meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
Elvis Duran and the Morning Show ON DEMAND

The Backstory: The Tragedy That Inspired Will Ferrell’s Anchorman Flicks

Elvis Duran and the Morning Show ON DEMAND

Elvis Duran Podcast Network and iHeartPodcasts

Comedy, Music History, Entertainment News, News, Society & Culture, Music

4.91.2K Ratings

🗓️ 9 May 2025

⏱️ 18 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Jessica Savitch had a dramatic rise... and an even more dramatic fall in the network news business of the 1970s and ’80s. It’s a shocker! But her tragic story oddly inspired Will Ferrell to do the movie Anchorman: The Rise and Fall of Ron Burgundy. Here’s the backstory!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

She was a talented, smart, beautiful, but troubled network news star, whose story inspired Will Ferrell to make the flick,

0:07.7

Anchorman, the legend of Ron Burgundy. But she had one of the most infamous and watched on-air meltdowns in the history of network news.

0:16.3

I'm Patty Steele. Three weeks after that, Jessica Savage was dead at the age of 36. That's next on the

0:22.8

backstory. You're listening to an I-Heart podcast. I'm Soledad O'Brien, and on my new true

0:34.1

crime podcast, Murder on the Tooth Path, I'm taking it back to 1964 to the

0:40.0

cold case of artist Mary Pinchot Meyer.

0:43.0

She had been shot twice in the head and in the back.

0:46.3

It turns out Mary was connected to a very powerful man.

0:51.6

I pledge you that we shall neither commit nor provoke aggression.

0:56.0

John F. Kennedy.

0:57.9

Listen to Murder on the Toothpath with Soledat O'Brien on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

1:03.9

or wherever you get your podcast.

1:15.0

I want you to ask yourself right now, how am I actually doing?

1:17.6

Because it's a question that we rarely ask ourselves.

1:21.9

All of May is actually Mental Health Awareness Month, and on the psychology of your 20s,

1:26.8

we are taking a vulnerable look at why mental health is so hard to talk about.

1:28.8

Prepare for our conversations to go deep.

1:34.4

I spent the majority of my teenagers and my 20s just feeling absolutely terrified.

1:37.0

I had a panic attack on a conference call.

1:40.5

Knowing that she had six months to live, I was no longer pretending that this was my best friend. So this mental health awareness month, take that extra bit of care of your well-being.

1:44.3

Listen to the psychology of your 20s on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your

1:49.3

podcasts. My husband has a secret son from a past partner. Pull up Sam, how do we know? Have we done

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Elvis Duran Podcast Network and iHeartPodcasts, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Elvis Duran Podcast Network and iHeartPodcasts and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.