is Gibson's last day as anchor of World News Tonight. I wish him well.
Next Monday I, and I'm pretty sure a lot more people, will be switching to Brian Williams at 6:30 p.m.
Let Katie and Diane battle it out for last place; not because they are women, but because there are still some viewers, like myself, who prefer real news anchors over fluff and entertainment.

 

[benwolf]

I think the "fluff and entertainment" image persists because of Katie's Today Show image, but I find the CBS Evening News has more hard news than NBC, with much better reporters IMO. Plus I don't have to sit through B. Williams pompous, wordy and meandering introductions to stories.

 

[imhomerjay]

And clearly a track record like 60 Minutes and the original incarnation of Primetime (future variants like crime, medical mysteries et al notwithstanding) for Sawyer were "fluff"y. :

Regardless, for anyone who gets the chance to retire and enjoy that retirement on their terms, congratulations and best wishes to them.

 

[BRNout]

And clearly a track record like 60 Minutes and the original incarnation of Primetime (future variants like crime, medical mysteries et al notwithstanding) for Sawyer were "fluff"y. :

Regardless, for anyone who gets the chance to retire and enjoy that retirement on their terms, congratulations and best wishes to them.

Dude, face facts, she's weak and will result in a steep decline of viewership for World News. Time for you to face reality here.

Decades-old experience on magazine shows (back when she was sharper, I might add) doesn't necessarily add up to appeal on an evening newscast. Just ask Barbara Walters. And Bob-wa was a stronger newscaster than Diane ever will be.

Let's resume this debate in March and see where things stand. My prediction is that Sawyer hangs on to no more than 75% of Charlie's ratings but stays ahead of Couric - which is no great feat. Brian Williams will be the undisputed #1 in the evening news ratings (while only adding a few viewers), while the big winners will be syndicated shows like TMZ, The Simpsons, Family Guy, Seinfeld and whatever else is on against World News.

Local FOX, My and CW affiliates will rejoice the increase of viewer loss from the evening news shows and may well send Sawyer and ABC bouquets and boxes of chocolates in gratitude.

 

[Bengalsfan]

But will anyone be watching? Fox News Channel triples the audience of the network newscasts...and the networks can't understand why. Which is why their viewership has fallen off a cliff.

 

[bpatrick]

And clearly a track record like 60 Minutes and the original incarnation of Primetime (future variants like crime, medical mysteries et al notwithstanding) for Sawyer were "fluff"y. :

Regardless, for anyone who gets the chance to retire and enjoy that retirement on their terms, congratulations and best wishes to them.

Dude, face facts, she's weak and will result in a steep decline of viewership for World News. Time for you to face reality here.

Decades-old experience on magazine shows (back when she was sharper, I might add) doesn't necessarily add up to appeal on an evening newscast. Just ask Barbara Walters. And Bob-wa was a stronger newscaster than Diane ever will be.

Let's resume this debate in March and see where things stand. My prediction is that Sawyer hangs on to no more than 75% of Charlie's ratings but stays ahead of Couric - which is no great feat. Brian Williams will be the undisputed #1 in the evening news ratings (while only adding a few viewers), while the big winners will be syndicated shows like TMZ, The Simpsons, Family Guy, Seinfeld and whatever else is on against World News.

Local FOX, My and CW affiliates will rejoice the increase of viewer loss from the evening news shows and may well send Sawyer and ABC bouquets and boxes of chocolates in gratitude.

While Katie's number one in my neck of the woods (courtesy of three strong CBS affiliates: WFMY, WRAL, and WDBJ), if the number of people I talk to translates into ratings, "TMZ" on WGHP/Fox 8 at 6:30 has made some inroads at that time. And more and more, people tell me they watch one of the cable news channels, especially Fox News. I won't predict who'll be number one come March, but I can tell you I won't be watching any of the Big Three (Katie, Diane, or Brian).

 

[Mark Giardina]

Charlie's final words on his last newscast should be:

" I hope you had a good day....I'm going to have a great retirement!"

 

[brian77]

But will anyone be watching? Fox News Channel triples the audience of the network newscasts...and the networks can't understand why. Which is why their viewership has fallen off a cliff.

Except that the network newscasts still get 20+ million people watching every night. O'Reilly Factor, FNC's highest rated show gets 2.25 million people.

 

[BRNout]

But will anyone be watching? Fox News Channel triples the audience of the network newscasts...and the networks can't understand why. Which is why their viewership has fallen off a cliff.

Except that the network newscasts still get 20+ million people watching every night. O'Reilly Factor, FNC's highest rated show gets 2.25 million people.

