WEBVTT - How COVID Changed Television Production Forever 0:00:00.120 --> 0:00:04.920 Our show Prime launched on February tenth of twenty twenty. 0:00:05.440 --> 0:00:08.239 We were making all these plans about how we were 0:00:08.280 --> 0:00:11.760 going to be collaborative. We had a brand new team assembled, 0:00:13.600 --> 0:00:17.320 and then all of a sudden, within a month. 0:00:17.360 --> 0:00:20.200 We weren't ready for a virtual control room. We had 0:00:20.239 --> 0:00:23.439 no real infrastructure in place. 0:00:24.079 --> 0:00:27.640 The day I realized it was real is the day 0:00:27.680 --> 0:00:30.000 the Big Eiaest basketball tournament was canceled. 0:00:30.440 --> 0:00:32.879 It felt like one of those movies where you're like 0:00:33.080 --> 0:00:36.720 one you wake up and you're wandering through the streets 0:00:36.720 --> 0:00:47.320 and a place that's normally bustling is absolutely lifeless. 0:00:48.760 --> 0:00:53.519 Welcome to Strictly Business Varieties weekly podcast featuring conversations with 0:00:53.640 --> 0:00:57.720 industry leaders about the business of media and entertainment. I'm 0:00:57.800 --> 0:01:02.520 Cynthia Littleton, co editor and Variety. We don't typically do 0:01:02.640 --> 0:01:05.160 a cold open on this show. That this isn't a 0:01:05.200 --> 0:01:09.360 typical episode of Strictly Business. We depart from our standard 0:01:09.440 --> 0:01:13.120 solo interview format to take a long look back five 0:01:13.200 --> 0:01:17.640 years ago when COVID sank its Pointy Corona fangs into 0:01:17.680 --> 0:01:20.399 New York and soon after the rest of the country. 0:01:21.120 --> 0:01:24.640 We didn't know it then, but March twenty twenty marked 0:01:24.680 --> 0:01:28.679 a huge inflection point for the television business. Stay at 0:01:28.680 --> 0:01:32.920 home orders, masks, and antigen tests. It all seems so 0:01:33.080 --> 0:01:37.080 distant and not so distant all at once. The story 0:01:37.120 --> 0:01:40.560 of how COVID helps supercharge the streaming business and the 0:01:40.560 --> 0:01:44.600 streaming wars has been well documented in recent years, but 0:01:44.720 --> 0:01:48.280 another big TV story unfolded during the early months of 0:01:48.360 --> 0:01:53.480 lockdown that hasn't gotten as much attention. Old fashioned linear 0:01:53.600 --> 0:01:57.720 TV rose to the occasion to keep local and national 0:01:57.800 --> 0:02:01.040 news outlets on the air. The same was true for 0:02:01.200 --> 0:02:04.680 daytime and late night talk shows and live to tape 0:02:04.800 --> 0:02:10.239 entertainment such as ABC's America's Funniest Home Videos. The first 0:02:10.280 --> 0:02:13.400 few weeks of the pandemic spurred more seat of the 0:02:13.440 --> 0:02:18.239 pants innovation to broadcast operations in engineering than had been 0:02:18.280 --> 0:02:21.320 done since the days of Sid Caesar and Milton Berle 0:02:21.480 --> 0:02:25.640 in the early nineteen fifties. In our business, the show 0:02:25.720 --> 0:02:29.560 must go on, Ethos Israel, The last thing TV pros 0:02:29.680 --> 0:02:33.440 wanted to do was serve America dead. Air times were 0:02:33.560 --> 0:02:36.960 hard enough. By the end of twenty twenty, the death 0:02:37.000 --> 0:02:40.360 toll from COVID in the US alone had reached a 0:02:40.440 --> 0:02:46.079 staggering four hundred thousand The social distancing conditions imposed forced 0:02:46.120 --> 0:02:50.720 producers and crew members and technicians to create virtual control 0:02:50.840 --> 0:02:53.560 rooms on the fly. They had to figure out how 0:02:53.639 --> 0:02:58.680 to recreate networks for communications and video collaboration tools. In 0:02:58.720 --> 0:03:01.720 a matter of days. They ordered a whole lot of 0:03:01.800 --> 0:03:06.280 digital video equipment from Amazon to assemble home bureaus in 0:03:06.320 --> 0:03:10.000 a box for anchors. Talk shows quickly moved to create 0:03:10.160 --> 0:03:14.480 virtual studio audiences. I've been wanting to tackle the story 0:03:14.600 --> 0:03:17.440 of the great Scramble of the early COVID months for 0:03:17.520 --> 0:03:20.600 several years. I had the privilege of being a fly 0:03:20.760 --> 0:03:23.119 on the wall at The Late Show with Stephen Colbert 0:03:23.480 --> 0:03:26.840 in June twenty twenty one, as Colbert returned to filming 0:03:26.880 --> 0:03:30.440 shows with live audiences at the Ed Sullivan Theater. In 0:03:30.520 --> 0:03:34.519 those interviews, it became apparent how much daring do and 0:03:34.680 --> 0:03:38.320 experimentation had been going on behind the scenes at a 0:03:38.360 --> 0:03:41.800 time when production staff was spread far and wide. I 0:03:41.880 --> 0:03:44.320 knew there were great stories there, but I didn't know 0:03:44.400 --> 0:03:47.320 how good they were until I started interviewing the ten 0:03:47.440 --> 0:03:51.320 sources that you'll hear in this episode. They shared stories 0:03:51.360 --> 0:03:56.000 that captured this fraught period with moments of humor, moments 0:03:56.000 --> 0:04:00.600 of meltdowns involving both tech and tikes, and some true 0:04:00.680 --> 0:04:04.960 moments of heartbreak, and in the end, what changes really mattered, 0:04:05.520 --> 0:04:10.000 what innovations stuck around? Beyond the crisis, we examine the 0:04:10.080 --> 0:04:15.400 lasting legacy of pandemic era workarounds. I'm extremely grateful to 0:04:15.440 --> 0:04:18.760 the sources for their time and their candid thoughts on 0:04:18.880 --> 0:04:22.640 a most extraordinary time in their careers. My guests are 0:04:23.120 --> 0:04:27.279 Lindsey Davis, anchor of ABC News Live Prime and World 0:04:27.320 --> 0:04:31.440 News Tonight Sunday. Vin de Bona, executive producer of one 0:04:31.480 --> 0:04:36.160 of TV's longest running series, ABC's America's Funniest Home Videos, 0:04:36.680 --> 0:04:40.920 Chris Dinan, executive producer of ABC News World News Tonight, 0:04:41.720 --> 0:04:46.360 Tony de Koppel, anchor of CBS Mornings, Bill Hemmer, co 0:04:46.480 --> 0:04:51.200 anchor of America's Newsroom on Fox News. Jason Kurtz, executive 0:04:51.200 --> 0:04:55.440 producer and showrunner of The Drew Barrymore Show, Simone Swink, 0:04:55.720 --> 0:05:00.400 executive producer of Good Morning America, SHAWNA. Thomas Excus, executive 0:05:00.440 --> 0:05:05.359 producer of CBS Mornings, John Tower, Senior broadcast producer of 0:05:05.440 --> 0:05:10.160 CBS Mornings, and Scott Wilder, Executive Vice President of Production 0:05:10.400 --> 0:05:14.640 and Operations for Fox news media. Their stories are coming 0:05:14.760 --> 0:05:20.200 right up after this break, and we're back with the 0:05:20.240 --> 0:05:23.119 story of how TV rose to the occasion to stay 0:05:23.160 --> 0:05:26.479 on the air during the pandemic. I started each interview 0:05:26.520 --> 0:05:29.760 with the question, when did it sync in that COVID 0:05:29.880 --> 0:05:32.480 was going to change the way you work. Here, we'll 0:05:32.520 --> 0:05:38.160 hear from ABC's Chris Dinan, CBS's John Tower, and ABC's 0:05:38.360 --> 0:05:40.440 Lindsay Davis and Simone Swink. 0:05:40.839 --> 0:05:44.560 When it first began, it seemed somewhat unreal because of 0:05:44.600 --> 0:05:47.800 the extent and scope of what people were saying was 0:05:47.839 --> 0:05:52.000 going to happen. The idea that America would essentially shut 0:05:52.040 --> 0:05:54.440 down was just shocking. 0:05:54.960 --> 0:06:00.279 It didn't quite feel real until the day that we're 0:06:00.360 --> 0:06:03.400 up in corporate they had decided to and we were 0:06:03.440 --> 0:06:07.320 over in uh West fifty seventh Street over in the 0:06:07.360 --> 0:06:14.120 CBS Broadcast Center, and there were sort of rumblings that they're, 0:06:14.279 --> 0:06:17.000 you know, they're they're they're talking about something. We know 0:06:17.040 --> 0:06:21.800 that they're they're something's happening. And then at the end 0:06:21.800 --> 0:06:24.080 of the day we had we had gone home after 0:06:24.160 --> 0:06:27.680 the show and I I remember I was on my 0:06:27.800 --> 0:06:31.960 way home and I got a call from a colleague 0:06:32.000 --> 0:06:36.600 saying they're shutting the broadcast center down, and and it 0:06:36.720 --> 0:06:38.440 was it was that abrupt. It was like we were 0:06:38.560 --> 0:06:42.039 like okay, and so immediately the question was where are 0:06:42.040 --> 0:06:46.599 we going to do the show from? And it wasn't 0:06:46.720 --> 0:06:49.599 like we're going to send everybody home. It was again 0:06:49.760 --> 0:06:52.920 the pandemic was new. It was just like and so 0:06:53.520 --> 0:06:56.120 somewhere it was. It was almost like a corporate decision, 0:06:56.320 --> 0:07:01.520 like having the virus around this particular building is not 0:07:01.880 --> 0:07:04.120 a risk that we want to take, and so you 0:07:04.240 --> 0:07:08.440 have to find another building to broadcast from, which you know, 0:07:08.800 --> 0:07:13.440 now in hindsight, seems ridiculous because you're just moving, You're 0:07:13.480 --> 0:07:16.240 just moving to another risky space. But that's what we did. 0:07:16.800 --> 0:07:19.600 And they decided that we're going to go to DC 0:07:20.120 --> 0:07:22.560 because you know, as you also remember in like New 0:07:22.680 --> 0:07:24.960 York was sort of like a hotbed. 0:07:25.360 --> 0:07:28.360 I remember the night that it really became real for 0:07:28.520 --> 0:07:32.880 us and the NBA canceled a game, and it was 0:07:33.560 --> 0:07:39.679 just a moment unlike anything I've ever I've been reporting 0:07:39.720 --> 0:07:43.920 for about twenty five years and I have not you know, 0:07:44.240 --> 0:07:47.480 it was just I remember texting even you know, friends 0:07:47.520 --> 0:07:49.520 of mine about and they were like, wait, no, that 0:07:49.680 --> 0:07:51.760 can't be happening, you know, and then it was just 0:07:51.880 --> 0:07:55.720 a domino effect of you know, people just I think 0:07:55.800 --> 0:07:59.640 the governor of Pennsylvania started telling people, don't go to work, 0:07:59.760 --> 0:08:02.680 you know, don't go to school, and it just became 0:08:02.800 --> 0:08:04.200 really real, very quickly. 0:08:04.600 --> 0:08:07.160 I think the moment that the company and the show 0:08:07.240 --> 0:08:11.440 started creating protocols for how people would be tested and 0:08:11.520 --> 0:08:13.560 how people would come to work, and when it really 0:08:13.640 --> 0:08:16.640 sank in is that people would have to quarantine. Because 0:08:16.760 --> 0:08:19.640 right around that mid March date, about fifteen of us 0:08:20.200 --> 0:08:24.920 had to quarantine at home and couldn't come to work. 0:08:25.000 --> 0:08:27.440 Right then everybody else was like, what do you mean 0:08:27.440 --> 0:08:29.080 you can't come to work? And how is this going 0:08:29.160 --> 0:08:30.280 to work? And how are we going to do it? 0:08:30.680 --> 0:08:34.319 CBS is Tony du Koppel remembers taking a fateful call 0:08:34.600 --> 0:08:35.120 at the gym. 0:08:35.720 --> 0:08:37.520 The moment I realized this was going to be different 0:08:38.160 --> 0:08:40.040 is when I was at the gym and I got 0:08:40.080 --> 0:08:43.360 a call this two or three weeks later from Diana Miller, 0:08:43.440 --> 0:08:47.559 our former executive producer, and she was like, they've found 0:08:47.679 --> 0:08:51.680 COVID at the broadcast center. They're shutting it down. We're 0:08:51.720 --> 0:08:55.280 doing the show from Washington tomorrow. You got to get 0:08:55.760 --> 0:08:59.000 on a train. Now limit your contact, and I was like, 0:08:59.120 --> 0:09:01.679 what is limit my contact? I mean in a room 0:09:01.679 --> 0:09:03.880 of one hundred people at a gym. We go to DC. 0:09:04.520 --> 0:09:07.080 It's a super weird show because we have no news 0:09:07.200 --> 0:09:10.199 reason to be in DC. We have this crisis reason 0:09:10.280 --> 0:09:13.360 for being in DC. And then I go back to 0:09:13.400 --> 0:09:16.400 the hotel room that night, and in my memory, anyway, 0:09:16.920 --> 0:09:19.360 that's the night when I'm watching TV talking to my 0:09:19.440 --> 0:09:23.040 wife the news breaks that the NBA shutting down the season. 0:09:24.440 --> 0:09:28.400 Tom Hanks and Rita his wife are coming forward and 0:09:28.440 --> 0:09:33.000 saying we have it, and Cuomo and Trump and every 0:09:33.040 --> 0:09:37.200 other leader you might turn to to say something stabilizing. Suddenly, 0:09:37.280 --> 0:09:39.400 in my view as just a citizen of the country, 0:09:39.520 --> 0:09:41.520 looking at people and being like, they don't seem like 0:09:41.559 --> 0:09:44.480 they have it under control anymore. This seems scary. We 0:09:44.559 --> 0:09:47.520 don't have a broadcast center, we don't have a sports league, 0:09:48.000 --> 0:09:49.760 we don't have leaders that seem to know what's going on. 0:09:50.400 --> 0:09:52.120 I don't know what happens from here. That's when it 0:09:52.200 --> 0:09:55.480 really landed like we're going somewhere hard. 0:09:55.920 --> 0:10:00.400 As Covid descended, Drew Barrymore was in pre production ready 0:10:00.440 --> 0:10:04.800 to launch her daytime talk show that September. Showrunner Jason 0:10:04.920 --> 0:10:07.480 Kurtz remembers the nervousness of the moment. 