What's in the 'ET' vault? William Shatner on a whale and Taylor Swift's red carpet walks
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Fans of movies, TV and music are enjoying an era when they can access an abundance of news about their favorite stars by just looking at their phones.It’s a big leap from the decades before internet and cable, when network TV news rarely covered show business outside of occasional interviews on their morning shows.When Barbara Walters started interviewing celebrities on her prime time specials for ABC in the 1970s, pearl-clutching journalistic purists were aghast.A shift came in 1981, when Paramount launched “Entertainment Tonight,” the first daily program that looked at the news through a pop culture lens.
It was also the first syndicated show delivered via satellite, enabling TV stations to air episodes on the days they were taped and provide breaking coverage.Now distributed by CBS Media Ventures, “ET” has surpassed imitators and survived the seismic changes to the TV landscape, still reaching an average of nearly 3 million viewers nightly, according to Nielsen, and last month it racked up 1 billion views on YouTube.The show is currently in its 45th season and is co-hosted by Kevin Frazier and Nischelle Turner.But what truly sets the program apart is how it has accumulated a massive tape archive that serves as a repository of show business history, thanks to years of having camera crews at every major movie set, press junket and award show red carpet.
Going through the 200,000 hours of video in the vault is like a trip in a show business time machine where you’ll find:— Jane Fonda, dressed in ‘80s aerobics garb, giving a power walk lesson.—Michael Jackson making his iconic “Beat It” music video.
—A 19-year-old Leonardo DiCaprio interviewed on the set of the ABC sitcom “Growing Pains.” —Arnold Schwarzenegger getting his makeup applied before shooting a scene in “The Terminator.” —George Clooney’s first interview in 1985 and the 164 others...