Eva Pilgrim Aims to Push ‘Inside Edition’ Into On-the-Ground Reporting

Eva Pilgrim wants to help “Inside Edition” get a little more out in the world.

The former ABC News correspondent and “GMA3” co-anchor, who starts Monday as just the fourth host in the long-running syndicated newsmagazine’s three-plus decades on air, wants to use the in-the-field expertise she developed at the Disney news unit as well as in local news to make sure “Inside” is touching down around the nation and meeting with the people involved in its stories.

“I traveled the world and did multiple cycles in presidential elections and lots of weather tragedies,” Pilgrim says during a recent interview. “Being in the field in that kind of way, you see people for who they really are.”

“Inside Edition” is counting on Pilgrim to keep current viewers on board even as the program transitions from its long-serving host, Deborah Norville, and works to lure new fans to its screens. “She definitely connects with our current viewer, and I think her appeal is such that she will be enticing to a new generation of viewers,” says Charles Lachman, the series’ executive producer, who has been with the CBS-backed show in various capacities since 1989. Behind the scenes, he says, the show is encouraged by a strong 17.3 million person subscriber base on YouTube, which it can marry with its regular linear audience.

“Young people will go to their parents and say, ‘Hey mom, there’s a show called ‘Inside Edition,’ have you seen it?’” says Lachman.

Key to winning younger viewers “are vivid videos and very unique storytelling, showing the stories you really don’t see anywhere else,” he adds. Now Pilgrim is set to get out of the studio and do more direct interviewing of story subjects.

She says she comes by that skill naturally. A self-described “Army brat,” Pilgrim learned as she moved from place to place that “you don’t ever meet a stranger,” which helps “you feel comfortable in uncomfortable situations,” she says. “As a child, it definitely helped. I had a curiosity about different places, and that really appealed to me working as a journalist. You do see nuances, the differences between different places even though they are very similar.”

Producers took some time to find Norville’s successor. There were some signs off camera that Norville might be ready to step away, Lachman says, and so the show was prepared when she announced her decision on April 30. Rather than rushing to secure a new name quickly, producers felt they could be deliberate, and relied heavily on Mary Calvi, the longtime WCBS correspondent who is also weekend and fill-in host for “Inside” to give viewers a familiar face.

“Mary has just done a great job of keeping up the numbers,” the producer says. “We have seen zero slippage in our viewership since May.”

Pilgrim will inherit a program that has kept a regular audience even while evolving. When it debuted in 1989, “Inside Edition” burnished investigative stories and was even hosted initially by David Frost. When ratings failed to manifest, producers took a more tabloid approach. With Bill O’Reilly coming aboard, “Inside Edition” fought for scoops with similar newsmagazine concepts like “Hot Copy” and “A Current Affair.” “Inside” was able to tweak itself and fit in more human interest stories and mainstream headlines as it matured, and Norville led it through three decades.

Norville leaves “insanely big shoes to fill, and I want to do right by her and the staff,”  says Pilgrim.

And while she does the work, she intends to keep a look out for ways to expand the show’s storytelling. Maybe there’s an element cut for linear time that can get a spotlight on YouTube “If you got to Costco and buy a great rotisserie chicken, a lot of the times you’re only eating the drumsticks,” she says. “Let’s actually cut the whole chicken and figure out how it works. Don’t leave good stuff sitting there.”