EX-ANCHOR STARTS ANEW ON THE NET
Kathy Cano-Murillo, The Arizona Republic
06/11/2001
The Arizona Republic
Final Chaser
Page E1
(Copyright 2001 Phoenix Newspapers, Inc.)
Hugh Downs may have retired from his full-time gig on ABC's 20/20 a year and a half ago, but that doesn't mean he has retired from journalism.
Since leaving Barbara Walters' side on the popular newsmagazine show, the 80-year-old anchorman has landed a prime-time spot on the Internet. Today, he launches his own weekly Web-exclusive series on iNEXTV .com, a sort of cyberstation for television. Along the way, he has picked up a few new interesting friends. Playboy Hugh Hefner, rocker Joan Jett and poet Maya Angelou are just a few of the personalities who make guest appearances on Conversations With Hugh Downs.
We chatted with Downs last week while he was in New York promoting the show. Aside from revealing that he rarely watches 20/20, he also put in his 2 cents' worth on today's society, not to mention his soft spot for Jett.
QUESTION: How did the show come about?
ANSWER: I was already interested in the Internet since my last contract with ABC. I knew I wanted to do something in that area, and by coincidence iNEXTV contacted me with the idea for my own show. It seemed like the ideal thing.
Q: What's the format?
A: I do commentary, which I enjoy because it is increasingly difficult, or almost impossible, to do that on the networks these days. Then they came up with this idea of me having conversations with people on the subject of human and American values. It's a fascinating concept because it isn't like regular interviewing. It's all about having conversations with really interesting people who have things to say and an ax to grind.
Q: Do you choose your own guests?
A: No, iNEXTV picks them for me, and they are very diverse. They stretch from author Frank McCourt to Joan Jett. I enjoyed talking to every one of them, and I've learned so many things from them.
Q: Who have you found to be the most thought-provoking?
A: Joan Jett was very interesting. She is exercised about the discrimination of women in the music business and is very articulate about it. You know, she is quite the artist -- in a metallic rock way. I found her to be a very appealing personality.
Q: Was it hard adjusting to this new format after being on network television for so many years?
A: It's quite different. One of the things I like is that I don't have a control room full of lawyers telling me things I shouldn't talk about. In this age of litigation, the major networks are terrified of any sort of commentary. But on the Internet you can comment on just a lot of things.
Q: Do you ever look back and miss 20/20?
A: I do kind of miss it. However, I enjoyed it for 21 years. That was enough time for that same format. I enjoyed all the pieces I worked on and people I worked with. I still see it occasionally, but I don't tune in religiously.
Q: After so many years in the business, are there any topics you haven't covered yet?
A: Not really. But there are some topics that I would like to go back to and deal with -- appalling subjects in our culture. For example, I've reported on two features six years apart on the same subject. It was on battered women who were in danger and who finally got their husband or boyfriend in jail. Then while he was in jail he said, "When I get out I'm going to kill her" -- and he got out and he killed her. We just don't have a handle on domestic violence yet. This shows how little progress we've made.
Q: When you're at home watching the news, what goes through your mind?
A: I deplore the drift toward entertainment, especially in the newsmagazine shows that now have more of a tabloid flavor than I could be comfortable with. Hopefully, the pendulum will swing back. I would hope we have more public thirst for what is going on in the world and less on the local side. It is shown in the fact that the network news is half an hour and the local news is two hours. That's a puzzler to me. And in local news, it seems the standard approach to building a news team is to get a cosmetic couple, young and good- looking, whether they are news grounded or not, add a goofy weatherman and a screaming sportscaster and you have a team. Actually, maybe they are starting to get away from that a bit. I think they are starting to see that as a cliche formula. |
