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Peter Jennings Retrospective

J

Joseph_Gallant

Guest
This evening (August 10th), ABC broadcast a two-hour retrospective on the career of Peter Jennings, featuring many soundbites of his reporting both at the anchor desk and in the field.

Near the end of the program, there was an extended segment on Jennings' anchoring on September 11th, 2001, considered to be one of the best jobs of on-air news anchoring in television history and certainly Jennings' "finest hour" as an anchor.

What was most impressive is that ABC ran the program without commercials, although a couple of times, there was a brief message from ABC parent Disney, in which the voice-over, on behalf of the company, expresed sympathy to Jennings' family and colleagues. It was a classy move on ABC's part to run the program without commercial interruption.
 
Now if they only didn't run the bug. . .<P ID="signature">______________
WCBS = We're Crazy Buffoons and Schmucks
<a href=http://chuck.spotteddogs.org/tv/>Spotted Dog TV Talk - for all your non-news TV Talk</a></P>
 
> It was a classy move on ABC's part to run
> the program without commercial interruption.

It was a fine retrospective of his career.

In the rush to edit, some sentences in the script were repeated verbatim. But that was minor.

I think it was interesting to see some footage of his early anchoring career. In the early PR releases about his death, that part of his career was glossed over.

As far as not running commercials, every TV critic in the country would have blasted ABC if it had run them. I don't think there was any decision to be made.

Finally, the short segments in which Disney recognized Jennings might have been confusing to some viewers. I'm not sure how many people realize Disney owns ABC.

Some people might have thought Disney was "sponsoring" the program with no commercials.
 
> Some people might have thought Disney was "sponsoring" the
> program with no commercials.

I think the people who would have honestly cared are the people who know about Disney/ABC.
 
> This evening (August 10th), ABC broadcast a two-hour
> retrospective on the career of Peter Jennings, featuring
> many soundbites of his reporting both at the anchor desk and
> in the field.
>
> Near the end of the program, there was an extended segment
> on Jennings' anchoring on September 11th, 2001, considered
> to be one of the best jobs of on-air news anchoring in
> television history and certainly Jennings' "finest hour" as
> an anchor.
>
> What was most impressive is that ABC ran the program without
> commercials, although a couple of times, there was a brief
> message from ABC parent Disney, in which the voice-over, on
> behalf of the company, expresed sympathy to Jennings' family
> and colleagues. It was a classy move on ABC's part to run
> the program without commercial interruption.
>

I thought it was an excellent program. I learned so much about Peter Jennings. He was a good man. He seemed determined to his job right and to give America news. It was good that ABC didn't run commercials. I wonder how many people tuned in.<P ID="signature">______________


</P>
 
> This evening (August 10th), ABC broadcast a two-hour
> retrospective on the career of Peter Jennings, featuring
> many soundbites of his reporting both at the anchor desk and
> in the field.
>
> Near the end of the program, there was an extended segment
> on Jennings' anchoring on September 11th, 2001, considered
> to be one of the best jobs of on-air news anchoring in
> television history and certainly Jennings' "finest hour" as
> an anchor.
>
> What was most impressive is that ABC ran the program without
> commercials, although a couple of times, there was a brief
> message from ABC parent Disney, in which the voice-over, on
> behalf of the company, expresed sympathy to Jennings' family
> and colleagues. It was a classy move on ABC's part to run
> the program without commercial interruption.
>
A very well-done program, though I thought the ending with the anchor chair bathed in white light while a trumpeter played a melancholy version of the familiar ABC News theme was a bit much.

Peter Jennings was a great presence, and managed to always seem to talk with his audience instead of DOWN TO them.
 
>I thought ending it with his 9/11 broadcast where he said there would be a shift change but ABC news would go on was a perfect ending. And then to have the trumpet play the World News Tonight music following was just right.

This evening (August 10th), ABC broadcast a two-hour
> retrospective on the career of Peter Jennings, featuring
> many soundbites of his reporting both at the anchor desk and
> in the field.
>
> Near the end of the program, there was an extended segment
> on Jennings' anchoring on September 11th, 2001, considered
> to be one of the best jobs of on-air news anchoring in
> television history and certainly Jennings' "finest hour" as
> an anchor.
>
> What was most impressive is that ABC ran the program without
> commercials, although a couple of times, there was a brief
> message from ABC parent Disney, in which the voice-over, on
> behalf of the company, expresed sympathy to Jennings' family
> and colleagues. It was a classy move on ABC's part to run
> the program without commercial interruption.
>
 
> I thought ending it with his 9/11 broadcast where he said
> there would be a shift change but ABC news would go on was a
> perfect ending. And then to have the trumpet play the World
> News Tonight music following was just right.

