Remembering Jessica Savitch 32 Years After Her Death

"Savitch’s personal life was a mess – a divorce, the suicide of her second husband, a cocaine habit. Her colleagues considered her a prima donna. But none of that mattered when the cool blonde looked into the camera.”

Jessica Savitch was the best TV news anchor ever. Loved her.

At least she had a TV journalist voice. These mosquito-voiced vocal fries they have now are beyond irritating.

Did every cheerleader major in Broadcast Journalism?

When Jessica Savitch spoke at the college my friend attended, he spent the day wit her as an assistant/guide/security person ........... he said she was unpleasant.

She was probably fucked-up.

In Linda Ellerbee's book "And So it Goes" she tells a story about a reporter standing outside in the rain, about to interview a senator or something, and through his earpiece, he hears a female anchor dressing down someone on the set because her hair looked bad and that they needed to fire the hairstylist. The rant apparently went on for several minutes before they went on the air. Ellerbee did not identify the anchor but there was a short list of suspects in the late 70s/early 80s and a subsequent bio of Savitch confirmed that the story was about her. Unfortunately that's my memory of Savitch, plus of course the legendary news brief that you can still find on YouTube where she's under the influence of something.

Jessica Savitch's NBC News updates at 8:30pm were riveting. And to have a woman as the weekend anchor of a major network was huge at the time. I loved her. She was the best damn news person in the business. Professional and compelling to watch. It was a great loss to the news business when she died. There's nobody like her on the air today--man or woman.

She was good at what she did, but there were many women on television during the Savitch era who were better: Christine Lund of KABC-TV and Tritia Toyota of KNBC-TV, just to name two in Los Angeles.

Also: Marcia Brandwynne of KGO-TV San Francisco (later of KNXT/KCBS-TV Los Angeles).

I read a biography, I think it was "Golden Girl: The Story of Jessica Savitch". It was a good read. She had a tough childhood - her father died when she was only 12. She was a climber, ambitious, and abrasive. But she also had a certain streak of talent, almost genius, in crafting a persona of a beautiful yet serious journalist. She could choose clothes that were expensive and flattering, but that made her seem still approachable and likeable. She helped create the role of the modern T.V. news anchor woman.

In person, she was much shorter than expected and had acne scars. Her personal life was a disaster - she had no capacity for healthy relationships. She was self-destructive and abused heavy drugs. As strong as her professional instincts were, she seemed to lack the most basic personal life skills.

But in front of the camera, for a while, she could do no wrong - she was golden. Until near the end, when all her demons seemed to converge on her at once. She could no longer maintain even the public illusion. Someone taped a coke spoon to her photo in the NBC 30 Rock headquarters. She was visibly incapacitated (drunk and/or drugged) during a NBC News Update. She was no longer a rising star at NBC - she was an embarrassment. She was about to be fired from her PBS Frontline job.

A friend set up a casual date for her with one of the seemingly most uncomplicated, likeable men she would ever date, Martin Fischbein. Even though their first date was simple Sunday afternoon drive to some Pennsylvania antique shops and dinner at a local restaurant - Jessica agonized over it as if it were her first date and threatened to cancel all week. Unusual behavior for a woman in her thirties with many prior relationships and two failed marriages. She spent the Sunday throwing up before she ultimately decided to go on the date with Fischbein, taking her dog Chewy along for comfort. Then in the rain and dark, leaving the restaurant, the bizarre car accident. Such a unexpected ending for a woman who had seemed to have so much talent, so much potential.

R7, R8. They were good, but no one was better than Jessica Savitch.

Jessica Savitch

R9, but was the dog okay?

I used to go to Sunday Brunch at "Odette's" in New Hope PA where Jessica drowned. Her companion drove out of the restaurant incorrectly and they wound up on a path that runs along the canal instead of the roadway. He must have been completely wasted to have made this mistake. It's not easy to do. He had to have been completely blasted. Such a shame.

She did have a lot of charisma. I knew a guy who met her once in a hallway at some TV station in DC, just in passing, and hours later when I saw him he was gushing about how stunning she was.

The car flipped over as it fell into the shallow canal. The mud sealed the doors shut. The car wasn't even spotted until 3 or 4 hours later. Fischbein was still behind the wheel. Jessica was found in the back of the station wagon with her dog.

If she had survived, she would've had better stories to tell than Brian Williams. It could've been her come back.

A tragic, premature death certainly burnished her image, r10--and seems to have lionized her in the years since.

But the truth is, the entire landscape of Television News was much more serious--and respected then, as were its most skilled practitioners. Savitch was very driven, and pushed hard to expand her public persona; She was, in fact, subordinate to Jane Pauley at NBC's TODAY, even though some recall, incorrectly, that Savitch was the most prominent woman there. And at the Network Owned and Operated stations, there were even more women (3 were named above) with years of experience, who were highly respected; Michelle Marsh of WCBS-TV and Sue Simmons of WNBC-TV (rumored to have been one of Savitch's lovers) were both working in New York during that time.

Savitch had great PR--until the end--including the publication of her autobiography, which coming at such a young age seemed presumptuous. Unfortunately, it was prescient.

Sue "What the Fuck Are You Doing" Simmons. I heard the lesbian rumors but I never heard that one...hmmm. She was a climber.

She also dated Ed Bradley for a while.

The network eventually replaced her (not long before her death) with the high-profile hiring of Connie Chung--but neglected to tell Savitch; she found out via the press.

The passage of three decades hasn't improved the corporate ethos at NBC.

The husband who killed himself (a doctor named Mel Korn) arranged his suicide deliberately so that Savitch would be the one to find his body.

One of her coworkers later said of her, "she attracted tragedy like a magnet." Boy, did she ever.

Correction: Mel Korn may not have been the one who offed himself. Sorry, typing off memory here.

Wasn't Jessica a member of the "Magic Pussy Club"?

r13, the autopsies confirmed that Savitch and her date had no drugs or alcohol in their systems. It was pouring rain and pitch black that night, visibility was terrible. That's why the car ended up going the wrong way.

Dr. Donald Rollie Payne was the husband who killed himself in their home. It was an unhappy marriage and Payne was widely believed to be gay. He was also one of the top Ob-Gyn doctors on the east coast. Having made a name for himself by delivering many of Ethel Kennedy's eleven children by C-Section. A feat my mother and her friends used to marvel about.

Why doesn't anybody mention her speech impediment?

Thus, the reason she was rarely, if ever, paired with Brokaw.

NBC has long been known for anchors with a certain unusual cadence (or speech impediment, if you will), Huntley, Brinkley, Brokaw...she was a natural at NBC. But as R16 said, news was much more serious then before the networks were taken over by accountants - the news divisions weren't expected to make a profit. Jessica had something special but she was one of the first to exploit the celebrity aspect of being TV news anchor to promote herself.

She didn't have a speech impediment. She used a mid-Atlantic accent when reading the news (soft r's: New York became "New Yahk"). Like Katharine Hepburn. It was an affectation; a number of NBC people did it.

She was awesome. One of the best newsreaders ever.

Another good one.

John Johnson of WABC, King of the Mid-Atlantic accent; much more watchable than the generics you hear these days.

It's telling--and a little sad--that "Update" remains her chief on-air legacy. Comparatively (stacked against Pauley, Walters, and the Locals), Savitch really wasn't on NBC very much. When she wrote about the hard work that went in to preparing to deliver those (35? 40 seconds?) spots, she got lambasted by some of her colleagues.

She wasn't a lightweight, but she wasn't the preeminent broadcaster of her time, by any measure. But she was, it seemed, poised for a big future.

She included a picture of herself chatting with Walters at some event--in her book, "Anchorwoman." Walters has an interesting, inscrutable expression in the shot. She was probably thinking,"If you ever land at ABC, don't get too comfortable, girly-girl."

And speaking of speech impediments, might as well add Holt to the list; there is definitely some "thick-tongue" propensity there.

Oddly, it seemed less evident when he was working at KCBS-TV in LA--and sported the requisite mustache that all black males in TV (and Walter Cronkite!) had at the time; when you couldn't see his teeth so much, the lisp wasn't so noticeable.

Same goes for Gwyneth Paltrow: stare at her mouth in one of her movies, and you can "see" her lisp while you're hearing it.

R5 et al, now let me tell you about that cunt, closet lesbian (fact), long, long, long time pot-head, flaming-sexist-hypocrite Linda Ellerbee. What a total fuck. I feel sorry for the women who worked for her at her production company--the big feminist could have cared less about anybody but herself. Seldom, if ever, have I seen a person so coated in Teflon--everywhere except the networks. She was hated by the time she jumped ship at NBC and she was HATED by everyone at ABC News by the time she left there.

This, my friends, is ALL first hand--and I mean first. Her "memoir" is 1/2 LIES, 1/4 myth and 1/4 truth. She is a fine writer. I will give her that but she is a cunt. Had an assistant for a short time who was also her lover whom she TORTURED. I mean it was The Killing of Sister George only in real time and George never got her comeuppance. She hung out at this gay bar, Kelly's across 7th Ave from her house. She treated Kelly like shit unless she wanted something from her--like drugs.

I know a lot more about this bitch and she has incredible fucking nerve saying a thing about Jess (she said a lot more in that work of fiction And So It Goes) who was fucked up beyond belief but a lot of fun and a decent person. Unlike Ellerbee she didn't pretend to be one thing but was really something else in reality. And Jess was so much better at her job than anyone I've ever seen--certainly better than Ellerbee.

She's disgustingly dirty, has a rotten temper and is with this chronic drunk who stays with her for the dough and title. Her kids were beyond fucked up messes. And the thing is everyone fucking buys it. I'll never understood how she gets away with it.

One point of clarification, my rant inadvertently made it sound like I knew Jess. I did not. This is the word of many, many people who worked with her. She was very Judy Garland and so lonely she'd have been unlikely to be nasty to anyone she might have been able to befriend. Just wanted to clear that up.

Another crazy lesbian.

If she had the right meds, she'd be an alive lesbian.

Interesting, r35. I never bought Ellerbee's act; she seemed phony. I also didn't care for (the actress) Elizabeth Ashley, didn't really know why, until realizing that she reminded me of Ellerbee.

"Donald Rollie Payne was the husband who killed himself...was widely believed to be gay."

WTF? Payne was a flaming homo. Everyone knew it, even Jessica.

Female anchors in the '70s had a very mannered, almost masculine delivery. I believe it started with Barbara Walters, and Jane Pauley picked it up from her and Savitch followed suit.

According to Pauley she was once doing a remote for the Today Show and could hear some kind of promo she'd recorded earlier in her IFB earpiece with no picture. Not remembering what is was, she asked her producer "Why is Barbara Walters on the air?". The producer had to inform her that she was hearing herself, not Baba. She said only then did she realize how much she'd been imitating her.

Jane Curtin used a similar inflection on Weekend Update on SNL.

[quote]“She was one of nature’s inexplicable phenomena – the human equivalent of the aurora borealis. Stunning. Substantive. Mysterious.”

Mary!

I know one of Linda Ellerbee's children quite well, and I can vouch (at least second-hand) for everything r34 is saying about her.

"And Jess was so much better at her job than anyone I've ever seen--certainly better than Ellerbee."

I seriously doubt that you were ever a "Frmr News Producer." Even if you are, YOU are the one who sounds like a "total fuck." No kidding, you sound deranged. Forget to take your meds today?

By all accounts, "Jess" was considered a lightweight when it came to network journalism. She had a look and manner that worked well on the tv screen, but she was no journalist. She didn't have the talent or brains for that. But she did have relentless, single minded ambition and that why she got as far as she did.

She was anorexic, bit her nails to the quick, picked her earlobes until they bled and did a lot of cocaine. Her first husband filed for divorce from her after less than a year of marriage. Her second husband, a closeted gay man, committed suicide. Her closest companion was a dog (the dog was with her when she died). Her relationships with men were universally terrible. She finally did her career in by doing a brief news report while obviously doped up or, as some have suggested, having a nervous breakdown.

Jessica Savitch was quite a mess.

upset Jess:

The question that remains unanswered, after all these years: how did Brian Williams ever get out of that car alive?

It took guts, but I owed it to my public.

And now, I'm back!

R42, her relationships with women were quite *intimate* and *fun.* Do not over look that.

R43 she is EXACTLY right in that clip. There's no excuse to not have a floor manager there. It's absurd.

R42 Not only a former news producer but a former entertainment television producer, as well. Any information I have ever posted has all been first hand--and this was very detailed. Is yours first hand? I doubt it. I also clarified that I did not know Jessica (she was before my time, I didn't work with Ellerbee until the end of her reign of terror at ABC--and by the way, she was fired--and then I stupidly did several pieces for her production company.) I heard Jessica was a "mess" but many people I know who knew her liked her and genuinely felt sorry for her. I did not post anything about her sexuality because while I heard rumors, I know nothing about that for sure.

