As Ed Bark rightly pointed out in his review of “Top of the Morning” Brian Stelter got the most access from “Good Morning America,” spending countless days and one overnight shift embedded with the program. (It was the night last May, as the “Dancing with the Stars” after-party was being planned and the show’s overnight producer tried his damndest to get a dog — made famous for standing on things — on a cross-country overnight flight. Spoiler alert: He fails.)
That’s not a surprise since the ABC morning show had the best story to tell — breaking the “Today” show’s 16-year winning streak a year ago this month. It should also come as no surprise, then, that Stelter’s first network interview was with “GMA.”
“Here at ‘GMA’ we report the news, we rarely try to find ourselves at the center of it,” George Stephanopoulos said introducing Dan Harris’ 2-minute story.
There was no “happy chat” after the story, when an anchor might normally add, “I read it! Great book!” Instead Stephanopoulos cracked wise about Stelter admitting he gets 9-10 hours sleep some nights — a luxury the millionaire morning anchors do not have.
In his first interview for the book, Stelter told me he hopes to go on all the morning shows. He’ll be on “CBS This Morning” tomorrow, but not to talk just about the book, but also about the media coverage of last week’s events in Boston. After reading “Top of the Morning,” something tells me getting on the “Today” show will be a tougher sell. But it would make for great TV. Something these shows are always looking for.