I watched the 2 hour special and thought it was well done too. I also saw the part you're referring to about the "shift change" and for some reason didn't pick up on the double meaning until you mentioned it. That is truly profound. I'm glad you shared that...
 
Radiolover 78 wondered:

> I wonder how many people tuned in.

It's my understanding that the program easily won it's time period in the ratings, both in overall viewers and in key demographics.
 
> Radiolover 78 wondered:
>
> > I wonder how many people tuned in.
>
> It's my understanding that the program easily won it's time
> period in the ratings, both in overall viewers and in key
> demographics.

Quite frankly. I couldn't imagine tuning into anything else. I'm sure the majority of viewers felt the same way...
 
>
> What was most impressive is that ABC ran the program without
> commercials, although a couple of times, there was a brief
> message from ABC parent Disney, in which the voice-over, on
> behalf of the company, expresed sympathy to Jennings' family
> and colleagues. It was a classy move on ABC's part to run
> the program without commercial interruption.
>

Another "major" moment the covered was the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion in January of 1986. I caught most of the show. Very moving and, like you, shocked to see it presented commercial free. On a side note, I passed ABC's New York headquarters this morning along Columbus Avenue @ West 66th Street. There's a phone booth on the West 66th Street side of the building that still sports the familiar "World News Tonight" advertisement with Peter. I couldn't help but notice several flowers sitting underneath it and a message or two written on the glass covering the ad. :(
 
I don't think they ratings bug applied, since it was considered a news program. Speaking of bugs, did you notice how the "ABC" bug popped on and off, especially when another network or local station's logo came on the screen?
 
> I don't think they ratings bug applied, since it was
> considered a news program. Speaking of bugs, did you notice
> how the "ABC" bug popped on and off, especially when another
> network or local station's logo came on the screen?
>

I didn't notice that myself. There was no presence of the local channel during the whole show.<P ID="signature">______________


</P>
 
> This evening (August 10th), ABC broadcast a two-hour
> retrospective on the career of Peter Jennings, featuring
> many soundbites of his reporting both at the anchor desk and
> in the field.
>
> Near the end of the program, there was an extended segment
> on Jennings' anchoring on September 11th, 2001, considered
> to be one of the best jobs of on-air news anchoring in
> television history and certainly Jennings' "finest hour" as
> an anchor.
>
> What was most impressive is that ABC ran the program without
> commercials, although a couple of times, there was a brief
> message from ABC parent Disney, in which the voice-over, on
> behalf of the company, expresed sympathy to Jennings' family
> and colleagues. It was a classy move on ABC's part to run
> the program without commercial interruption.
>

Nice program, except my DVR had an attitude and I kept getting loud squealing static through most of it. "I'll never forget when..SQWWWWWEEEEAAAKKKKKKKKK..and that meant alot to me"
 
>
> I didn't notice that myself. There was no presence of the
> local channel during the whole show.
>

WTNH-TV/DT channel 8/D 10 of New Haven, CT simply put up a generic ID on the screen at 9 PM (ET) reading "WTNH-TV New Haven/Hartford WTNH-DT."

The ABC bug went off whenever a clip of him was shown from a local affiliate (such as WPVI-TV channel 6 of Philadelphia). Also, when the clip was shown from "Late Show With David Letterman" the ABC bug went off. VERY strange to see an unobstructed CBS "eye" bug in the corner for a full 10 seconds or so on ABC! :)
 
> I didn't notice that myself. There was no presence of the
> local channel during the whole show.

There was a brief appearance at the start and at the 9 PM ET top of the hour there was an ID, on WABC it was rather small.<P ID="signature">______________
WCBS = We're Crazy Buffoons and Schmucks
<a href=http://chuck.spotteddogs.org/tv/>Spotted Dog TV Talk - for all your non-news TV Talk</a></P>
 
> > I didn't notice that myself. There was no presence of the
> > local channel during the whole show.
>
> There was a brief appearance at the start and at the 9 PM ET
> top of the hour there was an ID, on WABC it was rather
> small.
>
WBAY in Green Bay did the same, just the station logo and call letters/city next to the network bug, with no voice-over.
 
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