Hard Copy | |
---|---|
Genre | Infotainment |
Created by | Mark Monsky John Parsons Peditto |
Presented by | Alan Frio (1989–1991) Terry Murphy (1989–1998) Barry Nolan (1991–1998) Kyle Kraska (1998–1999) |
Theme music composer | David Mansfield |
Composer | Dan Siegel |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 10 |
No. of episodes | 2,159 |
Production | |
Executive producers | Kim Paul Friedman (1995–1999) Peter Brennan (1990–1993) Mitchell L. Gamson Lisa Gregorich (1996–1999) Marky Monsky (1989–1990) William Sackheim Ron Vandor (1995–1999) |
Producers | Mary Aloe Burt Kearns Lisa Lew (1989–1992) |
Running time | 22 min |
Production company | Paramount Domestic Television |
Original release | |
Network | Syndication |
Release | September 18, 1989 – September 10, 1999 |
Hard Copy was an American tabloid television show that ran in syndication from 1989 to 1999. Hard Copy was aggressive in its use of questionable material on television, including gratuitous violence.
The original hosts of Hard Copy were Alan Frio and Terry Murphy. Frio left the series after the 1990–91 season and was succeeded by Barry Nolan in the fall of 1991. Nolan and Murphy would stay until after the 1997–98 season, when they both departed. In the show's final season, Kyle Kraska took over as the sole host. [1]
Hard Copy was produced and distributed by Paramount Domestic Television and, for much of its time on air, was often aired with its sister show, the Hollywood news program Entertainment Tonight as part of an hour-long programming block sold to local stations.
Hard Copy was a tabloid show that aired footage and news about celebrities and everyday people. Also featured were interviews with various newsmakers.
In 1992, Elton John threatened to take Hard Copy to court, alleging a reporter tried to blackmail him into giving an interview by falsely claiming he had HIV/AIDS and had moved to Atlanta to be near an AIDS treatment center. [2] John alleged extortion, defamation, right to privacy and endangerment. [3]
The day after the lawsuit was filed, the show ran a segment about John but, rather than accuse him of having HIV, praised him for the work he was doing for those affected by the disease. John's attorney at law told National Enquirer he "assume(d) the show was changed as a result of our suit". [4] [5]
FOX aired The Simpsons episode "Homer Badman" on November 27, 1994. After Homer is mistakenly embroiled in a local scandal, the entire incident devolves into a media frenzy. As a result, Homer takes part in a Hard Copy-like show called Rock Bottom. The show distorts Homer's case and it takes public-access television, and aid from Groundskeeper Willie, to clear Homer's name. The episode ended with Rock Bottom issuing a series of corrections.
In 1996, actor George Clooney began a public boycott of both Hard Copy and Paramount's celebrity news show Entertainment Tonight after Hard Copy violated a six-month agreement not to air segments about Clooney by airing footage of Clooney and then-girlfriend Celine Balitran on the set of the film Batman & Robin . Other celebrities supporting the boycott including Whoopi Goldberg, Madonna, and Steven Spielberg. [6] Paramount eventually agreed to modify the way that both shows gathered information for their stories. [7] They also agreed not to air "unauthorized footage" of celebrities or "footage that is known to have been obtained illegally." [6]
An Australian version of the series hosted by Gordon Elliott aired in the early 1990s.
A New Zealand version of the series hosted by Natalie Brunt (now Natalie Chetkovich) and, later, Pip Groves aired in the mid 1990s.
Arsenio Hall is an American comedian, actor and talk show host. He hosted the late-night talk show, The Arsenio Hall Show, from 1989 until 1994, and again from 2013 to 2014.
Entertainment Tonight is an American first-run syndicated news broadcasting newsmagazine program that is distributed by CBS Media Ventures throughout the United States and owned by Paramount Streaming. Having premiered on September 14, 1981, it holds the Guinness World Record as the longest-running entertainment news program on television.
Gordon Elliott is a British Australian journalist and producer, radio and television personality and producer, based now in the United States.
The Insider was an American syndicated newsmagazine television program that was distributed by CBS Television Distribution. The program premiered in first-run syndication on September 13, 2004 and ended on September 9, 2017, as a spin-off of Entertainment Tonight, which originated the concept as a segment that took viewers "behind closed doors" and gave them "inside" information on stories and topics of interest from throughout the entertainment industry.
A Current Affair is an American television newsmagazine program that aired in syndication from July 28, 1986, to August 30, 1996, before it was briefly rebroadcast from March to October 2005. The program was produced by Fox Television Stations, and based at Fox's New York City flagship station WNYW, starting as a local production in 1986. It was syndicated to Fox's other owned-and-operated stations the next year, and then went into full national syndication in September 1988. Its signature "ka-chung" sound effect was created using a combination of the sound of a construction paper cutter and the swing of a golf club put through a synthesizer.
