My nights with him are numbered, and right now.. I'm cherishing every last one. The terrible event that happened to me on April 4, 2012, means that.. shortly.. I wont be seeing him again.. maybe ever. Yet.. when I think back to how it started, and the history, I'm in awe of how sad I will be when it ends..
No, I'm not having a secret affair with a man. (Not that there's anything wrong with that, for those who choose to do so, but i dont). I'm talking about.. Jim Gardner, the wonderful longtime anchor on WPVI TV in Philly, who I've watched every weeknight he is on for over a decade, and who, in a few weeks, I wont be able to watch anymore, when I move back to NY to be near my family.
As I may have posted before.. I wasnt taken with him at first. When I moved to Lancaster in 1999, I started watching the news to expand my horizons. I didnt like Lancaster or Harrisburg stations, so, I dont remember whether it was because my mom first suggested it, or I just turned it on. I turned to Channel 6 from Philly, and there was Gardner. When I first saw him, he looked.. old. and I figured he would only be there another year or so, and that he was.. 65.. I told my mom: "He';s okay, but he seems.. lame". My mom corrected me. "He's not lame, he just speaks slow and low, and he's very intelligent". At first, I used to crack up when his former weather forecaster.. Dave Roberts.. gave him flirtatious eyes when Roberts did the weather.
I dont know how.. or exactly when, it happened, but I just got hooked. Night after night, at 11, I kept turning on Gardner.. and, except for a couple of weeks a year, he wqs always there. I was also shocked to learn in Wikipedia that he was not.. 65 when I started watching him in 1999,. but was in fact only 51, and that he had been anchoring that same newscast since 1976.
His taglines are the same. "Its.. whatever night, and the big story on Action News tonight.. is..". At commercial breaks, after previews of the weather, and sports.. he says.. "That.. and so much more.. when Action News continues.. tonight". His ending used to be.,. For.. (the sports caster and weather person's name, and the entire Action News team, I;m Jim Gardner, have a good night.. tonight" until a few years ago, he just changed it to.. goodnight.
I've watched him report on so many events in 13 years. The conventions, the Pope's passing, 9-11, etc.
Of all the things I've ever been wrong about in my life, Gardner may be the one I was most mistaken about. I've gone from thinking he was lame, to being the best newscaster I've ever seen. I should have known that, when I found out that he was anchoring that same newscast since 1976. You dont stay in a job that long, unless you have something.. special
I was also surprised to learn a few years ago in an article in Philadelphia magazine, that his name is not in fact "Gardner", that is a stage name, and his real name is Jim Goldman. His father was head of ear nose and throat at Mount Sinai in NYC, and wanted him to become a doctor, but when Gardner got to Columbia U, the news bug bit him.
As the years have gone on, I have grown to love him even more. He';s become like a member of my family, symbolicly, for 13 years. I had always thought that the end with him would be because he retired. Now, unless he retires by June 1, it will be me leaving him. The news will never be the same..
I was so utterly wrong about him, and I'm glad I was. I have had 13 wonderful years of watching his newscast. When the night comes that I do watch my final newscast with him, because of a move the next day, I will feel profound sadness.
I watched Bill Ritter and Liz Cho on WABC when I was in NJ last summer, and will watch them again when I move back to NY, Ms Cho is beautiful, and Mr Ritter seems very credible. They are not.. however,.. Gardner.. he is one of a kind. Leaving him, and the WPVI team, will be like leaving family. The station';s reporters have been there so long, from Gardner, to weather girl Cecily Tynan on down, that they feel like your family.
I thank Jim Gardner for 13 wonderful years of giving me the news. Even when the news is not happy, or tragic, he always makes it interesting. He delivers it in a way that just.. grabs the viewers.
I have just a few more precious nights with him, a month, maybe a bit more, maybe a bit less. I will cherish every last one, I will have warm memories of his voice, his newscast, his demeanor on the air, and when I'm gone from Lancaster, and cant see him every night anymore.. I will feel sadness, and loss.
Mitch
No, I'm not having a secret affair with a man. (Not that there's anything wrong with that, for those who choose to do so, but i dont). I'm talking about.. Jim Gardner, the wonderful longtime anchor on WPVI TV in Philly, who I've watched every weeknight he is on for over a decade, and who, in a few weeks, I wont be able to watch anymore, when I move back to NY to be near my family.
As I may have posted before.. I wasnt taken with him at first. When I moved to Lancaster in 1999, I started watching the news to expand my horizons. I didnt like Lancaster or Harrisburg stations, so, I dont remember whether it was because my mom first suggested it, or I just turned it on. I turned to Channel 6 from Philly, and there was Gardner. When I first saw him, he looked.. old. and I figured he would only be there another year or so, and that he was.. 65.. I told my mom: "He';s okay, but he seems.. lame". My mom corrected me. "He's not lame, he just speaks slow and low, and he's very intelligent". At first, I used to crack up when his former weather forecaster.. Dave Roberts.. gave him flirtatious eyes when Roberts did the weather.
I dont know how.. or exactly when, it happened, but I just got hooked. Night after night, at 11, I kept turning on Gardner.. and, except for a couple of weeks a year, he wqs always there. I was also shocked to learn in Wikipedia that he was not.. 65 when I started watching him in 1999,. but was in fact only 51, and that he had been anchoring that same newscast since 1976.
His taglines are the same. "Its.. whatever night, and the big story on Action News tonight.. is..". At commercial breaks, after previews of the weather, and sports.. he says.. "That.. and so much more.. when Action News continues.. tonight". His ending used to be.,. For.. (the sports caster and weather person's name, and the entire Action News team, I;m Jim Gardner, have a good night.. tonight" until a few years ago, he just changed it to.. goodnight.
I've watched him report on so many events in 13 years. The conventions, the Pope's passing, 9-11, etc.
Of all the things I've ever been wrong about in my life, Gardner may be the one I was most mistaken about. I've gone from thinking he was lame, to being the best newscaster I've ever seen. I should have known that, when I found out that he was anchoring that same newscast since 1976. You dont stay in a job that long, unless you have something.. special
I was also surprised to learn a few years ago in an article in Philadelphia magazine, that his name is not in fact "Gardner", that is a stage name, and his real name is Jim Goldman. His father was head of ear nose and throat at Mount Sinai in NYC, and wanted him to become a doctor, but when Gardner got to Columbia U, the news bug bit him.
As the years have gone on, I have grown to love him even more. He';s become like a member of my family, symbolicly, for 13 years. I had always thought that the end with him would be because he retired. Now, unless he retires by June 1, it will be me leaving him. The news will never be the same..
I was so utterly wrong about him, and I'm glad I was. I have had 13 wonderful years of watching his newscast. When the night comes that I do watch my final newscast with him, because of a move the next day, I will feel profound sadness.
I watched Bill Ritter and Liz Cho on WABC when I was in NJ last summer, and will watch them again when I move back to NY, Ms Cho is beautiful, and Mr Ritter seems very credible. They are not.. however,.. Gardner.. he is one of a kind. Leaving him, and the WPVI team, will be like leaving family. The station';s reporters have been there so long, from Gardner, to weather girl Cecily Tynan on down, that they feel like your family.
I thank Jim Gardner for 13 wonderful years of giving me the news. Even when the news is not happy, or tragic, he always makes it interesting. He delivers it in a way that just.. grabs the viewers.
I have just a few more precious nights with him, a month, maybe a bit more, maybe a bit less. I will cherish every last one, I will have warm memories of his voice, his newscast, his demeanor on the air, and when I'm gone from Lancaster, and cant see him every night anymore.. I will feel sadness, and loss.
Mitch
