 |
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (September 2008) |
| The Insider | |
|---|---|
| Format | entertainment news program |
| Presented by | Lara Spencer |
| Country of origin |  United States |
| Production | |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Production company(s) | CBS Television Distribution |
| Distributor | CBS Television Distribution |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | syndication |
| Original run | September 13, 2004 – present |
| External links | |
| Official website | |
The Insider is a tabloid television news program covering events and celebrities. It debuted on September 13, 2004 as a spinoff of Entertainment Tonight and started as a popular segment that took viewers "behind closed doors" and gave them "inside" information. Since becoming a separate program however, the show has taken more of a tabloid direction, and the current version of the series features a roundtable discussion and debate format (similar to Pardon the Interruption or the "Hot Topics" segment of The View) with three permanent co-hosts and a guest host discussing entertainment topics.
The original theme song (which was changed after the second season) was performed by Richie Sambora.
Contents |
History
The series was initially hosted by Pat O'Brien in Hollywood on the ET Paramount Studios Stage 28 set with Lara Spencer in New York at ABC's GMA studios. O' Brien remained a host up until March 5, 2008 when O'Brien was replaced with Donny Osmond. O'Brien returned to the series a month later after Osmond declined to become a permanent host. Spencer through the years was a singular host due at times to O'Brien's varied personal problems which would force him to take time off in extended periods to address them.
The program has gone through several formats through the years, with the news-heavy first season making way for a direction where subjects such as a pair of anorexic twins were regularly featured in sweeps periods, along with other fringe stories such as true crime stories and the Nadya Suleman octuplets story which had little or nothing to do with entertainment.
In September 2007, CBS Television Distribution moved the show, for its fourth season, to New York. Formerly Los Angeles-based O'Brien joined Spencer in a new Manhattan studio. The duo hosted from studio space within the Minskoff Theatre in Manhattan, home of the musical The Lion King, which has unobstructed views of Times Square, nearby the MTV studio facilities and also within One Astor Plaza.
On September 8, 2008, the program began to air in high definition with the move of both ET and The Insider from Stage 28 to Stage 4 at the CBS Studio Center as a final consequence of the 2006 split of Viacom and CBS [1]. The set's focal point is a large life-size 3D construction of the program's logo, which was formerly used as the main portion of the set where segments took place until the September 2009 retooling of the program into a panel show. The New York aspect of the program was also abandoned, with Spencer relocating to Los Angeles and becoming a solo host, along with Victoria Recano, Steven Cojocaru and Cheryl Woodcock.
In the move, O'Brien became a Los Angeles-based correspondent for the program[2], but ten days later on September 18, was dismissed permanently from the program for comments he made in a staff email after a trip to Iowa, where he directed comments specifically at a mid-show daily segment of Spencer's which launched when the new season started. O'Brien proceeded to involve a rundown of the prices and labels of her clothing and accessories, saying that it made the viewers he talked to "vomit" [3]. Despite this pointed criticism the segment remained and continues to air at the end of every episode to the present day.
After the departure of O'Brien, the show was hosted by Lara Spencer alone until January 2009, when Samantha Harris joined the program from E! News as a permanent co-host. Harris also provides analysis and commentary as part of her duties as co-host of ABC's Dancing with the Stars, and the early part of the week usually consists of features and interviews involving the contestants and dancers from that program.
In September 2009 the program converted to the current panel format, the on-air correspondents were dismissed from the series, and currently stories for the program are complied by Entertainment Tonight staff or off-camera personnel.
Syndication model
It is syndicated by CBS Television Distribution, often as half of a one-hour news block that includes the show from which it was spun off, Entertainment Tonight.
There were formerly three different versions of the show - a standalone episode not featuring any tie-ins to Entertainment Tonight for stations which do not carry the latter program, and two other versions designed to precede or follow ET with stories from that show mentioned in promotions and vice versa. Recently, only the standalone episode is aired on all stations which carry The Insider, regardless of whether they also carry ET. The show has been renewed through the 2009-2010 season.
Current personalities
Anchors
- Lara Spencer, host & moderator
- Samantha Harris, co-host & correspondent
- Chris Jacobs, weekend host, co-host & correspondent
- Star Jones, celebrity panelist
- Niecy Nash, celebrity panelist
Correspondents
- Darren Kavinoky, legal analyst
Past personalities
- Steven Cojocaru, style expert (2004-2009)
- Kathie Lee Gifford, correspondent (2005-2006)
- Ananda Lewis, correspondent (2004-2005)
- Ross Matthews, correspondent (2009)
- Pat O'Brien, host/correspondent (2004-2008)
- Donny Osmond, correspondent (2007-2008); also hosted in place of O'Brien for a short time in 2008
- Victoria Recano, correspondent (2004-2009, now at KTLA-TV)
- Thomas Roberts, correspondent (2007-2008)
- Cheryl Woodcock, correspondent (2007-2009)
The Insider in other countries
- Australia, the program airs on Arena alongside Entertainment Tonight.
- In the Philippines, the program airs on 2nd Avenue, also alongside Entertainment Tonight.
- In the Middle East, the program airs on MBC 4 after Inside Edition.
References
External links
- TheInsider.com - official website
- The Insider at the Internet Movie Database
- The Insider at TV.com
|
|||||||||||
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
