Word: gumbel
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...network's cancellation of that long-running broadcast, whose low ratings had persisted for years despite a revolving door of hosts and formats. CBS News staffers resented the fact that the fluffy newcomer would be produced by the network's entertainment division. Rivals were publicly contemptuous. Bryant Gumbel, co-host of the front-running Today, scoffed before the new show even aired, "Desperate people do desperate things...
Otherworldly pictures on TV: policemen stand before a table displaying sacks of white powder, like babies laid out in their christening dresses. Dissolve. A teenage mother sits with the back of her head to the camera and discusses her heroin addiction with Bryant Gumbel. Dissolve. Ronald Reagan grasps the lectern and vows to lick this scourge. Dissolve. A gray figure skulks in an alley and holds an odd contraption to his mouth. The voice-over cites statistics on the use of something called "crack," speaks of billions spent this year alone on illegal drugs, of the alarming rise of this...
...pressure valve is self-mocking humor, long an NBC staple. On his Late Night hour, David Letterman has provoked "feuds" with NBC stars Mr. T and Today's Bryant Gumbel. Among Letterman's supporting comedy cast is a silver- haired gent who purports to be one "Grant Tinker"; he recently celebrated NBC's No. 1 status by offering lunch money to habitues of the network commissary. The real Brandon Tartikoff, who has been host on Saturday Night Live, will play himself next week on a comedy special called Bob Hope Buys NBC?--a needling joke in itself, since...
...their teamwork on the road proved, Gumbel and Pauley go together like bagels and cream cheese. Gumbel, who hosted NBC's professional football coverage before replacing Tom Brokaw on Today in 1982, has rapidly grown into an incisive interviewer adept at cutting through mushy answers. During an interview with Louisiana's slick Governor Edwin Edwards last month, for example, Gumbel kept sweeping away the politician's charming patter to discuss the impact of Edwards' recent indictment on conspiracy charges. For her part, Pauley displays a more empathetic style, laced with a self-deprecating wit, that works best when...
McGrady acknowledges that Gumbel and Pauley have improved as interviewers, but she feels the easygoing pace of Today is copied from GMA. "Some research person probably said to Today's producers that GMA is more relaxed and that people like that," says McGrady. Neither she nor Hartman plans any major tinkering with GMA's format. "We're not looking at Today's ratings and saying, 'Oh, good,' " Hartman admits. "But it doesn't worry me in the sense of 'Gracious, we have to hit the panic button. We've fallen apart.' We haven...