0:10:07.920 --> 0:10:13.439 It was my first in person Withdrew in March. It 0:10:13.559 --> 0:10:17.040 was early March. I had come on in feb so 0:10:17.120 --> 0:10:18.839 it was our first I was at our apartment and 0:10:18.920 --> 0:10:21.959 we were like kind of like talking about staffing and 0:10:22.200 --> 0:10:25.400 structure and getting into the bodies that we were going 0:10:25.440 --> 0:10:27.360 to bring on and all these great people. And it 0:10:27.520 --> 0:10:31.600 literally was the day that things started to heat up, 0:10:32.720 --> 0:10:34.800 and we were both looking at each other like wait, 0:10:35.040 --> 0:10:36.439 and I was like, I got a text that the 0:10:36.600 --> 0:10:39.280 bridges and tunnels are closing. It was like, you know 0:10:39.360 --> 0:10:41.760 in New York, like the rumor started, and I was like, 0:10:41.960 --> 0:10:44.240 that's strange, and we both kind of were looking at 0:10:44.280 --> 0:10:47.160 each other, getting a lot of texts from people, and 0:10:47.280 --> 0:10:49.000 I was like, maybe we should just hit pause and 0:10:49.080 --> 0:10:51.280 figure out, like what's going on in the world. And 0:10:51.360 --> 0:10:53.960 then literally like three days later, everything shut down. 0:10:54.400 --> 0:10:57.880 Another question I asked all ten sources was what was 0:10:57.960 --> 0:11:01.520 the first things your teams do to build alternatives to 0:11:01.640 --> 0:11:05.640 your studio and technology setups. Here, we'll hear from Fox 0:11:05.800 --> 0:11:10.760 News's Scott Wilder, ABC's Lindsay Davis and Simone Swink and 0:11:10.840 --> 0:11:11.720 then Wilder again. 0:11:12.120 --> 0:11:14.480 So it became clear immediately that we were going to 0:11:14.559 --> 0:11:18.960 need to start broadcasting from locations outside of our building. 0:11:19.559 --> 0:11:19.960 Really, the. 0:11:21.600 --> 0:11:23.480 Premise at the time was that we weren't going to 0:11:23.559 --> 0:11:26.520 be able to broadcast from here at all, like we 0:11:26.600 --> 0:11:28.840 were going to need to be cleared from this building. 0:11:29.000 --> 0:11:31.839 And so that was the moment that it hit me 0:11:32.040 --> 0:11:34.959 that we were going to have this immediate need to 0:11:35.040 --> 0:11:37.920 start broadcasting from someplace else. And does that mean that 0:11:37.960 --> 0:11:39.760 we're going to go find the location where we send 0:11:39.840 --> 0:11:43.600 all of our people or what actually happened where people 0:11:43.920 --> 0:11:48.319 start broadcasting from their homes. So you know, that was 0:11:48.400 --> 0:11:51.640 the immediate order, and right away we went out and 0:11:51.800 --> 0:11:54.959 just started contacting and working with all of our talent 0:11:55.600 --> 0:11:59.800 and going to their homes and figuring out what we 0:11:59.840 --> 0:12:01.720 can do it each one of them. There was none, 0:12:02.120 --> 0:12:04.319 no two that were the shame. They were all a 0:12:04.360 --> 0:12:05.040 little bit different. 0:12:05.559 --> 0:12:07.760 My husband, who at that point was working from home 0:12:07.840 --> 0:12:13.520 as well, doubled as then my engineer. So he set 0:12:13.640 --> 0:12:15.439 up a hole and I'd posted a picture of it 0:12:15.559 --> 0:12:18.720 on Instagram at the time. We set up a little 0:12:18.840 --> 0:12:21.640 we made our TV into kind of it. Over the 0:12:21.720 --> 0:12:24.760 shoulder that had the graphic that said ABC News Live 0:12:24.880 --> 0:12:29.240 Prime and set up a desk. And at the time, 0:12:29.679 --> 0:12:35.599 my son was six and so we were in the 0:12:35.679 --> 0:12:37.880 basement and we did not ever put a lock on 0:12:37.960 --> 0:12:40.240 that door or anything. So he just kept coming down 0:12:40.360 --> 0:12:43.480 during the broadcast like whispering, you know, as if that 0:12:43.720 --> 0:12:46.800 was okay while we're trying to you know, run this 0:12:47.120 --> 0:12:51.160 teleprompter remotely and do the broadcast. So needless to say, 0:12:51.280 --> 0:12:56.880 we only ever did it one time remotely and and 0:12:57.000 --> 0:12:58.719 the rest of the times I just said, look, it's 0:12:58.840 --> 0:13:01.280 just it just makes more sense for me to come in. 0:13:01.760 --> 0:13:03.800 We really sort of hit the deadline, Like on Friday, 0:13:03.800 --> 0:13:05.920 we were still putting the rundown together the usual way, 0:13:05.960 --> 0:13:08.880 and by Monday we you know, you actually can do 0:13:09.000 --> 0:13:10.839 a lot of things from home. It's not ideal. It 0:13:10.920 --> 0:13:13.880 added five steps to every part of the process, but 0:13:14.000 --> 0:13:16.480 it's possible. The one thing I will say is that 0:13:16.600 --> 0:13:19.840 we had a group of people who came in every 0:13:19.880 --> 0:13:23.800 single day for three four years into the control room. 0:13:24.200 --> 0:13:26.040 And without that group of people, you couldn't get the 0:13:26.080 --> 0:13:28.040 rest of the show on. So ninety eight percent of 0:13:28.040 --> 0:13:30.319 the staff could be from home, but that two percent 0:13:30.480 --> 0:13:31.520 kept it on the air every day. 0:13:31.920 --> 0:13:33.920 You know, it was like zone defense. We were just 0:13:34.360 --> 0:13:37.520 trying to get people, and we tried to look where 0:13:37.600 --> 0:13:39.880 people live. I have a new photographer who lives in 0:13:39.920 --> 0:13:42.440 New Jersey and an anchor who lives in New Jersey. 0:13:43.240 --> 0:13:46.119 Marry that team up together. I have a new photographer 0:13:46.120 --> 0:13:48.079 who lives on Long Island or an anchor lives on 0:13:48.120 --> 0:13:51.319 Long Island. That's a team Westchester, Connecticut, and you know, 0:13:51.559 --> 0:13:55.480 so on and so forth, keep going. And that's how 0:13:55.520 --> 0:13:59.679 we started going back to the edict that it not 0:14:00.559 --> 0:14:03.240 it look and sound like Fox News for the viewers. 0:14:03.760 --> 0:14:06.560 You know, the hardest part of it. You know, listen, 0:14:06.720 --> 0:14:09.920 there's no guest, right these anchors and contributors were in 0:14:09.960 --> 0:14:13.440 their home. You're really talking about a glorified live shot. 0:14:13.520 --> 0:14:18.280 It's one camera, you know. But now they're anchoring programs. Yeah, 0:14:18.520 --> 0:14:21.760 you need teleprompter, you need return video. They're taking press 0:14:21.800 --> 0:14:24.840 conferences all day long. They need to interact, and so 0:14:25.760 --> 0:14:29.000 you know, really we just relied very heavily. I'm talking 0:14:29.000 --> 0:14:31.240 about in the immediate days and those you know, I 0:14:31.440 --> 0:14:33.120 really call it a ten day period. I think we 0:14:33.200 --> 0:14:37.240 set up over forty home studios within ten days. And 0:14:39.000 --> 0:14:44.200 you know, we were relying on the anchors home you know, 0:14:44.320 --> 0:14:45.200 internet connection. 0:14:46.320 --> 0:14:46.600 Again. 0:14:46.640 --> 0:14:48.400 You know there's a story that I know it's been 0:14:48.480 --> 0:14:50.960 told before, but you know, we had an anchor who 0:14:51.120 --> 0:14:53.840 was on TV and their children were playing video games 0:14:53.880 --> 0:14:56.760 and we saw degradation in the video quality immediately. So 0:14:57.200 --> 0:14:58.840 you know, we had a team of like four people 0:14:58.960 --> 0:15:03.560 who were just driving from place to place repairing, fixing, advising, 0:15:03.720 --> 0:15:06.480 setting up in addition to the people who were running 0:15:06.480 --> 0:15:10.280 those So but again, you know, that all came Honestly, 0:15:11.200 --> 0:15:13.080 it may sound cliche, but it came from the top. 0:15:13.280 --> 0:15:16.640 We had our leadership who never left the building. They 0:15:16.680 --> 0:15:21.800 were here every single day, Suzanne and Jay in particular, 0:15:22.080 --> 0:15:24.440 along with several you know others, But they were in 0:15:24.480 --> 0:15:27.320 the building every single day. Kind of you know, not 0:15:27.480 --> 0:15:31.000 kind of action, steering the ship and giving the guidance 0:15:31.080 --> 0:15:33.480 of how we wanted to, you know, make it through 0:15:33.560 --> 0:15:37.240 this pandemic that nobody had had any experience, no blueprint. 0:15:37.320 --> 0:15:37.520 Yeah. 0:15:38.120 --> 0:15:41.960 Vin de Bona, the Maestro of Affe, had only one 0:15:42.040 --> 0:15:44.920 more show to tape for the twenty nineteen twenty twenty 0:15:45.000 --> 0:15:50.440 TV season when lockdown orders upended TV production. Here he 0:15:50.600 --> 0:15:53.640 explains why he was one and done with the idea 0:15:53.840 --> 0:15:58.480 of doing affe with Alfonso Ribeiro hosting from his home. 0:15:59.080 --> 0:16:03.760 We realized that if we didn't figure out a way 0:16:04.000 --> 0:16:08.000 to make it work for the show, you know, who 0:16:08.080 --> 0:16:12.560 knows what would have happened with broadcast. So the first 0:16:12.640 --> 0:16:17.560 thing that happened is we did one show called at 0:16:17.640 --> 0:16:25.680 Home with AFV, and literally it was at home with Alphonso, 0:16:26.680 --> 0:16:31.960 who was running his own camera, running his own prompter, 0:16:32.920 --> 0:16:37.000 did his own lights. I directed through Zoom, but we 0:16:37.520 --> 0:16:44.880 really directed together and he was the sole person on 0:16:45.040 --> 0:16:48.200 the show, and we did wrap arounds in different areas 0:16:48.240 --> 0:16:52.160 of his house, the kitchen, the living room, the pool, 0:16:53.560 --> 0:16:58.120 by his RV, and we put the first show together, 0:16:58.880 --> 0:17:06.080 all on Zoom, all linked together with each of our 0:17:06.160 --> 0:17:10.680 staff members, and then we would look at the playback 0:17:10.760 --> 0:17:13.280 reels that we're going to go into the show. We 0:17:13.400 --> 0:17:17.800 would build them and then view them as a team. 0:17:18.400 --> 0:17:24.440 Everything was teamwork, really teamwork, and it was it was 0:17:24.680 --> 0:17:29.640 actually fairly easy to get it all together. The toughest 0:17:29.720 --> 0:17:34.240 part wasn't the video. The toughest part was making sure 0:17:34.359 --> 0:17:39.040 audio was great. It's sometimes hard to hear the nuances 0:17:39.600 --> 0:17:41.480 when you know when you're on zoom. 0:17:41.760 --> 0:17:45.240 Let's drill down on the ingenuity the cruise techs and 0:17:45.359 --> 0:17:49.560 engineers demonstrated under pressure. Here we'll hear from John Tower, 0:17:49.960 --> 0:17:52.760 Simone Swink, Vin de Bona and Tower again. 0:17:53.200 --> 0:17:56.960 Over the course of fifteen hours, they had to set 0:17:57.000 --> 0:18:00.680 up an entire workable control room and show for the 0:18:00.800 --> 0:18:07.320 next day, and under probably normal conditions. I'm just using 0:18:07.600 --> 0:18:10.800 like an example that one you maybe give a team 0:18:10.880 --> 0:18:13.920 like that a week maybe two to do that, and 0:18:14.000 --> 0:18:15.719 they had literally the night. 0:18:16.400 --> 0:18:19.159 One thing that the news division did very quickly was 0:18:20.160 --> 0:18:23.280 figure out and build at home sort of kits that 0:18:23.880 --> 0:18:27.280 a team could swoop in and set up and so 0:18:27.400 --> 0:18:29.600 that everybody could broadcast from home. And then as long 0:18:29.600 --> 0:18:31.200 as we could work it out from the control room, 0:18:31.400 --> 0:18:33.480 you could actually have all three main anchors from home 0:18:33.880 --> 0:18:36.879 in a given broadcast. And that being able to do 0:18:36.960 --> 0:18:38.800 that so quickly and realized that we could get on 0:18:38.840 --> 0:18:40.639 the air and just sort of adjust the shots from 0:18:40.680 --> 0:18:44.280 there gave us a lot of flexibility. It also meant 0:18:44.359 --> 0:18:47.399 that we didn't have to substantially change part parts of 0:18:47.480 --> 0:18:47.800 the show. 0:18:48.359 --> 0:18:49.480 It was just a few were a viewer. 0:18:49.560 --> 0:18:52.240 The aesthetic changed a little bit because people weren't next 0:18:52.320 --> 0:18:54.520 to each other physically, but they were next to each 0:18:54.560 --> 0:18:57.919 other in boxes at times got story. 