Has it really been 10 years since the syndicated newsmagazine “Inside Edition” hit the air? Time flies when you weather the trashy storm of tabloid television to win respect through a gaggle of awards.
“We did the `Beach Blanket Bingo’ stories in the early years of `Inside Edition,’ ” says host Deborah Norville. “I don’t think we’ve been to a spring break in a long time.”
You don’t win such prestigious honors as the George Polk Awards, the National Headliner Award and the Investigative Reporters and Editors Award by stalking celebrities and sticking cameras where they don’t belong. These are among six awards that “Inside Edition” won during the 1996-97 season.
“There’s a lot to be very, very proud of,” says Sheila Sitomer, a co-executive producer who has been with the show all 10 years.
And “Inside Edition” will show what it is most proud of, and maybe some of its least proud moments (anybody remember David Frost lasting only a month as host when the show premiered?), as the newsmagazine kicks off a yearlong salute to itself at 3 p.m. Monday on WLS-Ch. 7.
Monday’s “Edition” is a retrospective of the last 10 years, in which the archives will be opened for such coverage as the fall of the Berlin Wall, the devastation of the riots in Los Angeles, the deadly results of the Oklahoma City bombing and the fall of Kuwait in the Gulf War. The show also will look at human interest stories, newsmakers and entertainers.
Norville, the former WMAQ-Ch. 5 reporter who has worked at CBS and NBC (including her somewhat shaky time on “The Today Show”) says the special won’t just look back at “Inside Edition’s” history, but at “all of us as Americans and television viewers.”
Sitomer says the partying will continue throughout the year, with updates on those who have faced the cameras, hitting on the anniversary of events the show covered and more.
“I think we’ve adapted to the audience over the years,” Sitomer says, “and I think that’s been the key to staying on the air this long.”
Another key to “Inside Edition’s” longevity and dominance in the ratings is its emphasis on investigative reporting, according to Norville, the show’s anchor for 2 1/2 years.
“We’ve beefed up the investigative unit; we’ve added not just a correspondent in that unit, but some of the backup people, the research people and a couple of associate producers and producers,” says Norville, 39. “Which is what you’ve got to have to be able to turn out the stories with the kind of frequency that they do.”
– Early to bed on Saturdays: The departure of Norm MacDonald from “Saturday Night Live’s” Weekend Update segment means there really is no other reason to watch NBC’s late-night comedy institution. Sorry all you Spartan Cheerleaders fans.
MacDonald, who has sat behind the anchor desk delivering fake news reports for five seasons, was banished from those duties last week. Colin Quinn, a writer and performer on the show, was given the job.
MacDonald, appearing on “Late Night with David Letterman” last Wednesday, announced that he was off Weekend Update on orders not from executive producer-creator Lorne Michaels, but Don Ohlmeyer, president of NBC West Coast.
MacDonald said that Ohlmeyer told him ” `Oh, yeah, I’m firing you there from (Weekend Update).’ And I said, `Oh, that’s not good.’ And I said, `Why is that now?’ And he goes, `Oh, you’re not funny.’ And I said, `Holy lord, that’s even worse news!’ “
But MacDonald is funny, probably one of the funniest to ever do the long-running mock newscast. Remember those who sat behind that desk before him, including Chevy Chase, Dan Aykroyd, Jane Curtin, Bill Murray and Dennis Miller?
Press reports have said Ohlmeyer considers MacDonald a “loose cannon.” MacDonald accidentally uttered the “f” word during one newscast, but didn’t get in trouble for it. Others at NBC were said to be angry at MacDonald’s hosting the ESPY sports awards for ABC.
MacDonald breathed fresh life into a generally stale show by always delivering the jokes bluntly and sarcastically, to the point where you could almost see the brutal punchline coming.
“Was O.J. Simpson high on speed the night of the (Nicole Brown-Ron Goldman) murders?” he once read. ” `Absolutely not,’ ” says defense attorney Johnnie Cochran . . . `and a simple test of any of O.J.’s blood found at the crime scene will prove it.’ “
Maybe Ohlmeyer, known to be a friend of the Juice, finally got tired of MacDonald’s Simpson jokes, where the punchlines always alluded to the perception that Simpson got away with murder.
MacDonald will remain with “SNL” at least through the end of this season, appearing in sketch work, even though he feels he “stinks” at it (he has developed a fine stable of characters, including Bob Dole, Burt Reynolds, Larry King and Letterman). MacDonald said that Ohlmeyer thought the sketches were one of MacDonald’s strengths.
“But,” he cracked, “he also thinks O.J. is innocent.”
