Hey, the folks in this episode, did you see about the latest newest thefty but for us heartbreaking round of layoffs making headlines last weekend? With that, Welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ Robes. We've been reporting a lot about layoffs all over the all over the country. It seems to pass several weeks having to do with the federal government. I guess a lot of that, but this round of layoffs hit very close to home, was very personal. Were talking about our former network.
That's right.
I actually got a call from you. I was out at a lunch and missed the headline that basically most of our staff that we worked with daily, that we loved, that we were rooting for from Afar was laid off. Two hundred employees fired from ABC News, and a large majority of them came from our former show GMA three.
Yeah, so we're talking to and again, I guess in media, if you work in it long enough, these things just happen. They these are I mean, these all the times that it's happened, it always seems like, oh, this is the one that the media industry is a really changing, This is the course correction, and maybe this one will be because things are going to streaming in digital. But this one, when you hear a network like ABC News is laying off two hundred people, which was the initial headline, that's
a big deal. And I guess we shouldn't necessarily be surprised about where the industry is going.
We're not surprised about where the industry is going.
We're seeing it everywhere and the ratings are dropping. It's not how much you gained year to year, but trying to stop the bleeding. So the better off you are is the fewer viewers you lost, but that it's a game that is not winning, it's losing, and everyone kind of knows this. There has to be some major restructuring and reevaluating and honestly, how you're going to get younger folks, younger people to watch television when that really has become
something that kids aren't doing. It isn't a habit of theirs. They're on their phones, they're their tablets, so they're not watching network news. So yes, perhaps this is inevitable. But when you see two hundred ABC News employees being fired, I think that amounts to about six percent of ABC News's work staff. When it's concentrated on one show that is even more specific and more detrimental to the folks who were working on that show, and it was Yes, it was our show.
So let's if you're not familiar the headlines. I guess Wall Street General was among the first to report there's two hundred employees at ABC News is going to be let go Nightline in twenty twenty. Those are long standing staples of that network. They are now being merged into one unit. Obviously robes anytimes there's two staffs merged into one,
people going to lose jobs. Then the five thirty eight website, A lot of people might not realize or remember five thirty eight started by Nate Silver, which did all the great presidential predictions back around President Barack Obama during his elections. ABC bought five point thirty eight. Well, now it's letting it go. It's being shuttered, so fifteen employees are out
of a job. So the most jarring I guess changes and headlines have to do with Yes, Good Morning America, the flagship show where there was GMA and GMA three, so three hours of Good Morning America. But folks didn't realize that these two operated very separately.
And that was, to be fully honest, That was always a frustrating thing for us because we were juggling between being correspondence and filling anchors for the flagship show Good Morning America, and then at the same time being co
anchors for GMA three. And sometimes you would think that would all be harmonious and would all make sense that the two would go hand in hand, but oftentimes they pushed against each other and it ended up feeling like we were in a tug of war between GMA and GMA three, and there.
We were called in the middle of that. It feel like it was.
We absolutely were caught between the two so being assigned two different things, or GMA wants you to go somewhere, but GMA three wants you back anchoring the show, and it was a battle sometimes daily, but certainly weekly.
It felt like, so this is and this is now why we are where we are. They have corrected that error now if you will, but they say they've done it for financial reasons. So yes, GMA and GMA three are literally done in the same building in Times Square on different floors. GMA uses the GMA three studio plenty, but essentially there's just literally one floor up from each other, but we all share the same building, all of our dressing rooms running next to all.
It was a shared space, and even the floor directors and all the folks who were commanding the cameras and all of those folks all were the same. So it was basically the behind the scenes staff for Good Morning America just went upstairs. We did a lot of times in the eight o'clock hour anyway for GMA, and we just kind of shifted anchors.
So the difference, though, being is that GMA is crazy. We this drove us crazy. We're going to get into that. But GMA and GMA three have two totally different production team as far as the producers go in the executive producer are two totally separate units. So there's not a synergy that you would think that these two shows have. They're completely produced separately from each other. We didn't even the producing teams don't necessarily even talk to each other
and coordinate. They're two separate, totally separate shore.
Sometimes we were doing the coordinating, going back and forth between the executive producers, trying to figure out where we were supposed to be, like physically.
On a story or on an assignment.
So that was always a little confusing because GMA three was under the umbrella of ABC News Live, the digital online version of ABC News, so it truly was a completely different status.