0:18:58.080 --> 0:19:03.480 Our set designer created an idea to build these stacks, 0:19:04.000 --> 0:19:08.639 and by stacks, I mean vertical columns with three flat 0:19:08.720 --> 0:19:13.879 screens in each column, and the total amount of Zoom 0:19:14.480 --> 0:19:19.879 audience members would be ninety six and they'd be broken 0:19:20.000 --> 0:19:23.560 up into these three columns. So Al would walk around 0:19:23.680 --> 0:19:27.120 studio and he'd walk by a column or two columns, 0:19:27.800 --> 0:19:33.320 and the audience saw him live to studio by a 0:19:33.440 --> 0:19:37.879 zoom and it was quite an undertaking. We wound up 0:19:38.720 --> 0:19:47.159 having four additional technicians in the process. So basically what 0:19:47.320 --> 0:19:54.520 we had was each operator had two computers. Each computer 0:19:55.160 --> 0:19:59.960 had sixteen people that they were culling from the Zoom 0:20:00.119 --> 0:20:06.880 audience to control. So the total was each person had 0:20:07.119 --> 0:20:10.360 thirty two people times three, which wound up being ninety six. 0:20:11.160 --> 0:20:19.080 And so the three technicians operating the computers would make 0:20:19.160 --> 0:20:22.080 sure the signal was strong. We sent out a three 0:20:22.160 --> 0:20:28.760 page memorandum to audience members. Audience Plus was the company 0:20:28.880 --> 0:20:32.280 that secured audiences for us, and it wasn't just La, 0:20:32.359 --> 0:20:34.440 it was all around the country. They put out a 0:20:34.520 --> 0:20:38.920 blast and people would write in saying yes, I'd like 0:20:39.000 --> 0:20:41.320 to be on the show, Yes I can guarantee you 0:20:42.080 --> 0:20:48.280 four hours of my time. Don't wear any identifying t shirts, 0:20:48.800 --> 0:20:52.359 no licensed art on the wall, so all of that 0:20:52.560 --> 0:20:53.760 had to be taken care of. 0:20:54.440 --> 0:20:54.960 And then. 0:20:56.440 --> 0:21:05.520 These ninety six accumulated video audience members. Then it was 0:21:05.600 --> 0:21:09.639 assigned to one producer who would say you up in 0:21:09.720 --> 0:21:14.160 the upper corner, be more attentive, you know, or we're 0:21:14.200 --> 0:21:15.840 going to go to a break if you guys want 0:21:15.880 --> 0:21:19.720 to take a bath. All that stuff through another producer, 0:21:21.240 --> 0:21:26.080 and actually we wound up having al talked to the 0:21:26.280 --> 0:21:29.680 home viewers asking them, you know, how many you want 0:21:29.720 --> 0:21:32.040 to go to raise hands? And it was it was 0:21:32.160 --> 0:21:36.639 kind of fun. So we really had as complete an 0:21:36.680 --> 0:21:42.440 audience situation with laughs and reactions as we had in studio, 0:21:42.920 --> 0:21:46.560 and it was it was actually a great look and 0:21:46.920 --> 0:21:50.880 and we kind of missed it when we into studio. 0:21:51.320 --> 0:21:54.399 But it was a lot of work. And of course 0:21:54.960 --> 0:21:59.680 the other thing was we had to pretest the crew 0:22:00.480 --> 0:22:03.879 two days before they would show up in studio, right 0:22:04.160 --> 0:22:07.080 and we had to pay them for the test. So 0:22:07.160 --> 0:22:09.919 it was a full day to test them. And then 0:22:10.040 --> 0:22:13.480 on studio day we'd have to back up key crew 0:22:13.600 --> 0:22:19.399 members like lighting director, technical director, and probably one cameraman 0:22:19.680 --> 0:22:23.000 and a few other studio people just to make sure 0:22:23.240 --> 0:22:26.280 on that last day when they came in and tested 0:22:26.520 --> 0:22:27.359 that they were fine. 0:22:27.840 --> 0:22:29.880 So eventually we made our way to ad Solvent Theater 0:22:30.520 --> 0:22:33.440 and because Stephen Colbert was off and that was sort 0:22:33.480 --> 0:22:36.280 of like our last that was the last space that 0:22:37.560 --> 0:22:40.560 was available to use that they were comfortably using. It 0:22:40.680 --> 0:22:44.359 took very very minimal amount of crew at that point 0:22:44.480 --> 0:22:46.840 they had This was probably a couple of weeks in 0:22:47.320 --> 0:22:50.879 to the actual lockdown, the start of the pandemic, and 0:22:51.960 --> 0:22:56.480 we had started a Wrapprehensier un masking, which seems late 0:22:56.680 --> 0:22:59.080 and quaint now looking back, but like we'd started a 0:22:59.119 --> 0:23:01.600 rapprehends her on masks game. And so we were we 0:23:01.720 --> 0:23:05.120 were a few of us. It was like probably four 0:23:05.240 --> 0:23:07.800 or five of us with a director and a TV 0:23:08.800 --> 0:23:13.480 UH in a in a uh Asulivent theater control room 0:23:13.920 --> 0:23:17.680 with our anchors remote, all just putting the show on. 0:23:17.760 --> 0:23:20.840 All the producers were remote. People had started to like 0:23:21.040 --> 0:23:25.320 they'd been using UH. They had developed a system for 0:23:25.520 --> 0:23:32.080 saving for remote editors, firing up remotely dating videos onto 0:23:32.359 --> 0:23:35.840 you know UH drop boxes that again we did we 0:23:35.960 --> 0:23:40.399 were not using often or ever before the pandemic, and 0:23:40.560 --> 0:23:45.360 so the technologies that we sort of still use now 0:23:46.440 --> 0:23:49.399 where people are you know, it actually makes you know, 0:23:49.480 --> 0:23:53.480 obviously clips and in material available in a in a 0:23:53.760 --> 0:23:58.000 like sort of a much more remote way. But all those, 0:23:58.200 --> 0:24:00.719 all those systems were being built on the flot by 0:24:01.640 --> 0:24:03.760 trying to figure out how to get you know, stories 0:24:03.760 --> 0:24:04.920 in the air. There are a couple of shows where 0:24:04.960 --> 0:24:07.040 we really really didn't have many elements at all. We 0:24:07.119 --> 0:24:09.399 were just sort of like doing the show on a 0:24:09.520 --> 0:24:14.440 very minimal basis. So when we were in ed Solvent Theater, 0:24:14.680 --> 0:24:16.600 I remember when we first got over there, there was 0:24:16.640 --> 0:24:19.000 a there's a moment when they kicked us out of 0:24:19.080 --> 0:24:22.200 DC and we're like, so where we're going to go next? 0:24:22.280 --> 0:24:24.480 And so they had come up with a solution with 0:24:24.680 --> 0:24:26.159 ED Solvent Theator because it was really one of the 0:24:26.240 --> 0:24:28.359 only control rooms left. There are questions of whether or 0:24:28.400 --> 0:24:30.200 that was going to be We're going to use a 0:24:30.240 --> 0:24:32.919 freelance control room, like some sort of like hired control 0:24:33.000 --> 0:24:37.040 room somewhere, and then they had decided on ed Solvent Theater. 0:24:37.200 --> 0:24:39.240 And the reason why they had to signed ED Solvent 0:24:39.280 --> 0:24:41.520 Theator I think is because they it still had the 0:24:41.600 --> 0:24:47.240 connectivity of our other available control rooms. You could still 0:24:47.359 --> 0:24:49.480 patch into, like, you know, whatever they needed to patch 0:24:49.480 --> 0:24:50.199 into what. 0:24:50.359 --> 0:24:53.240 Stands out in your mind now as a memory. Then 0:24:53.600 --> 0:24:56.560 that reinforced for you the scope of the crisis. The 0:24:56.760 --> 0:25:00.520 answers were intriguing. We'll hear from Chris Dinan, followed by 0:25:00.600 --> 0:25:01.200 John Tower. 0:25:01.760 --> 0:25:07.080 We had an internal intelligence breathing from a former member 0:25:07.119 --> 0:25:10.119 of the government who was very high ranking and very knowledgeable, 0:25:10.560 --> 0:25:13.760 and he very matter of factly laid out what was coming, 0:25:14.280 --> 0:25:17.320 and it all seemed it all seemed to be a 0:25:17.359 --> 0:25:21.240 little unreal, but he was so even keeled and how 0:25:21.280 --> 0:25:24.359 he presented it, it seemed like it was a rational 0:25:24.440 --> 0:25:27.159 explanation of what we could expect. And then at one 0:25:27.200 --> 0:25:31.159 point he mentioned a number seven hundred thousand, and that 0:25:31.359 --> 0:25:34.800 number was what he was predicting and experts were predicting 0:25:35.000 --> 0:25:37.760 would be fatalities, would be the number of Americans killed. 0:25:38.640 --> 0:25:41.639 And I remember sitting back and really being struck by 0:25:41.680 --> 0:25:45.040 that number because it was such an enormous figure. I mean, 0:25:45.320 --> 0:25:47.960 that's the number of people who died in the US 0:25:48.040 --> 0:25:51.840 Civil War, the bloodiest conflict of the country's history. 0:25:52.200 --> 0:25:55.359 While we were in the very deep, deep parts of 0:25:55.440 --> 0:25:58.840 the early pandemic in that unsullivant control room. Our my 0:25:58.920 --> 0:26:04.439 Land producer Rachel had set up a very analog board 0:26:05.000 --> 0:26:08.840 with cases and deaths and the cases in Death's ball. 0:26:09.480 --> 0:26:11.639 She'd update every day when she came in and the 0:26:11.720 --> 0:26:13.240 new cases, and it took on a very it was 0:26:13.280 --> 0:26:18.600 a very present reminder for us of like how dangerous 0:26:18.680 --> 0:26:20.720 this thing was, because at some point it was the 0:26:20.840 --> 0:26:23.760 numbers were unfathomable for how many people had died and 0:26:23.800 --> 0:26:26.120 how many people were getting sick, and they were when 0:26:26.160 --> 0:26:28.080 they were really tracking it, when they were really starting 0:26:28.080 --> 0:26:29.920 to track it. But like right in the early days 0:26:29.960 --> 0:26:33.280 when like we were starting to get numbers, and part 0:26:33.320 --> 0:26:36.840 of our broadcast was singularly focused on, like what's the 0:26:36.920 --> 0:26:39.600 new number, what's the new cases, what's the new death number? 0:26:40.040 --> 0:26:43.120 And so that was just a very real present thing 0:26:43.359 --> 0:26:45.840 on the show. But also like right behind us in 0:26:45.920 --> 0:26:48.159 the wall in the control room, it was just cases 0:26:48.200 --> 0:26:51.760 in death, death number, and so the it was just 0:26:51.840 --> 0:26:53.439 always over our shoulder literally. 0:26:53.880 --> 0:26:57.960 For they came into work in Midtown newsrooms, the city 0:26:58.119 --> 0:27:02.280 affectionately known as Zoo you was a ghost town. Chris 0:27:02.440 --> 0:27:06.480 Dinan shares a vivid memory, as does CBS Mornings Shanna 0:27:06.560 --> 0:27:08.879 Thomas and ABC's Lindsay Davis. 0:27:09.400 --> 0:27:11.880 It was unlike anything I'd ever seen, certainly in Manhattan. 0:27:12.000 --> 0:27:16.040 I maybe saw two dozen people during the course of 0:27:16.119 --> 0:27:19.600 that very very long bike ride, when you would normally 0:27:19.640 --> 0:27:23.879 see hundreds, if not thousands. Fine, and it was in 0:27:24.000 --> 0:27:27.600 every way like a classic sci fi movie pose Apocalypse. 0:27:28.080 --> 0:27:30.080 There was you know, a few people that draggled on 0:27:30.160 --> 0:27:33.600 the streets and nothing else. So that really I still 0:27:33.600 --> 0:27:34.480 remember how that felt. 0:27:34.560 --> 0:27:34.760 It was. 0:27:35.960 --> 0:27:36.760 It was memorable. 0:27:37.080 --> 0:27:38.840 New York City was a ghost top. It was an 0:27:38.840 --> 0:27:42.200 actual it felt like it felt like one of those 0:27:42.320 --> 0:27:46.040 movies where you're like wander You wake up and you're 0:27:46.080 --> 0:27:49.920 wandering through the streets and a place that's normally bustling 0:27:50.119 --> 0:27:53.520 is absolutely lifeless, And it was actually exactly like that. 0:27:54.000 --> 0:27:56.920 It was strange, you know, I would feel like I 0:27:57.080 --> 0:27:59.680 was in this mood, you know a movie where you 0:28:00.200 --> 0:28:02.639 they're like turning the radio channels and you know you 0:28:02.720 --> 0:28:05.080 don't hear anything on it, you know, when those like 0:28:05.240 --> 0:28:09.199 kind of end of Days movies, yea, and people are 0:28:09.280 --> 0:28:11.280 just kind of looking for a signal to say, you know, 0:28:11.440 --> 0:28:16.479 is anybody out there? Because the highways would just be empty. 0:28:16.680 --> 0:28:20.320 I mean, there were It was not uncommon for me 0:28:20.520 --> 0:28:25.280 to leave my house and go into Manhattan and maybe 0:28:25.359 --> 0:28:29.320 I'd see five cars that whole trip, you know, I 0:28:29.400 --> 0:28:32.040 mean it was and even once you got into Manhattan, 0:28:32.840 --> 0:28:35.680 it was desolate, you know. 0:28:36.240 --> 0:28:36.359 Uh. 0:28:36.800 --> 0:28:40.480 And and we actually had gotten some passes printed out 0:28:40.600 --> 0:28:46.120 I remember uh from the city basically saying that we 0:28:46.280 --> 0:28:50.520 were essential workers in case there was you know, it 0:28:50.640 --> 0:28:52.080 never got to that point where I had to show 0:28:52.080 --> 0:28:54.640 anybody that paperwork. But I think it was so unknown 0:28:54.680 --> 0:29:00.520 that ABC just wanted to prepare for any sin in 0:29:00.640 --> 0:29:03.600 case you got pulled over or whatever might happen, that 0:29:03.680 --> 0:29:05.960 we could prove that, you know, we had to still 0:29:06.320 --> 0:29:08.280 be on the road and go to work. 0:29:08.880 --> 0:29:12.480 How did your colleagues adjust to radically different working conditions. 0:29:13.120 --> 0:29:17.160 Chris Dinan, Jason Kurtz, and Tony da Koppel discuss. 0:29:17.360 --> 0:29:22.000 It was interesting how quickly people adapted. They just had 0:29:22.240 --> 0:29:25.440 ways to work around issues and work around problems and 0:29:25.520 --> 0:29:27.760 make something happen. And I always look back at that 0:29:27.840 --> 0:29:31.320 time as a very innovative time or you know, an 0:29:31.360 --> 0:29:37.360 industry that had never operated like that. Nobody generationally had 0:29:37.440 --> 0:29:40.080 experienced anything like this, so it was completely new. 0:29:40.680 --> 0:29:41.480 At one point. 0:29:41.520 --> 0:29:43.360 It was like, you know, we found out there was 0:29:43.400 --> 0:29:45.400 definitely not going to be a studio audience, so we 0:29:45.480 --> 0:29:48.520 were like, let's save the money, not build half the 0:29:48.600 --> 0:29:50.800 set since we're not even going to have a studio audience, 0:29:50.880 --> 0:29:54.760 and we can put that money towards technology. And we 0:29:54.920 --> 0:29:57.600 looked into the virtual audience that we had, we called 0:29:57.600 --> 0:30:00.680 them the vffs, and we were able to build this community. 