Word: shows
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Stratospheric salaries for TV-news anchors are nothing new, of course. But last week's round of anchor shifts marked a new phase in the TV talent sweepstakes. In the past, high-visibility newscasters were wooed mainly for anchor spots on the morning and evening news shows. Now they are being groomed as prime-time stars. Shows are even being constructed around them, the way Hollywood studios in the '30s used to create vehicles for their contract stars. Chung has been promised the anchor job on a soon to be reconstituted version of West 57th, CBS's low-rated magazine...
Their salaries are mind-boggling. Chung, who was making $1 million at NBC, will reportedly get in the neighborhood of $1.5 million a year at CBS, roughly the same as what Sawyer is said to be getting from ABC for leaving her post at CBS's top-rated magazine show, 60 Minutes. That puts both of them behind only Barbara Walters (more than $2 million) as the highest-paid women in TV news. Even Williams, coming from low-paying CNN, will ring up a respectable $500,000 or so annually at NBC. "We are watching a profound shift...
...reveal once again how thoroughly the network news divisions have bought into the Nielsen mind-set. Faced with shrinking audiences and rising costs, TV executives have discovered that news programming, which costs much less to produce than entertainment fare, can be a moneymaker in prime time. Yet once these shows enter the arena with Knots Landing and The Cosby Show, they must play by the same rules...
...Though high-priced talent raids have been attacked as a misguided extravagance at a time when network news budgets are being slashed, these new stars, for better or worse, usually justify their pay. Their presence can mean precious ratings points, and sometimes even the life or death of a show. Says Andrew Lack, executive producer of West 57th: "These are very high-risk, high-profile jobs that go to people who can handle them. They are worth the fuss made over them...
...sound to contain the spill, and the Coast Guard dropped chemicals in an attempt to break up the slick. But local officials criticized Exxon and pipeline officials for responding slowly. Doug Griffin, city manager of Valdez, said the first teams to arrive waited for a leader to show up and take charge...