Merry Miller’s ABC-TV On-Air Disaster Becomes a YouTube Sensation

Merry Miller is the Senior Programming Director for The Learning Annex in New York, USA. She was named as one of the 40 “rising stars” in 2007 by Crain’s magazine and is a former Miss Dallas. But that’s where this “rising star” starts to fade.

In late July of 2007, Merry conducted a poorly done interview with Holly Hunter on ABC News Now’s segment “What’s The Buzz.” Since its broadcast, the disastrous interview has been heavily viewed on YouTube and other online video sites.

Not only were the interview questions awful, but for some reason, Merry decides to phonetically read off the teleprompter – like a child. She also gives the wrong month for Holly Hunter’s show premiere (June instead of July) and accidentally encourages viewers to go to nbcnews.com, not ABC News.com. Oops! Merry Miller, welcome to the TV Disaster Hall of Fame! I’m sure NBC loved the plug.

Here’s a transcript of the entire interview:

MILLER: Welcome back to “What’s the Buzz?” You may know her as Academy Award winning actress, but today she’s here to talk about a new project on the small screen. We’re talking about the talented Holly Hunter and her new TV drama series, called “Saving Grace.” Holly, thanks so much for joining us.

HUNTER: Hey thank you

(Long pause)

BACKGROUND VOICE ON FLOOR: Talk!

(Pause)

MILLER: (repeating)Talk.

(Pause)

MILLER: All right Holly, thanks so much for joining us.

BACKGROUND VOICE ON FLOOR: Ask her the question (unintelligible).

MILLER: Oh (responding to producer).

(Pause)

MILLER: OK, we love the show. What drew you to this character that you play Grace?

HUNTER: I’m sorry?

MILLER: What drew you to this character Grace:

HUNTER: Responded to question stating she loved script.

MILLER: Well we just love the show

HUNTER:Aw, great

MILLER: So…(talking over Hunter)

MILLER: You’re welcome

MILLER: …so, what drew you from the big screen to TV, ’cause we hear that you don’t watch TV?

HUNTER:Response

MILLER: Well, I love this character. So, were you nervous tackling something so controversial?

HUNTER: No, I leave that to other people

(Pause)

MILLER: Truetruetrue. All right. Anything else you want to tell us about Grace?

HUNTER: We premiere Monday night July 23 at 10:00 pm right after “The Closer” on TNT. I think the show is really thrilling. It’s a great ride.

MILLER: I think it’s a great (garbled, possibly ride). What’s the best part about shooting [the TV show]?

HUNTER: Response

MILLER: I think it’s fantastic.

HUNTER: Cool

MILLER: (talking over Hunter’s “Cool”) Alright so now that you wrapped up shooting, what are the summer plans?

HUNTER: Actually I haven’t wrapped up. We are in our tenth hour which is pretty exciting. We’ve got three more hours to go, three more episodes to shoot..so it’s going to be sad to say bye to it. We’ll finish up in the beginning of August, and then I’ll be back in New York!

MILLER: Yeah. Well we want you back in New York. We are so excited about this show, it’s so good to have you back, we are all thrilled to watch it.

HUNTER: Aw, great, thank you

MILLER: All right and you do a great job. So thank you so much…(pause)…for joining us.

(Pause)

MILLER:You can catch…(pause)…And you can catch more Holly on “Saving Grace,” which is going to premiere on Monday, June 23 [ed. She gave the wrong date. The show’s actual premiere was July 23] on 10:00 pm Eastern on TNT. Alright folks, that’s all the best we have for you today. Make sure to check us out on demand at the Arts & Entertainment section of NBCNews.com

UNKNOWN VOICE IN NEWSROOM: NOOOOOOOOOOO!

MILLER: I’m Merry Miller in New York. Thanks for watching this edition of “What’s the Buzz.”

 

flickr | methodshop