ANCHORS . . . AWAY!
Kelly moving up to big chair at Ch. 5 SHAME on NBC for the very public humiliation of Ann Curry
“GOOD DAY New York” co-host Greg Kelly, whose career was on the ropes just six months ago after he was accused of rape, is kissing Rosanna Scotto goodbye and becoming an anchorman.
In a remarkable turnaround, Kelly will take over Monday as co-anchor of WNYW’s 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. newscasts, where he will be teamed up with Dari Alexander.
It’s a FOX 5 promotion that sources say doesn’t include a boost in pay. But in terms of prestige, it’s a big jump for the Marine-turned-journalist whose on-air bantering with Scotto endeared him to many early-rising New Yorkers.
Kelly, 43, who is the son of Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly, owes his good fortune — in part — to the return of popular former WNYW weatherman Dave Price.
Price’s hiring set into motion the musical anchor chairs at the network, sources said.
“Dave Price is an extremely talented and experienced morning news personality,” WNYW VP-GM Lew Leone said in a statement.
“The moment he became available it was clear to me that he would be a great addition to our team. The ‘Good Day New York’ viewers will appreciate his charm, sense of humor and intelligence as they start their day with FOX 5.”
Price did the weather on “Good Day New York” from 1999 to 2003 before moving on to CBS News, where he was a weather anchor and features reporter on “The Early Show.” He was also a weather anchor for WCBS.
For Kelly, the fact that his star is on the rise is all the more notable because in January his reputation appeared to be in ruins.
A 28-year-old paralegal filed a complaint with the NYPD asserting Kelly sexually assaulted her on Oct. 8 after a night of partying at a South Street Seaport bar.
Kelly, who joined Ch. 5’s popular morning gabfest in 2008, left the show while the claim was investigated.
He made a grateful return in February after he was cleared of the charge by the Manhattan District Attorney’s office.
Kelly’s ascension means Harry Martin is out of the 6 p.m. slot.
Martin will continue anchoring “The 10 O’Clock News” with Brenda Blackmon at WNYW’s sister station, WWOR My9, a spokeswoman said.
Kelly is also bumping longtime anchorman Ernie Anastos out of the 10 p.m. slot at WNYW.
Anastos will now anchor the station’s 5 p.m. newscast and — in a nod to the popular TV veteran — WNYW will be adding more of his “Positively Ernie” specials to the lineup.
Does someone at NBC think that publicly hanging a respected 15-year veteran journalist out to dry makes for good television?
It sure didn’t on Thursday, when Ann Curry’s farewell as co-host of “Today” made for television that was downright painful.
For the viewer, it was uncomfortable and awkward watching Curry try to put a professional face on being thrown under the bus.
For NBC, it should have been embarrassing.
Whatever you think of Curry as a “Today” co-host, and there are legitimate disagreements on that point, no one deserves this sort of slow, forced march to a public execution.
For a solid week, from the moment The Times released a story detailing just what NBC had in mind — including her expected replacement as early as Friday, by “Today” third-hour host Savannah Guthrie — Curry had to go on the air every day and smile.
Knowing that all her bosses, all her colleagues, almost all the media and millions of her viewers realized her employer didn’t want her there anymore.
Slow-motion dismissal may be an okay management tactic if you suspect an unpaid intern is smoking weed on lunch break. For someone who has been with the company 22years, andwhom NBC seems to genuinely value, it’s unfathomable.
To be fair, there probably was noway NBC couldhave escaped this situation without a few ripples in the water.
“Today” is too high-profile a show, and making a host change at thetime when ABC’S “Good Morning America” has pulled almost even was inevitably going to roil the pond.
NBC was hoping, no doubt, that once it had decided to bump Curry to another job, she would agree to a hugfest statement about how she loves “Today,” but couldn’t pass up this new dream offer of having her own personal news team to roam the world with cherry-pick- ing the best stories.
Curry did say she loves that new job, as she should. But when she also described the offer as NBC “throwing some fancy titles at me,” it was clear she wasn’t going to hide how she really felt about being dumped from “Today.”
Nor did she have a reason to hide it. She’s not the perp here. She’s the vic.
Minutes after her new position was formally announced — she will be NBC News National and International Correspondent/Anchor and “Today” Anchor at Large, which is a fancy title — NBC issued a statement in which officials right up to NBC News President Steve Capus showered her with torrents of lavish praise.
And that’s great. But where were Capus and everybody else during the preceding week, when all we heard from NBC was blackout silence?
Matt Lauer joined the chorus of praise Thursday, hailing Curry’s “big heart” and saying he looked forward to working together.
That’s great, too. But Lauer was also The Quiet Man for the preceding seven days.
Now sure, it would have been inappropriate for anyone to comment on the undoubtedly delicate contract negotiations. But nothing would have stopped anyone at NBC from whispering a few general words of personal support. No one did.
As for the argument this was a private matter, that played a lot better before the whole world knew it was going on. Andwhether or notNBC was the source of the original revelation, NBC had ways to make it less uncomfortable. It never employed them.
NBCseemedto treat this whole issue as surgery, removing an unwanted object, and that attitude continued to the end. Where previous “Today” hosts were sent off with video tributes and long reminiscences, Curry got no clips and less than a minute for each year of her service.
Maybe in the long term this will revive “Today.” Right now, it just feels clumsy and cold.