Tuesday 25 October 2005

ABC Revamps Nightline Again; Plans To Document Bush Administration Downfall

Koppel Still Out As New Theme Ups Anchors to 300+; "Bush/Iraq/CIA Leak This Generations' Crisis" Say Westin

ABC News and Disney-ABC Television announced this morning that they are scraping their plans for a multi-themed, three-anchor, post-Ted Koppel "Nightline" program in favor of an exclusive documentation of the downfall of the Bush Administration.

With Koppel's final anchoring of "Nightline" due on November 22nd, and the new trio of anchors - ABC Chief White House Correspondent Terry Moran, ABC Reporter Cynthia McFadden and from British television, Martin Bashir - scheduled to debut on November 28th, ABC will shift to the new format the day the indictments are issued, presumably against Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Karl Rove and, possibly, other White House staff and officials.

There's even speculation that Vice President Dick Cheney could face charges, or possibly, resign over the scandal. Evidence has reportedly surfaced that it was Cheney who first revealed the name of CIA Agent Valerie Plame

Going back to its' roots, from November 1979, when Koppel's' nightly reporting of "The Iran Crisis--America Held Hostage: Day One" morphed into "Nightline", the new "Nightline" will pay homage with the title of "The Bush Crisis - America and Democracy Held Hostage" and run its course, counting off the days, until the investigations and courts cases are resolved.

"We're not putting any kind of time table on this." offered David Westin, ABC News President.

"This breakdown of the Bush Administration is this generation's Iran hostage situation. Heck, it's even imbued by Watergate. We'll cover this scandal like locusts on the panhandle. This is going to be "Nightline's" and ABC News's story."

Westin indicated that the three-anchor format that was to be implemented will be "woefully inadequate".

"We'll be pulling out all the stops. We're probably looking at 300-to-possibly-400 anchors … Whoever breaks the story of the day … Whoever polls good in our focus groups … The throttle is wide open …"

Along with "Nightline" and ABC News, Westin hasn't rule out the other properties of Disney and ESPN.

"We could utilize ESPN anchors, with breaking news briefs. Or have "Legal Play of the Day … We might run crawlers on Disney and throw it up on the Jumbotrons at the various theme parks."

Anne Sweeney, the president of Disney-ABC Television confirmed that "all resources" will be behind "The Bush Crisis - America and Democracy Held Hostage"

"We plan on kicking Leno's and Letterman's butts," said Sweeney. "We may even push Jimmy Kimmel back and go the full hour."

When asked if Koppel will be included in the roster of anchors, Westin gave a firm "no".

"He's out as soon as the story breaks. We want a clean start, to give some new people the chance at getting a twenty-year gig."

When reached for comment, Koppel says he has "no regrets" with leaving.

"Been there, done that," he offered.

On slow news days during "The Bush Crisis - America and Democracy Held Hostage", "Nightline" may run "primers", a "who's who" in the scandal. Westin even hinted that blogs may be included in the coverage.

"We anticipate an abundance of information that is going to flow out of this," said Westin. "What did Bush know and when did he know it? With Cheney, you have the whole underside of Halliburton and if and how they play into it all. There's the Judy Miller angle and the 'New York Times' being the town crier for the run-up to the war in Iraq. The 'paid' correspondents touting the Administration's policies."

"Heck, even with all the resources we have, the information might overflow what we have. We may have to launch a 'Dayline' program to handle it all."













As reported in Monday's The Garlic, Vice President Dick Cheney hosted meetings of a secret cabal in his secret bunker, where policy was developed over "coffee and Krispy Kremes".