New Nightline: Jarring & Hyped

“When the suits at ABC nudged Ted Koppel off of ‘Nightline’ after a quarter-century of low-key excellence, the network was aiming for a ‘Nightline Jr.’ that would be faster-paced, edgier and much more controversial,” Marketwatch’s Jon Friedman writes today.

And ABC “has gotten its wish” with the revamped program. “It is, indeed, fast-moving, lively and provocative — but then so are most rock videos.”

Here’s a key paragraph: “‘Nightline Jr.’ loses me because so many of its segments have a jarring, end-of-the-world tone. The show would grab me if its chief goal was to tell fascinating stories — as Koppel’s version did — and let them resonate on their own merits. But to make it on TV nowadays, a show has to hype its findings and claim to have Deep Meaning (whether its segments really do or not).”