Lachman: The King brothers hired David Frost, and they saw him as offering the show instant credibility. A Current Affair was heating up, so we had to be uniquely different.
Back then, it was an extraordinary situation for a syndicated show to start midseason. We were on the air not in September but in January 1989. In a matter of weeks, he hired key top producers, we created the format of the show, and he sold it.
#INSIDE EDITION NEWS TV#
PHOTOS: ‘Inside Edition’s’ Show-Defining MomentsĬharles Lachman, executive producer: Very late in the 1988 TV season, Roger King saw that the syndicated version of USA Today was failing, and he realized it was a unique opportunity to syndicate a fresh newsmagazine show.
Here, Norville and her team recall the show’s humble beginnings, its early revolving anchor desk and just what makes it tick. “It’s soup to nuts - and some days we put a heavy emphasis on the nuts,” says Deborah Norville, 55, the show’s 18-year anchor and author of The Way We Are: Heroes, Scoundrels, and Oddballs From 25 Years of Inside Edition, out Oct. Its secret recipe? A mix of investigative journalism, human-interest spectacles and kooky trend-spotting. With more than 8,000 episodes logged, the show has scored hot “gets” with such beleaguered subjects as Phil Spector and Paula Jones and still attracts 4.1 million viewers, consistently beating TMZ and Access Hollywood by more than 1 million viewers each.