Mary Hart: A Daytime TV Career With Legs
Mary Hart, the former longtime host of Entertainment Tonight, will be honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences on Sunday, April 30, at the 44th Daytime Emmy Awards. Here’s look at her impressive run as a host on the first and still No.1 syndicated entertainment news magazine.
Mary Hart, the Entertainment Tonight anchor, leaves the show today after 29 years, during which she helped usher in a new celebrity television age. Hart, with her deep contact list and blindingly bright personality, has been the genre’s No. 1 ambassador. When she leaves — of her own accord: she was not pushed — she will be another sign that celebrity-oriented television is undergoing a generational changing of the guard. The gentle world of celebrity journalism is fading, replaced by the Hollywood Babylon of Perez Hilton and TMZ.
Entertainment Tonight’s Mary Hart will host the induction of Carsey-Werner Productions into the Broadcasting Hall of Fame during the NAB Show in Las Vegas on April 11.
Former Access Hollywood co-anchor Nancy O’Dell will replace Mary Hart on Entertainment Tonight. O’Dell will join the syndicated entertainment newsmagazine in January as a special correspondent. After Hart leaves the show next year, O’Dell will step into the role of co-host alongside Mark Steines.