That's a slight overstatement in that it's closer to 17 million, but your point remains valid. For now at least. Troubling to the networks is that FNC's audience is growing (and loyal) and theirs is shrinking fairly quickly. I don't know that the shrinkage of network news is primarily due to politics (as some would imply); to me it's more a function of changing lifestyles and changes in the ways that people consume news.

 

[jal41]

Charlie's final words on his last newscast should be:

" I hope you had a good day....I'm going to have a great retirement!"

Pretty close...he wished everyone a good holiday. A video montage of various celebrities wishing him well aired, beginning with former President Bush (43) and ending with President Obama. It also featured Katie Couric and Brian Williams, as well as Kermit the Frog and various characters from "Sesame Street". After that, they went to a shot of the staff surrounding Charlie in the studio applauding.

 

[johnnya2k6]

I think the "fluff and entertainment" image persists because of Katie's Today Show image, but I find the CBS Evening News has more hard news than NBC, with much better reporters IMO. Plus I don't have to sit through B. Williams pompous, wordy and meandering introductions to stories.

Yeah, I find the CBS Evening News to be the most basic of the three network newscasts for the following reasons: no ultra-flashy graphics; better balance and depth; and yes, the late Walter Cronkite's opening spiel. Just recently, it won back-to-back Edward R. Murrow Awards for Best Newscast. It doesn't matter if they're in third place.

By the way...have you seen the two promos they've been running lately?

 

[dhett]

By the way...have you seen the two promos they've been running lately?

RE: the 2nd link:

So the NY Times credits her with "newsmaking interviews". Uh, isn't that the job of all reporters? And all of the other promos, except the last, compare her only among the big 3, or the networks, completely ignoring competition from cable networks. Faint praise, indeed.

 

[DToTheJ]

Since someone is going to post it eventually, here is Chuck's final sign-off:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdmGBGkOKU4

 

[Rob Jason]

If you think about it -- ABC has never been able to give a retiring anchor a proper send-off. Frank Reynolds died while still an anchor......So did Peter Jennings. Before them, Harry reasoner was just set aside for the World News Tonight triumvirate, and before that Barbara Walters...I could go on and on...

I think Charlie got the send off he well-deserved. Notice him choking up at the end of his script?

 

[WMC2006]

Pretty close...he wished everyone a good holiday. A video montage of various celebrities wishing him well aired, beginning with former President Bush (43) and ending with President Obama. It also featured Katie Couric and Brian Williams, as well as Kermit the Frog and various characters from "Sesame Street". After that, they went to a shot of the staff surrounding Charlie in the studio applauding.
[/quote]

Joan Lunden looked FANTASTIC.

David Hartman looked.....really really old. :-\

And they all talked about him in the past tense as if he was dead. He's only retiring.

 

[kms575]

[/quote]

Joan Lunden looked FANTASTIC.

[/quote]

She sure did! I wish she'd come back to TV in some facility. I still miss her being on GMA.

 

[DToTheJ]

Joan Lunden looked FANTASTIC... David Hartman looked.....really really old... And they all talked about him in the past tense as if he was dead. He's only retiring.

Obviously, it was their careers at ABC where they worked with Gibson that are in the past tense; they're not still with the network, are they?

 

[WMC2006]

I was talking about everyone who talked about Gibson in the tribute including Bill Clinton, George Bush Sr, and all the other celebrities, not just Joan and David.

 

[stdjsb25]

If you think about it -- ABC has never been able to give a retiring anchor a proper send-off. Frank Reynolds died while still an anchor......So did Peter Jennings. Before them, Harry reasoner was just set aside for the World News Tonight triumvirate, and before that Barbara Walters...I could go on and on...

I think Charlie got the send off he well-deserved. Notice him choking up at the end of his script?

You can also add Max Robinson to that list...but then again, ABC pretty much put him in a low profile after they made Peter Jennings the sole anchor.

Speaking of Max Robinson....did anyone else notice the lack of mention of him at all during Charlie's script? He mentioned Frank Reynolds and Peter Jennings, but no Max.

 

[Team America]

GMA from 1975-87 was the primary morning news show in my house. David Hartman was the male anchor from 1975 to the very
beginning of 1987 (Youtube has clips of his last show, including final goodbyes etc.) He mentioned at that time "He Was NOT retiring".
He stated he would host various specials on ABC later that year(87). Only one special aired. Nothing after that. If those here
reading this post watch the Youtube clips of his last day at GMA. You will see that David Hartman was well known with
celebrities. And even comedian Joe Piscopo made fun of David's on air delivery. Funny stuff for sure.

Joan Lundun after departing GMA, went on to host various specials. Some on ABC. Some not. She also decided to devote
more time to her family. I would of loved to see her return to GMA. Or possibly anchor Weekend news on ABC.