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CNN Live Today
Interview with James Poniewozik
Aired March 12, 2002 - 14:38 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Late night folks, here we go. David Letterman not going to go to ABC, after a week of offers and counteroffers. In a rather public display, Letterman opted to stay with CBS for about five more years. The fate of Ted Koppel and "Nightline" apparently factored into his decision.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "LATE NIGHT WITH DAVID LETTERMAN")
DAVID LETTERMAN, HOST: What he has done for this country and the world of broadcasting, this guy, at the very least, deserves the right to determine his own professional future. He deserves absolutely no less than that.
(APPLAUSE)
LETTERMAN: So -- what I have decided to do -- and this has not been a very easy decision for me -- I have decided to stay here at CBS. And I want to thank
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: Well done, David. The fate of "Nightline," though, unclear. Koppel and his colleagues at "Nightline" issued a statement. I'm quoting now. "No one in this business expects a program to last in perpetuity, but we need something more than bland assurances or a short-term guarantee. We need to be able to plan, to prepare, to settle down to work again." That statement from "Nightline."
Let's talk more about it. "TIME" magazine media critic, James Poniewozik, with us, and his take on the late night war. Good afternoon.
JAMES PONIEWOZIK, "TIME": Thanks, Bill.
HEMMER: Think Letterman should give us a cut of that 31 million?
PONIEWOZIK: I take it. I take it.
HEMMER: After all, we put it in the press every day for the past week or 10 days, did we not>
PONIEWOZIK: We probably got him, you know, a good chunk of that raise. I think he owes us.
HEMMER: Listen, you were saying that you believe this was created essentially by the media. I'll give you a platform. Explain that position.
PONIEWOZIK: Well, I think that this was a story of some significance, whether Ted Koppel and "Nightline" stayed on the air. But I do think that over the past week and a half or so, the media have been reporting this story like it has been World War III.
HEMMER: Why do you think that is, James? I'll tell you why I do in a second, but go ahead.
PONIEWOZIK: Sure, well, I think for one thing, because the media do not always show a sense of proportion when it's one of their own. You know, seeing a journalist and journalism in danger, offends us. It reminds us of our job insecurity, and nobody likes that.
And I think that there was probably legitimate issues here. A sort of sense of "let's pull together for Ted," and, you know, what a terrible thing is happening here.
HEMMER: I agree with everything you just said, as a matter of fact. We're on the same line, in terms of theories there. What happens now with "Nightline"? Clearly, from that statement I just read here, that they feel a bit bruised over there. Can they recover? Can they heal, and how so?
PONIEWOZIK: I think they can recover. I'm sure they feel bruised, as well they should. I mean, you had the heads of ABC essentially telling David Letterman you know, whether this was just a negotiating ploy or not, that look, we're going to get rid of "Nightline" sooner or later, whether you come here or not. Now they're sort of turning around saying we have great respect for "Nightline" and it will be here for the foreseeable future, however long the foreseeable future is.
But they have every right to be nervous. The problem is that, of course, for ABC at this point, they don't seem to have a lot of options at this juncture for replacing him.
HEMMER: You know, the story resonated with a lot of people. I know we were talking about it just from the media standpoint. But I think a lot of other people too, dialed in on this. And I'm curious to know, is there a reason for that?
PONIEWOZIK: I think that there are a few reasons. It certainly touched a lot of hot buttons. On the one hand, it set up perfectly as a conflict between the serious and the frivolous in our culture. I think that Letterman and Koppel both do great programs -- most TV critics will say that -- in their own way. But it sort of got simplified as, serious news versus fluffy entertainment. That was one thing.
There was also the issue that part of the reason that Letterman was more attractive is that he draws a somewhat younger audience. Advertisers, rightly or wrongly, greatly value that audience. And it became a question of ageism. And again, as they often are, by the treatment in the media, people over 50 felt kind of slighted by that.
HEMMER: Letterman has got all the right demographics, apparently, for now, anyway. One of the things you pointed to was that Letterman wanted more promotion. Do you know that, or is that your own speculation?
PONIEWOZIK: We've heard that a lot from people within Letterman's camp. That, you know, it was never really about money. Obviously this was a man who was set for life financially, and CBS was not stiffing him in that respect. But he's been trying to catch Jay Leno for years in ratings, Jay Leno on NBC.
And so he would see these wonderful promos being done for Leno on NBC, and looked at CBS and thought they just were not promoting his show very well at all. And certainly not as well as they could be, given that they were now part of this massive Viacom conglomerate, that has, you know, just scads and scads of properties on which they could be plugging "The Late Show."
HEMMER: James, the reason I bring that up -- I don't know if you saw any college basketball this past weekend on CBS. They were plugging Letterman just about every time out. Did you notice that? Did you see that?
PONIEWOZIK: There were some big wet kisses there, no doubt.
HEMMER: James Poniewozik, "TIME" media critic, thank you, James.
PONIEWOZIK: Thanks.
HEMMER: Good talking to.
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