And we're gonna explain that to in a second. It took us the longest to figure out why exactly that was done. But what we're saying here and what we're setting up was we're explaining why the GMA three staff is now gone because it was a separate staff. So what they've now done is taken GMA three and put it completely under the control of GMA and GMA's executive producer Simone Swink, so now it's all one unit. And to do that, you had to get rid of the
entire staff of GMA three. That entire staff are folks, robes who were with you from the very beginning, with me, from the very beginning when we started of that show, and they're all gone now, and we both got that news last week. And I will ask you now, you know before I ask you that this is important to say because people will understand your reaction to it, but you have to to fully understand. You have to understand how the show started. Now this hour on the network
is around one o'clock GMA three. What was it called it first GMI Demic before when stray and uh oh.
It was it was straight Hand, Sarah and Kekeyankey. First it was straight Hand and Sarah. Then it became straighthand Sarah and kekeyp And then when the pandemicemic hit, it was very obvious pretty quickly that that show was not going to be able to continue in the situation this world was in. And it truly was an opportunity to create a show that served the public with the information that we so desperately needed because things were constantly changing
and evolving. We were scared for our lives, and I felt like, honestly, for the first time in my journalistic career, I was doing something worthy of public attention and public safety, and it was I felt so fulfilled starting that show, just knowing that we were actually giving people potentially life saving information. So that's what the show became, or at least initially began, as it grew from a real organic need.
But the show was necessary without Now what was the name it was a pandemic year, No, it was just called pandemic. What you need to know? Yes, right. That started in March, right of twenty twenty or is it April.
It was March of twenty twenty.
I mean when the pandemic hit.
I got a we got a phone call to head up to some executive's office.
I had no idea what it was in reference to.
In fact, I thought they were going to ask me to stick around and do some busy work like manning cameras, unless in case news broke. I had no idea that they were going to ask me to take over that one o'clock hour from Strayhance, Sarah and Kiki for a temporary period of time to get us through the pandemic. So I was blindsided by the call and the call to action. But obviously I was very quick to say, of course I'll do it, of course I'll step in.
So this is how that hour started. So you go back, folks, to March of twenty twenty. It started organically. Robock was on set right with doctor Ashton and you will every single day, and people were desperate for information. That is one of the most necessary shows I've ever been I've ever seen in television news because it was just important and you were giving information people needed. We start to get the pandemic. We're several months into it and maybe
starting to get a handle on it. The show begins to evolve and I come on board in the fall of twenty twenty as GMA three. What you need to.
Know, Well, let me actually back up a little bit to talk about the evolution as I saw it from my perspective. So we were doing the show and I'm not even going to credit our great ratings, and they were unexpectedly even better than anyone could have imagined, because of course there was a need. It wasn't that I would never take credit that we were doing anything special, But all of a sudden, ABC executives saw something finally
succeed in that hour. They had been struggling to get something to succeed in that It's a tough time of day. Who's home, Who's watching. Well, now you've got the pandemic, everyone's home, everyone's watching. So we ended up realizing, hey, we might have some formula that we can build on to evolve out of the pandemic. We need to evolve into news, we need to evolve into education, we need to evolve into other stories beyond the pandemic.
So we yes, in the fall of twenty twenty. I do eventually come on board and the show takes off. And in the first two years we're together, we get Immy nominations, so Best Daytime Show, Informative Talk, we get Emmy nominations for hosts. I should say we didn't win. I should say that we did not win. What's the line were supposed to say?
It was always an honor to be nominated, which we did feel.
And we're very I mean seriously, the first you were together.
We we knew we had something. We knew I mean, look, it was great with Jen and me. That was phenomenal. We felt really good about that, but clearly or something missing, mostly some male energy, let's be honest.
And you came.
In and brought so much life to that show that was necessary. I mean I could go on and on about your talent and what you bring. And I was so excited when I got that phone call that said, Hey, how do you feel about TJ joining you on GMA three? And I couldn't have been more excited because you were the perfect person, the perfect partner in every way for a show like that.
With that text, Now, right, this wasn't just something we went after and begged and screamed and yelled for It's something that actually happened so organically the show did. Us being a part of it did, And no, we didn't want to leave. Let's be clear here. Yes we did not want to leave that show, and we have talked about it plenty of times. For two people who've been in the industry twenty five plus years. At that point, this was the dream job. We get to do news,
a little entertainment, a little inspiration. It was the perfect show and you're getting to do it at the time with my best friend. This was a show we did not want to leave.
