So, the Internet seems to think that Diane Sawyer was, well, tipsy on national television last night.
Officially, she was tired. I totally relate. I spent several years "tired."
I admit up front that Diane Sawyer is something of a hero to me. She's smart, serious and hard-working. She has a sonorous voice and a great haircut. And I was relieved to know that she hadn't suffered a stroke, which is what I thought for a while.
I spoke with someone close to the newsroom last night who told me ABC News had a twenty-minute outage at the height of the news cycle, a little before 11 p.m.. Sawyer -- who still had a working audio feed -- led the entire team through the crisis without viewers being any the wiser. A savvy producer ran crowd shots while Sawyer, um, slurred.
It may have been brilliant leadership, but when Sawyer said 'slection, it reminded me of SNL's "Girl You Wish You Hadn't Started a Conversation With at a Party." Except, this is Diane Sawyer. THE Diane Sawyer.
There's a part of me that finds this eccentric and charming. Even glamorous. But there's the other part that finds it sad. I mean, if your co-worker showed up drunk at work, you might think he has a problem. If he's incredibly good at his job irrespective of that problem, lots of people would enable him.
When we brush off a slurring newscaster, it's a little like having your great aunt pass out, face first, into Thanksgiving dinner while your grandmother says, "Well, look at that, she's just worked herself to the bone."