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Wednesday, September 15, 2004
Shriver & Roy: The big get?
NBC has been hawking Maria Shriver’s interview with Siegfried and Roy like it was the first one-on-one chat with the pope.
It’s a sad state of affairs when the biggest news “get” of the week is a couple of Vegas showmen.
“Siegfried & Roy: The Miracle” airs at 8 tonight and features Roy Horn’s first interview since he was mauled by one of his white tigers on stage last October. He and his partner, Siegfried Fischbacher, got to know Shriver through her show-biz husband, Arnold Schwarzenegger, now governor of California.
No doubt there will be lots of interest, morbid and otherwise, in the special. Promos have shown an earnest-looking Shriver leaning forward, asking questions of Horn in slow, measured tones. All we see of Horn in these spots is the back of his head. We don’t know what he looks like or how he sounds — assuming he can talk at all.
After the tiger grabbed Horn between its teeth and shook him like a rag doll, Horn suffered at least two strokes. His condition has been speculated about, so tonight’s “interview” will provide some answers.
The Siegfried and Roy special also has garnered attention because is marks Shriver’s modest return to NBC. The network asked her to relinquish her position with NBC News when her husband was elected governor. Tonight’s special, originally scheduled to air as a “Dateline” special, was produced under the entertainment division of NBC and is going on the air with its own entertainment title.
Shriver, the daughter of Eunice Kennedy and Sargent Shriver, has made no secret of her desire to resume her TV news career, and this is a first step. She has said she doesn’t see a conflict in being first lady of California and a journalist.
But it definitely is a conflict, and NBC should be careful about letting the wife of a sitting governor participate in any real news programs.
‘Primetime Live’ hires a singer!
ABC’s ”Primetime Live” begins its new season tomorrow night (Thursday at 9 p.m.) with a ”hard look at the financial world” of Donald Trump, which really isn’t as fabulous as he has led us to believe.
ABC, you should know, passed on Trump’s reality TV project, ”The Apprentice,” which became a major hit on NBC last season. So there’s probably a good deal of glee in revealing the cracks in his gold-leafed empire.
Perhaps more importantly than The Donald (hard to imagine anything more important, isn’t it?), “Primetime” has added a singer to its roster of four rotating anchors that includes Diane Sawyer, John Quiñones, Chris Cuomo and Cynthia McFadden.
Most but not all weeks, the newsmagazine will end its telecast with New York warbler Kristy Glass delivering a satirical take on the news. Viewers of a certain age will recall a similar end to David Frost’s mid-’60s series “That Was the Week That Was”.
We’ll see how long this musical finale lasts once critics and competitors begin making fun of its use on a “news” program.
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