I could have done that show for the next twenty years and Ben the luckiest person on the planet.
So folks with that anytime. There were headlines over the past two plus years since we left that were not I guess pleasant or whatever for the show, talking about its rainings, what's going on with it? People? We got used to get calls from tabloid folks and folks wanted to react to things as if we're excited that something's not going well that we always we have from the jump been rooting for GMA three. I would have loved Robes I know you would have in ten, fifteen, twenty
years see that show still thrive and go wow. I was there and I helped start that thing.
I was a part of it absolutely.
And I will say, look, we have said this publicly too, but I'll reiterate I have not and TJ has not watched that show once since we left, mostly because it was too painful too. It wasn't because we were saying, ah, I forget them, no it we loved it so much. We were so passionate about it that I actually couldn't stomach to watch it because it was too hard, because it would have been too painful for me to have watched.
And to say that, we're saying, folks, not even a solitary second of that show have we seen since we left the network. Now I've passed the television and seeing GMA on an airport or at a bar and at least look up at the TV. I have no idea. And but to your point, that is why it's not a bitterness. It's a sadness about what could have been and something we were proud of it. We were always rooting from a distance for that show. So to hear now and again the show is going to continue, but
everybody associated with it has been let go. That show doesn't exist the way we saw it, the way we started it, the way we left it. So what was your reaction? Your first reaction to the news is what I wanted to get to and wanted to get the context first. But given all that, and folks can understand now where we're coming from, to hear that that whole staff, that everybody's gone, what did you think? I felt.
I'm going to try not to get emotional.
I felt so sad.
I started thinking about starting the show and thoroughly Wins and the excitement that we were onto something, that we were building something and growing something that we all cared so deeply about. I went flashed back to that moment when we went out to California for the Emmys when we were nominated. We were not only nominated for the show, but for actually hosts, so we had two Emmy nominations our first year out. We were so proud and the future seemed so bright. So I think I just thought
about all the what ifs. I felt so sad for all of those people who have worked so hard on that show, and I just felt so frustrated that things happened the way they happened because they did not happen the way we wanted them to happen, or in any way that we would have chosen for them to happen.
You talked about I think this morning was the first time I talked to you about the what if part. We've talked about what happened j A three when the news came out, But you think about what if? What if we'd have done something different, What if that executive had done something different, what if the network had done something different? What if? Ever? Like all of the what ifs, and when you get through some of those, you like, what if we were able to continue what you're talking
about now, we're not. And please, folks, don't don't and please call anybody out who puts out a headline that misinterprets or tries to mess up our words. Here. We're not suggesting in the least bit, oh you'll need us, or look what happens when you don't have us. What we're saying here is when we see something like this that we love so much that has gotten into some a trouble of some kind, if you will, we want to contribute we want to help, We wish we could
have helped. We wish, well, wow, we didn't live it in better shape. You do think back to those what ifs and what the possibilities could have been if this decision was made differently, or that decision made differently. It sucks, man, it sucks.
And I have not been able to talk about not being a part of that show with anyone who I love personally without getting weepy. That's how much we loved that show. So it's been really hard to see what's happened to it. And I think especially even watching all the news and we've been able to do our morning run and feel like we're at least a part of the news cycle and feeling like we're helping to get out important information because that's all been so confusing this
past year. But I have been yearning. I have wanted so badly to be able to bring that to our show.
It's been hard.
The best way I can describe it is if you've been benched as an athlete and you see your team and you so badly want to contribute, You so badly want to be on the field with them, And that's how it's felt, and so I don't want to see them lose the game. Like it's just it's disheartening, it's sad, and it's frustrating, and I.
Just it just I'm my stomachs and knots.
I literally and again I was on the phone again. I passed the news along to you. But this was before I think it all came out publicly. But one of our representatives I was on the phone with you were out somewhere and I was in the bedroom and I didn't tell you this. I literally dropped to my knees on the side of the bed and brought myself up. I literally dropped and just said, oh no, oh no, and a lot of that does. I mean, anybody that
loses a job your heart goes out to. But these are folks that we saw day in day out grind not get attention. Right. We were the little engine and could everybody left us alone? The numbers were good. We don't what those two low maintenance anchors over there who got good chemistry. Everything's working, and we didn't get a lot of love. Quite frankly, we didn't get all of attention.
Because we didn't need it.
He didn't need it. Damn. That's true. That is absolutely true. The this is how that time. This is only a funny, so I'm not saying they completely disregarded, but this is how it felt. What year was It was twenty twenty This was after an Emmy nomination. I believe it was.