0:30:00.840 --> 0:30:03.680 So we had that the best we could in this 0:30:03.840 --> 0:30:07.760 new normal, like that audience, energy and interaction. Then it 0:30:08.120 --> 0:30:11.000 was no one's traveling guests aren't going to be able 0:30:11.040 --> 0:30:14.600 to come in, So how do we now overcome that obstacle? 0:30:14.640 --> 0:30:18.120 And that's when we started looking into green screen technology 0:30:18.320 --> 0:30:23.120 and virtual studios, and luckily we were able to build 0:30:23.160 --> 0:30:28.760 a green screen studio in Los Angeles and basically teleport 0:30:28.960 --> 0:30:31.000 guests into our studio in a seamless way that you 0:30:31.040 --> 0:30:33.160 wouldn't even know a lot of times Spiels didn't even know. 0:30:33.800 --> 0:30:38.120 And we were able to get Drew and Lucy obviously 0:30:38.200 --> 0:30:41.880 in New York, but then Cameron via the La Studio 0:30:41.920 --> 0:30:45.360 and that became our premiere. So what long story short, 0:30:45.800 --> 0:30:51.520 we were just constantly looking to create from ground, from scratch, 0:30:51.800 --> 0:30:56.280 and that really benefited us because we weren't struggling looking backwards. 0:30:56.320 --> 0:30:57.800 We were only looking forwards. 0:30:58.320 --> 0:31:00.400 I tried to convince myself I was like gay least 0:31:00.400 --> 0:31:02.320 so I'd interviewed before, and who used to put a 0:31:02.400 --> 0:31:04.680 suit on to walk from the top floor was Brownstone 0:31:04.720 --> 0:31:06.400 down to the basement to go to work as a writer, 0:31:07.000 --> 0:31:08.320 And that was kind of like what I did. I 0:31:08.400 --> 0:31:10.960 got up, I put a suit on, and I walked 0:31:11.000 --> 0:31:13.960 from the living room down one floor to the basement 0:31:14.680 --> 0:31:19.000 and tried to be a professional, but it was. It 0:31:19.160 --> 0:31:22.880 was a very unfinished basement with water bugs let's call them, 0:31:23.000 --> 0:31:25.160 we won't say cockroaches crawling up out of the drain 0:31:25.200 --> 0:31:29.280 on a nightly basis, and you had to throw vanity 0:31:29.320 --> 0:31:32.280 out the window because you're doing your own makeup. The 0:31:32.560 --> 0:31:35.520 lighting is the best it can be. Everything has a 0:31:35.640 --> 0:31:39.200 kind of ghoulish severe quality to it, and. 0:31:40.720 --> 0:31:41.880 You and you go for it. 0:31:42.520 --> 0:31:44.560 It's amazing how quickly people got comfortable with. 0:31:46.200 --> 0:31:47.480 Not really. 0:31:49.560 --> 0:31:51.680 Not crystal clear pictures and not crystal clear sound. 0:31:52.160 --> 0:31:54.080 And that's also when we decided to sort of create 0:31:54.120 --> 0:31:59.040 a hybrid live model, knowing the celebrity interviews were going 0:31:59.080 --> 0:32:02.520 to be hard for us timing wise, because we were 0:32:02.560 --> 0:32:04.200 live at nine am in New York. So then we 0:32:04.280 --> 0:32:09.000 started post taping and taping the celebrity interviews when the 0:32:09.080 --> 0:32:11.360 timing worked out better, and we sort of created this 0:32:11.480 --> 0:32:14.200 hybrid model of the top of the show, which was 0:32:14.280 --> 0:32:17.600 Drew's News Live, a live segment after that, and then 0:32:17.640 --> 0:32:21.080 we would drop in a pre recorded edit it celebrity interview, 0:32:21.160 --> 0:32:24.000 and then we would finish the show. Yeah, I think 0:32:24.040 --> 0:32:28.040 it was just being creative within everything that was coming 0:32:28.120 --> 0:32:28.760 at us at once. 0:32:29.480 --> 0:32:33.680 Bill Hemmer of Fox News simply could not stay home bound. 0:32:34.280 --> 0:32:37.480 I found it very difficult to replicate the energy from 0:32:37.520 --> 0:32:41.080 a basement at Sag Harbor, New York. And I'm a 0:32:41.120 --> 0:32:44.400 people person absolutely. I think I get energy from others 0:32:44.480 --> 0:32:48.040 and hopefully I give them a little bit too, you know. 0:32:48.160 --> 0:32:52.040 Having said that, we've reported on stories on wars, on 0:32:52.320 --> 0:32:55.800 terror attacks all over the world for twenty thirty years, 0:32:56.040 --> 0:32:59.480 and what you're doing in that scenario is you're out 0:33:00.080 --> 0:33:03.360 and you can hear the audio in your ear, but 0:33:03.480 --> 0:33:06.360 you're basically talking into a round circle on that camera 0:33:07.040 --> 0:33:12.160 for hours, for days, for weeks. But yet I felt 0:33:12.240 --> 0:33:14.520 I was I had the energy to do that, but 0:33:14.680 --> 0:33:18.360 I just I couldn't do it from my house I tried, 0:33:18.720 --> 0:33:23.640 but it wasn't It wasn't doing it for me. I 0:33:23.640 --> 0:33:27.000 don't know how else to say it. I wanted to 0:33:27.080 --> 0:33:31.440 be closer to the story, and working remotely, I felt 0:33:31.520 --> 0:33:34.000 as if it was just taking me further away from 0:33:34.280 --> 0:33:39.440 understanding what was happening day by day. Now that's not 0:33:39.600 --> 0:33:42.360 to take anything away from my colleagues, either here or 0:33:42.440 --> 0:33:45.440 elsewhere at other networks. They make their own decisions. But 0:33:45.600 --> 0:33:48.920 for me personally, I felt a strong desire to be 0:33:49.040 --> 0:33:52.840 in the building and it helped me with the human 0:33:52.960 --> 0:33:55.600 connection through a story like that, which I think a 0:33:55.640 --> 0:33:58.400 lot of people, frankly were looking for. And I'd say too, 0:33:58.520 --> 0:34:02.560 like our CEO, she did not outsource it. She was 0:34:02.600 --> 0:34:06.080 here as well, Suzanne Scott. I made some fast friends 0:34:06.360 --> 0:34:09.920 with a bar restaurant over here on a street that 0:34:10.040 --> 0:34:11.680 I will not name because I do not want to 0:34:11.719 --> 0:34:15.719 get them in trouble. And there was a period where 0:34:15.760 --> 0:34:17.800 the city reopened for a week or two, do you 0:34:17.840 --> 0:34:21.120 remember that, and everything slamming back down again. But during 0:34:21.160 --> 0:34:23.719 that week or two I made friends with them, and 0:34:23.920 --> 0:34:26.920 they said, you know, Bill, We've got a room upstairs. 0:34:27.000 --> 0:34:30.600 It has no windows, and you're welcome to come anytime. 0:34:31.320 --> 0:34:33.920 And that really became a refuge for me. You know, 0:34:34.080 --> 0:34:37.040 I'm not married, and I'm either going home to an 0:34:37.040 --> 0:34:41.320 apartment or I'm going to what I called my COVID 0:34:41.400 --> 0:34:45.480 speak easy. So on occasion, Cynthia I would bring a 0:34:45.600 --> 0:34:49.440 colleague or a friend and we would go upstairs in 0:34:49.480 --> 0:34:53.200 this room and you know, we could eat with them 0:34:53.440 --> 0:34:56.600 and you know, have a beer, and maybe it's just 0:34:56.680 --> 0:35:00.680 an hour, hour and a half time, but it gave 0:35:00.760 --> 0:35:01.520 us something to do. 0:35:02.239 --> 0:35:06.680 Let's call this section anchor management. We'll hear from John Tower, 0:35:06.960 --> 0:35:08.920 Simone Swink, and Lindsey Davis. 0:35:09.600 --> 0:35:12.520 Managing anchors remotely is a challenge because they don't see 0:35:12.640 --> 0:35:15.320 or hear each other, right, so in the beginning, like 0:35:15.400 --> 0:35:18.000 they're stepping on each other. They don't understand, like the 0:35:18.200 --> 0:35:21.160 Gale talks and then Tony talks, and then Gail stops, 0:35:21.160 --> 0:35:24.640 and then Tony stops, and then you know, so getting 0:35:24.680 --> 0:35:28.640 them used to coordinating was something that I was used 0:35:28.680 --> 0:35:32.360 to coming from Rning Joe, where most of our anchors 0:35:32.400 --> 0:35:36.800 were remote saying who's next, who comes next, who does this, 0:35:36.960 --> 0:35:39.960 who does that? And so that was a that was 0:35:40.239 --> 0:35:44.000 a huge learning curve for them because you know, remote 0:35:44.000 --> 0:35:46.560 show maybe having one anchor or remote on a remote 0:35:46.600 --> 0:35:48.960 show is something that you like are used to, but 0:35:49.160 --> 0:35:52.040 like having all three anchors who are bouncing scripts, who 0:35:52.040 --> 0:35:55.160 are like trying to interact with each other for every topic, 0:35:55.320 --> 0:35:57.560 like that's that's a sort of like a new It's 0:35:57.640 --> 0:36:00.800 luck left brain, right brain for them, And so it 0:36:00.920 --> 0:36:02.920 was about getting them used to hearing me in their 0:36:02.960 --> 0:36:05.800 ear and like them being comfortable with me being like 0:36:06.200 --> 0:36:09.719 Gail talks next. Hey, Gail talks next. Hey, Anthony talks next. 0:36:10.440 --> 0:36:12.040 What do you mean the Anthony talks next? I have 0:36:12.160 --> 0:36:12.719 something to say. 0:36:13.239 --> 0:36:16.400 We almost always had at least one anchor in the studio, 0:36:16.640 --> 0:36:18.759 so even if they so let's say, if Michael was 0:36:18.800 --> 0:36:20.600 in the studio and Robin was in a box and 0:36:20.680 --> 0:36:22.359 George was in a box, there was always a way 0:36:22.360 --> 0:36:26.239 to get the show on the air. And so, like you, 0:36:26.440 --> 0:36:28.959 if you're used to being on deadline, you're probably also 0:36:29.040 --> 0:36:31.279 good at improvisation even when you don't want to be. 0:36:31.440 --> 0:36:33.239 So there was always a way to have a plan, 0:36:33.440 --> 0:36:36.560 and worst case scenario, someone else's shot went down, then 0:36:36.560 --> 0:36:39.080 whoever was in the studio could take the reins and 0:36:39.200 --> 0:36:41.400 take us to the next reporter or have the conversation 0:36:41.600 --> 0:36:44.680 or do the interview, and there were definitely a few 0:36:44.760 --> 0:36:46.120 times I was trying to think of them. But there 0:36:46.160 --> 0:36:48.640 were definitely a few times that somebody on remote Zoom 0:36:49.040 --> 0:36:51.319 was scheduled to do an interview and something went wrong 0:36:51.520 --> 0:36:55.000 and so someone else came took over and did the interview. 0:36:55.560 --> 0:37:00.160 So Flavio Juir was my audio tech who all so 0:37:00.320 --> 0:37:04.520 doubled as my studio floor director, and it was just 0:37:04.640 --> 0:37:07.560 the two of us every single day. So then they 0:37:07.640 --> 0:37:13.480 started doing two week rotations, so there would be teams 0:37:13.640 --> 0:37:17.280 basically that would be in the office for two weeks 0:37:17.400 --> 0:37:20.279 and then at home for two weeks. Basically just kind 0:37:20.320 --> 0:37:22.480 of trying to figure out the incubation period so that 0:37:22.560 --> 0:37:27.440 you always had a plan B for I if that 0:37:27.680 --> 0:37:31.279 team or multiple people on that team got sick, you 0:37:31.440 --> 0:37:35.759 had reserves, so that essentially everybody wasn't going to get 0:37:35.880 --> 0:37:40.720 sick at the same time. So I was not seeing 0:37:41.440 --> 0:37:46.800 anyone except for Flavio. We were not you know, we 0:37:46.840 --> 0:37:50.520 would we would meet on Zoom. A lot was done 0:37:50.560 --> 0:37:55.480 through email and text, but physically, well, I'm sorry, I 0:37:55.520 --> 0:37:58.200 would see also a hair makeup team that they would 0:37:58.239 --> 0:38:01.480 you know, have gloves and masks and everything, but otherwise 0:38:01.520 --> 0:38:03.800 in the building. Yeah, it was just it was just 0:38:03.880 --> 0:38:04.480 the two of us. 0:38:05.080 --> 0:38:07.560 It's hard to believe that this story hasn't been turned 0:38:07.600 --> 0:38:11.719 into a sitcom or a Netflix rom com. Tony Dukoppel 0:38:11.800 --> 0:38:15.120 had an unusual situation at his home because he had 0:38:15.160 --> 0:38:18.879 to share his basement studio with his wife, NBC News 0:38:18.960 --> 0:38:24.239 correspondent Katie Tour. Occasionally hilarity would ensue. I understand that 0:38:24.320 --> 0:38:27.359 your basement doubled as the NBC bureau as well as 0:38:27.480 --> 0:38:30.560 the CBS News bureau. Well was that Were there any 0:38:30.600 --> 0:38:32.759 traffic jams for you and Katie at any time? 0:38:33.320 --> 0:38:36.080 Huge now, because not only did it double as, but 0:38:36.400 --> 0:38:40.279 the NBC people came down and, as I recall, un 0:38:40.360 --> 0:38:43.360 ceremoniously moved some of the CBS stuff in order to 0:38:43.440 --> 0:38:48.080 get their pick of corners for their setup, so they 0:38:48.120 --> 0:38:49.479 had a longer camera shot. 0:38:49.560 --> 0:38:50.560 I was more squeezed. 