"Forget to take your meds?" How 90s and how prosaic of you.

Thanks R41...Josh and Vanessa came out great in spite of it all. She used them both horribly, Josh better because he was a boy. Vanessa less because she was a girl and had talent.

R37 You are very wise...ALL an act.

[quote]closet lesbian (fact),

People actually thought Ellerbee was straight? I remember her from Nick News, and even as a kid it was pretty obvious which side of the fence she straddled.

"bit her nails to the quick,"

HORRORS! Had she not been taught proper manicure care?

She DESERVED to die!

Do you know what Ellerbee's doing these days, r48? Is she in good health? She sure milked-THE-FUCK out of "and so it goes'--which I think she stole from Kurt Vonnegut. We howled when Julia Louis-Dreyfus portrayed her on SNL.

R43, R47, that's exactly what I think when I watch that clip. She's irritated but she's not being irrational or unreasonable. Why the fuck can't the floor manager be there to do his job and give her the cues she needs. Why does the producer have to sound so patronizing to her. And why the fuck did they film her secretly and pass this video around.

Is this Jessica at her worst? All this video proves is that the crew was entirely male and they were quick to dismiss her reasonably requests and label her hysterical and bitchy.

R48 yeah that is actually upsetting to hear about Ellerbee. I loved her book when I was like 15 years old. I fell for her act hook line and sinker. I remember her basically making it seem like she was a bastion of journalistic integrity and everyone else was a sell out.

Then she turned around and did a series of Maxwell House coffee ads with Willard Scott. I guess I should have known then something was off.

I also remember Ellerbee from Nickelodeon and even at 9 years old I thought she was a butch lesbian.

R51 she's in fine health and still producing...wrote another best seller about travel, which was likely all lies, too. I couldn't be bothered. And she DID steal ASIG it from Vonnegut but would never admit it.

R52 R43 R47 Exactly. I often defend anchors because these people have to go on camera...it's their ass. No one's going to blame us in the booth or on the floor--they don't even know we exist.

R53 I'm sorry. Sadly it's true. And worse. I could tell you some tricks she pulled on other journalists that would horrify you. Nick News is the show for which I did numerous freelance pieces, also a couple of other things her company produced.

And thank God I am a guy because she was tough on women--the younger they were, the meaner she was to them. After a few things in the late 90s, where they constantly tried to get me to work for less money when they were rolling in it, I told her I wouldn't be available any longer.

R32. Jessica Savitch not only did the NBC News Update segments, she was the NBC News Weekend anchor, which was a very big deal at the time. She was no lightweight as you say. She was the real deal, very prominent in her profession. Being a news junkie even back then, I remember looking forward to tuning in and watching Jessica on the weekends. She was so cool, so good...she was mesmerizing.

It's crazy to me that Savitch died at the age of 36. To me (and I guess by today's standards) she looked like a woman in her late 40s/early 50s.

In some of her later newscasts when she was about 35, she looks very old for her years. I would have guessed her to be in her late 40's to early 50's. Maybe that was just her hair, make up and clothes. News anchors had to look and be so mature and respectable back then. Imagine if she said "What the fuck are you doing?" on air like Sue Simmons she probably would have gotten fired.

I don't really see the appeal of her. I think she looks and sounds like an imitation of Barbara Walters. She was also childless at 36 and back in the 70's it wasn't as socially acceptable for a woman to be childless. She seemed like she was a mess. There was also another mess of a news anchor that was in the same circumstances as her who committed suicide on air. Her name was Christine Chubbuck.

R43. Thanks for posting that video. That was great. Even while Savitch was justifiably upset at her producer, when she delivered the news, damn she was perfect. And she was right in being upset. Her ass was on the line. She was the face of the news. And she was not unreasonable in the least. But damn, upset or not 'behind the scenes,' you couldn't ask for a better delivery on camera.

Not getting the love for Jessica Savitch ("riveting" etc.). In those Update clips she's consistently putting the stress on the wrong word, slightly smiling at an inappropriate moment. She repeats phrases ("Here at home, ..."). Connie Chung was better at that kind of thing.

“She was one of nature’s inexplicable phenomena – the human equivalent of the aurora borealis. Stunning. Substantive. Mysterious.”

That is the best compliment anyone ever paid to a news person. And it applied to Jessica Savitch more so than anyone else on the air. Damn, she was good. Definitely poised for greatness. She was gone much too soon.

R59 and all, don't we think however, that people look younger in general now? I mean surely the drugs, being thin and the hours would have worn on her. I agree she looked older than 36. But even in the 1980s adults didn't try to look like kids the way we do today. This is not a diss--there's nothing wrong with trying to stay young! I just think it was a different mentality. On air she sparkeld and apparently had an extraordinarily high "Q" rating.

Oh my God poor Connie. Sweet, sweet woman but if the poor thing had had a brain she would have been dangerous. Very nice. Tried to be very professional and could have been the first female night-time news anchor. But she blew it. As did Kathleen Sullivan. She was great on camera, too. but being gay and a loose canon ended her career.

R36 last time I saw Kathleen Sullivan on TV she'd become the anchor for E!'s OJ Simpson trial coverage. After that she disappeared.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the Lifetime movie Almost Golden: The Jessica Savitch Story starring Miss Sela Ward from 1995. It was a camp classic, as I recall.

Why does anyone care and get excited and angry about Savitch or Ellerbee or any of these? They were news readers. If they did some legit journalism besides, it was unremarkable. They were not Woodward and Bernstein or Seymour Hersh or, to take a TV example, Ed Murrow. They were just on camera performers. Nothing wrong with that, but it's not very important in itself.

Jessica actually pulled herself together right before her death and was looking great again.

R64 @kathleennewsie on Twitter...still a serious jock, loads of face work, was very heavy but seems to have lost it

You are very wrong R66...far be it from me to defend the hideous, but Ellerbee was very much a real journalist and Jessica tried hard to get them to let her do more and more of her own work. But in local, where they started, they were both reporters. And Ellerbee is a very good news writer. God I hated writing that.

Frmr News Producer, tell more about Ellerbee! What tricks did she pull on other journalists? How did she torture her lezzie lover?

I didn't say they didn't do journalism, but that it was unremarkable. The defense of Savitch is that she WANTED to be a serious journalist? Whatever. An enormous number of men and women worked in local news and are totally forgotten. Most news-writers are never known. If these women were known and are remembered it is as on camera personalities. For some reason they drive people here to love and hatred. I just don't get that at all. 99% of people here didn't meet either one of them. I guess they are sort of identified with feminism from that period, but they aren't really stand-ins for any cause larger than themselves. So it's bizarre to me that people care one way or the other. But then I don't understand why people get ANGRY at Madonna or are in love with some other diva they don't even know, and yet they do. It seems to be a version of the same phenomenon. Is this all because gay men of a certain age couldn't have children, so they invest this emotional energy in pseudo-relationships with TV personalities?

R71 what site do you think you're on? That's what we do here.

I personally find Ellerbee fascinating because I remember her on NBC News Overnight which at the time was unlike any other news show. And I loved her book.

I'm equally fascinated to now hear much of her public persona was fiction.

Why? There might be something to what you said. As a closeted gay kid in the '80s I took solace in the entertainers I loved.

R68 I can remember that Sullivan had gained weight. And then her hair started to gray. She looked very matronly at the end.

Loved watching Jessica Savitch. She had a Glow

R71 You keep making me write things that I hate writing. Ellerbee is a true journalist with a slew of awards. She is also a real dyke, a bitch, a liar, a hypocrite and numerous other things. But you are showing your ignorance to say that she (or even Jessica) were mere news readers. You're obviously insanely sexist and have no clue about the news business, which is fine but then shut up. Sawyer, Walters, Mitchell, all of these women are true journalists in the tasks they perform. Meredith Vieira, God help me another ass hole, was a true journalist at one time. Sullivan was not; nor was Connie, really. Now stop making me say nice things about that cunt Ellerbee. You're starting to really piss me off. And believe me telling the truth about what they do has zero to do with deifying any female performer because I'm a fag; not that I would be above that were she worthy.

I know that clip of her yelling at the crew was leaked to embarrass her and to show that she's a 'psycho bitch' but anyone who has worked in film or tv would be on her side. She's mad and screaming but nothing she says is irrational or demanding, she just wants the crew to do their jobs and help her get it right. Crew members on sets can be just as incompetent and lazy as anyone else and are rarely shining examples of mental health.

I never liked Ellerbee, she reminds me of all of the fat, snide, insulting bitches that I had to work for in the eighties.

You know the type--the ones who work the whole 'feminist' rhetoric but in reality make life hell for more attractive women.

These fat-fuck bitches were self-centered and devious, thinking themselves to be such successes because of some boring managerial position. As if their boring lives mattered. And they were so mean to other women. Especially the cute, younger ones. How feminist is that? It's not feminist at all.

And let me tell you this: many lesbians really hate other women. I don' t understand it, but I do think that the hatred stems from being rejected by men. Thusly, they turn to women as partners but really hate their partners and sabotage their lives in very devious and evil ways. I could write a book on how fake-ass lesbians destroy other women.

More gossip, Frmr News Producer. Would love to hear more on Walters, Sawyer and Viera.

she sounds weird in this clip :

Savitch had a long time on-again off-again boyfriend who was there for her through the marriages and the romances.

His name was Ron Kershaw and he allegedly abused her physically and mentally, mostly because he was jealous of her success. He was also in the TV news game in Houston with Savitch and they managed to hook up from time to time to torment each other. He beat her so bad at times that she was unable to go on TV and read the news. She always went back to him.

I lived in Philly during her anchorwoman days with her co-anchor, Mort Crim, but never really watched them much. There was something creepy about both of them. (Maybe those hair arrangements.) There was a distinct lack of any sense of humor on the screen when they were finishing each other's sentences.

That's Mort on the right. The other guy, Vince Leonard, was pushed out of the top slot by the dynamic duo.

Here's info about and pics of her first husband Mel Korn. He died in 2005.

Here's her sister Stephanie Savitch. She's a grief and loss counselor in Morgantown, West Virginia.

R76 It's even worse than the crew not doing their jobs. She has no floor manager to stand behind the camera and give her a count-in and more importantly a count-off. No one is there to tell her when she has 10 seconds left. She just has to guess at it. She's RIGHT to be pissed, and frankly I'm surprised she wasn't even more angry.

Audio from June 1967 of Jessica working as a disc jockey at radio station WBBF in Rochester, NY before she started in television.

R79 that footage is after she'd had a 48 hour cocaine binge. She had no business being on air. I believe after that night she went to rehab.

R77 Many gay men (Hello...DataLounge...) hate other men, especially gay men. It happens to be a sad fact for gay men and women in our community. Hopefully we're aging out of that because it does seem like an old queer thing. And "these fat-fuck bitches"...whoa, Daddy. Notice I managed to tell the truth about Ellerbee's short comings without once mentioning her looks or weight.

Let's see R70/R78...what would you like to know? Diane never wore make up--hated it--and came into work with high water sweats and damp hair all of the time. But she's great. She can be a diva but male and female they all can. No bigger diva than Peter Jennings who was also a hound but a decent sort. Rumors she had an affair with a woman producer at ABC. I could see it but this was not reliable. I worked with Cynthia McFadden. When she was covering OJ she stayed at a friend's in LA and Liz Smith always answered the phone when the production staff called for her. Got out pretty quickly that they were lovers. Of course before she came to ABC (thanks to Liz) they were pretty overt. Then she went back in and later nearly killed Liz when she dumped her for this male executive and then got pregnant. A few years later she became weirdly obsessed, and I do mean obsessed, with Liza Minelli. Definitely seemed sexual. Staff came to dislike Cynthia for a variety of reasons. She's a typical pain in the ass. Thinks she is God's gift, though she is a decent journalist and a very smart woman; came from Court TV and has a legal degree. This was all post-Kate Hepburn of course. Vieira is a bit of a lunatic. A friend used to bake cookies for everyone at Christmas and Meredith came up to her in the hall and said, "Thanks for the cookies but I have to admit I threw them away." My friend asked why and she said, "Because I was afraid you might be trying to poison me." I was standing right there next to her. And she was dead serious. They were friendly and worked together, saw one another every day.