It was definitely after the Emmy nomination. It was twenty twenty two.
Okay. So there was a big presentation, right, the big presentation where the ABC News president comes out and all hands on deck because a town hall. Everybody across the network is on zoom all over the country and she's making presentations bragging about each shows. Kim Godwin, Yes, is there a name to this presentation? It was something. It was kind of a town some town hall.
We were all the shows were up, everybody was doing well, so it was a it was a celebratory moment coming out of the pandemic and we had all kind of righted our ships and kind of adjusted to the new ratings and we were doing well. Every show was, so she was listing all of the successes.
We were so excited because we knew we were waiting. We were waiting. We we would hit two millions.
I remember we had days where we hit two million viewers, and we just thought, how is this possible? We were so excited an afternoon show with very little resources, but we were also averaging like over a million and a half daily, so we knew we were going to finally get our kudos. We're going to hear GMA three, you know, is doing so great. We were all on the edge of our seats.
Look and now you'll if I tell you this meeting went our hour and a half, GMA three was never mentioned. I mean she mentioned like the weekend overnight edition DAC News after Dark, I mean stuff you did not mention. We were never mentioned. And now when I tell you that GMA three staff was devastated, devastated. We already don't get enough love and attention, but to see those producers and some of those folks who have and busting their butts, and this was the moment where we knew we were
an asset. We knew all she's gonna give us all kinds of We were wondering how big of the presentation about us was going to be.
Aren't expectations funny?
We had the highest of expectations, and we waited and we waited, and we waited and Godwin never even mentioned she had.
Slides, so you know this was this was thought out.
This isn't she was just speaking extemporary extemporaneously and forgot to mention us. Like in a in an Academy Awards speech, you forget to thank your agent or you forget to thank your wife. No, she had a full, like absolutely highly produced presentation with slides and videos and pictures. Was your face even on any of the slides? No, I don't think so. No, you didn't.
Oh this Oh this was like this was the upfront s babe.
Wasn't this wasn't No, no, no, it wasn't.
Wait, it was, but it was around that time, but it was.
It was an all hands on deck meeting. It is. I haven't thought about it again to this moment, really, but it was hilarious. You and I have been around enough to wear you know. It wasn't a punch in the gut tell us, I'm yes, sought for a twenty five year old producer who's getting no love on a show that's doing well. This was the one opportunity. They
were devastated by this. Yes, they were really hurt by this, but to make up for it, don't worry news trickled back up to Kim that I think you left out a major show. She didn't know she did.
She didn't know she did. But to make up for it, we're thinking, she calls a meeting with the entire GMA three staff. We collect there on sixty sixth Street, all of us in this big room, waiting to hear what she's going to do, what she's going to say, how she's going to make this right.
She brought cookies.
She brought cookies.
They were good.
I didn't have one.
I didn't either.
I don't think anyone did.
I was just assuming, what do you What do you say? Mate? It was an honor? How do you do that? Start naming shows at ABC News. You're going to say Nightline, you gonna say twenty twenty, You're going to say evening News, What is it? World newsnight? You're going to say GMA does not How Yeah, okay, that was amazing. It was
funny at the time. But what I'm saying, this is the show that is used to not getting a lot of love and a lot of resources necessarily, But it was a show that's used to doing well without needing a lot of that, and we just had something that was clicking in was working, and look, it had to make some changes and whatever the changes were, it got them to this point. And it's just it it's brutal to think that the whole show and again you and I'm not sure swhen are you please tell me? Are
they do they have the same anchors now? Is there a rotating crop of anchors?
I've heard bearying.
I don't know that anyone knows what it's going to look like going forward, so I couldn't speak to whether or not it's going to stay with the anchors they have up there now, but it was told to us that perhaps they'll be rotating anchors. It feels, probably from the folks who I've heard from who still work there, very chaotic and there's a lot of fear. You know. They don't know what's going to happen next, They don't know what new changes may take place, if anyone else's
jobs are on the line. There's just a lot of fear, as there are in so many places around this country right now, with layoffs being the headline.
But we know this is so.
Deeply personal to us, and anytime you've got that kind of fear and you're operating out of fear instead of support. It changes the whole energy of the newsroom, of the halls of GMA. I'm sure it's a very different feel.