0:38:51.200 --> 0:38:54.680 But on the other hand, the NBC crew, they're the 0:38:54.760 --> 0:38:57.040 ones that took the made the investment of drilling the 0:38:57.800 --> 0:39:00.920 enhanced Internet cable down directly from where it comes into 0:39:00.960 --> 0:39:03.400 the house into the basement, so they, I guess they 0:39:03.440 --> 0:39:05.360 felt they had license. But I do remember there was 0:39:05.440 --> 0:39:07.280 like a call that I was not on but between 0:39:07.320 --> 0:39:09.759 our crew folks and the NBC crew folks to iron 0:39:09.840 --> 0:39:13.920 out who was disrespecting who on this, and then there 0:39:14.000 --> 0:39:15.880 was like there were questions of like, well, what happens 0:39:15.920 --> 0:39:17.279 if they both need to be on air at the 0:39:17.280 --> 0:39:20.200 same time, And then a moment later we thought, well, 0:39:20.239 --> 0:39:23.840 if that's the case, something even worse than this terribleness 0:39:23.840 --> 0:39:25.439 were going through has to happen, So let's just pray 0:39:25.520 --> 0:39:26.160 that doesn't occur. 0:39:27.400 --> 0:39:28.000 And it didn't. 0:39:28.480 --> 0:39:32.480 It didn't know, But sometimes the one thing that would happen, though, 0:39:32.640 --> 0:39:35.320 is I would have to I'd go off air, and 0:39:35.360 --> 0:39:37.480 then I would use the desk behind me as my 0:39:37.640 --> 0:39:40.000 work desk during the day because i'd have the baby 0:39:40.080 --> 0:39:44.440 upstairs and Katie would sometimes beyond, but i'd have a 0:39:44.600 --> 0:39:47.200 script deadline. I was still trying to be productive as 0:39:47.239 --> 0:39:50.439 I could, and the bathroom was across her camera shot, 0:39:50.520 --> 0:39:54.759 so it'd have to sometimes army crawl threw her very 0:39:54.880 --> 0:39:57.920 serious life or death conversation to take care of the 0:39:58.000 --> 0:40:01.960 more mundane acts of daily lif and then I'd be 0:40:02.040 --> 0:40:03.680 in my own head because I'd be thinking about a script, 0:40:03.719 --> 0:40:05.560 so I wouldn't think about whether she's on. So you know, 0:40:05.680 --> 0:40:08.080 if you listen closely. There's probably toilet flushes in the 0:40:08.160 --> 0:40:13.360 background of Katchit reports during those days. Sorry, honey, Fox. 0:40:13.160 --> 0:40:15.840 News is Scott Wilder was not the only one to 0:40:15.960 --> 0:40:19.880 point out the harmonic convergence that helped TV during COVID. 0:40:20.680 --> 0:40:25.080 Video sharing platforms and cloud based collaboration tools were hitting 0:40:25.200 --> 0:40:28.600 new strides just as the world needed to set a 0:40:28.719 --> 0:40:32.080 virtual meeting or two. Wilder explains it. 0:40:32.160 --> 0:40:36.040 Well, Listen, this pandemic happened five years earlier. We would 0:40:36.120 --> 0:40:38.239 not have had a satellite truck to send to each 0:40:38.360 --> 0:40:42.200 person's home. The fact that we were broadcasting largely using 0:40:42.360 --> 0:40:46.640 bonded cellular technology and the Internet that you have in 0:40:46.680 --> 0:40:49.760 your home and I have in my home without adding 0:40:50.040 --> 0:40:53.759 any services. Over time, we did bolster some of the 0:40:54.480 --> 0:40:59.520 Internet services, but five years ago, three years ago, before 0:40:59.560 --> 0:41:02.160 the pandem three years prior to the pandemic, we would 0:41:02.239 --> 0:41:04.720 not have been able to do that. And so because 0:41:04.760 --> 0:41:09.080 of that technology, we were talking about how we can 0:41:09.160 --> 0:41:13.400 do live shots and home studios and those things with 0:41:14.120 --> 0:41:18.720 equipment like live view and you know, your Verizon Internet 0:41:18.800 --> 0:41:19.000 that you. 0:41:19.120 --> 0:41:19.839 Have in your home. 0:41:20.480 --> 0:41:24.280 Tech tools were the saviors of businesses across the spectrum 0:41:24.400 --> 0:41:29.360 during lockdown, but Inevitably, there were snaffoos. Here's a string 0:41:29.480 --> 0:41:34.120 of fun anecdotes from John Tower, Lindsay Davis, Simone Swink, 0:41:34.400 --> 0:41:35.440 and Tony Dkoppel. 0:41:35.800 --> 0:41:38.279 There would be times when our anchor cameras would like 0:41:38.880 --> 0:41:43.839 just disappear right, so like Gail's connection would go down ooops, yeah, 0:41:44.080 --> 0:41:46.399 and then Tony's all go down or antheons are going down, 0:41:46.520 --> 0:41:50.360 and you know those are okay. Our attitude about that 0:41:50.600 --> 0:41:52.640 is like that's okay. We're in a pandemic, like we're 0:41:52.680 --> 0:41:55.560 managed to staying we like. Our personal approach was just 0:41:55.760 --> 0:41:58.640 like say it on the air, say it, don't try 0:41:58.680 --> 0:42:01.600 to like, you know, dump in our about it, like 0:42:02.400 --> 0:42:05.600 have fun with it. And there was in whatever respect 0:42:05.680 --> 0:42:08.200 you can. But there were moments when you lose somebody 0:42:08.760 --> 0:42:10.880 and you know, there's a lot of scrambling bonds scenes, 0:42:10.920 --> 0:42:13.879 a lot of people running around, but for the show, 0:42:13.960 --> 0:42:16.360 you just you know, go pick up Tony script and 0:42:16.440 --> 0:42:17.040 you keep moving. 0:42:17.520 --> 0:42:20.640 There were definitely a few times where the packages were 0:42:20.719 --> 0:42:24.160 not sent or sent incorrectly, or maybe there was no 0:42:24.440 --> 0:42:26.879 sound on them. I mean, because it was just such 0:42:26.960 --> 0:42:31.359 a and I and I felt our team really rose 0:42:31.440 --> 0:42:33.920 to the occasion. I think it was such a baptism 0:42:33.960 --> 0:42:36.080 by fire. Again, many of them this was their first 0:42:36.200 --> 0:42:40.120 or second job, and they had looked to be looked 0:42:40.160 --> 0:42:45.239 forward to being mentored, and now that opportunity, they were 0:42:45.400 --> 0:42:48.040 just having to figure it out, and many of it 0:42:48.120 --> 0:42:52.080 by trial and error. You know, there were a lot 0:42:52.160 --> 0:42:55.960 of glitches. But I think people at home understood, you know, 0:42:56.120 --> 0:43:00.080 that was my belief anyway, that people knew what we 0:43:00.160 --> 0:43:02.839 were dealing with because they were trying to piece things 0:43:02.880 --> 0:43:03.880 together themselves. 0:43:04.239 --> 0:43:06.240 When Lara Spencer went home, it was something we always 0:43:06.280 --> 0:43:08.480 called the jokingly the Gretitch Bureau, because she and her 0:43:08.520 --> 0:43:10.080 producer and a few other folks all of up in 0:43:10.120 --> 0:43:14.719 Connecticut and she broadcasts from her home for I think 0:43:14.800 --> 0:43:17.600 it was over two years did Pop News did Deals 0:43:17.640 --> 0:43:19.600 and Steals. It would just be set up all over 0:43:19.680 --> 0:43:21.320 parts of her house, Like Deals and Steels would be 0:43:21.360 --> 0:43:23.200 out in the yard, Pop News would be inside in 0:43:23.239 --> 0:43:27.160 the kitchen. One of our most memorable episodes or broadcast 0:43:27.280 --> 0:43:29.840 during COVID is we really thought we had it nailed about. 0:43:29.960 --> 0:43:31.919 I think it was a year in her producer would 0:43:32.000 --> 0:43:33.960 drive over to her house because they were essentially their 0:43:34.000 --> 0:43:36.200 own COVID bubble, and she would run the prompter and 0:43:36.239 --> 0:43:39.319 the camera and Lara, as you may know from watching 0:43:39.360 --> 0:43:41.719 our show, loves to adopt dogs and she had for 0:43:41.840 --> 0:43:44.880 sure she had adopted a rescue that was blind, so 0:43:45.000 --> 0:43:46.879 we had to keep he always had to be kept 0:43:46.880 --> 0:43:50.360 out during the broadcast. And one day Dandy got in 0:43:51.040 --> 0:43:54.319 and then walked into the tripod and live on air, 0:43:54.920 --> 0:43:57.360 you know, the shots like this, and suddenly it's like this, 0:43:57.880 --> 0:44:00.200 and Lara, to her credit, just kept broadcasting. And so 0:44:00.320 --> 0:44:02.719 that morning Pop News was just upside down, but it 0:44:02.800 --> 0:44:04.880 also spoke to the reality of what was going on, 0:44:05.160 --> 0:44:07.920 Like everybody was learning how to use this technology on 0:44:08.120 --> 0:44:11.239 air and in their lives, and it sort of helped 0:44:11.239 --> 0:44:13.759 having these moments of humor that we just as a 0:44:13.800 --> 0:44:16.680 television show would keep going with. You know, we didn't 0:44:16.719 --> 0:44:19.160 immediately cut it. It was just it was actually quite funny, 0:44:19.400 --> 0:44:21.480 and she's so great live that she just kept going. 0:44:21.880 --> 0:44:23.759 Oh and then I remember, like all kinds of SNAPf 0:44:23.800 --> 0:44:26.360 foos happened that would never happen before. Where I'm sitting 0:44:26.400 --> 0:44:29.520 there in a commercial break reading something on my lap 0:44:29.760 --> 0:44:33.320 which is just out of camera shot, and somebody is 0:44:33.360 --> 0:44:35.239 trying to tell me we're coming back from commercial but 0:44:35.360 --> 0:44:37.160 instead of Patty or our stage director being right in 0:44:37.200 --> 0:44:39.000 front of me, snapping her fingers, being like, Tony, you're 0:44:39.040 --> 0:44:41.680 back at ten. I have no IFB it's fallen out. 0:44:41.880 --> 0:44:44.600 So they just come back to me live picture of 0:44:44.680 --> 0:44:47.320 me just looking down. It appears as though I'm sleeping, 0:44:47.440 --> 0:44:49.160 like my chin is on my chest and I'm just 0:44:49.239 --> 0:44:51.840 out cold. So it's just ten seconds of that with 0:44:52.000 --> 0:44:54.279 Jaunty Morning Show music, and then it goes back to 0:44:54.360 --> 0:44:58.560 commercial and everybody was like, did we just catch that 0:44:58.760 --> 0:45:02.800 guy sleeping? So it was a it was a it 0:45:02.920 --> 0:45:03.360 was messy. 0:45:03.719 --> 0:45:06.359 You don't want to miss what's coming up next. We'll 0:45:06.440 --> 0:45:09.480 be right back with more tales of TV during COVID 0:45:09.800 --> 0:45:17.640 after this break, and we're back with more about how 0:45:17.760 --> 0:45:21.160 TV stayed on the air during COVID. Did you ever 0:45:21.320 --> 0:45:24.160 have a tech challenge so bad you feared you might 0:45:24.239 --> 0:45:27.319 miss your airtime or not deliver your episode on time? 0:45:27.880 --> 0:45:31.960 Chris Dinan, Jason Kurtz, and Shawn and Thomas each paused 0:45:32.000 --> 0:45:34.320 a bit before they answered, I don't. 0:45:34.120 --> 0:45:35.960 Think we ever felt like we weren't going to get 0:45:36.000 --> 0:45:38.759 on TV. I think that there were doubts and on 0:45:38.920 --> 0:45:42.239 certaindays about how exactly that would happen. But I mean 0:45:42.280 --> 0:45:44.560 this is there is you know there really it's it's 0:45:44.560 --> 0:45:46.920 a zero some dame that there is no alternative. We 0:45:47.360 --> 0:45:51.400 have to get on television though not doing that. So 0:45:52.239 --> 0:45:54.719 I think everybody was determined to find the ways to 0:45:54.840 --> 0:45:59.040 do it, as you know, as it wasn't a there 0:45:59.040 --> 0:46:02.240 were moments where you are uncertain where something would operate 0:46:02.360 --> 0:46:05.279 from them, whether a piece would roll or whether you know, 0:46:05.400 --> 0:46:08.040 something like that would happen, whether a live shot would 0:46:08.360 --> 0:46:12.840 pop up appropriately, And those were all individual scares, but 0:46:13.000 --> 0:46:15.759 in general, I think that there was a real determination 0:46:16.320 --> 0:46:20.320 to you know, meet the challenge, do the job. And 0:46:20.400 --> 0:46:23.879 I would say that, you know, people really made sacrifices 0:46:23.920 --> 0:46:27.080 and they really, you know, they chose to get the 0:46:27.160 --> 0:46:31.319 job done. I mean, David could have stayed at home 0:46:31.400 --> 0:46:33.080 at a home studio if he had wanted to. 0:46:33.880 --> 0:46:36.359 Many people did, and that was an obvious choice. 0:46:36.400 --> 0:46:40.239 But he came every day to the set to just 0:46:40.360 --> 0:46:43.040 send a reassuring message that you know, there were people here, 0:46:43.600 --> 0:46:46.560 people you could trust, people who would deliver information that 0:46:46.640 --> 0:46:50.400 are back based and in context, and I think that 0:46:51.000 --> 0:46:52.600 the audience warmed to that. 0:46:53.280 --> 0:46:56.160 Did you ever think about postponing the launch from September? 0:46:56.800 --> 0:47:01.440 There was conversations, but they were shut down down very quickly. 0:47:01.560 --> 0:47:07.439 We all just collectively, you know, executives at CBS, myself, Drue, 0:47:08.680 --> 0:47:11.360 all the wonderful people that work here. It was just 0:47:11.480 --> 0:47:16.839 this collective feeling of we're we're doing this, and we're 0:47:16.920 --> 0:47:21.640 focused and maybe the world needs this bright spot right 0:47:21.719 --> 0:47:25.840 now and hopefully we can be that. And that was 0:47:25.920 --> 0:47:29.040 sort of just collectively how we all felt. It was 0:47:29.200 --> 0:47:33.520 never really said out loud. It was never this big, raw, 0:47:33.600 --> 0:47:37.080 raw mission. It just was this undertone and feeling we 0:47:37.160 --> 0:47:39.680 all had together that this was we're doing this and 0:47:40.800 --> 0:47:42.080 we'll see everyone in September. 0:47:42.440 --> 0:47:44.720 The thing is, and I know this is a cliche, 0:47:44.920 --> 0:47:47.640 but I also come from a theater background. The show 0:47:47.760 --> 0:47:49.880 must go on no matter I always think about this 0:47:49.960 --> 0:47:54.239 show as, no matter what, at seven am Eastern time, 0:47:55.600 --> 0:47:58.839 we're not gonna put black on air like we're gonna 0:47:58.880 --> 0:48:03.640 do something. So however we have to do that, we 0:48:03.800 --> 0:48:07.240 will make it happen. And I've never worked anywhere CBS 0:48:07.360 --> 0:48:10.320 News or anywhere else where. Everyone does not have that 0:48:10.440 --> 0:48:11.000 work ethic. 