Walters was everything you'd expect and more. But I had a good relationship with her--very good. So did another female friend of mine who she sort of mentored, as much as Babs did that kind of thing. And loot? Man she would get ALL sorts of expensive stuff and just dole it out to the staff she was close to. She really came to like my friend who really looked up to her. Barb sent her some sweet interoffice notes after they had shoots, or they finished a piece. Of course the next minute she'd rip your throat out LOL. But they had it much harder than the guys did. They were all expected to be "stars" not just journalists. But she did have, I must say, a horrible temper.

I'll tell you some horrible stories about Ellerbee tomorrow. Horrible.

R86 Aw give us just one short Ellerbee story now as a night cap. Please?

Former News Producer, you're a doll. Thanks for the stories.

We're greedy for more :)

Sorry children, I was asleep at my computer. Let's see, more BarWal. She had to fight for a lot of interviews. I mean the ABC brass. She knew everyone and could get to everyone but they would often take away the interview and give it to Peter. And it wasn't that she wasn't a great intv'er (Hepburn Oak tree not withstanding) but that, it seemed to us, they didn't want her to keep accumulating the power. There was a new guy on sound in the control room one day, and English guy who hadn't been in NYC but a week. So she's recording tracks and he says, "Sorry, Love, your r;'s aren't reading." The room went *silent.* So she reads again. And...I'm laughing as I type this it was just that funny...he says it again, "Love I just can't read your "r's" and you're having some issues with your "w's," too." Oh my God. So she stares straight at him and says, "That's the way I talk and I'm famous for it." So he shrugs his shoulders. The EP had just come in and she was horrified and straightened him out. When Bar came out of that room she was ready to explode but he was gorgeous and had that accent and you could see her stop short. He kisses her hand and says, "Well, done, Love" and she got all gooey and totally forgot to have him fired! Ha! But there were producers who would purposely load their scripts with "r's" to fuck with her.

So if her gay husband killed himself, then her pussy wasn't so magical after all, was it?

Savitch wasn't a journalist, she was a newsreader and she was brilliant at it. Locked eyes with the camera and did a total blow job on it. The audiences were pulled in by her authority and assurance. Even through her prickliness, she had a sense of friendliness. That is one thing Ellerbee never had. She was always smug and condescending and it's no wonder the audiences loathed her, in spite of being pushed by the networks for decades. The incident of Savitch screaming at the news crews "This is professional journalism", etc. does exist. A former NBC exec brought in a tape to a UCLA journalism course I was taking and set to Don Henley's "Dirty Laundry", it appears when Henley sings "The bubble headed bleached blonde who comes on at five". I've not seen the tape elsewhere, but I've heard it on Howard Stern's show. It was the worst meltdown I believe I've ever seen from a journalist. The concept of the cool blonde has become almost a stereotype but Savitch popularized it. The entire trend of entertainment journalism owes a debt to her. A sidenote: I never understood what anyone saw in Marcia Brandwynne. Besides being incredibly untelegenic, she had a brittle, bossy air that made her insufferable. One who did like her was Carol Burnett as they had a fairly long lasting relationship.

Worst meltdown? Then you've never worked for a network news organization. I've worked for all three and no one, NO ONE, could melt down like that incredible asshole Dan Rather. And it happened at 10, 12, 2, 4, and 6 daily. In fact these "meltdowns" do happen daily, on every level including local. And Jessica was more than a news reader. She was actively reporting stories and trying to do more--she craved it, in fact. A friend of mine was one of her producers. And he liked her a great deal. Yes she was a mess. But no she was not just a news reader. If she hadn't been so fucked up she would have gone far.

Interesting, #92- he always looked like he was ready to choke someone to death. Hitler-esque.

Here's the supposed "tirade" by Savitch. I don't think it's bad. They probably gave her the coked-up skeleton crew to work with.

[quote]If she hadn't been so fucked up she would have gone far.

You must admit that drowning in a canal in a car someone else was driving had a far worse effect on her career than her own issues did.

R94 you know I almost made that caveat but assumed people would be 1-smart enough to realize that that went without saying and that, 2-she was in that car because her career had gone down the tubes because she was...that's right fucked up.

One thing you have to realize about Jessica Savitch is that she came up at a time when women were really just breaking into the tv news business and they were not very welcome. The men in charge at the time were the WWII generation men who had no use for women in the news business. It was very sexist and many of the men were openly hostile. It was a completely different environment than it is today, and Savitch had to put up with A LOT of unnecessary shit from the old-boys club. All of that is gone now, but back in her day it was everywhere. She really was one of the pioneers for women in that business. I think a lot of what she had to take from the sexist men in her profession was one reason for the drug use.

Oh, and Jessica and Sue Simmons lived together for a while in the late 70s, even though they were both making a ton of money and could've easily lived alone if they'd wanted to. It's assumed that they were lovers.

BTW a friend of mine used to live in Jessica's old building on E. 57th st. in the 1990s and a couple of the doormen from Jessica's time were still there. I asked them about Jessica once and they both said she was very nice, always said hello, and there were never any problems with her. They both liked her.

I forgot to add - "Golden Girl: The Story of Jessica Savitch" by Alanna Nash is an excellent biography if you're interested. Nash chronicled Jessica's struggle with the men in the business and her horrible cocaine problem in depth. It's a very good read.

R95, as a former news producer you should have realized that your ignoble profession has done as much damage as any in the USA when it comes to the dumbing down of the populace. Tell me, were you the sort of producer who always turned a blind eye to the chicanery in the financial industry so that you could instead bring your viewers an in-depth expose of working conditions in the sex industry during sweeps month?

If you were a news producer during 9/11 and the run-up to the Iraq War then fuck you and your Lyin' for Zion peers!

Every once in a while when I see old images from the 70s & 80s I am reminded of all of that lousy polyester clothing we all wore. It makes the late Savitch look like a tough high school teacher.

To be fair, r98, much of the "dumbing down" came via layoffs of the experienced people, which the former news producer sounds like. So the people above him/her should be held accountable, not those booted from their careers.

I still remember in September of 1987, when Dan Rather walked off the set of the CBS Evening News in a huff because CBS was delaying the broadcast to air the closing minutes of Steffi Graf's US Open semifinal match.

Whatta chump.

R100 do you know me? LOL. I [italic]was[/italic] actually laid off from a documentary news show! And thank you, you're right.

R96 You are also quite correct! That was the very nascence of women in network news. And it's part of what makes Ellerbee and her hypocrisy even worse. It's funny, she used to have this phrase about grading and paving roads, sort of a stupid metaphor but her gen graded the road so she'd tell the young women they had to pave it or some shit. I never once saw her go to bat for/support, etc. the women at her company. She had this total SHIT HEEL producing for a while--always out to get women producers. Happily their association ended atrociously. He was even worse than she was and apparently threatened to blackmail her with knowledge about her personal life. He helped get her lover/assistant fired by saying the kid was telling everyone about them, which was the furthest thing from the truth. HE was telling everyone. A real homophobic, sexist schmuck. Rumor hath it that he was the one who leaked the famous Bryant Gumble memo (aka, today's email LOL.) Now I never got 100% confirm on that but I heard stories of treachery about this guys all over NBC. But she loved him for a while and took side in everything. It was such a joke.

R95 I don't want to engage your obvious trolling, and not that this will make any difference to you what-so-ever, but producers of network television have little to no choice over the pieces they do. Even most senior producers take their marching orders from above, which is uniformly conservative although no one wants to believe this. Again I have seen this first hand, even at CBS. Bottom line, all about money. I was stationed in Israel for a while and I can tell you that there was no "lyin' for Zion." Let me say this again, the news business is all about money and absolutely nothing else, except for Fox. And if Ailes wasn't making a ton of money on that network he'd change that, too!

I also agree that the news business--not the one I signed up for, never-the-less--has aided and abetted the "dumbing down" of America. Many is the time (all 3 nets) I, or another producer in my presence, heard some version of "We don't want your story about [fill in the country] America doesn't care what happens overseas." It's very depressing. We would often try to make the argument that we were there, in part, to enlighten and expose. No dice. I never did a piece on sex but I did (sigh) do an hour on past life regression, LOL.

"In some of her later newscasts when she was about 35, she looks very old for her years. I would have guessed her to be in her late 40's to early 50's."

She was quite unwell, both physically and mentally, by that time. And she had some unfortunate plastic surgery on her nose, her distinctive Roman nose, which did nothing to make her look more attractive. It just changed her face, and it was not for the better.

"Damn, she was good. Definitely poised for greatness."

Uh, not she wasn't, not really. She was a face and a voice and blonde hair; no substance at all. And "poised for greatness?" Her career was SMASHED near the end of her life. Jessica Savitch never had, and never would have had, anything approaching "greatness."

"She was no lightweight as you say. She was the real deal, very prominent in her profession."

She was prominent all right; as a news PERSONALITY. But nobody took her seriously as a journalist, although she certainly wanted to be taken seriously as one. But she just couldn't cut it in that regard.

More stories about Ellerbee, Frmr News Producer! How did she torture her lezzie lover(s)? How did she torture everyone else?

Former News Producer @ R92 Was there any substance to the rumor that floated around over fifteen years ago that someone got their hands on Dan Rather's credit card statements and found a bunch of payments to gay porn superstar Ken Ryker?

What a horrible way to die.

R107 No way, Rona. (Bearette, LOL!) They would happily have used that to take him down much sooner. In fact it was probably circulated by someone trying to help him out the door. They had a whole team on that for a while. CBS was thrilled to rid themselves of him. And no, I can't see him enjoying a man, or us enjoying having him be one of us. Blech. I used to call him Lena, short for Lena Lamont--only one girl got it and then of course I knew she was a sister. LOL

Okay my darling R106...you've been so patient. (I actually had to work today--of all things!) Let me go mix a martini then come back.

R107, interesting. But only something like repressed homosexulity could cause Dan "Courage" Rather's brand of craziness.

I heart you, Former News Producer. Please return to us.

Fmr News you're awesome. That Baba Wawa story is amazing.

Awww ...I get so sick of reading about Jake and Leo that I felt I had to do something for the greater good. I even posted some stuff about old actors (because it was real, true gossip I had first hand) I was so over this constant guessing and second-guessing, LOL. So here goes...!

My God there is SO much. I freelanced between network gigs at Lucky Duck Prod’s for about 4 years, long after the ass’t--let’s call her Patti--who is still a good friend of mine, was booted. Ellerbee broke up with her (which was fine w/her by then) then had her “boyfriend” (who hadn’t fucked LE in years) fire her with the shit heel producer who had been gunning for her. This was not fine w/Patti. She had worked her ass off. I was there that day—it was insanely cruel but she handled it with grace. She also fired a great producer that day, a brilliant, too talented Oxford grad who was totally onto their shit and wouldn’t take it--you know the kind of person

LE pruported to be.

Anyway, Patti had moved into a little apt next door to LE's house. She was working in publishing when LE begged her to come to work for her. In truth, she worshiped the bitch and was thrilled. But it went downhill fast. She was hired as a PA but when Linda quickly fired a really old friend who had been her ass’t she forced Patti to take the job.

She said she knew almost immediately after going to work for her, that Linda wasn’t what she promoted herself as at all. I don’t know when the sleeping together started but she said she was lousy in bed, was personally dirty, which disgusted her, and that it didn’t last long. Linda had had other affairs with women, including a couple of other female journalists, pick-ups at the lesbian bar she hung out at and something very juicy.

It gets convoluted but Patti said, for those of you who loved Overnight that she told her Linda and her THEN-boyfriend, Lloyd Dobbins and his wife had 4-somes, regularly. And yes, Ellerbee fucked his wife. This BF leaves her and he gets together with a woman they worked with a ABC (an acquaintance of mine, how I came to Lucky Duck come tot hink of it) who then brings Ellerbee the contacts and the idea for Nick News. But Ellerbee’s new BF falls hard for her so as soon as the contract for the new series comes through Linda forces him to fire her ass.

If Linda’s dark glasses were on she was stoned and they were on 75% of the time—she’d stumble around and ramble, and prosthelytize, ad nauseam. I asked Patti abt it because she was a famous grad of Betty Ford. Patti said Linda addressed that one day, saying, “I don’t feel strongly about this. It’s not the same as alcohol.”

So Patti kept getting her pot for her as she requested, usually from, drum roll please…Ellerbee’s son who was quite a dealer. He didn't know for a while it was for his mom but he's a smart kid (both are Patti says) and he figured it out.

The boyfriend and both kids, btw, borrowed money from Patti—as in thousands.

