The Insider (TV series)

infobox television
show_name = The Insider


caption =
format = entertainment news program
runtime = 30 minutes
starring = Lara Spencer
country = USA
network = syndication
first_aired = September 13, 2004
last_aired = present
website = http://www.theinsider.com/
imdb_id = 0430836
tv_com_id = 28541

"The Insider" is a tabloid television news program covering events and celebrities. It debuted on September 13, 2004 as a spinoff of "Entertainment Tonight" and started as a popular segment that took viewers "behind closed doors" and gave them "inside" information. Since becoming a separate program however, the show has taken more of a tabloid direction.

The original theme song (which was changed after the second season) was performed by Richie Sambora.

Hosts and sets

The series was initially hosted by Pat O'Brien in Hollywood with Lara Spencer in New York up until March 5, 2008 when O'Brien was replaced with Donny Osmond, but O'Brien returned a month later after Osmond declined to become a permanent host.

In September 2007 CBS Television Distribution moved the show, for its fourth season, to New York. Formerly Los Angeles-based O'Brien joined Spencer in a new Manhattan studio. The duo hosted from studio space within the Minskoff Theatre in Manhattan, home of the musical "The Lion King", which has unobstructed views of Times Square; formerly, the New York segments were taped inside MTV's 1515 Broadway studios at One Astor Plaza, where the Minskoff is also based.

On September 8, 2008, the program began to air in high definition with the move of both "ET" and "The Insider" from Stage 28 on the Paramount Studios lot to the CBS Studio Center [http://www.thefutoncritic.com/news.aspx?id=20080908cbs02] , with a set which revolves around a large life-size 3D construction of the program's logo, while many of the segments take place atop the "logo".Fact|date=September 2008 The New York aspect of the program was abandoned, with Spencer relocating to Los Angeles and becoming a solo host, along with Victoria Recano, Steven Cojocaru and Cheryl Woodcock.Fact|date=September 2008

In the move, O'Brien became a Los Angeles-based correspondent for the program [http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117987094.html?categoryid=14&cs=1] , but ten days later on September 18, was dismissed permanently from the program for comments he made in a staff email after a trip to Iowa where he directed comments specifically at a segment of Spencer's, saying that it made the viewers he talked to "vomit" [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/19/pat-obrien-fired-from-the_n_127661.html] .

yndication model

It is syndicated by CBS Television Distribution, often as half of a one-hour news block that includes the show from which it was spun off, "Entertainment Tonight".

There are, in fact, three different feeds of the show - "ET" followed by "The Insider", "The Insider" followed by "ET", and, for markets where the two shows air on different stations, a self-contained edition of "The Insider". "The Insider" has been renewed through the 2009-2010 season.

Correspondents

*Steven Cojocaru
*Donny Osmond
*Victoria Recaño
*Cheryl Woodcock

"The Insider" in other countries

* Australia, the program airs on Arena alongside Entertainment Tonight.
* In the Philippines, the program airs on 2nd Avenue, also alongside Entertainment Tonight.
* In the Middle East, the program airs on MBC 4 after Inside Edition.

References