0:48:11.560 --> 0:48:14.920 Simon Swink wasn't the only one to marvel in hindsight 0:48:15.040 --> 0:48:18.160 at how much they were able to achieve under COVID conditions. 0:48:18.600 --> 0:48:22.200 Scott Wilder and Jason Kurtz also chime in on this subject. 0:48:22.680 --> 0:48:24.919 But our menu actually didn't change that much. I would 0:48:24.920 --> 0:48:27.839 say if you took any broadcast from four years ago 0:48:27.920 --> 0:48:30.120 at this moment and right now, it's probably the same 0:48:30.239 --> 0:48:33.080 number of segments. Because what we found is we had 0:48:33.200 --> 0:48:35.480 enough people that really knew how the show worked and 0:48:36.880 --> 0:48:38.759 could figure out, Okay, I'm going to add a few 0:48:38.800 --> 0:48:40.799 extra steps, but the guest isn't coming, so we're going 0:48:40.880 --> 0:48:42.719 to do this on Zoom, or we're going to tape 0:48:42.719 --> 0:48:45.319 interviews on zoom or whatever it might be. We can 0:48:45.480 --> 0:48:47.480 edit from home and we can feed in this way 0:48:47.600 --> 0:48:51.120 over various servers. We came up with enough workarounds very 0:48:51.200 --> 0:48:53.600 quickly because it's a smart creative group, that it didn't 0:48:53.640 --> 0:48:56.560 change our segment number. But it did really change our 0:48:56.600 --> 0:49:00.759 production number. And the most noticeable We've always done a 0:49:00.760 --> 0:49:03.440 lot of live performances on the show, live music performances, 0:49:04.080 --> 0:49:08.920 and we couldn't do those. I mean, we had to 0:49:09.000 --> 0:49:10.440 kick off our summer I think was to kick off 0:49:10.520 --> 0:49:14.200 our summer concert series. We had we had a special 0:49:14.320 --> 0:49:17.040 crew tested and we filmed Katie Perry in her backyard 0:49:17.120 --> 0:49:20.359 singing her brand new song Daisies, and I would argue 0:49:20.360 --> 0:49:23.000 it was actually in many ways it was very cool 0:49:23.040 --> 0:49:26.120 that we had been forced to innovate into that because 0:49:26.400 --> 0:49:29.719 we were seeing a very famous pop star bring us 0:49:29.719 --> 0:49:32.759 a new song in a different kind of environment. You know, 0:49:32.800 --> 0:49:36.759 it wasn't the usual slick stage production. So in some 0:49:36.920 --> 0:49:39.560 cases the innovation's forced I think some great television. 0:49:40.160 --> 0:49:45.920 Our leaderships, specifically Susan Scott, who's our CEO, was very 0:49:46.560 --> 0:49:49.160 adamant that we needed to look like we were in 0:49:49.480 --> 0:49:52.360 television studios and needed to have a high bar of 0:49:52.719 --> 0:49:58.200 being a professional television facility. If that facility was going 0:49:58.280 --> 0:50:01.759 to be in an anchor's home, it didn't matter. It 0:50:01.920 --> 0:50:05.719 was very important from all leadership that the viewer turned 0:50:05.760 --> 0:50:09.040 on the TV and feel like they're watching Fox News. 0:50:09.280 --> 0:50:12.640 People were starving for information, right These were scary times, 0:50:13.280 --> 0:50:17.160 and so it just that was one thing that across 0:50:17.239 --> 0:50:19.439 the board, our leadership knew that they did not want 0:50:19.480 --> 0:50:22.040 to change. Nobody wanted to turn the TV on and 0:50:22.200 --> 0:50:24.640 look at, you know, somebody's living room or kitchen. 0:50:25.280 --> 0:50:27.799 My memory is that none of that. We just kept 0:50:27.880 --> 0:50:30.360 moving and we just weren't giving up and it was 0:50:30.480 --> 0:50:36.040 just this really supportive, amazing group from CBS executives to 0:50:36.160 --> 0:50:40.960 Drew to you know, Flower Films, Chris Miller and Amber Truesdale, 0:50:41.080 --> 0:50:43.239 myself and everyone that just worked here. It was just 0:50:43.840 --> 0:50:49.680 this collective and I sound Sacharine and but it really 0:50:49.920 --> 0:50:52.600 just was this beautiful group of people that just had 0:50:52.680 --> 0:50:55.160 one common goal and we were focused and we were 0:50:55.280 --> 0:50:58.040 just not stopping. So that's really my memory, and that 0:50:58.680 --> 0:51:01.200 was so nice and helpful, especially during such a dark 0:51:01.280 --> 0:51:04.040 time with everything happening, that it was just this really 0:51:04.080 --> 0:51:06.400 amazing group of people that just got to work together 0:51:06.560 --> 0:51:11.000 and just wanted to stay focused and bring Drew to 0:51:11.760 --> 0:51:16.399 everyone's home and hopefully create like just a fun, bright 0:51:16.920 --> 0:51:17.719 little place to be. 0:51:18.600 --> 0:51:21.680 Of course, all of this work under extreme pressure is 0:51:21.760 --> 0:51:25.600 being done while everyone is also dealing with personal struggles 0:51:25.680 --> 0:51:29.640 and health threats made worse by the pandemic. Jason Kurtz, 0:51:29.920 --> 0:51:35.360 Shawna Thomas, Simone Swink, and Lindsey Davis share hard stories. 0:51:36.000 --> 0:51:37.919 There was a heaviness to what we were all dealing 0:51:37.960 --> 0:51:41.760 with personally, and you know, we all that was another 0:51:42.239 --> 0:51:45.360 you know, silver lining, and it is that our group 0:51:45.680 --> 0:51:49.280 bonded very fast during those times because we were supporting 0:51:49.320 --> 0:51:51.320 each other, not just professionally but personally. 0:51:51.960 --> 0:51:54.680 CBS News, I believe, was one of the first COVID 0:51:54.760 --> 0:51:57.840 clusters in New York City in March of twenty twenty. 0:51:58.960 --> 0:52:01.840 And I know that because while I was not working 0:52:01.920 --> 0:52:05.239 technically for CBS News, I was working for Quibi, the 0:52:05.400 --> 0:52:09.960 now incredibly defult Quibby. But I was a development executive 0:52:10.080 --> 0:52:13.480 that was in charge of sixty and six, which was 0:52:13.960 --> 0:52:17.960 like the sixty minutes product, and in I think about 0:52:17.960 --> 0:52:20.759 a week before maybe a week and a half before 0:52:20.800 --> 0:52:23.200 they had to shut down the broadcast center, we had 0:52:23.280 --> 0:52:28.400 had a launch party there that it near CBS, near 0:52:28.440 --> 0:52:32.040 the broadcast Center, in one of the restaurants that I 0:52:32.200 --> 0:52:36.080 remember being there with Susan Zarenski and Bill Owens, and 0:52:36.120 --> 0:52:37.680 everyone was like, we're going to do this new thing. 0:52:37.760 --> 0:52:39.440 It's going to be on Quibbi. We're making this like 0:52:39.560 --> 0:52:42.600 mini version of sixty minutes with Seth Doane and these 0:52:42.640 --> 0:52:46.560 other reporters and it's going to be fantastic. And I 0:52:46.640 --> 0:52:49.400 remember looking at Zee, who I had known for a 0:52:49.480 --> 0:52:53.239 while just through being in television news for many years, 0:52:53.840 --> 0:52:57.440 and looking at her and we weren't wearing masks and 0:52:58.840 --> 0:53:00.799 being like, am I supposed to hug you? Are we hugged? 0:53:00.840 --> 0:53:00.880 Like? 0:53:00.920 --> 0:53:01.960 What do we do right now? 0:53:02.120 --> 0:53:02.600 Is this real? 0:53:02.760 --> 0:53:03.040 Is this not? 0:53:03.239 --> 0:53:05.120 It goes back to kind of what Tara was saying, 0:53:05.400 --> 0:53:10.040 and she was like, I'm a hugger. And I personally 0:53:10.120 --> 0:53:14.399 believe I got COVID from that party, because almost soon 0:53:14.440 --> 0:53:16.600 after that, I was going back and forth between New 0:53:16.719 --> 0:53:19.839 York and d C because I was still partially based 0:53:19.880 --> 0:53:26.880 in DC while working for Quibbi. And it did the 0:53:28.000 --> 0:53:31.319 the fears at CBS had started. Things in New York 0:53:31.400 --> 0:53:34.160 City had were just starting to get worse and worse. 0:53:34.680 --> 0:53:37.080 And I basically told my boss, who also used to 0:53:37.120 --> 0:53:39.800 be the executive producer of CBS, this morning, Ryan kdro 0:53:40.040 --> 0:53:44.759 Ryan looking for Quibbi. It's all very incestuous, really, that 0:53:45.360 --> 0:53:47.160 I was not going to come back to New York City. 0:53:47.440 --> 0:53:48.960 And then a couple of days after that, I came 0:53:49.040 --> 0:53:50.800 down with one hundred and two fever that did not 0:53:50.880 --> 0:53:51.879 go away for ten days. 0:53:52.320 --> 0:53:53.960 We had a colleague who was quite sick and in 0:53:54.040 --> 0:53:58.600 the hospital and she didn't she was she didn't understand 0:53:58.600 --> 0:54:00.920 why nobody would visit her and have COVID. She had 0:54:00.960 --> 0:54:03.680 something else, and none of us could leave our rooms 0:54:04.160 --> 0:54:08.800 and she died, and it was like COVID is not 0:54:08.960 --> 0:54:12.680 only disrupting regular day to day work, it's disrupting that 0:54:13.719 --> 0:54:16.640 all these people can't go see a close friend and colleague. 0:54:17.040 --> 0:54:19.200 And then we actually didn't have her funeral for another 0:54:19.320 --> 0:54:21.880 or couldn't attend a memorial for another two years. I 0:54:22.040 --> 0:54:24.719 was not only coming in every day at a certain point, 0:54:24.760 --> 0:54:27.520 but that was like my only contact with the outside world, 0:54:27.600 --> 0:54:29.719 it felt like, was to come to the studio. And 0:54:29.880 --> 0:54:33.120 I had been dealing with a health battle because I 0:54:33.200 --> 0:54:36.799 had found it I quite severe cancer in the middle 0:54:36.800 --> 0:54:38.800 of it. So to actually be able to come to 0:54:38.960 --> 0:54:43.640 work during all that was a lifesaver because it really 0:54:44.320 --> 0:54:48.560 gave me something to focus on. And everybody was so 0:54:48.719 --> 0:54:51.200 caught up and how are we solving problems that no 0:54:51.280 --> 0:54:53.880 one's looking at the cancer patients. So for me, it 0:54:54.000 --> 0:54:56.160 was this unexpected boon in the midst of all this 0:54:56.800 --> 0:55:01.600 mist of all this misery and and you know, separation. 0:55:02.239 --> 0:55:03.920 So I actually loved coming into work. 0:55:04.560 --> 0:55:06.920 There was at least one or two times where we 0:55:07.120 --> 0:55:09.520 got one of the anchors results while they were on 0:55:09.719 --> 0:55:13.239 TV and during a commercial break, I would come out 0:55:13.239 --> 0:55:15.440 and be like, Hey, why don't you come with me. 0:55:16.960 --> 0:55:19.759 Let let's go outside for a second. And I think 0:55:19.800 --> 0:55:21.960 at least maybe once, I think I pulled Nate like 0:55:22.400 --> 0:55:24.360 he was in a segment in one part of the 0:55:24.400 --> 0:55:27.520 show and then suddenly not there anymore because I pulled 0:55:27.560 --> 0:55:29.120 them and you put a mask on him, you put 0:55:29.160 --> 0:55:30.480 him in a car, and you're like, you gotta go home, 0:55:31.160 --> 0:55:34.759 go home. We need you to leave immediately, and then 0:55:34.840 --> 0:55:39.759 retest everybody in the studio. And it seems funny now, 0:55:39.880 --> 0:55:41.239 but then you're like, what are we going to tell 0:55:41.280 --> 0:55:44.040 the audience? This is his own personal medical business. What 0:55:44.160 --> 0:55:46.480 do we do they're gonna notice? And then I think 0:55:46.760 --> 0:55:49.760 that one time we had to do two more segments, 0:55:49.920 --> 0:55:53.200 didn't say anything until the end of the show, and 0:55:53.440 --> 0:55:55.799 said a little bit of something and then got off 0:55:55.880 --> 0:55:57.640 the air to start to figure out how we were 0:55:57.680 --> 0:55:58.680 going to do tomorrow. 0:56:00.280 --> 0:56:01.880 But there was it. 0:56:02.520 --> 0:56:06.200 It was constantly being thrown some kind of weird curveball 0:56:06.320 --> 0:56:09.960 about how are we going to make this work because 0:56:10.600 --> 0:56:13.440 this virus is still going around and I still have 0:56:13.560 --> 0:56:15.479 to figure out how to do the show and protect people. 0:56:16.160 --> 0:56:20.960 Unfortunately, early on it was April. My mom then got 0:56:21.080 --> 0:56:25.000 COVID and this is before the you know, vaccine, and 0:56:25.600 --> 0:56:28.800 it was like older people and people of color, you know, 0:56:28.880 --> 0:56:33.880 black people, my mom's a black woman, were dying you know, regularly. 0:56:34.040 --> 0:56:39.200 So that was really hard for me reporting on this 0:56:39.400 --> 0:56:42.160 and to try to, you know, remove myself from the 0:56:42.239 --> 0:56:47.040 emotion of when we were talking about the disproportionate you know, 0:56:47.880 --> 0:56:51.840 the elderly and people of color who were dying, and 0:56:52.040 --> 0:56:57.920 that was a really just the first time anything in 0:56:58.040 --> 0:57:03.440 that way was so personal, and it made it more 0:57:03.680 --> 0:57:08.000 urgent for me, you know, to almost inform people because 0:57:08.640 --> 0:57:15.440 I wanted to know as a real kind of you know, 0:57:16.560 --> 0:57:18.960 I don't want to say victim, but just the feeling, 0:57:19.000 --> 0:57:23.200 the impact personally, you know, on the home front really 0:57:23.400 --> 0:57:24.760 was was significant. 