You could be right about CBS.
Tom Bettag, his longtime exec producer and pal, will go with him. Together, they'll do news programs, but not for ABC. "We may well end up being staffers somewhere," Koppel says cryptically.
What led to Ted Koppel's decision to leave 'Nightline'
philly.com
By Gail Shister
Inquirer Columnist
ABC News made Ted Koppel an offer he could refuse, so he did.
Koppel, 65, the respected anchor of Nightline since its inception 25 years ago, will leave ABC at the completion of his contract Dec. 4, the network announced yesterday.
In an interview, Koppel said the deciding factor was ABC News chief David Westin's request last summer that Koppel anchor an expanded, hour-long Nightline five nights a week, live at 11:35 p.m.
Fat chance, and ABC knew it. Koppel has had Johnny Carson hours for years, doing three shows a week. With rare exceptions, his interviews are taped in advance.
"Been there, done that," he says. "At this stage, it's just not going to happen. I did Nightline live for 14 years, coming in at 9:30 a.m. and going home well after midnight. I'm not up to doing that again."
ABC "probably knew Ted would say no," says CNN senior analyst Jeff Greenfield, a key Nightline analyst from 1983 to '97. "Ted's always had his head screwed on straight about life and taking plenty of time for his family."
After months of discussions that included the possibility of Koppel doing other programs (including This Week, hosted by George Stephanopoulos, according to a highly placed ABC executive), Koppel says he decided to go.
Tom Bettag, his longtime exec producer and pal, will go with him. Together, they'll do news programs, but not for ABC. "We may well end up being staffers somewhere," Koppel says cryptically.
His departure scenario is a win-win for ABC and Koppel.
ABC gets to redesign Nightline to attract younger, hipper viewers. Koppel, a 42-year ABC vet, gets to make a gracious exit on his own terms.
Competing against Jay Leno's NBC Tonight and David Letterman's CBS Late Show, Nightline's viewership has plummeted from an average of 6.3 million a decade ago to 3.8 million this season, Nielsen says.
Koppel says he and Bettag have been in discussions for 18 months with ABC executives about "how to make the transition process to the next generation as smooth as possible."
The Letterman fiasco in March '02, in which ABC had secretly offered Nightline's time slot to CBS's late-night star, "was a bump in the road," says Koppel, who blew a gasket at the time.
No hard feelings now. ABC and owner Disney are committed to keeping news in the slot, and to the future of Nightline, says Koppel.
"I believe it will be around for several more years. Obviously, it will depend on how successfully they do in the next chapter. It just has to be given enough of a chance and time to do it."
The network "has given every indication to be very bullish about the future of Nightline at 11:35," says ABC News' Jeffrey Schneider. "We take their guidance seriously."
The big question is what form the new Nightline will take. Most common scenario making the rounds at ABC: An hour-long show originating live out of New York, not Washington, with a team of young anchors.
"This is a very important moment in journalism," saysKathleen Hall Jamieson, director of Penn's Annenberg Public Policy Center, who worries that Nightline may stray from its original mission.
Jamieson labels Koppel "a pioneer" who helped create
"a unique form of journalism that has become a standard for anybody who cares about politics and policy. It would be unfortunate if someone of that caliber doesn't continue it."
Greenfield shares Jamieson's concerns. "If it's a show where the essential values are communicated, the stuff that matters, that's one thing.
"If it's flash and trash and they call it Nightline, that's another. Imagine 'Live from New York. It's Nightline!' "
Nightline began as nightly reports during the Iranian hostage crisis in November 1979, anchored by Frank Reynolds. It became a regular broadcast in March '80, with Koppel, ABC's chief diplomatic correspondent, as anchor.
"To paraphrase Joe DiMaggio, sometimes it's better to be lucky than good," says Greenfield. "Ted was both."
At the time, Nightline's live interviews with several subjects at once - some speaking by satellite from around the world - were groundbreaking. Now, such technology is commonplace.
Koppel is walking away without regrets.
Though he's "leaving cherished colleagues and friends behind, I can get a visitor's visa and come back to see them. We can meet on street corners.
"It's time to start a new chapter in my life."
Contact TV columnist Gail Shister at 215-854-2224 or gshister@phillynews.com. Read her recent work at go.philly.com.
© 2005 Philadelphia Inquirer and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.
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