Nightline
Nightline (or ABC News Nightline) is ABC News' late-night television news program broadcast on ABC in the United States with a franchised formula to other networks and stations elsewhere in the world. Created by Roone Arledge,[2] the program featured Ted Koppel as its main anchor from March 1980 until his retirement in November 2005. Its ongoing rotating anchors are Byron Pitts and Juju Chang. Nightline airs weeknights from 12:37 to 1:07 a.m., Eastern Time, after Jimmy Kimmel Live!, which had served as the program's lead-out from 2003 to 2012.
For other uses, see Nightline (disambiguation).Nightline
- The Iran Crisis–America Held Hostage (1979)
- ABC News Nightline
Paul Verciglio
Ron Halper
Byron Pitts (2014–present)
Juju Chang (2014–present)
(for past anchors, see section)
Score Productions (1979–1997)
Edd Kalehoff (1997–2005)
VideoHelper (2005–2014)
Matthew Kajcienski and Adam Schoenberg (2018–present)
Matthew Kajcienski and Adam Schoenberg
(2018–present)
United States
English
38
Eman Varoqua (2021–Present)[1]
ABC News Washington Bureau, Washington, D.C. (1980–2007)
Times Square Studios, New York City (2005–2006, 2009–present)
ABC News Headquarters, New York City (2006–2009)
20 minutes (1980–1981)
30 minutes (1981–1983, 2013–present)
60 minutes (1983)
31 minutes (1983–2011)
25 minutes (2011–2013)
March 24, 1980 –
present
In 2002, Nightline was ranked 23rd on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time.[3] The program has won four Peabody Awards, one in 2001,[4] two in 2002 for the reports "Heart of Darkness"[5] and "The Survivors,"[6] and one in 2022 for "The Appointment".[7]
Through a video-sharing agreement with the BBC, Nightline repackages some of the BBC's output for an American audience. Segments from Nightline are shown in a condensed form on ABC's overnight news program World News Now. There was also a version of Nightline for sister cable channel Fusion.
The Iran Crisis–America Held Hostage (1979)[edit]
The program began on November 8, 1979, four days after the start of the Iran hostage crisis. ABC News president Roone Arledge figured that the best way to compete against NBC's The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson was to update Americans on the latest news from Iran. At that time, the show was called The Iran Crisis–America Held Hostage: Day "xxx", where xxx represented the number of days that Iranians held the occupants of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, Iran as hostages. At first, World News Tonight lead anchor Frank Reynolds hosted the 20-minute special reports.
Shortly after its creation, Reynolds stopped hosting the program. Ted Koppel, then ABC News's State Department Correspondent, took on the hosting duties. A few days later a producer had the idea of displaying the number of days on America Held Hostage (e.g., Day 15, Day 50, Day 150, etc.).
Nightline on Fusion[edit]
On February 12, 2015, it was announced that ABC and Univision would launch a new version of Nightline on Fusion called Nightline on Fusion. It was hosted by Gio Benitez and Kimberly Brooks and aired on Tuesdays at 9 pm eastern with repeats at other times. The show was similar to the ABC version and shares resources and correspondents. However, the Fusion version put more emphasis on stories from the flagship program which resonate with Fusion's younger, more culturally diverse target audience. It also featured original content produced for Fusion.[38]