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LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -- Ending months of speculation, ABC News said on Monday it will attempt to replace departing "Nightline" veteran and consummate hunk of a man Ted Koppel with a three-host team of British journalist Martin Bashir, White House correspondent Terry Moran and "Primetime" anchor Cynthia McFadden.
"How do you replace a legend?" moaned fawning executive producer James Goldston. "That man could investigate any five reporters under the table, dodge bullets on the front lines and snatch up a Kalishnikov to return suppressing fire, rub elbows with the Washington piranhas, and still have time to shake it with the ladies all night long. Three hosts is about three men short."
Koppel, 65, who has hosted "Nightline" since its official 1980 debut in the midst of the U.S.-Iranian hostage crisis, will anchor his last segment of the program on November 22 and leave ABC after 42 years with the network. He will leave behind a vast legacy of reporting work, an aching void in the belly of America's largest news network, and anywhere between eight and twenty children born out of wedlock.
"I still remember the first time I drank with 'Two-Fisted' Ted," reminisced Daniel Schorr, senior News Correspondent for National Public Radio. "He was covering the Compton riots, his shirt half-ripped off his muscular frame, with a microphone in one hand and a fire axe in the other. Sweet jumping Jesus, that man could report the news. And if he couldn't report it, he'd give you something to report about. He was like an elemental fucking force of journalism."
"Mister Koppel said 'hi' to me once," reported replacement co-host Terry Moran, beaming from the memory. "We were in the elevator. Actually I think he said something more like 'out of my goddamn way', but I knew what he meant. Great man, really awesome." Terry appeared both somewhat giddy and out of his league.
"I...I want him," added newsanchor Cynthia McFadden huskily.
Koppel was unavailable for comment as he was either infiltrating a terrorist training camp or nursing Kim Jong Il out of a coma.
"How do you replace a legend?" moaned fawning executive producer James Goldston. "That man could investigate any five reporters under the table, dodge bullets on the front lines and snatch up a Kalishnikov to return suppressing fire, rub elbows with the Washington piranhas, and still have time to shake it with the ladies all night long. Three hosts is about three men short."
Koppel, 65, who has hosted "Nightline" since its official 1980 debut in the midst of the U.S.-Iranian hostage crisis, will anchor his last segment of the program on November 22 and leave ABC after 42 years with the network. He will leave behind a vast legacy of reporting work, an aching void in the belly of America's largest news network, and anywhere between eight and twenty children born out of wedlock.
"I still remember the first time I drank with 'Two-Fisted' Ted," reminisced Daniel Schorr, senior News Correspondent for National Public Radio. "He was covering the Compton riots, his shirt half-ripped off his muscular frame, with a microphone in one hand and a fire axe in the other. Sweet jumping Jesus, that man could report the news. And if he couldn't report it, he'd give you something to report about. He was like an elemental fucking force of journalism."
"Mister Koppel said 'hi' to me once," reported replacement co-host Terry Moran, beaming from the memory. "We were in the elevator. Actually I think he said something more like 'out of my goddamn way', but I knew what he meant. Great man, really awesome." Terry appeared both somewhat giddy and out of his league.
"I...I want him," added newsanchor Cynthia McFadden huskily.
Koppel was unavailable for comment as he was either infiltrating a terrorist training camp or nursing Kim Jong Il out of a coma.