Ellerbee would do creepy shit like ask her to go buy her cig’s, make or go buy her coffee and get her cash at the cash machine. She usually "forgot" to pay her for the pot. It was like Working Girl. The son always asked for Linda’s bank card saying his mom approved it. She found out later that she got blamed for all of that dough being gone--though Patti says that she doubts Linda really believed that. This is a girl who paid back the co. for charges on her co. credit card when Linda wanted Chinese or pizza delivery at night, etc. because it wasn’t a biz expense.

Linda also, and I love this, made her pay for her hotel room and all of her travel expenses when they spent a couple of weeks in Boston for Linda’s cancer surgery. Patti says it was almost 5K. She said half the time Linda’s son stayed in her room. She loved both kids but said it was BS. A couple of nights she came back late from the hospital to find herself locked out because he was fucking his GF…in the room she paid for. The next day she said she found bloody condoms on the floor.

Patti said she was always trying to get the boyfriend to pay attention to her so she’d use her against him. And she said she had liked him so she felt bad about it. In fact she had a lot of sympathy for him. I actually heard it one day. LE asked him if he liked her or something and when he didn’t respond said Oh Patti loves it. Everyone looked at one another it was so obvious.

LAST PART

Patti wouldn't mind me using her name--she's been out since she was a teen--but says she wouldn’t want anyone knowing she fucked Ellerbee at this point, LOL. (She has done “much” better!) LE took her to several gay parties at this dyke bar she hung out at including a birthday party for a famous drag entertainer…forgot her name… Storme De something….google it's good gay history--wish I could remember it LOL

Coup de gras she got half the newsroom of local NBC station in DC fired and got herself a Peabody for it. Patti was an unwitting party and has never gotten over feeling bad about it. Included in the collateral damage was one of the first female news directors in the country who also happened to be gay.

Ellerbee wanted to do a story on how the news could be manipulated. So she goes to WNBC in DC where she knows people. They say what a great idea, happy to help. She asks them to cover a kid-friendly story so they do this piece on dolphins for the noon news JUST FUCKING FOR HER. Then she proceeds to make it look like they actually manipulated the way the story was told only not on purpose to help her but because they were hacks! FOUR PEOPLE—ND, reporter, assignment editor and someone else, all fired. She never addressed it, never tried to help them—nothing. And she accepted that Peabody Award with not a hint of guilt. UNREAL.

Patti always thought Gerry Laybourne was a closet dyke and in love with Ellerbee—it’s the only thing that explained keeping the show on in the early days. When Linda was sick Laybourne called Patti and said let me know when something really has her down so I can send something to cheer her up. So Patti called her the day she started chemo. Laybourne sends something then rats the kid out and Linda called her upstairs to the living room and we could hear her screaming and screaming at this girl at the top of her lungs.

This has become the best thread in years. What many threads on DL used to be like.

That is AWESOME dish, Frmr Newsie. Love it!

D revived when Trolldar went away.

DL, that is

Amen, good stuff. And I have to admit, I was totally taken in by Linda's "too ethical for the networks" con game. But that's why she's gotten so far with it - she's been a fucking con artist her whole life, no doubt.

Loving the thread. But WNBC is in New York. WRC is the NBC O-and-O in DC. When did this take place? I've worked in news in DC for 33 years and don't recall this. Perhaps it was when I was overseas.

IN R114 I meant liked her hair... R121, yes you're right about the call #'s...it was the martini. I'm surprised I got it all out. Well whatever year she won the Peabody, although she won a couple. Probably 1992 I'm going to say...

Ha, add more olives next time! Tough way for her to prove her point. Of course today, newsrooms seem to have a "no source rule," as opposed to the old two or even three source rule. Don't mind me, I walked by the WaPo today and saw the ghosts of journos past having a smoke.

That's why I had to get out R123. Breaks my heart. I think sometimes it would have been different had I gone into print but I'm not sure now.

This longwinded "frmr News Producer" with the very big mouth and the misogynist streak sounds like an EST troll. But on the off chance that he might actually be telling the truth, he sounds like one of the bitchiest, cuntish creeps imaginable. I can't imagine that anyone liked him, which may account for his hostility and vindictiveness. I think he was probably avoided by a lot of these people he's raking over the coals (assuming that he actually knew any of them) and thinks this is a way to get back at them. I don't think he's a credible source of information. He definitely has an ax to grind, and people like that will say anything.

LE has arrived!

You've been so much fun, FMR. But I'm sure it wasn't much fun for you. I fell like a vampire sucking up everything you vent, but please don't stop. Best thread in years.

R125 = Ellerbee's current abused assistant. Linda passed out hours ago from pot and Oxy.

Here you go, bitches...

[quote] The second installment of "Nickelodeon Special Edition," which will be seen on the Nickelodeon channel at 5 p.m. next Wednesday, is called "It's Only Television" and is all about TV!!! ...

[quote] One segment, about TV news, shows reporters and crew from WRC going up to Capitol Hill to cover a demonstration against the tuna fishing industry by protesters who say the tuna nets trap and kill dolphins. WRC gets to the Hill too late for the hearing so has no one from the industry to appear before the cameras. Reporter I.J. Hudson apologizes about the imbalance of the report as the station instead uses visuals provided by the demonstrators ...

[quote] WRC cameraman Chester Panzer also explains that "cameraman" is not an adequate term and asks to be called "photojournalist" because, he says, "cameraman" sounds like just a guy who drags a camera around. Well, Chester has won a lot of awards ...

[quote] "Special Edition" is a monthly news show for kids co-produced and hosted by Linda Ellerbee. It's supposed to become a weekly show in the spring. Last month's premiere was on the environment and was called "The Day the Earth Threw Up" ...

Yeah, 125=Linda Ellerbee. She types fat, dirty, bitchy, and vindictive.

You can't keep those secrets forever, Linda. At your age and weight, you should be thrilled just to have the gays talking about you.

I think Fmr News Producer is delightful.

A Linda Ellerbee comes along in just about everyone's life. It's part of the journey. And sometimes to put it in perspective and learn from the experience, you have to share the details with an caring listener. I care and I hope she soon becomes a distant, smelly memory from your past.

In the big picture, she hurts herself more than she hurts anyone else. My Linda Ellerbee's helped me to grow up and did me some real (unintentional) favors in the long run.

Watch out for those canals!

[quote] I care and I hope she soon becomes a distant, smelly memory from your past.

Hee Hee Hee

But in all honesty, it took me about 10 years to get past my experience with the Linda Ellerbee in my life.

Just today I drove past the building where we worked together, where she tormented me, and tried to destroy me. And I couldn't help but smile. Last I heard, her life is a fucking mess - a trail of chaos and wreckage. She left town in the middle of the night.

And I'm as content with my life and who I am as I've ever been.

I will never be able to look at Linda Ellerbee again without thinking that she isn't clean "down there."

Yeah, Linda has a "stinking" problem. It don't smell like no field of Spring flowers down there to me...and they don't make douche strong enough to clean up that toxic mess.

R126--Hahahaha, probably!

R129--Yep that's it! They would never have covered that demo if it hadn't been for her asking them to and the way they covered it was for her. And she threw those poor people under the bus. It was criminal, the sanctimonious lying bitch.

R133 that's good advice. I have to say that for me it was more a voyeur situation. Patti is a good friend and a grand dame (problem dating bitchy women, though, LOL...) Not that she would say she was a saint by any means. But she's one of those there for friends any time gals, volunteered weekly to help care for home bound AIDS patients, cooking meals, doing laundry, walking dogs. And this bitch, well it was the worst I have ever seen anyone treat anyone. Every single word I wrote--and I could have written a lot more, I may still--was true.

In regards to her cleanliness, or lack of, they used to call her The Dirt Queen at NBC. That doesn't come from Patti but from NBC friends way back.

Patti, oh man she'd kill me because she's usually quite ladylike. Okay...she called LE "Uddie Puddie." (Yes, sounds like pudding...)

What a turd...

This much is true - if the people in my life wanted me to write warmly about them, they should've behaved better. I was the witness to my life - I get to tell it the way I saw it.

Testify Fmr News Producer.

We love you FNP!

R136 Living well is the best revenge. I hope you're through it. Patti says that she never thinks about her but every now and then she says she still has a nightmare about her.

R142 Exactly.

R143 :)

Write more, FNP, write more!!

What r146 said. You could get a book out of this, once that big old blob croaks.

You have to be 90 years old to understand this thread.

R147 LOL! Actually she made Patti sign a confidentiality agreement or she wouldn't give her her severance and they threatened her, said sign now or forget about it. Of course I didn't sign anything, LOL. R146 Perhaps tomorrow...am very tired, LOL! 148 I can't imagine any 90 yr olds, or 80 yr olds, or that many 50 yr olds know what Nick News is--in so far as it started in 1991 or 92. But it does help if you have a brain in your empty wittle head.

not to rain on the parade, but why are we so fascinated by Linda Ellerbee?

K.O. was gay?

"She was only a newsreader...she was a personality, not a real journalist." Blah, blah, blah.

Jessica didn't end up at NBC because she was an unqualified nobody. She was a great newswoman who as someone before said, "she came up at a time when news was dominated by men." Damn right, the men resented it. But Jessica succeeded. And if the network was looking for a newsreader who offered credibility, reassurance and the serious face of news, it got the best. Try listening to someone who can't read and has no journalistic chops, you tune out and lose interest immediately. That was not the case with Jessica Savitch. I loved her. She was the best.

And I loved Linda Elerbee too. NBC Overnight was a great program in its day. And Elerbee was the reason.

[quote]why are we so fascinated by Linda Ellerbee?

Because we are just now learning what an Amazing Technicolor Dream-Cunt she is.

True, but now part of the problem is that everything else fits the puzzle. I can forgive her being a cunt but I can't forgive her for smelling bad while playing it out. That screams ego.

r153

[quote]This has become the best thread in years. What many threads on DL used to be like.

R116. Thank you. I started this thread. At first I hesitated because although I loved Jessica Savitch, I wasn't sure if people would respond I was completely fascinated by Jessica when she was at the top of her game on the news. But in years past, Jessica had been discussed before so I didn't know how many of us would remember or care about her. Although maybe fascinating, captivating and talented people like Jessica continue to hold their allure and appeal. I have been very interested to read so many responses and satisfied when others like and remember Jessica as I do.

Op, I hope you're okay with this one flying off in tangents.

Fmr News I add my voice to the chorus of "best thread in years". Thank you.

You've filled in blanks for me. I've always thought there was a disconnect between how talented I thought she was and the fact that she never stayed long at one place (before Nick, in the '80s I mean). Now I have a better understanding of why that was.

Her greatest achievement was NBC News Overnight. After Letterman you had this smart, irreverent unique kind of news show. It was like hanging out with a bunch of smart people for a couple of hours every night. I also liked her ABC show Our World, though not nearly as much.

Thanks again for sharing.

Any dirt about Kathleen Sullivan's affair with Martina Navratilova?

bump

Throughout the years, they've come and gone, but Jessica Savitch remains one of the icons of the news business. She was really something.

There's no one else who has ever been described and been given high praise such as: “She was one of nature’s inexplicable phenomena – the human equivalent of the aurora borealis. Stunning. Substantive. Mysterious.”

[quote]Any dirt about Kathleen Sullivan's affair with Martina Navratilova?

Dirt? Why do you use that word, r159? You think I'm unclean like Linda? Do you think all lesbians are dirty? I'll have you know I'm clean down there, very, very clean. I spend a lot of time in the showers you know. Or maybe because I'm Czech? You have something against Czech's and think they're all dirty, is that it? Huh. It's not easy being a multi-millionaire like me and having to deal with everyone resenting me. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to let my assistant perfume my vagina.

Did you notice at the bottom of the thread is says: Tags: Elder Gay, Television. lol!

R163. And did you also notice that others have said that this is one of the most interesting threads in a while? Who cares what the "tags" say? Apparently you don't have anything to contribute.

The one thing that is a bit disappointing is that some of the thread has gotten sidetracked with slamming Linda Elerbee and others. I wish it would get back on track with comments about Jessica Savitch, but nonetheless, it's an interesting thread with lots of good comments and discussion.

R164 There's only so much to say about Savitch. I love that it's branched out into a more general discussion of female news anchors of the '70s and '80s.

This thread stinks!

I lived in Philadelphia when Jessica Savitch was the co-anchor on KYW and I agree, she was a star and great to watch. I looked at the photo posted way up thread and didn't recognize /remember the other two bland guys although their names sound familiar upon rereading it. When she started doing weekend updates, it was kind of like one of own getting promoted, lol. It was shocking when she was killed. I had no idea about her troubled personal life.

Also love the turn this thread has taken with Former guy, thanks.

