Almost Golden: Jessica Savitch and the Selling of Television News

by Gwenda Blair

In 1979, Newsweek dubbed her the Golden Girl. Blond, beautiful, immensely popular with the public, Jessica Savitch had it all. A network anchor at thirty-one, sha had made it to the top in a male-dominated world of big stars, big money, and super-egos. But behind the scenes was another story - a woman desperately chasing her dream through a private nightmare of drugs, depression, and disastrous romances and spiraling ever downward - sad victim of her own relentless ambition, and the fast and fickle industry that created her.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, Biography Memoir

368 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1988

About the author

Gwenda Blair writes for magazines and newspapers and is also an author and radio commentator. Her work has appeared in Newsweek, New York, Esquire, The New York Times and The New York Times Magazine, TV Guide, Smart Money, and a number of other publications.

Reviews

[Straker · Rating 2 out of 5]

Understand two things: (1) This is really a glorified master's thesis about the history of television news, with Savitch grafted on to it for marketability's sake, and (2) Blair has complete contempt for Savitch. Skip this and read Golden Girl by Alanna Nash instead.

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book every aspiring broadcast journalist should read.

As a recent graduate of Ithaca College, I went through school hearing and believing that IC alumnae Jessica Savitch was somewhat of a hero for women in the news. I attended the school's Jessica Savitch Lecture Series in which her sister Stephanie gave speeches about her widely talented sister. I thought she was what every female journalist should aspire to be.

Boy was I wrong.

This book opened my eyes to the "real" Jessica Savitch--not the golden girl that IC and the media have made her out to be. A woman likely addicted to drugs who believed she was better than everyone else and thus entitled to the perfect career. A woman who was simply another pretty face on television, a celebrity who could read well but was not, in fact, a good journalist. A woman with a poor personal life and what was actually a failing career.

Not only did I learn more about Jessica Savitch (and what not to do in pursuit of my own career in broadcast news), but I also absorbed the history of television news as a whole.

Overall, this book was truly fascinating and very well-written. 4.5 stars.

[Eric_W · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cocaine, Suicides, abusive sex, abortions, lesbianism, amphetamines, disposable marriages. Such was not the life of some self-destructive rock star, but rather the portrayal of Jessica Savitch. Unfortunately the Savitch family did not cooperate with Blair, so much of the gosspi remains unattributed, undocumented, and unexamined. Blair, who wrote a column for Mademoiselle, is more successful in tracing the rise and fall of Savitch's career and the distorted values of the television news world. Blair argues that Savitch was trained and prized only for her on-camera charisma. When she landed a job at NBC in 1977, she was assigned to the Senate, a beat for which she had neither the background nor the disposition to cover adequately. She was eventually consigned to the "NBC News Digest" which usually required her to read only a minute of someone else's copy from a teleprompter.

He career came to a sudden end during a rainstorm when her date drove off the road into a canal. Not three weeks earlier she had rambled incoherently through a 43 second spot on the news.

[Juliane · Rating 5 out of 5]

I learned you can buy a book for five dollars from HEB in Texas and it really is a good buy. But it's a chick book, men prob. wouldn't like it, but it was great insight into the fakery of broadcast and the cat fights (men and women)which occur therein.

[Roberta · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just remember thinking what a sad, wasted life for someone who had so much potential.

[Jinjer]

Why did I bail? I just kinda of skimmed through it but didn't feel compelled to read the whole thing. Basically I just wanted to see what happened to the poor woman.

[Darla Ebert · Rating 2 out of 5]

While an obviously talented and ambitious woman, Jessica Savitch came off (at least in this book) as plastic. Perhaps she was. She seemed to make no real emotional impact on anyone around her. The book itself started out well, being informative and with a wealth of back information on the family. But after Jessica's story of college began, suddenly there was a dearth of concrete details about the life of Jessica Savitch. There were so many many initials (for radio and t.v. stations) and they filled up pages in a way that was confusing. And so the story became more about network wars than about the former newswoman. I was disappointed by 2/3rds of the way through.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Worth reading for its inside look at the high-pressure TV news industry (of the 70's). As a bio of this driven and neurotic woman, its a bit sketchier (though not bad), and the story ends in an ironic anticlimax.

[Mell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gossipy. But an interesting read.

[Mary Kay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful insightful story of Jessica Savitch’s career and ambition while also a glimpse into the rocky road for women trying to break into broadcast journalism. Highly recommend.

[Joseph J. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hard to believe Jessica Savitch died thirty eight years ago this month. I recall that grey rainy day in the mid Atlantic well. Much has changed. The cult of celebrity which so propelled her career had grown enormously. There is more than one twenty four hour news channel, and traditional sources of news and information have been swamped by the internet and dubious Facebook and other sources. Still there is much to know and learn in Blair's story of Savitch, and the dangers of celebrity and emphasis on ratings and revenue in our news industry. Transcending those issues and time, here is the story of a person trapped in an escalating turmoil of success and tragedy, accomplishment and frustration. Well written and resonating years after publication, there is much to learn about our own time and the worship of celebrity and perceived success in this modern day tragedy.

[Rita · Rating 2 out of 5]

I anticipated this book to be a biography of Jessica Savitch (at least that was the way it was presented).

However, what I found was, basically a history of the origins of television (taking over from a predominantly radio-oriented service in our country) with tidbits of the life and career of Ms. Savitch.

There was so much detail about how the 3 main networks began and all the notable people involved in providing television programming, not just in the news industry. It seemed to me more like Ms. Savitch was just a footnote to this author.

Interesting, but not at all what I expected.

[Zoltan C. · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a garbage book written by a bitter person who attempts to trash a deceased person who cannot defend themselves. All because of her bitter jealousy that her career couldn't cut it and live up to Jessica's level. Shameful.

[Meredith O'Connor · Rating 3 out of 5]

way too much about the television network industry/history as a whole. this could have been 100 pages shorter