How do they get it back? Like I really wonder, And obviously we know that the building, Well, where is the where's the rallying cry? And who is that rallying cry going to come from? There's a new ABC News president, fairly new, right, Ell? Mean yeah, Ellen, to tell me, i'n't not a full year.
In No, but he's been at ABC fore long time, forever, and he was the EP of World News tonight, So yes, he's got a lot.
Of But speak, where does it come from? Where is the leadership come from? Where is who is in that building that everybody can rally around? Let's just speak the GMA for a second. Who is everybody can give that rah rah speech? I don't I really don't know. And I'm concerned moving forward, what's the next thing and the next thing and the next thing. Because this is and we talk to them all the time. Obviously we know people in this building. There is not a pleasant word
we've heard. It's it's not even it's almost so disheartening and discouraging to hear what's happening in the.
Building to say, oh, you guys are lucky you left when you did dot dot that kind of a thing. And I was like, no, that's not that's not a fair statement at all, because I don't there's nothing about me that feels lucky in any of this, not even in the least. And we were talking this morning about just, you know, being out of it, being on sidelines watching this all unravel, and how we kind of even feel differently now than maybe even we did before.
God, I hate again, I hate to see, but I think a lot of people might not realize about GMA three the way it does work. It tapes at nine to thirty in the morning. Now most people around the country see it at lunchtime, right occur U one, Yeah, but it tapes at nine thirty and we have to be done taping by eleven. And there was a reason for that, which also ties into this show. It tied into possibly what's happening to it now. It was explained to us it was done that way because they wanted
to save money. The crew that's there, that's working in studio, the stage hands and all these they work for GMA, but then they're done working by eleven am, So we had to tape GMA three and be done by eleven am so we could share those guys and they didn't have to pay anybody extra.
Well, they always had to stay that late, even before GMA three happened, because you'll know, we tape this on the East Coast in New York City, but there are several time zones, so any news that breaks after GMA on the East Coast gets off the air, there has to be a staff there to break in for any major event, and certainly that's happened plenty of times over the years, so it was actually a built in safety net for us to be there for GMA three between nine thirty and eleven as well.
How many times did one of.
Us get pulled off the set upstairs to go downstairs to update Good Morning America with some breaking news or some new information or a different number that was released. So it was in that sense no real financial skin off their back because all the same people that had to be there were there, and now instead of just perhaps taking a break and chillin', they were manning cameras and directing us.
So we are talented so we actually haven't had a built in cost if you will is it wasn't necessarily costing the network to have now the two of us anchor the show, no matter what our salaries were, because we were just kind of tied into another salary structure or whatever. Fine, but you did have a whole staff there, and that's the money that they are saving this And we talked about this plenty, and folks don't realize GMA and GMA three there was a rift between these shows
that we got caught up in the middle of. And this has been a part of so much of the story since we've left, and people talk about chemistry and fill ins and and continuity and familiar faces and talent and all these things. We were under GMA three and had one executive producer. We had GMA with its executive producer, So anytime GMA wanted something from us, they had to go ask permission from GMA three, not nine wink wink. We don't necessarily have to ask permission, but we will
just to play nice. And there was a struggle robes we got caught in the middle of in being pulled between these two shows constantly.
I remember one of the more frustrating ones was when we were discussing whether or not you could come too to London to cover the Queen's Jubilee, and there was a big concern that they wanted you to stay back to anchor GMA three, And we just thought, if we already have the structure set up, why shouldn't we just then take both of us and anchor the show from London.
But the amount of work and negotiating and back and forth that had to happen for that two happened was extraordinary and unnecessary and wouldn't be an issue now, I guess, given this new structure. But when you had competing interest, in competing shows, and competing egos and competing budgets, it just it ended up being really difficult a lot of times.
This is the ultimate compliment to the two of us is that we were asked we were the automatic fill ins on Good Morning America. We of course had GMA three that we were anchoring. How many they talk about, Look the eel can look up that we are not knocking the show. The numbers are out there, the ratings are out there. Today is I guess number one now over Good Morning America consistently is now the ratings leader in the morning. People so often talk about chemistry and
who's up there on set. You and I were called on We've had vacations canceled before because they needed us to get back and get on set to fill in. They wouldn't. It was almost like they wouldn't let anybody else fill in on that show. That's the point we
had gotten to with Good Morning America. So when the GMA three thing comes around and yes, we got to let go, there was a lot of talk about, well, wait a minute, that's not the point is GMA three, you're actually getting rid of the two people who are actually you're de facto of anchors of the show as well.