Her death was horrifying. The car landed upside down in that ditch, which was usually very shallow but because of heavy rains had about four or five feet of water. The mud sealed the doors shut. Savitch's date was knocked unconscious, but Savitch was not and struggled to escape. She was found in the very back of the station wagon, and had been pounding on the window in an attempt to break it. I cannot even imagine.

Here's the People magazine article on her death. I was very young at the time, but I can still remember that cover.

It wasn't Martini R161 it was a tennis player named Hana Mandlikova. They had a serious hot and heavy thing for a while and Kathleen was always on tour with her. After news crews covering matches shot her watching Hana play from her personal box--so to speak--she started getting shit from the brass. She also had a long-term affair with a golfer, although I forget the golfer's name now. She was a loose canon at CBS and they always assigned a PR person to be with her during interviews because they were afraid of what she might say. Now there is a case of a definite news reader with no desire to do anything else--and she was good at it. She had some of Jessica's spark but not the beauty and love affair with the camera.

OMG I'm hung over...Martina and cannon oy

How does Kathleen Sullivan pay the bills now? She hasn't had a job in a million years.

Agreed, r168--a terrifying, awful way to die: it was Mary Jo Kopechne's death all over again.

I wondered the same thing R171. A friend who keeps in touch (don't know why, she's a bore incessantly talking sports) says that she made a fortune fast and invested well. Also, at the height of her fame she gave speeches for 10-15K a pop--that speaker's bureau thing is quite a racket. Patti used to book Ellerbee for those gigs and said she made 200-250K long after she was off the networks. I know she sold a NYC penthouse when she left, 5M+, which would hold you a long time in Palm Spring. Back when she moved there they were giving away free homes when you bought a set of lawn furniture. She was always a very lonely person, sort of a pathetic woman athlete groupie. She should come out she'd have a whole new career...or...a career.

Guessing family money, r171--she's from Pasadena--and shrewd investments; I believe she also teaches golf clinics in the Springs area.

Her ex-husband (remarried) lives and works there, too. He's a noted architect/builder who looks like he *might* be gay--but apparently is not.

Seriously. Something really smells in here, guys.

Just to be clear: Was it Ellerbee's snatch that stank, or was it a full-body thing?

Yay! Another DL thread has devolved into a smelly pussy-fest.

The jokes are timeless. Truly.

And goodness knows, every male anus we've ever encountered has smelled of cinnamon and cloves--or fine English leather, with spicy top notes.

Hot. Mess.

DL has an Elder Gay tag?

Is that so the NSA can better sort us out?

Is there an Old Dyke tag too?

R176 both. But that really wasn't the point of the conversation, LOL. It was prohibitive, tho'. There was an editor who worked with her who used to talk about the horrors of sitting in a small, dark booth with her editing tape for hours. But again, not the point. Though as a gay woman Patti found it very annoying and embarrassing because she says women get a bad rap for that all of the time--especially in the gay community, especially from US--and she said it is very much a minority thing. Of all the women she's been with LE was the only one.

And no, R179, young dykes barely exist but Old Dykes don't exist at all, especially not here. (*not* said approvingly...)

Things were looking up for Jessica Savitch just before she died. From the People Magazine story reporting on her life, career and tragic drowning:

"In fact, her contract had been renewed and was being typed for her signature last week. Next January she was to reclaim an anchor spot subbing for Chris Wallace on Sundays. According to Today show producer Steve Friedman, "Savitch was high on the list" of replacements for Jane Pauley, who is taking a maternity leave later this month. She had been promised a visible spot during the upcoming election coverage. She was set for another season of Frontline on PBS."

Does anyone else remember this? Linda Ellerbee was the guest on one of Tom Snyder's late night talk shows a while after Jessica Savitch's death.

Ellerbee spent most of the show talking about how over her head and messed up Jessica Savitch was and how she and other co-workers were planning to stage an intervention right before the accident happened.

The crazy thing was Ellerbee was quite noticeably drunk during the interview while drugs or alcohol were ruled not to be a factor in the accident that killed Savitch.

I didn't discount LE's account at the time having just have read both Golden Girl and Almost Golden but after reading thru all this I'm getting a very different picture.

And thanks Frmr News Producer and others for a very interesting discussion.

Frm News Prod thanks for all you contributions to this thread, very interesting. Please keep posting if you have anything else to add. I always wondered why LE never seemed to stay in one job for very long, and you've definitely explained why.

Kathleen Sullivan writes bizarre things on Facebook...hates the Clintons

R184 Kathleen Sullivan is a very strange woman. Very. She was always like that and I think has enormous self-loathing over the gay thing. There was talk at CBS that she was a Republican, which you didn't want to be at CBS, LOL.

R182 I remember that Snyder intv. and I must say she's full of shit. There wasn't going to be any intervention. I think it was a case of several nasty assholes happy to see her fail who, in retrospect, realized how bad their behavior was and how they could have helped someone in trouble but instead exacerbated her troubles. There was a group of them and they were all bastards to her. My friend who produced for Jess said it was very much a case of, not letting her "play in any of their reindeer games." Very juvenile.

And LE was drunk any time she appeared anywhere in the 1980s. Patti says that's how she met Ellerbee. She was a kid when Ellerbee came to her hometown for a pro-choice speech. She interviewed her for some little thing and they seriously hit it off. Ellerbee asked if she could get her a vodka. Not, they were in a convention hall--no booze around. But there was a restaurant not too far away so she walked there and managed to bribe the bartender into letting her take a double vodka out. He put it in a plastic cup, she goes back and Ellerbee is thrilled but says it's small...oh and the ice was melted. BTW, Patti said it was a good pour. So back she goes three more times. It cost her a small fortune because she had to keep bribing the bartender and LE never gave her a dime. Ellerbee gave her all of her personal contact info though, kept in touch with her, told her when an apt opened up in the bldg next to her home, etc.

R182 R183, it really is my pleasure, LOL

R181 I'd like to believe that but I'm not so sure. She was very loved by viewers who missed her. I think the brass was trying hard not to look bad. All of the is very nebulous...about to sign her name, a special place for her...I don't buy it. But if that's how it's remembered, more's the better.

Speaking of 70's and 80's news anchors, whatever happened to Phyllis George? She was a very big deal at one point before the rapist incident.

R186, didn't she marry some guy that became a Governor? I remember her Chicken By George. It was pretty good.

Yeah, I always thought Ellerbee made up the intervention thing to make herself look good — it was just too convenient, that JS died only a few days before they planned to do it.

I hope to be able to get revenge on my Linda Ellerbee someday.

"Yeah, 125=Linda Ellerbee. She types fat, dirty, bitchy, and vindictive."

Nope, I'm just somebody who doesn't believe obviously made-up shit, you pitiful twat.

You have an obsession with Linda Ellerbee's cunt. I doubt that you know whether it smells like rancid fish or primroses. How COULD you know, unless you fucked her? And I doubt seriously that ever happened. I doubt seriously that anything you've said has ever happened. You seem like quite the nutcase.

"And I'm as content with my life and who I am as I've ever been."

Judging from your nastiness, it's obvious that you are one of the most unhappy, sad, alone misfits on this planet. Nothing about you suggests contentment at ALL. You seem like you need the help of a good psychiatrist.

R181, that sounds like People Magazine happy talk to me. Come on, the brand new sparkly contract was just waiting for her signature. How does that work after the major public mis-steps she had made. Somebody at People was just trying to please their editor who wanted to burnish Jessica's image and sell more magazines.

The producers of Frontline have said openly that they didn't intend to use Jessica in the following season. And she had been difficult and unreliable from the beginning.

"This much is true - if the people in my life wanted me to write warmly about them, they should've behaved better. I was the witness to my life - I get to tell it the way I saw it.:

You have the mindset of a sociopath. I shudder to think what it must like to have to be around somebody like you in a work situation.

So, you'd like to work with Linda Ellerbee r193?

[quote] How COULD you know, unless you fucked her?

If you believe that I feel sorry for the people you sit next to.

"not to rain on the parade, but why are we so fascinated by Linda Ellerbee?"

We're not. But some poor Dataloungers DO like to hear really nasty gossip though, and this so-called "Frmr News Producer" has a lot of time on his hands so he's willing to oblige them by regaling them with tales about Linda Ellerbee's "dirtiness." Yes, he likes to expound on the smell of Linda Ellerbee's cootch. HE'S the one with the fascination with Linda Ellerbee, poor soul.

Moron, if you read his posts he clearly stated his friend was Ellerbee's girlfriend for a while and the girlfriend told him Ellerbee's pussy stank.

"So, you'd like to work with Linda Ellerbee."

I don't know anything about Linda Ellerbee. I DO know that "Frmr News Producer" sounds like an insufferable prick with the mentality of a maladjusted middle schooler.

"Moron, if you read his posts he clearly stated his friend was Ellerbee's girlfriend for a while and the girlfriend told him Ellerbee's pussy stank."

Oh yeah, that's really credible. Most reasonable people do not have sex with somebody and then tell their "friend" that their lover's pussy stank. That's not something most people would bring up in conversation, unless you're a really fucked up asshole. I don't think this ever happened.

You are an idiot who will believe anything.

[quote]"Frmr News Producer" sounds like an insufferable prick with the mentality of a maladjusted middle schooler.

All the more reason FNP is the DL poster of the year!

If you want to discuss tasteful, wholesome topics, R198, fuck off and join the commenters on oprah.com. Begone!

This is a gossip site that's finally become fun again.

Someone's name must be Masengale!

r199 do you even have any friends? Many people dish with their friends about their sex lives. Stop shitting all over this thread with your cunty attitude, loser.

FNP, please keep the insider info coming--serious news-junkie here.

(Especially interested in any anecdotes which paint Forrest Sawyer (don't judge) as a verbal, insatiable bottom with a taste for the brothas LOL.)

So we have a thread started about Savitch, that has evolved into stories about other news anchors/news readers of the 70s and 80s. Someone is providing information about a couple of anchors that may or may not be true, who really knows, but the posts are obviously being enjoyed by several other posters. Many people are posting to thank the Insider for his stories and making things entertaining.

Now we have someone who doesn't believe the stories. So instead of moving to another thread, or ignoring the poster or the thread, he has to start personal attacks on the poster. What exactly are you trying to accomplish? You're trying to shit all over a poster who everyone is enjoying. Do you attend concerts of performers you don't like to heckle them, and ruin everyone else's evening? Do you show up to parties and tell people how shitty the food is and how everyone should leave the party?

If you've had different experiences with these news anchors, feel free to share. You've made it clear you don't believe the poster, is it necessary to repeat it over and over (and over and over) again?

I really don't understand what you're trying to accomplish, and whatever it is, I don't think its working.

It's LE herself or a PA with a google alert. Nobody on earth feels so impassioned about LE.

FNP, return to us! Tell us more!

For the crazy person who doesn't believe me stories I can only say this: don't. That's fine. Clear one thing up, though. I have only posted her with some sort of Frmer News Producer handle (exhausted, hung over, etc.) I haven't posted as anonymous once. So you are not attacking me but others. And, early in this thread someone said they were a friend of one of Linda's kids and could confirm much of what I have written. I'm assuming a friend of Vanessa's who LE really treated like shit.

It's funny, if I really were a prick there is a lot more I could say. And I mean a LOT more, truly shitty, awful things about her. Some of which I saw, some of which I was told and there are others who know the truth, too. I purposely kept away from the stories of shit she did to the kids because they don't deserve to be pulled into her shit--anymore than they have.

The fact is I [bold]adore[/bold] women and hate the way gay women are treated in the community, which is not well. Transgender people are treated with more respect than gay women. Part of what upset me for Patti is the way Ellerbee goes around as some trumped up, holier than thou feminist when she is exactly the opposite. ANY time I hear someone sing Ellerbee's virtues I disabuse them of it. Now, face-to-face it wouldn't be with the vitriol, of course. But here...you kidding? This is the place for it.

My friends and I discuss sex all of the time. Do you think girls don't talk about sex? Because we may do it more but man they talk about it--gay and straight--all of the time.

R189 It's not worth it. Let go. Patti did. You hold onto that for too long and...bad stuff.

R205 I'm guessing that you're right although she has MANY devoted dyke followers. MANY.

In a relatively brief period of time, Jessica Savitch was golden. She made her mark, and we're still talking about her today. She was brilliant on camera.

R207 If I didn't make this clear, I totally agree. She was the news equivalent of Marilyn Monroe--she just had her way with the camera. And btw? That is an honest skill; one might even say an art. I used to stop studying and tune into her nightly updates (9PM!) just to watch her for 60 seconds! What set me off is the way Ellerbee talked about her when she was "guilty" of most of the same shortcomings.

Patti sounds like a sweetheart.

