ABC’s marathon US election coverage puts Ellen Fanning and Stan Grant to the test
Fans of the 2010 rom-com Morning Glory may have thought they had chanced upon its sequel when they tuned in to the ABC’s US election coverage this week, writes Annette Sharp.
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There’s a scene in the 2010 film Morning Glory where newly downgraded veteran television broadcaster Mike Pomeroy, played by Harrison Ford, cuts off Diane Keaton’s perky Colleen Peck, his co-host on poorly rating fictional breakfast TV show Daybreak, as she tries to wrap up the program.
“Tomorrow on the show Colleen will make the British classic bangers and mash with chef Gordon Ramsay,” a bored Ford/Pomeroy says, reading from an autocue as he winds up yet another show.
“That’s right I will, because you refuse to do it Mike, (I guess) it’s beneath you,” Keaton/Peck responds, smiling as she stares straight down the barrel of camera one and addresses an invisible TV audience.
“Well that, and because it’s tough to get between you and a sausage,” jabs Ford/Pomeroy, still not looking at his visibly annoyed co-host.
“Yes and also you are a fatuous, pretentious idiot …” quips Keaton/Peck. “A fatuous idiot who makes three times what you make …” says Ford/Pomeroy, holding up three fingers before the sign-off disintegrates with a series of “Goodbyes” as the anchors jostle for the final farewell, a power play on the set.
Keaton/Peck wraps up: “Well that’s our show for this morning. See you tomorrow folks. Goodbye.”
Ford/Pomeroy returns fire: “Goodbye.”
Keaton/Peck: “And goodbye.”
Ford/Pomeroy: “Goodbye.”
Keaton/Peck: “Bye.”
Ford/Pomeroy: “Goodbye …”
For those of us watching at home on Wednesday evening as ABC presenters Stan Grant and Ellen Fanning wound up a long day’s coverage of day one of the US election broadcast, it felt a little the same as Grant folded his arms and showed his co-host his shoulder, and Fanning struggled to meet his eye during what seemed a similarly prolonged sign-off.
Grant, after notable stints at Seven in the nineties where he was the host of serious news program Real Life and Today Tonight before joining CNN in 2000 and then moving to SBS as co-presenter of the World News in 2007, is now at the ABC in the role as the public broadcaster’s international affairs analyst, a suitably lofty role for Grant who files for 7.30 and Four Corners as well as the ABC News.
Fanning, who was with 60 Minutes in 2000, moving on to become co-host of Nine’s Sunday show in 2006 before being replaced by Ray Martin in 2007 and spending a few years off air before returning to television via SBS in 2013, has been, since 2017, the host of ABC’s The Drum in a role she shares with Julia Baird.
It would fair to say that with decades of experience between them, Grant and Fanning are capable presenters, yet the tension between the pair was notable as Fanning seemingly struggled to not roll her eyes on Wednesday as Grant failed to take her signal in a wind-up that exposed the tensions of a long day.
While stretching for time during the dying minutes of the ABC coverage, Fanning glanced at her watch repeatedly as Grant firmly interrupted to correct what she has just said.
Fanning: “It’s been extraordinary. Donald Trump said all the votes are … all the voting should stop … and I think we can all agree that the voting has stopped, all the voting has stopped, and so it’s just a matter of counting those votes …”
With one authoritative finger pointed directly at her, Grant intervened: “It’s not, it’s not, it’s not the question of the voting stopped, it’s a question of when the counting and when does the counting stop, that’s the, that’s the big question for Donald Trump and I think as David Speers pointed out (Fanning looked away awkwardly and glanced at her watch for fourth time in moments) he wants the voting to continue in Arizona but he doesn’t want the voting to continue in other parts of the country.”
Fanning: “It’s gonna be a long week.”
Fanning almost had the final word after Grant wound up with a plug for the upcoming news bulletin (another glance to her watch).
As the camera tracked wide she could be heard saying: “Great to spend the day with you Stan.”
Grant: “It was a lot of fun”
Earlier in the day the pair had found themselves dealing with major lighting issues when they were almost blinded by the midday sun as it ascended over the glass ABC atrium being used as a set.
“Somebody has designed an atrium (in Sydney) not realising we had nine hours of broadcasting,” Fanning said, searching for – and finding – her sunglasses. “There’s almost a religious quality to this, Stan,” she said as the ABC camera lenses shut down, plummeting them into near-darkness to balance the lighting problems.
In the afternoon she was also kept busy recovering as Grant stumbled during the exhaustive marathon broadcast and failed to thank guest Amanda Vanstone for her contribution.
It made for some ultimately humorous viewing which certainly did not seem to hurt the ABC’s ratings — as proved the case in the movie Morning Glory, prompting producers to embrace as the duelling host’s schtick.
No word on whether Grant also receives three times Fanning’s ABC salary, as Harrison’s fictional character did over Keaton’s, but we’ll definitely be watching if the duo are ever paired together again.