Well. I would even say, basically, in addition to filling in on the show in an anchor seat, if anything major happened in the world in any form or fashion, we're hitting the road and we're there for Good Morning America and you know, look the other host everyone's got busy schedules. I would say we were both the de facto get the big interview, travel to go and get
it anywhere people. So we filled multiple roles on both shows, and it ended up sometimes It was a tug of war that I definitely remember feeling pulled in so many different directions and no one could decide who. I mean. Ultimately, GMA wins, but it ended up being so much harder than it seemed like it had to be.
And now what we're seeing here with the show there not because of the reasons we want it. We advocated for GMA and JA three to be under one umbrella.
We had conversations with Simone's swink saying, Simone, why can't Good Morning America just take over GMA three and all of these problems go away? And she said, trust me, I know. So we had these conversations two and a half years ago and knew with how things were happening that it would be better for everybody.
And again, let's be clear, we weren't advocating for our staff to go on. No, no, we were only advocating for us to be under that same GMA controlled an umbrella to where we would have one person to be able to say, yes, I'm sending this anchor here, I want this anchor here, I want this person here instead of us. Anytime yes, GMA wanted us, they had to go through GMA three. Again not not wink wink, but it just caused so much confusion and strife that was unnecessary.
That problem is being solved, but it's being forced. This is at the.
Expense of the expense so much.
Yes, it's and it's and it's Look, as you mentioned, we're not we're not breaking any news here. Anyone can look up the ratings. But it's just sad to see what's happened so that it had to be a financial decision, not a not a strategic decision, but it was a financial reaction. And so there's a difference when you make the decision because it's going to be better versus it's because this is what we have to do.
And again I don't know the show well enough now to know what has happened. Look, television has changed, right, they might have different competition now, new competition that was a reason why the numbers went down or I don't know what it may be, but it just I folks looked at it, and I think so much emphasis and so much has been put on our relationship and are the reason we were together in the first place, and that show came together and reason it may have worked
so well. This was and I will even give ABC credit. I don't know if you and I would be in a relationship today if it wasn't for ABC putting us together. Yes, for years, Yes, on that show, on that show on that network. I really do believe that, babe.
Yeah, I think I remember the first time being out on assignment with you. Was it twenty sixteen for President Trump's first inauguration on the Mall? We had worked adjacently with each other, and on the set you would come in and I was the news anchor, and you'd come in and do the segment seven and we would and I always knew.
I was like, Wow, that guy is so good.
I love the chemistry and he brings it even when he doesn't want to, even when it's the sappiest, most ridiculous puppy story, you still sold it. And I saw that in you, and we we jibbed from the moment. So when we got to go, we didn't do a lot together, but we were there on the mall together covering President Trump, and that was where I think initial spark went off, and we got another assignment pretty quickly afterwards.
What was the one right after that Super Bowl that was in Houston, yes, got that one in Houston. Okay, that was fun. I can remember what you were wearing, motorcycle jackets and jeans.
That's hilarious.
I remember that.
I don't know well, because I don't even know.
I'd have to go look at the picture. But I do have a picture because Jesse Palmer was there. It was you, me Jesse Palmer, and that was I just thought, Wow, these are two of my favorite guys to work with, and what a special So that was that for me was when I just knew that I wanted to figure out how to work with you. We started talking about doing a podcast together.
Back then we wanted to do an ABC News podcast did together because.
We thought we had this plan because we had so much fun working together and so much respect for each other working together, we said, you know what, let's put a podcast together. It's funny how the order ended up being the opposite, and then the ABC News executives will hear it and they'll actually organically witness our yes, our chemistry, and then they'll give us a show together. We actually thought that it just all happened in reverse.
Now we have a podcast, so so now we go, okay, keep moving that forward. To that was twenty sixteen. Yeah, and we Yeah, look, I used to come on set, Yes, like you said, I didn't notice it, but you said they would stick me down by you. Yep, anytime when I was on set. But then you move forward to what was the next one we the next opportunity we had on together.
Well, we started filling in together on the set of Good Morning America. You would fill in for Michael Strahan and I would fill in for Robin and do George.
Much before twenty twenty. I don't know.
I actually it's all a blurb before twenty twenty, honestly, but I know it was happening, And the moments it happened, we would actually have to say to each other, Okay, let's not have too much fun because it's gonna piss off George, or it's gonna piss off the control room because they're gonna hear like you too.
Stop.
So we were on our best behavior, but it was almost as if we were giddy getting to work together.