Sounds like Cheryl has some real competition in the stank cooch department.

"Many people dish with their friends about their sex lives. Stop shitting all over this thread with your cunty attitude, loser."

I honestly doubt that a whole lot of people have sex with somebody and then discuss in detail the tastes and smells and textures of said encounter with other people. Anybody who would do something that would have to have the maturity of a 14 year old. It's a really stupid, immature thing to do. Maybe all your friends are just that: stupid and immature.

If the tales of the "FNP" titillate you, then it is YOU who are the loser, you poor, gullible fuck.

[quote] I used to stop studying and tune into her nightly updates (9PM!) just to watch her for 60 seconds!

R207. Wow, I did the same thing. Watching Jessica Savitch was mesmerizing. Like the OP noted, she was the human equivalent of the aurora borealis. Stunning. Substantive. Mysterious.”

If you ignore R211, all nasty posts will disappear.

I wish the networks still had nightly updates. We need a new Jessica Savitch in our lives.

"You've made it clear you don't believe the poster, is it necessary to repeat it over and over (and over and over) again?'

Was it necessary for the poster to repeat over and over (and over and over) again how Linda Ellerbee is "personally dirty" and has a "stinking problems" and was known as the "Dirt Queen?" Is this kind of talk really considered amusing and entertaining? What's so amusing and entertaining about it? This kind of crap sounds like the blatherings of a grade school bully. If you poor people on this thread find this type of stupidity thrilling and "entertaining" then you must have some problems of your own.

And wasn't this thread about JESSICA SAVITCH? Seems to me this thread was hijacked by the "FNP" who couldn't shut up about Linda Ellerbee, a woman he appears to hate and have a dangerous fixation on. Actually, he couldn't shut up, period. He likes to hear himself talk, I imagine.

He sure as hell doesn't seem like he "adores" women. Nobody who "adores" women would use the language he did to describe Ellerbee.

This thread was turned into something very, very ugly and disturbing, but not by me.

This place has always been so obsessed with Jessica Savitch. Why?

R213 Maybe it's just to keep the thread hopping, LOL! But you see, now I may have to post a few more things just because... I admit I thought that perhaps I had gone too far--clearly not.

It's entirely possible that this is a Nick PR person but one thing, a man never suggests (repeatedly) that someone is being juvenile. So let me tell you, young lady, that your devotion, while understandable if you don't know the truth, is horribly misplaced. If you don't want to hear any of this go away. No one will mind. But from 1991-1992 I witnessed incredible cruelty.

And there's no excuse for not taking a shower every day, for not keeping your clothes clean--especially when you've had a FT housekeeper for (at the time) 20 years. Dora, btw, was a lovely Island lady but apparently LE's invalid mother couldn't remember "Dora" so they just renamed her..."Cora." Not a big deal, I suppose, for a woman who stated, "Only black people were lavender." And yes, I was in the next room and *heard* that.

R209 She genuinely is. One of the kindest souls I've ever met. And sort of, but very quietly, the Mercedes de Acosta of her day--only with talent. I was thinking I wasn't an elder gay quite yet but with that reference I suppose that I am, LOL...

Oh, and the dissenter is absolutely not LE...she's a far better writer.

So, whatever happened to Dobbins--and Bill Schecter, for that matter?

Many of the people mentioned on this site were before my time, some I know and some I don't know. I don't mind because I just Google the person and find out all about them. Through Google I can learn about their noteworthy achievements and figure out why people are so fascinated with them. However, I don't get Jessica Savitch. I don't understand the fascination with her or what makes her special. I understand that she was the first woman to anchor NBC Nightly News but I'm not seeing much else.

She died young--and tragically; she was also a (bottle) blonde, and famous, thus, her immortality.

"Oh, and the dissenter is absolutely not LE...she's a far better writer."

You wrote "For the crazy person who doesn't believe me stories" and you're dissing ME as a writer? Boy, are YOU an idiot.

Speaking of her being young, it's astonishing how much older she appeared--and read, on camera. As someone mentioned upthread, she also had a decided masculine affect; whatever, the combination worked for her.

It just occurred to me that Savitch was somewhat similar to the recently departed actress (and fellow Pennsylvanian) Lizbeth Scott.

FNP, any Brokaw tales?

Overnight was a truly great show. Dobbins retreated to the wilds of NC with his wife, whom he pretty much hated. Patti says he came to Boston to see LE after her surgery. He showed up with a pocket full of tiny bottles of vodka and she had to take him to dinner. She had been a huge, huge fan of Overnight and she was disappointed he was such a total bore--not a smidgeon of personality. She couldn't wait until the dinner was over. Bill works in local news. Well the last time I heard.

"It's entirely possible that this is a Nick PR person but one thing, a man never suggests (repeatedly) that someone is being juvenile."

So only women make note of it when someone is demonstrating that he has the mentality of a grade schooler? You consistently make the most idiotic statements, which is why your claim of being a "FNP" is so ludicrous.

There was nothing special about her. She was not beautiful, she was a bottle blonde with ambition and a messy personal life. She had a "trained" newscaster's voice, aka affected. She was not glamourous, but she was tough. She was anorexic, hung out with her dog and liked to be beaten by men. Like most urban people she did coke in the 1970's and eighties. It was a time when being a news anchor still meant something prestigious. But not much talent was required and in Savitch's case not much intelligence either. She had a high Q rating. No one would listen to her for 10 minutes today. She looked like Dr. Laura and sounded like Barbara Walters. She died young in an unpleasant way. She was on her way down before she sank.

R222--oh you poor little thing...I was typing volumes and it was a typo, sweetie. A typo. And, in point of fact, I was not taking a shot at your writing. On DL you're just getting it down. Several people, kidding or not, have guessed she was here and I was pointing out it was not. And this is the last time I'm engaging you sweet pea. Whether you believe or not, are a man, woman or tree, I honestly don't care. But your loyalty is misplaced. Oh and yes, the "you're so immature" shot is usually fired by women.

R226=Debbie Downer

Jessica Savitch had a wonderful voice. Nicely modulated, and an appealing tone. It was a big reason people watched her. You never hear that kind of voice today. TV news women do that awful uptalk shit now.

She did look older than she was. Drugs and eating disorders were probably the reason for that.

Also, too--TV women of that era--who were not the "weather-girl"--evinced a seriousness that belied their years; Savitch was very straightforward about not wanting to be perceived as a bimbo or a news bunny (her college radio handle was "The Honey Bee"); agree about her voice: it was pitch-perfect.

If she hadn't bleached her hair, she would have resembled Boston TV News legend Natalie Jacobsen of WCVB. (They were both probably of Russian-Jewish descent.)

R164, I wasn't criticizing the thread. I just never noticed the 'tags.' I love the thread, and all the past Jessica Savitch threads. I read the Golden Girl book, and remember watching her on TV. I was a kid and liked seeing her on TV.

This is how it's done. Suck your teeth, sip your wine, casually drop a xanax, mime someone doing a toot and being a drunk, express your condolences that they are crazy in your most dulcet tone, get your hair touched up, check your reflection one last time and face the nation....

R232 While I have seen her exhibit some anger she's pretty great to work with.

[quote] But on the off chance that he might actually be telling the truth,

It's a she. She inadvertently gave herself away a few times

That's some rough combing of Diane Sawyer's hair.

FNP, any lesbo worth her salt knows who Mercedes is :) (And aspires to be just like her, at times!)

R77 nails it.

I love FNP.

The best biography of Jessica Savitch is "Almost Golden: Jessica Savitch and the Selling of Television News" by Gwenda Blair. It's starts out like this: "At 8:58 on the evening of Monday, October 3, 1983, a woman named Jessica Savitch appeared on NBC News Digest, a sort of broadcast headline service, and proceeded to have what looked like the beginnings of a nervous breakdown.

It went on to say about her:

"In 1983, Savitch was no longer young, nor was she a rising star. She'd been through two short, unhappy marriages; the first union was over almost before it began, and the second ended when her husband of five months hung himself with the leash for Chewy, her pet Siberian husky. She had also discovered the unpleasant realities involved in achieving her lifelong dream of celebrity. A crazed Nebraska farmer had written letters threatening Ronald Reagan, George Bush and Alexander Haig if she did not return his affections, then managed to get into her office when she was alone; terrified, she shoved him out the door, locked it, then hid under her desk shaking uncontrollably until security arrived. From then on, a uniformed bodyguard was assigned to her whenever she was at 30 Rock. The same week, she had a miscarriage. Without makeup, she looked tired and gaunt, so thin that even her detractors worried about her health. Although she was still besieged with interview requests and speaking invitations, received more fan mail than anyone else in the entire news division, and had recently written a bestselling biography entitled "Anchorwoman", no one at NBC spoke of her as a golden girl any longer, or mentioned her as a candidate for the Nightly News anchor chair. At this point she couldn't even get an ordinary reporting assignment from Nightly."

[quote]Is there an Old Dyke tag too?

The correct term is "elderlez."

More from "Almost Golden":

"The head of NBC News, Reuven Frank, wouldn't trust her to cover a fire and assigned her to do the highly visible Digest only because he thought she was too incompetent to handle anything more demanding and she was too popular with viewers to let her go. Savitch had gained a certain measure of respect for serving as host on Frontline, a new public affairs documentary program on public television, but the very fact that NBC allowed her participate was a sign that the network did not greatly value her services. But she was still a featured favorite on the network rumor mills; among the many stories concerning Savitch, the hottest were those that depicted her as hopelessly addicted to cocaine and the lover of yet another VIP--this time, a woman. But then, on October 3, real life outstripped the rumor mill. The one thing nobody had ever expected happened. The red light went on, and Jessica Savitch couldn't respond."

"I love FNP."

You do? I guess you must be very, very alone.

I believe the term is "lezbeen."

Thanks for the tea about Kathleen Sullivan and Hana Mandlikova, Fmr producer. But I'm confused now, Sullivan was definitely at Martina's side during the 1991 U.S Open (look up footage of Martina's matches, KS was front and centre drooling all over Navratilova). And Martina's ex Judy Nelson has talked about hearing rumours that Martina cheated on her with Sullivan.

R234 you seem to be having a conversation with your other personality, but if either of them are insinuating I'm a woman it's going to come as quite a shock to my husband, LOL! But whatever...Someone seems very upset that so many things have been divulged. Otherwise you, whoever you are, wouldn't care at all. So...who could you be? Hmmmm....

Factually I can only speak to Mandlikova because it was talked about "at the water cooler" quite a lot and people saw them dining together. I went to the Open back then but I don't think I'd know her if I fell over her--it's not a name you forget, tho'. Supposedly there were other athlete lovers (Nancy somebody?) but honestly I never paid much attention beyond the novelty of knowing she was gay.

"Someone seems very upset that so many things have been divulged."

Actually your harangues suggest you're the one who is "upset." You seem very, very upset. And there's no proof that anything you've "divulged" has any truth to it. You just want people to take your word for it. Well, there are a lot of silly people on this thread who want to believe the worst so maybe they'll buy it. But you come across as somebody who needs a lot of attention and will say ANYTHING to get it. Pretty sad, really.

IF all that is true about Linda Ellerbee - and I doubt it - it would be a shame because in all my dealings with her she has been a real sweetheart. Gives good advice, writes like a fiend and takes time to chat with younger journalists who need guidance. She also admits she needed to go to rehab herself when they were putting that "intervention" together for Jessica.

Jessica was a handful. She had a terrible relationship with her younger sister, who says there's some family secret that may be tied to her behavior. If you read Alanna Nash's book, it's clear Jessica was a mess before she even started in television. She was magic on air though. Too bad about the coke and the pills. All fed into this mountain of insecurity that would have eventually led to some end for her,

R246=Linda using a softer approach. Sorry, Linda, I can still smell ya.

Sorry, but if I had her money I'd be out spending it, not sitting here picking my nose reading Datalounge on a Saturday night.

r246, Which of the Savitch younger sisters do you mean?

Also, and I really want to clarify this one more time, Jessica went to Ithaca for journalism, where she worked on the school tv & radio stations. Then she went into local news, and I think this was before 1970, and worked her way up in station after station, market after market. She was not, in fact, a news reader. She happened to be wonderful on camera but she shouldn't be penalized for this. One of her sisters has a tribute site devoted to her and they were quite close. As for Ellerbee, she does everything like a fiend.

R215 go fuck yourself, moron.

