Koppel Bidding Farewell to 'Nightline'

http://apnews.myway.com//article/20051122/D8E1LR980.html

Koppel Bidding Farewell to 'Nightline'


Nov 22, 1:03 PM (ET)

By DAVID BAUDER

NEW YORK (AP) - The Ted Koppel era on ABC's "Nightline" ends with his farewell Tuesday night after 25 years of offering a serious alternative to late-night laughs.

Koppel's final broadcast was to be a look back at one of his favorite interviews: his 1995 conversation with terminally ill college professor Morrie Schwartz, which led to Mitch Albom's best-selling book "Tuesdays with Morrie."

"Nightline" will continue Monday with a revamped format and hosts Martin Bashir, Cynthia McFadden and Terry Moran.

The program officially began in March 1980. After Koppel spent several months briefing viewers each night about the Iranian hostage crisis, ABC put him in that time slot permanently.

Koppel's live interviews were the early drawing card. At the time, with CNN just starting as the only all-news network, it was a novel idea to bring interview subjects together from all over the world.

His voice rarely rose - and the famous helmet of hair stayed in place - but Koppel's incisive interviews continued through Hurricane Katrina and his memorable takedown of former Federal Emergency Management Director Michael Brown.

"Our legacy," Koppel told The Associated Press, "is that a serious news broadcast can be successful on all counts, without catering to anyone's baser instincts. 'Nightline' has made a lot of money. It has been successful in terms of viewership, awards and accolades. But most important to me, it's been successful in not ever having to lower its standards."

In later years, "Nightline" evolved into a home for some of broadcast's most serious news documentaries, with each evening concentrated on a single topic.

The program survived a brush with death in 2002, when ABC executives courted comic David Letterman to fill the time slot.

Koppel, 65, slowed down in his last few years, often working three nights a week and, like the late-night comedians, taping his show a few hours before broadcast.

ABC will go live again with "Nightline" when Bashir and McFadden work from the network's Times Square studio in New York. Like Koppel, Moran will be based in Washington. New producer James Goldston said the spiffed-up "Nightline" will tackle several topics a night.

Those are big changes, but Goldston said he's extremely conscious of not scaring away the loyal but shrinking "Nightline" audience - its nightly average of 3.6 million viewers is down from 5.5 million a decade ago. Goldston promised several stories on the Iraq war and a series on AIDS in India in his first two weeks.

Koppel is not retiring - he will continue working with his producer, Tom Bettag. They were negotiating with HBO about doing documentaries.

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I have always been a Nightline junkie. There have been so many incredible episodes of this show. His coverage of Katrina was some of the best on TV. He nailed Brown to the wall over FEMA's lack of response. I don't really care for the "new" several topic format that they are going to, so this is probably the end of my watching it. Thank you Ted Koppel.

At least I still have 60 Minutes and Real Sports.