0:57:25.520 --> 0:57:28.800 News pros were driven by the knowledge that their work 0:57:29.120 --> 0:57:33.440 mattered greatly. Here's Chris Dinan and Simone Swink. 0:57:33.840 --> 0:57:37.240 You know, I've in network news for decades now, and 0:57:37.720 --> 0:57:40.680 I know that there's been the discussion the decline of 0:57:40.760 --> 0:57:45.720 the broadcast networks, but during the course of this pandemic, 0:57:46.800 --> 0:57:51.200 millions of people turned for their information to the broadcast networks. 0:57:52.080 --> 0:57:54.320 At one point, we were having thirteen million bluers a 0:57:54.440 --> 0:57:57.520 night and were the number one show across the ball 0:57:57.640 --> 0:58:01.480 and broadcasts and came, which is a remarkable accomplishment. If 0:58:01.480 --> 0:58:04.640 you told me that an uscasts would have that cided 0:58:04.720 --> 0:58:07.720 number and be in that position, I don't know that 0:58:07.800 --> 0:58:09.360 I would have thought that was possible. 0:58:09.480 --> 0:58:12.240 That people turned in great numbers. 0:58:12.360 --> 0:58:14.440 Because they knew that they would get reliable in sense 0:58:14.480 --> 0:58:16.720 of the information that they could trust, and I thought 0:58:16.720 --> 0:58:19.600 that was it's always been reassuring that. 0:58:21.320 --> 0:58:23.160 You just reminded me of one thing that I forgot 0:58:23.240 --> 0:58:25.560 that was a very big deal during the pandemic, which 0:58:25.600 --> 0:58:29.000 is that we kept doing deals and steals and Tory 0:58:29.280 --> 0:58:32.520 Johnson and the show got something like one hundred and 0:58:32.560 --> 0:58:34.760 fifty letters. She showed me a lot of them, the 0:58:34.920 --> 0:58:37.320 number of small business owners in this country that wrote 0:58:37.360 --> 0:58:39.680 to GMA and Tory and said, you saved our business 0:58:39.720 --> 0:58:42.680 during the pandemic. This was the only way that anyone 0:58:42.720 --> 0:58:46.080 could learn what we were doing. And so that meant 0:58:46.160 --> 0:58:48.640 that if they were in deals and steals, and then 0:58:48.840 --> 0:58:51.200 Tory told their story and the viewers got a deal, 0:58:51.280 --> 0:58:53.560 so somebody bought a twelve dollars dishcloth. We literally had 0:58:53.600 --> 0:58:55.680 people writing to us saying we were able to keep 0:58:55.720 --> 0:58:59.040 everybody on payroll, We could close payroll people were able 0:58:59.120 --> 0:59:01.600 to get the healthcare that they needed in order to 0:59:01.920 --> 0:59:04.000 help the members of their family who had COVID. I mean, 0:59:04.240 --> 0:59:06.520 the ripple effect just on its own from deals and 0:59:06.560 --> 0:59:09.640 steals during that time was amazing. 0:59:10.240 --> 0:59:14.960 There were heroic efforts made by TV's frontline workers. Here's 0:59:14.960 --> 0:59:17.880 Scott Wilder, Chris Dinan, and Bill Hammer. 0:59:18.320 --> 0:59:20.920 We asked our news photographers to kind of be the 0:59:20.960 --> 0:59:22.920 front line of the people who were doing that with 0:59:23.120 --> 0:59:27.000 our anchors and reporters and contributors, because they're the people 0:59:27.000 --> 0:59:29.840 who are used to really being at the front lines 0:59:29.880 --> 0:59:34.480 of adversity and dangerous situations and hostile situations, and so 0:59:35.480 --> 0:59:37.960 they I like to think that they put a lot 0:59:38.040 --> 0:59:41.320 of people at ease and they were comfortable continuing to work. 0:59:43.040 --> 0:59:44.200 You know, I have to go back and give a 0:59:44.240 --> 0:59:45.400 lot of praise to our talent. 0:59:45.920 --> 0:59:48.440 You know, we hadn't based anything this dramatic or to 0:59:48.560 --> 0:59:51.880 Tonian ever in terms of our ability to cover stories. 0:59:52.320 --> 0:59:55.080 And I would just say that there were heroic efforts 0:59:55.240 --> 1:00:00.840 by reporters field producers who were actually out in the field, 1:00:01.120 --> 1:00:05.919 you know, in close proximity to this terrible pandemic, doing 1:00:06.000 --> 1:00:08.840 their jobs as best they could and doing spectacular work. 1:00:08.880 --> 1:00:10.800 And bringing home the stories of you. 1:00:11.000 --> 1:00:13.960 The terrible suffering that was going on, which I did 1:00:14.040 --> 1:00:16.720 think over time also took a toll on the people 1:00:16.760 --> 1:00:19.080 who were covering it and the producers who were here, 1:00:19.240 --> 1:00:22.840 who day in and day out would see very heart 1:00:22.840 --> 1:00:25.920 wrenching videos and people suffering and in the last throws 1:00:25.920 --> 1:00:26.800 of their lives as. 1:00:26.720 --> 1:00:29.200 They hard to deal with, you know, the unthinkable. 1:00:29.520 --> 1:00:32.200 So it took an emotional pale on people, I'm sure, 1:00:32.240 --> 1:00:35.960 but to a person, everyone you know, set that aside 1:00:35.960 --> 1:00:39.080 when they had to and made a point of delivering 1:00:39.120 --> 1:00:41.760 the news in the most objective way they could. 1:00:42.320 --> 1:00:45.080 But I would defer to my colleagues who also you know, 1:00:45.400 --> 1:00:47.439 you didn't see a lot of them on camera because 1:00:47.480 --> 1:00:49.880 they weren't behind the scenes, but so many of them 1:00:49.920 --> 1:00:52.280 that they weren't just writing from different states, you know, 1:00:52.440 --> 1:00:55.000 and producing for different stays. They were in the building. 1:00:55.240 --> 1:00:56.800 And I mentioned Suzanne, and. 1:00:59.200 --> 1:01:02.680 That is really important. That means a lot when your 1:01:02.760 --> 1:01:06.040 leader is here. And yeah, I also think it means 1:01:06.080 --> 1:01:08.120 a lot of viewers when they know that you're still 1:01:08.480 --> 1:01:11.280 there for them every day, so you're. 1:01:11.160 --> 1:01:11.880 Doing what you can. 1:01:12.040 --> 1:01:16.040 Yeah, after more than a year of quarantines and ppe, 1:01:16.800 --> 1:01:20.680 the pandemic slowly began to loosen its grip. Their return 1:01:20.880 --> 1:01:25.040 to normal news gathering and production conditions was a process 1:01:25.240 --> 1:01:29.360 unto itself. Here we hear from Scott Wilder, Jason Kurtz, 1:01:29.760 --> 1:01:31.560 Vin de Bona, and John Tower. 1:01:32.200 --> 1:01:34.680 The majority of our staff cannot wait to get back, 1:01:34.760 --> 1:01:38.200 and it was can I please have my spare bedroom back? 1:01:38.280 --> 1:01:40.800 And I please have the space in my living room back? 1:01:41.320 --> 1:01:44.280 I really, you know, I just can't stand. My kids 1:01:44.320 --> 1:01:48.240 are tripping over this equipment. So yeah, I mean, you know, 1:01:48.560 --> 1:01:51.960 those same teams who went and set them up, you know, 1:01:52.280 --> 1:01:55.680 would would take them back. So we have a plethora 1:01:55.920 --> 1:01:59.200 of sixty five inch monitors in this building somewhere. 1:02:00.280 --> 1:02:03.640 It wasn't until after the fact that Drew and I realized, 1:02:03.720 --> 1:02:06.080 like we never had the benefit of a studio audience 1:02:06.160 --> 1:02:09.200 giving direct feedback. Like we didn't even think that way 1:02:09.480 --> 1:02:12.120 until season two when we had a studio audience and 1:02:12.160 --> 1:02:14.480 we're like, oh, wow, they're laughing. It's not you know, 1:02:14.680 --> 1:02:17.800 like oh my god, Like they're emoting like we It 1:02:17.920 --> 1:02:20.400 was funny because we just didn't have it, so we 1:02:20.440 --> 1:02:22.120 didn't think about it. And then when we had it 1:02:22.200 --> 1:02:24.120 in season two, we're like, wow, we missed out on 1:02:24.280 --> 1:02:31.200 like real time feedback, and so that was interesting realizing that. 1:02:31.320 --> 1:02:33.120 But then we brought them back and we brought in 1:02:33.200 --> 1:02:35.400 the studio audience in season two, and that sort of 1:02:35.480 --> 1:02:39.360 obviously changed the energy of the room and brought so 1:02:39.480 --> 1:02:41.520 much life to the show. Showed that side of drew, 1:02:41.640 --> 1:02:45.160 that personal connection that she can get from, you know, 1:02:45.320 --> 1:02:48.280 any individual, and just her love of the audience. 1:02:49.160 --> 1:02:51.959 Actually, we had to figure out how to reblock the show. 1:02:53.200 --> 1:02:55.840 What we did was, and that's a really good question. 1:02:57.160 --> 1:03:00.680 You know, we had a huge group of audience members 1:03:00.800 --> 1:03:05.480 in bleachers and that was sort of the camera left 1:03:07.160 --> 1:03:11.160 area of the studio, and we decided not to use 1:03:11.240 --> 1:03:15.600 the bleachers anymore. We were still trying to figure out 1:03:16.400 --> 1:03:20.600 if cod if COVID could kick back, you know, and 1:03:20.720 --> 1:03:25.360 so limiting the audience. We wound up using coffee tables, 1:03:25.800 --> 1:03:31.920 high school tables, high top tables and scattered around the 1:03:31.960 --> 1:03:34.840 studio and it was more of a kind of a 1:03:34.920 --> 1:03:38.439 community look than a bleacher look. And so we've kept 1:03:38.520 --> 1:03:40.560 that and it works quite well. 1:03:41.000 --> 1:03:43.240 I'm not a cranky, like get everybody back to the 1:03:43.320 --> 1:03:46.480 office kind of person. I'm not, but I do think 1:03:46.520 --> 1:03:49.280 that there's something lost when people aren't like actually physically 1:03:49.320 --> 1:03:51.640 present with each other, and so like that affects the 1:03:51.720 --> 1:03:54.160 news too, and that affects it the way we like 1:03:54.400 --> 1:03:57.520 tell stories interact, and you know, it affects how the 1:03:57.560 --> 1:04:00.480 anchors are. You know, the show's much better together with 1:04:00.560 --> 1:04:02.800 then when they're like remote, you still put a shoe on, 1:04:03.000 --> 1:04:05.720 but it's there's just there's something there. So I think 1:04:06.920 --> 1:04:09.560 figuring that out and get and you know, getting back 1:04:09.600 --> 1:04:13.560 to a world where we are truly together again, if 1:04:13.600 --> 1:04:15.800 that is even a possibility, I think that that would 1:04:15.920 --> 1:04:17.560 contribute to sort of a better product. 1:04:18.080 --> 1:04:20.840 Now that we have the benefit of hindsight. What have 1:04:21.000 --> 1:04:25.120 been the lasting impact of changes implemented during COVID times 1:04:26.000 --> 1:04:29.240 in twenty twenty. Once I did my fourth or fifth 1:04:29.480 --> 1:04:33.120 media hit via Zoom, I knew that local stations and 1:04:33.280 --> 1:04:37.680 networks would rarely, if ever again send a full crew 1:04:38.120 --> 1:04:41.720 to our offices for a routine news interview. Here we 1:04:41.880 --> 1:04:46.600 get perspective from Simone Swink, Scott Wilder, Chris Dinan, and 1:04:46.720 --> 1:04:47.320 Bill Hammer. 1:04:47.720 --> 1:04:51.040 It shook up people's idea of what was possible, and 1:04:51.120 --> 1:04:53.520 I think that's always good. This industry is always changing, 1:04:54.320 --> 1:04:55.960 and that was at least a positive thing to come 1:04:56.120 --> 1:04:58.920 out of it. I also think, at least for me, 1:05:00.040 --> 1:05:04.080 I think empathy at work is really important, and I 1:05:04.120 --> 1:05:06.200 don't think sometimes we talk about it enough. I think 1:05:06.240 --> 1:05:08.680 a lot of people are dealing with a lot of things, 1:05:08.760 --> 1:05:11.200 and certainly were during COVID, and you have to get 1:05:11.240 --> 1:05:13.960 the best show on the air. It's a very competitive environment. 1:05:15.320 --> 1:05:18.440 But I do think leading with empathy, working with empathy 1:05:19.280 --> 1:05:23.160 and trying to assume or at least lead with the 1:05:23.240 --> 1:05:25.280 idea that everybody is trying to do their best work 1:05:25.400 --> 1:05:27.400 or figure out how to get them there. And that's 1:05:27.480 --> 1:05:29.640 not always going to work. But if you start from 1:05:30.320 --> 1:05:32.480 an empathetic but firm place, I think you're going to 1:05:32.560 --> 1:05:37.000 end up in a better place as a broadcast. And 1:05:37.440 --> 1:05:39.440 I also think I think COVID was a time of 1:05:39.640 --> 1:05:42.160 immense struggle for so many people. I think so many 1:05:42.200 --> 1:05:45.360 people had just so much. They were dealing with family, 1:05:45.880 --> 1:05:49.520 personal struggles, the idea of just being in lockdown. It 1:05:49.640 --> 1:05:52.240 was such a disruption to the system in general, and 1:05:52.560 --> 1:05:55.920 I think that that meant that empathy and patience in 1:05:56.000 --> 1:05:59.880 so many ways are emerged as key leadership characteristics in 1:06:00.320 --> 1:06:03.320 a way that I don't think they were held up 1:06:03.360 --> 1:06:04.800 that way prior to COVID. 