The New Nightline?

If you’ve been watching “Nightline” on Monday nights this spring, you might have noticed something different–or, more accurately, many different things. The network is trying to figure out what form to use when Ted Koppel leaves this fall, and so has been experimenting with lighting, sets, anchors, formats, and just about every other aspect that makes up a television show.

The Boston Globe’s Ed Siegel yesterday reviewed the new shows–which are still very much a work-in-progress–and at least one of his conclusions will be taken as a high compliment by most DeSales Street denizens: “Despite being aimed, seemingly, at limited attention spans, the quality of the journalism remains fairly high.”

Siegel argues that a more fundamental problem faces “Nightline” than simply its content: Few care about news at 11:35 p.m. “Still, the many advertisements on ‘Nightline for luxury cars show there’s still an economic incentive for ABC to develop smart journalistic programs. If anyone figures out how to do that, he or she will be the next Roone Arledge or Ted Turner. Until then, experiments like the multi-formatted ‘Nightline’ seem like treading water.”

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