Merry, Merry, Quite Contrary, Says ABC

About a million more people know Merry Miller this Tuesday morning, than knew her last Tuesday. Miller is the producer/booker whose live interview on ABCNewsNow with actress Holly Hunter last week, has been viewed more than a million times on sites including YouTube.

Miller is said to be “a little concerned about her reputation” following the segment. TVNewser got the back story on what happened:

According to Jessica Stedman-Guff, Executive Producer of ABCNewsNow, Miller was asked to “come in and train.” She read through the teleprompter, took some tapes home, then the Holly Hunter interview came along. Stedman-Guff says it “was painful” from the beginning. “The IFB malfunctioned” but since it was live, Miller “kept going, gamely.” (ABC reshot the ending of the interview where Miller gave out the wrong date for the premiere of Hunter’s show, and said NBC News, instead of ABC News.)

Named one of Crain’s 40 under 40 for 2007, Merry Miller worked as the late Joel Siegel‘s booker. Stedman-Guff says one of Siegel’s wishes was for ABC to give Miller a shot, on air. Miller does not work for the network, she’s “never taken a dime from ABC News,” but Siegel “felt she’d be good on camera.”

Will she be on air again? Stedman-Guff, who has only been on the job for a month, says, perhaps, if it’s done on tape, but not live. “I was brought on to make a name for our little, fledgling, broadband cable network.” “It’s a little sad that we’ve gotten so much publicity (for something) that is not our best work.”

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