1:06:05.360 --> 1:06:08.200 I think that we're prepared to respond to breaking news 1:06:08.280 --> 1:06:11.920 in a way that we never were because in certain 1:06:12.360 --> 1:06:16.919 instances where we've decided to keep or install or lean 1:06:17.160 --> 1:06:19.800 on something we've already done, we still have the ability 1:06:19.880 --> 1:06:23.720 to do that right. So that to me is the 1:06:23.800 --> 1:06:26.920 lasting impact that we can go you know, something could 1:06:26.960 --> 1:06:29.360 happen at three am and I can call somebody and 1:06:29.440 --> 1:06:32.360 have them on TV within you know, fifteen minutes, as 1:06:32.360 --> 1:06:36.120 opposed to dispatch the van getting them into this building. Yeah, 1:06:36.960 --> 1:06:38.760 the art of learning where and when to do that, 1:06:38.880 --> 1:06:39.920 I think is the hardware. 1:06:40.760 --> 1:06:43.600 There have been many examples, of course the American history 1:06:43.640 --> 1:06:46.200 where you know, the country has stepped up and found 1:06:46.360 --> 1:06:50.720 a way to deal with something challenging, and this was clearly, 1:06:50.880 --> 1:06:53.040 you know, one of the most dramatic examples of that. 1:06:53.800 --> 1:06:56.800 So I think, you know, it's changed the cultures. 1:06:57.000 --> 1:07:00.280 As you mentioned, the phenomena of working from home is 1:07:00.320 --> 1:07:04.560 something that people very much embrace and it's allowed. 1:07:05.320 --> 1:07:07.160 I think it's also a lot of certain confidence. 1:07:07.280 --> 1:07:10.000 I think that with the advances and technology that we 1:07:10.080 --> 1:07:13.120 saw this time, and you know, with the kind of 1:07:13.200 --> 1:07:17.080 success in covering the news during this time, probably as 1:07:17.160 --> 1:07:20.160 challenging a time as there's ever been in being the 1:07:20.200 --> 1:07:24.520 journalists because very you're very reassuring that you can do 1:07:24.680 --> 1:07:27.120 almost anything if you know the will is there. 1:07:27.720 --> 1:07:29.720 You know, this is the birth of the live mobile van. 1:07:31.360 --> 1:07:34.480 You have anchors now who are doing entire entire shows 1:07:34.720 --> 1:07:37.680 from a van, like on the side of a street somewhere, 1:07:37.960 --> 1:07:42.440 and you don't know where it is. So that's another change. 1:07:43.200 --> 1:07:46.400 I think It's enabled us from a news gathering perspective, 1:07:47.040 --> 1:07:52.120 to reach guests who would normally not be available to 1:07:52.360 --> 1:07:55.120 us because I don't know, you name it, they're X 1:07:55.160 --> 1:07:57.880 amount of miles or hours away from a studio, and 1:07:58.000 --> 1:08:01.160 now we could send them the equipment meant where we 1:08:01.240 --> 1:08:04.600 could broadcast their face and their image and their audio. 1:08:05.360 --> 1:08:08.400 So that's all changed entirely, and. 1:08:08.440 --> 1:08:10.240 I think it broke some of the some of the 1:08:10.800 --> 1:08:13.240 broadcast norms of it always has to be a crew, 1:08:13.360 --> 1:08:15.400 it always has to be on sticks. There's many, many 1:08:15.480 --> 1:08:20.120 ways to do things, and the combination of COVID and 1:08:20.240 --> 1:08:22.200 also the rise of the iPhone, which had already been 1:08:22.200 --> 1:08:25.000 going on for a while. I think viewers are much 1:08:25.360 --> 1:08:27.960 I think viewers just want to see whatever it is, 1:08:28.800 --> 1:08:31.320 and they are much more willing to put up with 1:08:31.479 --> 1:08:35.120 the aesthetics of a shot that before it might have 1:08:35.200 --> 1:08:39.559 been deemed not for broadcast. It sort of infiltrated big 1:08:39.640 --> 1:08:42.560 ways in small ways in terms of that switch over technologically, 1:08:43.080 --> 1:08:45.040 and I think it changed the esthetic for good. I mean, 1:08:45.360 --> 1:08:47.360 we use zoom interviews now and a lot of pieces 1:08:47.479 --> 1:08:49.479 in a way that we would not have five years ago. 1:08:50.280 --> 1:08:52.719 And I think viewers are adjusted to it. They're fine 1:08:52.720 --> 1:08:54.479 with it. I don't think they think, oh, that show 1:08:55.120 --> 1:08:57.960 looks too different or too low budget to watch. It's 1:08:58.080 --> 1:09:00.080 just that's how people talk to each other now of 1:09:00.160 --> 1:09:00.599 the time. 1:09:00.760 --> 1:09:04.040 When the undeniable lasting changes, everybody got used to and 1:09:04.120 --> 1:09:08.840 comfortable with really lower quality camera and sound that people 1:09:08.880 --> 1:09:11.800 are setting up themselves. It was now acceptable to be like, yeah, 1:09:11.800 --> 1:09:13.400 I'll be on your show, but I'm going to stay 1:09:13.400 --> 1:09:17.320 in Newton, Massachusetts. Or yeah I'll be on your show, 1:09:17.400 --> 1:09:19.600 but I'm at my third house in Wyoming for the 1:09:19.680 --> 1:09:20.040 next week. 1:09:20.160 --> 1:09:21.320 Is that okay? Of course it is. 1:09:21.840 --> 1:09:25.760 Yeah, And that's just the reality of it. So that 1:09:25.880 --> 1:09:28.479 was both That's a double edged sword, because the good 1:09:28.520 --> 1:09:31.320 thing is you could do things more cheaply, but the 1:09:31.400 --> 1:09:33.679 bad thing is they realized they could do things more cheaply, 1:09:34.040 --> 1:09:35.679 and that always means jobs in our business. 1:09:36.120 --> 1:09:38.839 One big change that Vin de Bona and the AFV 1:09:39.040 --> 1:09:41.320 team made to the format of the show out of 1:09:41.439 --> 1:09:44.599 expediency has since been baked in for good. 1:09:45.200 --> 1:09:48.160 You know, up until that point, we brought audience members 1:09:48.320 --> 1:09:55.080 in winners of not winners, but participants in the contest 1:09:55.320 --> 1:09:56.960 in with their families. 1:09:56.680 --> 1:10:00.600 Right right, I've noticed that, yeah, right, And obviously we 1:10:00.720 --> 1:10:05.439 couldn't do that, so we sent for each show, we 1:10:05.640 --> 1:10:08.320 sent ring cameras and. 1:10:11.160 --> 1:10:17.519 Ring lights, with cameras and instructions and once again before 1:10:18.120 --> 1:10:21.559 tape date, we would make sure that the signal from 1:10:21.680 --> 1:10:25.800 their router was strong enough so that when we had 1:10:25.840 --> 1:10:31.240 the families come on, they wouldn't freeze, which they did sometimes. 1:10:32.240 --> 1:10:36.479 And so but basically we were sending out cause three 1:10:36.560 --> 1:10:39.639 shows a day, we were sending out, you know, nine 1:10:39.840 --> 1:10:42.439 sets of cameras, and then they had to return them, 1:10:42.640 --> 1:10:44.080 and then we had to send them on to the 1:10:44.200 --> 1:10:47.760 next group of families. So all that was keeping track 1:10:47.880 --> 1:10:52.680 of not the easiest thing in the world, just good coordination. 1:10:54.000 --> 1:11:02.160 But what we found was because the potent winners, we 1:11:02.320 --> 1:11:05.880 set up a system where they came in on flat 1:11:05.920 --> 1:11:10.840 screens three separate flat screens, and Al would walk to 1:11:10.920 --> 1:11:13.120 screen one and chat with them, and go to screen 1:11:13.200 --> 1:11:16.640 two and chat. The chats were much better than they 1:11:16.760 --> 1:11:20.920 had ever been in studio, really so uh and and 1:11:21.080 --> 1:11:24.160 interestingly enough, I talked to one of the producers on 1:11:25.439 --> 1:11:29.840 American Idol and they had the same situation with their 1:11:31.080 --> 1:11:36.479 home audiences and home participants, where there were much more 1:11:36.520 --> 1:11:40.080 at ease. Al had more fun with them. So we've 1:11:40.160 --> 1:11:42.519 kept it and it's not part of the show, and 1:11:42.840 --> 1:11:47.719 and and it's always what's really funny is the kids 1:11:48.360 --> 1:11:53.240 are much more at ease. And so you know, you'll 1:11:53.280 --> 1:11:57.000 see al' sactor when we had a little girl uh 1:11:57.439 --> 1:12:01.080 last week, and she's going like this throughout the whole thing. 1:12:01.320 --> 1:12:03.599 She was so excited, and it makes for a great show. 1:12:04.080 --> 1:12:08.280 The television business was tested and tried during COVID. The 1:12:08.439 --> 1:12:13.240 industry showed up with creativity and ingenuity. The shows did 1:12:13.400 --> 1:12:17.160 stay on. Here we'll have Simone Swink, Vin de Bona, 1:12:17.560 --> 1:12:21.439 and Lindsey Davis reflect on jobs well done, at least 1:12:21.520 --> 1:12:21.720 for me. 1:12:22.560 --> 1:12:26.320 I think empathy at work is really important, and I 1:12:26.360 --> 1:12:28.439 don't think sometimes we talk about it enough. I think 1:12:28.439 --> 1:12:30.920 a lot of people are dealing with a lot of things, 1:12:31.000 --> 1:12:33.439 and certainly we're during COVID and you have to get 1:12:33.479 --> 1:12:36.200 the best show on the air. It's a very competitive environment. 1:12:37.560 --> 1:12:40.679 But I do think leading with empathy, working with empathy, 1:12:41.520 --> 1:12:45.560 and trying to assume or at least lead with the 1:12:45.640 --> 1:12:47.680 idea that everybody is trying to do their best work 1:12:47.800 --> 1:12:49.840 or figure out how to get them there. And that's 1:12:49.880 --> 1:12:52.040 not always going to work. But if you start from 1:12:52.720 --> 1:12:54.880 an empathetic but firm place, I think you're going to 1:12:54.960 --> 1:12:59.880 end up in a better place as a broadcast. I 1:13:00.120 --> 1:13:02.479 also think I think COVID was a time of immense 1:13:02.520 --> 1:13:04.880 struggle for so many people. I think so many people 1:13:04.960 --> 1:13:09.360 had just so much. They were dealing with family, personal struggles, 1:13:09.800 --> 1:13:12.360 the idea of just being in lockdown. It was such 1:13:12.360 --> 1:13:15.320 a disruption to the system in general. And I think 1:13:15.400 --> 1:13:18.880 that that meant that empathy and patience in so many 1:13:18.920 --> 1:13:23.200 ways emerged as key leadership characteristics in a way that 1:13:23.360 --> 1:13:26.880 I don't think they were held up that way prior 1:13:26.960 --> 1:13:27.360 to COVID. 1:13:28.080 --> 1:13:32.760 The poignant piece of that is that we kept people 1:13:32.880 --> 1:13:41.160 working and it was a very very difficult time, but 1:13:41.320 --> 1:13:47.640 we had work and hopefully we kept America laughing, and 1:13:48.840 --> 1:13:49.920 you know, that's our job. 1:13:50.400 --> 1:13:53.840 Well, I think it's made us all more innovative. We're 1:13:53.840 --> 1:13:58.400 able to see what's possible, for better or for worse. 1:13:58.840 --> 1:14:01.120 You know, I think that there is a sense that 1:14:02.000 --> 1:14:05.479 if anything happens, we don't all have to be physically 1:14:06.160 --> 1:14:08.639 in the building. There are workarounds, you know. So it's 1:14:09.120 --> 1:14:11.479 it's just a way of rather than looking at everything 1:14:11.520 --> 1:14:15.480 as a problem, just looking at Okay, there are solutions, 1:14:15.600 --> 1:14:20.519 and we've seen these solutions happen, and you know, people 1:14:20.640 --> 1:14:26.519 needed to be clever. And I think that that has 1:14:27.680 --> 1:14:31.640 really been a big statement for and this is not 1:14:31.920 --> 1:14:35.800 just you know, for our team, but for the television 1:14:35.880 --> 1:14:40.679 industry as a whole, just that the news is will 1:14:40.760 --> 1:14:46.639 remain undeterred regardless of the scenario. And you know, hopefully 1:14:46.720 --> 1:14:49.360 we do not have to enduse something like that again. 1:14:50.520 --> 1:14:52.680 But I think we've learned a lot about what we're 1:14:52.800 --> 1:14:55.439 capable of. Sometimes you don't know until you've really been 1:14:56.000 --> 1:14:59.160 put to the test, and you know, we certainly were 1:15:00.680 --> 1:15:05.400 and I think you know, we given the circumstances, I 1:15:05.520 --> 1:15:09.120 think we all collectively really did a good job of 1:15:09.280 --> 1:15:13.120 keeping people informed, which really is you know, our number 1:15:13.160 --> 1:15:13.679 one mission. 1:15:16.760 --> 1:15:20.439 Well, that's our show my deepest thanks to all who 1:15:20.600 --> 1:15:24.920 contributed to this passion project of mine that includes Strictly 1:15:25.000 --> 1:15:29.759 Businesses amazing editor Aaron Grenewald. So thank you for listening. 1:15:30.320 --> 1:15:33.120 Be sure to leave us a review at Apple Podcasts 1:15:33.280 --> 1:15:37.000 or Amazon Music. We love to hear from listeners. Please 1:15:37.040 --> 1:15:39.560 go to Variety dot com and sign up for the 1:15:39.640 --> 1:15:43.920 free weekly Strictly Business newsletter, and don't forget to tune 1:15:43.960 --> 1:15:47.240 in next week for another episode of Strictly Business. 1:15:47.680 --> 1:15:50.760 I think after whatever it was, ten eleven, twelve days, 1:15:51.040 --> 1:15:53.040 my family was ready for me to come back to me. 1:15:54.080 --> 1:15:54.519 We miss you. 1:15:55.120 --> 1:15:57.479 They were ready for go, you know, they were ready 1:15:57.600 --> 1:16:00.760 for me to go back to work. There were odd times, 1:16:00.840 --> 1:16:05.280 you know you people were doing schoolwork and and and working. 1:16:05.080 --> 1:16:05.799 Out of the houses. 1:16:05.880 --> 1:16:08.920 And how no matter how big your house is, and 1:16:09.000 --> 1:16:10.360 they don't have a big house. But no matter how 1:16:10.360 --> 1:16:18.479 big your house is, it's not big enough. H