Bryant Gumbel's Farewell
It was a very fond farewell for Bryant Gumbel
today. After three years of low ratings on the CBS "Early
Show," Gumbel is moving on. Today, over at "Good
Morning America," Charlie Gibson and Diane Sawyer said
their goodbyes.
Charlie says, “I'm just sad we're not going to be competing anymore because to compete with him is to compete with the best.”
The “Today” show's Matt Lauer and Katie Couric agree. Matt says, “As a young broadcaster starting my career, I watched Bryant. I tried to emulate him.”
About Katie, Gumbel reportedly tells Barbara Walters on tonight's “20/20” that, “We were two different kinds of people. We got along for television purposes, but we weren't particularly close."
There are a lot of people who now want Gumbel's old job. J. Max Robbins of TV Guide says, “It's still anybody's guess who replaces Bryant Gumbel.”
Robbins says the candidates include NBC's Brian Williams, CBS anchor John Roberts, and “Hollywood Squares” host Tom Bergeron. As for why Gumbel didn't work out, Robbins thinks Bryant's messy divorce from wife June may have turned off female viewers. He says, “I think the fact that that divorce was so public and so much in the tabloids didn't help him.”
So who is going to help CBS fix its morning ratings? “Survivor” creator Mark Burnett says he's up to the task. He's even gone to entertainment president Les Moonves with his plans. Mark says, “If he came to me and offered me the morning show … I would take it.”
Burnett suggests something radically different to appeal to the MTV crowd. But for now, everyone, even Bryant Gumbel, will have to wait to see what happens.
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