Charlie Sheen Ignites ABC-NBC News War
Charlie Sheen ignited a news war over the weekend by giving ABC News an exclusive interview about his recent meltdown--only to turn around and talk to NBC News too. Now, according to The Hollywood Reporter, ABC is "apoplectic" over the situation.
ABC had touted its interview with Sheen as an exclusive, putting together a special edition of "20/20" that is set to air Tuesday and promising to run clips from the interview across all its news programs over a two-day period. It was, as they say, a major "get" for the network.
Unfortunately for ABC, Sheen then gave an interview to NBC News on Sunday. NBC quickly trumpeted the news, calling the chat Sheen's "first television sit-down" since his most recent round of troubles and saying it would air on Monday's "Today" show. That left ABC scrambling; the network promoted the interview during the Oscar telecast on Sunday night and told THR that the important thing was that Sheen talked to ABC first.
"Charlie Sheen assured us that we would be the only sit-down television interview this weekend, but he changed his mind," an ABC News spokesperson said.
For its part, NBC News couldn't be happier. "This was simply about hustle and hard work by our reporter Jeff Rossen," "Today" executive producer Jim Bell told the Los Angeles Times. "It's a terrific get. Does spoiling the ABC 'exclusive' make it a little sweeter? You bet it does."
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