More old female news journalist gossip, please!! I'd like to hear more about Jane Wallace and Mary Matalin. I watched their weird little CNBC talk show in the early 1990s, and found the dynamic interesting. Jane Wallace had been a rising star for awhile at a network, but then fucked up by having a bad relationship with a co-worker, and by the time she was working with Matalin her desperation was obvious, she knew this was her last chance at 'the big time'. Matalin was horribly condescending on-air to Wallace, would insult her personal life. Roger Ailes was their producer, I believe. They had some interesting guests: it was the first time I ever saw or heard about Andrew Sullivan, and when Cynthia McFadden was a guest they fawned all over her. The entire lineup of CNBC at that time was weird, all sorts of has-beens like Dick Cavett, Geraldo Rivera, and Charles Grodin.

R186, you asked about Phyllis George. Years ago and long after her stint on CBS, I was standing in the check-in line at a small regional airport. It was very early in the morning and not many people were about. Ms George came bustling in like she was late, acting very flustered, and as she got in line behind me, I could here her talking. At first I thought she was asking me a question and I half-turned around before I realized she was talking to herself and it was a non-stop conversation. "Where's my bag? Oh here it is. What time is my flight? I need to do (something)" etc etc. All I could think was: what a ditz. She must have had some phenomenal support when she was on the air.

She was widely considered to have driven the final nail in CBS's hope to ever mount a credible morning product that could compete with GMA and "Today." George was bad enough that some even forgot the disastrous tenure of Sally Quinn, some years before.

(To her credit, Duane Sawyer was a big boost for that program--as was her co-anchor for a time, Bill Kurtis.)

Jesus. "Diane"

If you look up "cunt" in the dictionary, the definition is "Sally Quinn."

[quote]The entire lineup of CNBC at that time was weird, all sorts of has-beens like Dick Cavett, Geraldo Rivera, and Charles Grodin.

I loved Charles Grodin on CNBC in the early days. He was so interesting and witty. I like wit rather than "funny comedy" in my chat shows. Janice Lieberman also was a contributor and guest on Grodin's show. The two of them had great on-air chemistry together.

And as an acknowledgement to Jessica Savitch since this is her thread: She was magic on air. I loved her, looked forward to watching her as the NBC weekend anchor and getting my nightly fix during her Update segments. Seeing Jessica during "Update" was captivating. She was the golden girl forever remembered.

Anything on Carole Simpson?

I can't even understand what that supposed "producer" is trying to say in those long posts of hers. Sounds like she was an intern or someone's PA, but even then, her writing is atrocious and a lot of gobblegook.

And I don't like Linda Ellerbee and never have.

I think Jessica was under the influence of something in that "ranting" video. Watch her hands--she's moving them and shuffling the papers entirely too much during the 42 second test-run.

Under the influence? Oh, no! You mean her mess of a life and drug addiction carried over to her work? That IS news.

I found this story by the late, great Ron Fineman, who used to publish a newsletter on the ins and out of LA news media.:

Leanne Suter, who used to cover the Inland Empire for KCAL has been let go by news director Nancy Bauer Gonzales. I have some comments from a KCALer who thinks it was a mistake to let Suter go. But first, let me tell you what I understand Suter has told insiders about what happened.

Bauer Gonzales never told her why her contract was not renewed. (This is a contrast to when she fired Andre Moreau and Doug Fernandez, both of whom I heard she was 'brutal' to in her criticism of their work). In any case, Suter has speculated to others that maybe her boss disliked her, in part because she doesn't have kids. Sound nuts? Well, I can tell you that when Bauer Gonzales left KNBC, I heard this complaint from people who worked there....that she very much favors women with kids. (Keep in mind that Me-Roll McLaughlin, whose inabilities have been chronicled here, is a single mom).

Consider this...when Bauer Gonzales was news director at KNBC, she pursued Suter while she was at KCAL. The story Suter has told is that Bauer Gonzales was so interested that she had her husband, KCAL anchor Dave Gonzales, call her in the field, asking her to call his wife ASAP. Suter went to interview with Bauer Gonzales which I'm told she felt went well. But there was one odd part of it.....Bauer Gonzales talked about how much she loved kids and wondered why Suter was not sure that she wanted to be a mom. WHY that was even discussed in a job interview is beyond me.

After that interview, Suter never heard from Bauer Gonzales again, and she never took another call from Suter. Even while at KCAL, I'm told that that the two never had a real conversation.

One insider tells me a lot of people at KCAL cannot understand why Suter was let go. It was put to me like this: "Let's see....does she have any kids to ooh and ahh about with Nancy? No. does she have the bra size that Don (Corsini) can ooh and ahh about? No. Does she pucker up and schmooze with management every chance she gets?

No.

Is she a hard worker? Yes. Is she easy to work with? Yes. Does she get the job done, in a timely manner and sound like she knows what she's talking about? Yes. Does she look like she at least graduated from school more than a week ago? Yes.

Darn. I guess she just doesn't have the qualities management is looking for. I just hope another station is smart enough to pick Leanne up. I think she has more to offer than KCAL allowed."

(Those serious about journalism know Ron Fineman, who died too young of cancer about a decade ago, but he used to publish great gossip and stories on his website, ronfineman.com, of which some is still available via The Wayback Machine. I'm linking his obit because he was a Very Good Guy and you should know him...)

R259 Is that the royal "her?" Not that I mind anyone thinking I'm a woman ("not that there's anything wrong with that") but I think you understand perfectly well what the posts are saying. R256 Boy have you got that right. R254 It was held at the time that Diane was too "serious" for a morning show and that's why it failed with her. But that morning program was always a train wreck. Phyllis was one of the first of the beauty-queens-entering-the-news-business and while she has been a very successful entrepreneur, and people seemed to like her as a sportscaster, she was no journalist and wasn't even a good host. Just bad all around. Someone asked about Brokaw. I heard some rumors while I was at NBC about him being a sister but it was all BS. I'm not saying he didn't both look and act it, at times. The rumors were that he hit the stalls but it was very unreliable. It would have really surprised me. He was a social climber, who wanted to be seen as an old-money WASP and the stiffest guy (not in a good way) I've ever seen. While he was good at what he did, and I liked him immensely, he was never a hard news guy. In fact, he was believed to be the person on whom William Hurt's character was based in Broadcast News. After very little local news NBC plucked out of LA and put him in the White House to groom him because he had such a high Q when he anchored at KNBC. Everyone was bat shit at the time he got that post because there were plenty of "Aron Altmans" who deserved it. And the Holly Hunter character is based on Susan Zirinsky; a great gal if ever one existed and a true, honest-to-God newswoman. The best job I ever had was working for her, though I've worked for a few great female Exec Producers. I thought Fineman was one of the best journalists about journalism ever. And now, back to the City of Angels (and back to work tomorrow) for me. My poor friend gets her computer and guest room back. It's been fun and I actually feel that I have exposed Ellerbee for the person she is. Although someday, when someone writes a comprehensive bio of her (and they will...) it will all come out anyway--and more.

More LA:

TV newswomen's scantily clad layouts in men's magazines incite journalistic backlash. April 14, 2004|Greg Braxton | Times Staff Writer

"If I were coming up now, I would never get hired. There is something [unfortunate] about having to be totally beautiful and totally sexy to be a newsreader."

Marcia Brandwynne

former local news anchor and current KTLA Channel 5

assistant news director,

in November 2001

*

"KTLA Morning News" anchor Sharon Tay's seductive gaze from the pages of a men's magazine suggests that the headlines of the day are the last thing on her mind. Bold lipstick accents her prominent lips, and few might disagree that she wears her clothes -- what there is of them -- well.

But despite posing in various stages of undress in the March issue of Razor magazine, Tay, who anchors the 5 to 7 a.m. edition of the news, insists she has no aspirations to be America's Next Top Model.

"Oh, no, no, NO!" says the petite Tay, shaking her head vigorously. "I'm way too short!"

Now Tay's "fashion" pictorial has revived the debate about the blurring of boundaries between news and entertainment. While some TV newswomen, such as Fox 11's Jillian Barberie and KTLA's Mindy Burbano, have emphasized sexuality to promote themselves and their newscasts for several years, the emergence of news anchors using magazines and websites to flaunt their physical attributes has heightened concerns about the boundaries between journalism and show business, with academics, news directors and rival anchors denouncing the practice.

In one of the full-page photos of her in Razor -- a young men's magazine similar to Maxim and FHM that features scantily clad celebrities -- Tay leans against a wall in a tight, backless green outfit that reveals a hint of her rear end. She highlights her cleavage in another photo.

The pictorial is not Tay's only promotional vehicle. The anchor has a personal website where she touts her "beauty secrets" and health and fitness tips ("Do you want to have a firm butt? A few squats and lunges are great for this 'pow pow' factor"). There is also a Tay photo gallery. Her website bio names Tay as an "in-demand talent for a diverse array of entertainment industry projects," a description absent from her KTLA biography on the station's website, which says that Tay is "always interested in improving her journalist skills."

Meanwhile, KCOP's nightly "UPN News 13" anchor Lauren Sanchez often appears in miniskirts, boots and revealing blouses, delivering stories at a hyper pace underscored by techno music. The station promotes the broadcast -- its sole news offering -- as "news with attitude." The 11 p.m. UPN newscast has increased in ratings among the key 18-to-49 demographic group since last year, when Sanchez posed for a 10-page layout in Open Your Eyes (OYE), a magazine catering to Latino males. "America's Hottest News Anchor!" declared the article, which featured Sanchez in low-cut or tight-fitting blouses and dresses.

"Newscasters just aren't supposed to be this hot," read an introduction to the layout. "It's downright distracting. How's a man supposed to pay attention to what's going on in the world when the news anchor looks like she belongs on the Big Screen or -- better yet -- the Victoria's Secret catalog."

Other local news personalities who have come under scrutiny in the last few years include KCBS Channel 2 weather/entertainment reporter Lisa Joyner, KCAL Channel 9 afternoon anchor Mia Lee and, most notably, KTTV Channel 11 weather reporter Barberie, who's parlayed her newscast fame into a career as an entertainer. Joyner and Lee have drawn attention because of their on-air wardrobes, while Barberie and Burbano have appeared in men's magazines.

Continued:

Still, some industry analysts say that Barberie and the others should not be held to the same standards as Tay and Sanchez since anchors are regarded as the quarterbacks of a newscast. Their ability to convey authority, knowledge and calm is considered central to a newscast's success. Both women are heading up anchor desks in the two of the most competitive time periods in local news. The 5 to 7 a.m. slot in particular, where five stations vie for viewers, has become the most hotly contested time period in local news in the last few years.

"With all that has gone on, the blurring between news and entertainment has become so blatant in terms of the entertainment side of the equation that there really is no longer a blur," said Judith Marlene, a professor in the radio, television and film department of Cal State Northridge and author of the book "Women in Television News Revisited." "What these two women have done has demeaned the whole profession and set women back, undermining all the years of advancement that have been made."

Tay said she is not bothered by the criticism prompted by the Razor layout.

"I need to be myself, and when I'm myself, viewers respond," Tay said in a recent interview. "I can show that I can be girly. I can be funny. I can be sexy. I can be honest. I can relate to them on a friend level. They can trust me. I have a lot of credibility because I'm real."

Still, some industry analysts say that Barberie and the others should not be held to the same standards as Tay and Sanchez since anchors are regarded as the quarterbacks of a newscast. Their ability to convey authority, knowledge and calm is considered central to a newscast's success. Both women are heading up anchor desks in the two of the most competitive time periods in local news. The 5 to 7 a.m. slot in particular, where five stations vie for viewers, has become the most hotly contested time period in local news in the last few years.

"With all that has gone on, the blurring between news and entertainment has become so blatant in terms of the entertainment side of the equation that there really is no longer a blur," said Judith Marlene, a professor in the radio, television and film department of Cal State Northridge and author of the book "Women in Television News Revisited." "What these two women have done has demeaned the whole profession and set women back, undermining all the years of advancement that have been made."

Tay said she is not bothered by the criticism prompted by the Razor layout.

"I need to be myself, and when I'm myself, viewers respond," Tay said in a recent interview. "I can show that I can be girly. I can be funny. I can be sexy. I can be honest. I can relate to them on a friend level. They can trust me. I have a lot of credibility because I'm real."

That's not the view of Ron Fineman, who runs a website, www.ronfineman .com, that casts a critical eye on the journalism practiced on TV newscasts. "If a journalist is a serious news anchor, a certain public image should be maintained, and 'sex kitten' shouldn't be one of them," he said.

While few are willing to speak publicly, several news directors, anchors, reporters and news executives at rival stations are privately blasting Sanchez, Tay and their respective stations for what they called irresponsibility and prioritizing shallowness above journalistic integrity. Said one rival station executive: "Either you're going to be in the news business or you're in the entertainment business. But you can't do both."

