“Bruce Jenner’s far-ranging, exclusive interview with ABC News Anchor Diane Sawyer airs Friday, April 24 on a special edition of “20/20.” The two-hour special, “Bruce Jenner – The Interview” airs on the ABC Television Network at 9 p.m., ET,” the network announced.
Last month, E! appeared to have hit the pause button on its planned Jenner reality series, in the wake of his recent car accident, but ABC News looked to be plowing ahead with its Sawyer interview with the former Olympic star-turned-Kardashian patriarch, envisioned for broadcast some time this month. Plans for that ABC News special changed slightly, in light of the car crash in which a woman was killed when Jenner’s vehicle catapulted hers into oncoming traffic on Pacific Coast Highway, and seven injured.
ABC News will cover that wreck in Malibu when Sawyer interviews Jenner about his transition. Sawyer, reigning Queen of the Big Get, landed the interview despite Jenner being a home-grown star of NBCU – parent of E! Entertainment, where Jenner is patriarch of that network’s biggest franchise, the Kardashians. Doubly embarrassing for NBCU: Jenner is an Olympic gold medalist, and NBC is the broadcast network of the Olympics.
Sawyer stepped down as anchor of ABC’s World News Tonight in September, saying she would concentrate on big specials and big interviews. Jenner’s first sit-down certainly checks all those boxes and then some. This year’s May sweep ratings derby begins April 23. The interview with Sawyer would be the first discussion of Jenner’s transition by a major news outfit.