That's a true story. And what does that say about us? That we were having such a good time that we didn't want to upset everybody else?
Yes, that I felt like that, Yeah, because.
There's there there. It can be tense and it can be left tight, and it can't be that kind that we were. So we didn't want to spread joy. We kept it in afraid of what repercussion.
Yeah, we didn't want to be those annoying people who were enjoying their anyway.
Okay, so we're filling in together. But once you were doing jim A three or the Pandemic show, you finally took a vacation in June of twenty twenty. Yes, right, and so this is where it all came about. I ended up filling in for you for nine days. I always remember it was nine days at the end of June, and after that, affiliates everybody started buzzing about, Oh, those two are going to be together now. It wasn't so I didn't have an agent at the time. There was
nobody advocating for me. There was nobody saying, hey, what about this. Hey, but they weren't even saying they were looking for We're also.
In the middle of a pandemic, so it was kind of a strange time. I just remember I came back from that. It was a road trip because we weren't flying anywhere obviously, and I think within you would know the day exactly. But I got a call from our executive producer, Kat mackenzie and said, we have an idea. How would you if we brought on a co anchor? And I said, okay, but who?
Yeah? Who?
And she said TJ Holmes and I remember just thinking this is so crazy. We spent years trying to figure out how to convince the executives that we would be good together, and now when I least expected it, when I didn't even we weren't even advocating for it, all of a sudden, now they're saying, hey, why don't you two anchor together? And I laughed, I said, that is
a hard yes from me. And I always was shocked by the next phone call I got, which was from you, and you told me I don't know if I should do that, And I just thought.
Are you crazy?
Why would you even?
And you know what, it was a sweet reason why you hesitated.
Because to your point in the thing that had you in tears here earlier, it was your baby, right, this is something you started, and I didn't want to come in after the fact and somebody's on our territory. This is our thing that was my first hesitation, my first reaction to it. And yes, we talked through it and everything was fine eventually, but that was my first reaction. And so we're to talk this out. We haven't talked about GMA three this much in forever, so to be
talking it out now, it's getting sadder. Actually, as we're talking about it, it was that this show has meant everything in our lives. By that, I mean it's gotten me to the person I'm spending the rest of my life with. It got me to this incredible, awful episode in my life that I don't wish upon anybody, but it will absolutely be a big part of my story, and it was actually the greatest achievement of my professional career. All of those things are true, you know.
It's Yes, the biggest prize that came out of that show was our relationship, because we knew we liked each other, but we fell.
In love.
On that show like we did, and so that is also a huge reason why it will always forever be a big part of me and us. I will also tell you I don't know that I've ever shared this, but it restored my faith in journalism because if you'll recall the November before I got caught on a hot mic frustrated about the fact that I could not report on Jeffrey Epstein and had been for years unable to get my story out, and I was almost certain my
career at ABC News was going to be over. At that point, I got pulled off the air for a month without them acknowledging it. I stopped filling in. You didn't see me very much. I was begging to get on the air basically to get a report here or something there. And when the pandemic happened, all of a sudden, I was the person there and available and stepped in and was able to then do this show. And when I got pandemic What you Need to Know, GMA three, What You Need to Know, I felt like I found
my purpose again. I was deeply considering leaving the industry. I was deeply considering not renewing a contract and walking away forever from journalism because I was so disheartened. And that show brought me back to life journalistically speaking, and then I found the love of my life and the process. So yeah, that show meant everything to me.
And so it's rope. It's difficult anytime it's offensive, and we can't answer everybody what is wildly offensive anybody anytime somebody suggests that we might gloat or be excited or root for the demise of that show or anybody at that network, that place is special to us. That show is special to us, and no matter what, we are
still rooting for it. But this was the first time that you and I privately, certainly not publicly, but folks might not believe this, this latest round of news is the first time that we ever had a real thought of or a desire or a wish that we could be back there, a thought that man, I wish we never left, or have a regret, even because we don't deal in regrets at all. But this is special to us, this show is, and this.
Sucks, It absolutely sucks.
Good Morning America saved my life. I mean I had my Mamma Van, my mammogram in that Mamma Van because of an assignment from Good Morning America. So that show is This isn't just about a job or a career.
This is about for me life or death. I mean, these are heavy, important, real feelings and topics that all stem from that building and those people and that show, and we are rooting for them, and there is yeah, I mean, there's just so much sadness that we can't be a part of it still, and we always we never I think everyone knows this. Hopefully we've made it clear. We never wanted to leave. We loved our jobs and we loved the people we worked with, and we're so sad to see what's happened.