Inside Edition is an American newsmagazine television program that is distributed in first-run syndication by CBS Media Ventures. Having premiered on January 9, 1989, it is the longest-running syndicated-newsmagazine program that is not strictly focused on hard news. Though it does feature the latter, the rest of each day's edition mainly features a mix of infotainment stories, entertainment news and gossip, scandals, true-crime stories and lifestyle features.
Robert Kuehl Goen is an American game show emcee and television personality, best known for his work on Entertainment Tonight between 1993 and 2004 and as the fourth and final host of the daytime Wheel of Fortune from 1989 to 1991.
Extra is an American syndicated news broadcasting newsmagazine that is distributed by Warner Bros. Television Distribution and premiered on September 5, 1994. The program serves as a straight rundown of news headlines and gossip throughout the entertainment industry, providing coverage of events and celebrities; however, since 2013, it has also placed an even greater emphasis on interviews and insider previews of upcoming film and television projects. As of 2024, the program's weekday broadcasts are anchored by Billy Bush, with the weekend editions co-anchored by Melvin Robert and Mona Kosar Abdi.
Terry Murphy is a television host and correspondent, best known for her nine years (1989–1998) anchoring the tabloid show Hard Copy and, since 2003, reporting for the entertainment show Extra. Previously, she was a news anchor at WLS-TV in Chicago (1976–1980), and at KNXT/KCBS-TV (1980–1984) and KABC-TV (1984–1987), both in Los Angeles; she later returned to KCBS (1987–1989) before moving on to Hard Copy. Terry Murphy also worked for WJBK-TV (CBS) Detroit in the early 1970s. She appeared in a natural acting role as herself, on Married... with Children in the episode "Shoeway to Heaven" (1994).
Real TV is an American reality television program that ran in syndication from September 9, 1996, to September 7, 2001. It aired footage of extraordinary events that were not usually covered in mainstream news.
Chequebook journalism is the controversial practice of news reporters paying sources for their information. In the U.S. it is generally considered unethical, with most mainstream newspapers and news shows having a policy forbidding it. In contrast, tabloid newspapers and tabloid television shows, which rely more on sensationalism, regularly engage in the practice. In Britain and throughout Europe, journalists paying for news is fairly common.
Jerry Penacoli is an American actor and entertainment reporter, and served as a host with the US syndicated magazine show Extra for 20 years. During the time he conducted two interviews with actresses Anne Hathaway and Scarlett Johansson that went on to be viral. He asked Scarlett if she wore underwear or not with her black widow suit and Anne Hathaway about her catsuit and "feline diet". The interviews have been criticized for their misogynistic tones and reducing the role of actresses as just pretty and sexy in such important roles.
Sightings is an American paranormal and news television show that first aired in the 1990s. The show began on October 17, 1991, as a special titled The UFO Report: Sightings. It was followed by the follow-up reports, Ghost Report and the Psychic Experience. The creator and supervising producer of the initial episode, produced by Paramount for Fox TV, was Linda Moulton Howe. One of her episodes was A Strange Harvest, about the worldwide animal-mutilation mystery linked to extraterrestrial beings.
A tabloid talk show is a subgenre of the talk show genre that emphasizes controversial and sensationalistic topical subject matter. The subgenre originated in the United States and achieved peak viewership from the mid-1980s through the end of the 1990s. Airing mostly during the day and distributed mostly through television syndication, tabloid talk shows originated in the 1960s and early 1970s with series hosted by Joe Pyne, Les Crane, and Phil Donahue; the format was popularized by personal confession-filled The Oprah Winfrey Show, which debuted nationally in 1986. The format has since been emulated outside the United States, with the United Kingdom, Latin America and the Philippines all having popular shows that fit the format.
E! News, previously known as E! News Daily and E! News Live, is the entertainment news operation for the cable network E! in the United States. Its former on-air weekday newscast debuted on September 1, 1991, and primarily reports on celebrity news and gossip, along with previews of upcoming films and television shows, regular segments about all of those three subjects, along with overall film and television industry news.
Tabloid Baby is a 1999 memoir and exposé by veteran journalist and television news producer Burt Kearns detailing his years as producer of the leading tabloid television shows of the 1990s: A Current Affair and Hard Copy. Published shortly before broadcast news was displaced by cable, the book is notable for its argument that “tabloid television” was co-opted by network news shows such as CBS’s 48 Hours which premiered in 1988 and NBC's Dateline which premiered in 1992, as well as demonstrating the emerging audience psychology that would lead to the explosion of reality shows in the 2000s and the openly subjective reporting that would find its apotheosis in Fox News and MSNBC on cable.
Doug Bruckner is an American television news correspondent, reporter, host, voice-over artist and producer, who is among the best-known correspondents in the history of tabloid television, well known for his exclusive interviews with notorious criminals.
PMPC Star Awards for Television is an annual award-giving body recognizing the outstanding programming produced by the several TV networks in the Philippines.
Justin Armsden is an Australian television news journalist, reporter and presenter. Armsden was the host of CNN International's Living Golf and an anchor of the network's daily sports program, World Sport, and later worked as an investigative reporter for Channel Nine's A Current Affair.