Who’s your daddy, “Good Morning America”?
With Charlie Gibson saying his goodbyes Wednesday after almost 19 years, “GMA” will stick with co-anchors Diane Sawyer and Robin Roberts rather than add another male to the ruling class.
Before you start preparing for the apocalypse, rest assured that the gals will be joined by a male news reader and weatherguy. Both positions are open.
Even with two men on the set, some viewers will find it difficult to accept two women in power positions – particularly in morning TV, where the on-air ensemble historically resembles mom and pop and the kids.
“It’s hard to escape that traditional model,” says Suzanna Walters, head of the department of gender studies at Indiana University. “We’re still a nation threatened by women in leadership positions. It stands to reason that TV would be the same.”
NBC’s “Today,” No. 1 for more than a decade, has Matt Lauer and Katie Couric/Meredith Vieira. In its heyday, ABC’s “GMA” starred David Hartman and Joan Lunden; then Gibson and Lunden. CBS’s “Early Show,” in third place since A.C. Nielsen was a lad, has four anchors, three of them female.
Roberts, 45, no stranger to the boys’ club from her years at ESPN, acknowledges that more eyebrows will be raised over two female anchors than over two males.
“With as many inroads as women have made, it’s still seen differently. Right, wrong or indifferent, a lot of people can’t get past how they’ve been raised. It’s how we are as a society. We still have a ways to go.”
Still, Roberts says she was shocked by her own reaction when she was first approached to fill in for Gibson, 64, now the full-time solo anchor of “World News Tonight.”
“I said, “No way. Two women don’t do that.’ I, too, bought into the whole man-woman model. Then I caught myself going, “Huh? What am I doing? What’s the big deal?’ I love doing the show with Diane. We’re good together. People like us.”
Not that Roberts advocates an all-girl lineup, like Barbara Walters’ ABC daytime chickfest, “The View.” “”GMA’ needs men to provide a male perspective, she says.
Steve Friedman, head of CBS morning programs and former “Today” chief, says it’s not about gender, it’s about diversity.
When you do ensembles, Friedman says, you don’t want everybody to be the same, whether in gender, ethnicity or point of view.
“The Early Show” anchors represent a veritable Rainbow Coalition: Julie Chen, Hannah Storm, Rene Syler and Harry Smith. (Note: To up the testosterone level, Friedman counts weatherman Dave Price as an anchor.)
“When morning shows began, the idea was to mimic the breakfast table, with mommy, daddy and some kids,” says Friedman. “You can break the mold now. There are no bad ideas, only poor execution. And if you execute poorly, you get executed.”
Says NBC’s Bell: “I don’t think there’s a formula that has to be adhered to. If it works, it works.”
All agree that morning TV ensembles are perceived as family more so than in any other part of the day. They feel like it, too, says “GMA’s” Roberts.
“With those early hours, your defenses are down. You absolutely need each other. Not all of us are going to be “on’ that day. There’s some mornings when I’ll say, “You know what? You’ve got to do the heavy lifting today. I’m spent.’ You’re truly reliant on others.”
In Bell’s view, the on-screen family is a reflection of viewers’ families at home at that hour. In some families, the mad morning rush represents the only time of the day the whole clan is together, he says.
In the mythical morning TV template, ABC’s Roberts and Sawyer, 60, neither of whom has children, do not represent “two mommies,” Roberts says.
“She’s a girlfriend, a sister. As cultured and sophisticated and glamorous as she is, she’s the girl next door in many ways. I’m the pesky kid sister, the mischievous one. I like to shake things up.”
To that end, don’t be surprised if Roberts pulls a prank or two at Gibson’s goodbye sendoff today. In between sobs, that is.
“I’m going to cry like a baby,” she says. “We’re a tight family, and it will be like a member of the family is gone. Selfishly, I’ll miss him. But I’m very happy for him and the network. He’s brilliant. He should be right where he is.”
Like her late father, Gibson “is a true gentleman, and there’s not that many left in the world,” she adds. “It’s very apparent he has two daughters and a strong wife. He never talks down to women or makes snide remarks.
“They’ve done a terrific job with him.”
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(c) 2006, The Philadelphia Inquirer.
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AP-NY-06-27-06 1923EDT
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