And you know what, it's fair to say, they're going to be okay, right, they'll figure it out, they'll find a way. When the industry is evolving and digital streaming, a lot of attentions being put there. But these things happen in the.
My grandma, these things happen.
But in the business long enough, you see these, you do? You see these just awful turnovers and whatnot. And look, I had another note in here that I wanted to give you before we wrapped up, and not give you, but I was wondering, do you remember do you have a fond of GM A three memory? I didn't. I didn't plan on this, but I'm thinking now for myself, even a fond is GM A three memory?
One of my I can tell you probably my favorite favorite GM A three episode was when we were in London on the final day, up on that rooftop and just to say, look at how far this show has come and look at us here, you know, after we fought so hard to be there and to bring the show that we had, we did feel like we had the support of the network.
Then in that moment, yes, yes, I was.
Trying to remember. Yes, it was for me.
I was like this, this is such a surreal, beautiful phenomenon, And in that moment, I thought we made it.
This show is relevant.
It got the support of bringing its entire or not its entire, but a large majority of its staff to cover one of the biggest events in the world this century. I felt the weight and monumentalness of that moment, and I just really remember shooting that and feeling so much joy on that.
Rooftop with you.
I had to go back. It's weird to go back to London. We did shows out of London, full shows out of London that were incredible. We had experiences around London, to shooting different stories around that was incredible. That we served both shows. That was a special time and look, I want to make sure we say this well, I don't know the anchor of Current DeMarco. Yes, I don't
know him well. I think i've met him before. I don't know him well, but Eva with someone we have known for a long time and just absolute and we know how good she is and capable she is and kind, all of.
This absolutely kind, kind, as good as they come.
We're absolutely rooting. This is not a we're making no comparisons. They were put into a situation they didn't expect to be put into with that show. So this this is not a matter of us comparison, making comparison or we're better, we can do it better. It's just a matter of we did. We were there, and we're able to establish that thing in a different way, and now they're in different times and they're not doing as much trial, they're not going live everywhere.
That Yeah, I think it's important to point out too, we don't know. That's the thing. We don't know what would have happened, you know, dud We have no idea. Immediately, we have no idea.
Oh yeah, very next month we could have taken a note that.
The what ifs are gone, all stretches of the spectrum, like who knows what would have happened or could have happened, and that is such a The industry changes from month to month and certainly from year to years, so who knows what we would have been up against.
But I loved it. It's true, So it's I couldn't believe my reaction either genuine reaction to hear him say over the phone that what had happened to GMA three It was devastating. So we continue to root for them. Our hearts go out to everybody that loses the job over there, and we're rooting for him to come back in a major way.
Maybe this new restructuring will be exactly the lifeline that they needed to really start growing and building back again, and we certainly hope that's the case for everybody.
And here's the lie. I guess we've heard these before, but the line rethinking the way we work to future proof our team regrettably includes reductions to our extraordinary staff. That was the line from the statement may from the ABC News president. And you hear that, Yeah, you understand it. But when you're on the way out the door, that's tough. That's tough. And look, you and I have been to people on the way out the door for very different reasons.
But we have and it seems like nobody leaves that. Who told us that nobody leaves? Obviously? Pretty?
Yeah, I'm oh, I remember who told us that someone who wants worked there?
Who would know? Okay, you just can't get out of there? Pretty Oh my goodness. So to our folks there, love you, still rooting for you, and I guess the industry is changing. I mean, go through the names. This is this is the sign right, how much the industry is changed.
To copy, next, next, Norah, O'Donnell.
Yep, And we got a few more for you here as well. Probably, But there's going to be more of these names because the industry can't support the contracts. We've been told this for several years. So these big, big, top dollar talent you are going to see start to go.
By the way, it's hard to justify twenty million dollar plus contracts with these declining numbers, declining ratings, declining revenue.
Something has to give.
So was the result going to be cheaper, not as well known, and maybe not as talented talent?
Yeah?
Is that going to work?
Who knows?
I mean, it's it's a whole new world and a whole new landscape with so many competing news sources.
Well, Robes, I am very happy to still be sitting next to you.
Yeah, we got our podcast.
So folks can see. She is still to this day sitting to my left, just as if we were on television right now. But folks, we always appreciate you listening to us. For now, I'm GJ and I'm Amy.
Have a great day, everybody,