| Primetime | |
|---|---|
| Format | Newsmagazine |
| Created by | Roone Arledge |
| Presented by | Cynthia McFadden David Muir John Quiñones |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Production | |
| Running time | 60 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | ABC |
| Picture format | 480i (SDTV) 720p (HDTV) |
| Original run | August 3, 1989 – present |
Primetime is an American news magazine show which debuted on ABC in 1989 with co-hosts Sam Donaldson and Diane Sawyer and originally had the title Primetime Live.
Contents |
Originally, the program was aired live on the ABC network and featured a live studio audience.[1] The first interviews included Roseanne Barr and a piece on a Middle East hostage crisis reported by Chris Wallace. Donaldson and Sawyer would allow audience members to comment on the program and ask questions of the guests, who were usually interviewed live via satellite or in studio, a practice that resulted in many technical difficulties and easy satirization on Saturday Night Live. Internal conflicts between Sawyer and Donaldson later led them to be separated, and the audience eliminated. However, the program has always had some live elements when broadcast as Primetime Live, generally consisting of Donaldson reading the opening remarks of packaged stories and the opening title as Primetime... LIVE!. Over time, live interviews were de-emphasized and hidden camera investigations began to occupy more of the schedule.
In 1998, ABC, in an effort to consolidate all of their news magazines, canceled Primetime Live and combined it with ABC's other well-known news magazine, 20/20. The move was made to compete more effectively with NBC's Dateline, which ran multiple nights of the week. In 2000, however, ABC relaunched the program. It was renamed Primetime Thursday with Charles Gibson replacing Donaldson. Beginning in the 2004–2005 season, the show was known once again as Primetime Live. Its pair of co-hosts from the previous season, Charles Gibson and Diane Sawyer, was replaced by the team of Sawyer, David Muir, Chris Cuomo, Cynthia McFadden and John Quiñones. Beginning with the July 21, 2005, broadcast, the show's title has been Primetime.[2]
One hidden camera investigation, of Food Lion, backfired on ABC when Food Lion sued. Food Lion sued for trespass and breach of loyalty, claiming that the report was produced under deceptive pretenses, and ABC employees hired by Food Lion wearing hidden cameras filmed other Food Lion employees without following proper notification procedures. Food Lion did not sue for libel, as the one-year statute of limitations had already run by the time it received all the footage shot by ABC, and prior to receiving the footage, its attorneys believed it would be difficult to prove that ABC acted with actual malice. A jury awarded Food Lion $5.5 million, but later appeals by ABC to the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals resulted in the damages reduced to $2.00.[3]
Starting with the 2006–07 television season, Primetime has stopped airing as a stand-alone program. The series currently airs in special formats.
Current formats of Primetime include:
Discontinued formats include:
Co-Hosts:
Reporters:
ABC News programming is shown daily on the 24 hour news network Orbit News in Europe and the Middle East. This includes ABC Primetime.
In Australia, the program airs at 2pm Saturdays (Extended Edition) and 1.30pm Thursdays on Sky News Australia.
In Canada, Citytv does have rights to the show but only airs it when a limited series is scheduled. Primetime: What Would You Do? is currently on the air airing in simulcast with ABC.
Highest Rated Episode: 6/14/1995-Diane Sawyer interviews Michael Jackson & Lisa Marie Presley and garners 37,532,000 viewers.
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