But another prominent news executive called the issue a complex one. "It's real tough, because you can't always put set rules on whether layouts or websites are proper," the executive said. "A person in the news business should not only be able to perform their job, but they should be allowed to be an individual. The underlying factor has to be that whatever happens, it can't hurt the station."

Staying out of the debate, for now, are the two stations. UPN executives and Sanchez declined to comment. And while Tay says she received management approval for the Razor layout, executives at KTLA (which is owned by Tribune Co., which also owns the Los Angeles Times) declined comment.

In November 2001, KTLA executives expressed regret over Tay's participation in a segment in which she rolled around on a bar. The morning news segment was a tie-in to the WB network series "Charmed," and Tay was trying on costumes worn by the three young lead actresses, who play sibling witches.

"It was very theatrical," Tay now recalls. "The costumes were very sexy, and I was reenacting a scene where one of the witches was possessed and dancing on the bar. So I did it, and it dissolved to the real scene."

Marcia Brandwynne, who was then executive producer of the morning news and is currently assistant news director, at that time called the segment inappropriate. "I don't want to see her [presented] like that," she told The Times in 2001. "She's our early-morning anchor.... We made a mistake." Brandwynne would not comment for this article.

One local on-air broadcaster was among those who felt that Tay has compromised her credibility: "She's doing cheesecake."

Martha Lauzen, a professor at San Diego State University who has monitored female roles in prime-time entertainment, noted that "anchors become celebrities, and celebrities become news. But appearing in men's magazines influences how viewers may perceive them. It can cause confusion, and a news organization has to take responsibility for that."

Part of the reason for her personal endeavors, Tay says, is her uncertainty over the future: "I don't know if I want to be a news anchor for the rest of my life. Job security doesn't exist. I'd like to host a news and information show. And I'm not ruling out being an actress."

She laughed. "But probably if I weren't doing this, I would be going to culinary school. I've always wanted to be a chef."

Marcia Brandwynne would never be hired because she's terrible on air. She always has a look like she's smelled something bad and conveys the utmost superiority. Physically, she resembles your lesbian aunt who's still pissed off that she was called out during her state softball game.

It's not a surprise that Brandwynne never progressed much further in broadcast journalism as an on-air personality because she has none.

Marcia Brandwynne is a life coach now. I didn't know her, only heard about her (not good things, either) but I saw her on air often and never liked her delivery or personality. She was very abrasive and seemed to jump out of the TV into your lap. I hate that. Not to be misogynistic but there is nothing worse than an abrasive woman on air. For that matter, obsequious men annoy me too: Snyder, Povich, Rose...

You found Tom Snyder obsequious?

R269 Yup...for anyone he liked. I didn't mind when he clearly didn't like the person because SHA-ZAM!

I wore a black arm band for a month when she died.

[quote]Tritia Toyota of KNBC-TV

What did Connie Chung have that she doesn't?

She was a Washington insider thanks to her Dad, a Chinese intelligence officer stationed there. She got out of college (somewhere DC area) and went right into the DC bureau at CBS.

At what point in your flight do you morph back into Mr. Hollywood?

Not long after my first martini R274

Jessica Savitch must be rolling around in her grave. Poor dear, this thread was supposed to have been about HER. Even in death she's given short shrift. Linda Ellerbee's hygiene is evidently of more interest here than Jessica's tragic life and untimely death.

This "Frmr News Producer" troll is sure getting his attention fix from you idiots. I don't think he (or she) is "awaiting car" at all. I think this sad person is glued to the computer screen and the only thing he/she is "awaiting" is the next reply to his/her yammering posts.

"The entire lineup of CNBC at that time was weird, all sorts of has-beens like Dick Cavett, Geraldo Rivera, and Charles Grodin."

As best as I recall it, it wasn't CNBC though they were both NBC step-children. It was called America's Talking. The network folded when Ailes left and was resurrected as MSNBC.

I frequently watched the AT. For a solid year Geraldo spent an hour a night five nights a week trying to lynch the father of the murdered Ramsey child, then turned on a dime and dropped the whole matter to act as Bill Clinton's impeachment on-air defense counsel. Chris Matthews also had a show he used to prosecte Clinton as counterpoint to Geraldo. Matthews is all of the old network that made the cut when the network was reworked. Now you know who to blame for him.

The worst show they had was Grodin. I never could figure out how ANYONE thought he could carry a talk-show. It was like he took a dose of downers before each broadcast, which like Geraldo was also a perpetual apology for Clinton. Whining somnambulantly , he'd drone "Leave my president alooooone", looking like he was about to burst into tears.

After the politics was out of the way they'd run my favorite show with E Jean Carrol. Pop psychology and relationship advice. Back then she was hot in an intellectual Tea Leoni kind of way.

As a college professor, my experience is that students who want to be news readers, "on-air personalities" or "red carpet" reporters (such a thing exists if only in their own minds) will be begging for divine intervention by the end of the class to receive a passing grade. I would never presume to tell them they're wasting their money but I wish someone who knows their field would. It seems to attract a lot of wannabes who think looking good is everything and critical thinking is overrated.

Saying Ellerbee is gracious or encouraging to young journalists means nothing. Every hack is.

I have blocked everyone who dares say a word against the former news producer. I am deeply grateful he provided something worth reading.

I want to know more about Mary Alice Williams. Loved her on CNN. NBC sadly didn't know what to do with her.

Also, FNP, you seemed to confirm Carol Burnett is a lesbian? Love Carol and many of the guests on her shows were gay, too. Rock, jim babies, Kaye ballard, Paul lynde, not to mention Julie and Burt.

Jim nabors

279 - not all are. I'm not inclined to be these days.

I'll bet she's tighter now.

*rapiEst - don't want that misinterpreted.

R232. Great post, "This is how it's done." Haha!

To whom was Diane Sawyer referring when she said "Too bad she's crazy." And then proceeded to mime drinking and snorting with her hands in reference to this person..

And now, back on track: Jessica Savitch forever. Loved, loved, loved her.

R285, I assumed she was talking about Jessica Savitch.

She was an inspiration to us all.

Wow. Sawyer was BORN to be on TV: she is beautiful.

As for the clip--LMAO!!--Diane's full-to-the-brim wine goblet, and her irony-free miming of someone else's drinking problem--PRICELESS. Not to mention the pill-popping, which gives new insight into her infamous Election Night feeling-no-pain broadcast.

Having said that, ABC blew it by turning her out to pasture. She had many, many good years left in the chair--and the unforeseen implosion of Williams at NBC would have made her America's senior anchor. That Mary Tyler Moore who replaced her is a lightweight.

Meant to add: Barbara Walter's fingerprints are all over Diane's abrupt demotion: imagine her incessant concern-trolling about Diane's "problem"--bet the suits got a regular earful. When they finally were able to grease HER (Babs) out the door, it was only after having asked her, "Is there ANY other possible way we can kiss your withered flanks--to show our undying gratitude for your magnificence?"

"Yes," came the reply.

"You can name the building in my honor."

Walters'

Johnny Carson said that when Diane Sawyer interviewed Castro, he was half expecting her to jump on a piano and start singing "Makin' Whoopee."

Uh, Diane Sawyer did not have "many, many good years" left in the chair. She is a rapidly deteriorating alcoholic and drug addict.

Her drunk-ass election-night performance was like Jessica Savitch's infamous news update on slow-motion, played out for four hours.

I was amazed she wasn't fired immediately afterward.

Diane Sawyer had a long-term relationship with war- criminal extraordinaire, Henry Kissinger. Because of that, she is a WORTHLESS human being to me.

Kissinger can't even travel to France because he will be arrested there are charges of war crimes. Kissinger is evil exemplified, and Diane Sawyer knows all about it. In fact, she has likely covered up many of his evil crimes against humanity.

Diane Sawyer is TRASH.

So who at Mediapolis is tagging threads eldergay?

REHAB, r293.

What she has, naturally--in spades, simply can't be taught: pseudo-empathy, an innate quick-thinking, and the perfect tone to accompany those alpha-wave images. Case in point, I watched, appalled one evening as she blatantly lied about the "rockets raining down on I*rael"--they were, in fact, I*raeli rockets bombarding Occupied Palestine.

It was a raw (rare) moment when there was no set-dressing covering the CFR Agenda, so deftly promoted by Sawyer. Still, it was hard to "hate" her--because she sold that shit so well--like chocolate ice cream.

The Jenner juggernaut proves she hasn't lost it; MTM will grow into the role--perhaps, but putting Sawyer on that ice floe was an unnecessary, self-inflicted wound for ABC. She looks 15-20 years younger than her age. That is a resource to be exploited.

She fucked (well, bearded for) Richard Holbrooke, too. Presumably neither he, nor Kissinger beat her, as Ron Kershaw routinely beat Savitch. Sawyer got the life and the career that Savitch dreamed about but could never attain.

ABC put Elizabeth Vargas--probably the most overrated person on network TV--through rehab TWICE. God knows why. She and Sawyer aren't even in the same league; at best Vargas should be pumping a local 6 in Kansas City.

When Richard Nixon resigned, Diane Sawyer was sitting beside him on the plane to California, crying.

Are you saying that you know Diane Sawyer has been to rehab, R296? If so, details please.

No, r299. Rehab was suggested as an option-that-should-be-explored in response to the assertion at r293 that Sawyer is all washed-up. owing to her apparent substance abuse issues.

It was also pointed out that Elizabeth Vargas's double stint in rehab establishes a precedent for this at ABC.

If anything, Sawyer's issues make her seem more relatable--more human; that she might have some performance issues should not be a surprise, given the state of the world--and the skewed way in which it is portrayed by the military's corporate media division.

Same as many, I never thought her behavior in that infamous "coked update" was that odd. I don't think I would have noticed anything wrong had I seen it live.

When you read about the coked Update, they make it sound like a total trainwreck. It really isn't. She gets all the words out and you can understand most of them.

However, watching it, you can obviously see that this is a person who hasn't slept in a good while, and has been on a binge. She is very dry mouth and jumbled.

"I may only be 34 years old..." Jesus Christ she looks to be about 45 in that clip with Gumbal.

R256, I agree completely. I've heard stories from friends about Sally Quinn being the Cuntiest Cunt East of Marlo Thomas. She particularly enjoys humiliating and degrading those who are in a weaker position and who can't fight back - and she imagines almost everyone is in an inferior position to her.

Meanwhile, she has a PR team that works to present her a D.C. Grand Dame, in the style of Pamela Harriman. In reality, she grew up a middle-class military brat who landed a job at the WaPo, seduced and slept with Ben Bradley, broke up his marriage, and has never stopped climbing. Apparently, she's become even more bitter and unpleasant as she's gotten older.

You do not want to cross paths with Sally Q. Cunt-Squared.

R245, shut the fucking fuckity fuck up.

No one -- and I mean, NO ONE AT ALL -- invited you to be the turd in the punchbowl.

Slither back to your mother's windowless basement and let the grown folks talk, you fat whore!

As someone who entered the field of journalism too late to enjoy its heyday......

I remember in the late 1970s and 1980s how talented so many of the women were, even at the local levels. I remember some women at my local stations (Patti Burns and Sally Wiggin) who were as hard driving and as good, if not better, than their male peers. And yet both were forced out because they dared to be older than 40 on camera....meanwhile, the men could wear bad rugs and look like a rotting corpse and still be on the air.

R305, it is you who needs to "shut the fucking fuckity fuck up." As for being a "grown-up"....well, it's evident that you have all the maturity and intelligence of a pinhead. If anybody is holed up in Mommy's basement it's you, you pitiful twat.

dyke lisp for DAYS

I'd love to hear from Former News Producer!

I know you were laid off, FNP.....the industry has changed SO much.

Much love always to Pat Harper, who stayed in local TV but may have been the toughest broad of all.

R310 Remember when Pat Harper went to live on the streets among the homeless for several night for WNBC? Crazy shit.

I didn't know that!

Jessica Sadbitch turned me down while she was on one of her coke benders.

I always think of Jessica this time of year.

I took a copy of her biography with me to the beach for Senior Week 1988.

Needless to say, this earned me many "Marys!" from my jock friends.

Speaking of MARY:

I was in an antique store today looking through some ancient TV Guides. They were sitting in a corner, covered in dust. I decided to check the Saturday night lineup in June 1980, and there was Jessica's name next to the 6:30 NBC national news.

You can watch those old Updates and they don't seem old and she doesn't seem old. To see her name in something that tattered, that dogeared, really affected me. Girl has been gone a long time. It's like thinking about Gilda Radner being gone 26 years. It seems like she was just here.

This thread was epic.

R315 figure out how to use the YouTube and post some clips.