How do I know? I'm living proof. Indeed I owe my current gig as a t.v. reporter at a television station in Phoenix, Arizona(KTVK) to a punch I took twelve years ago while working as a freelance producer for the old tabloid smut magazine "Hard Copy."
It was a punch that changed the course of my life and today if I could find the old guy who smacked me all those many years ago I would certainly give him a big wet kiss!
If all this sounds like a strange and twisted little saga--well it probably is--but hey--that's the t.v. biz.
And it all started in the spring of 1995 when I got fired from my long-time job as the Los Angeles Bureau Chief and West Coast Correspondent for the original tabloid bad-boy t.v. show "A Current Affair." (Truth be told--I have been fired from every t.v. gig I've ever had--and I'm sure eventually I will be fired from my current job as well--but I digress).
After eight years with "A Current Affair"--covering everything from Michael Jackson to O.J. Simpson--from Tonya Harding to Heidi Fleiss--from the L.A. riots to the Northridge Earthquake--I got the ax. Some t.v. "geniuses" had been brought in to take the show in a quote "new direction". They're first official act was to fire me and a legendary old New York-based reporter by the name of Steve Dunleavy--one of the best journalists and most amusing cats every to work in this crazy industry.
All I know is that the "new direction" these t.v. geniuses/dumb-asses charted promptly got the show canceled within six months. But hey--no hard feelings. As far as I'm concerned--it was a hell of a ride while it lasted!
Anyhow back to the story of "the punch"--suddenly I was unemployed in L.A.--my wife was about to have our first child--and yeah I was feeling a little bit desperate. But after several months of being an unemployed self-pitying and shiftless bum, the phone rings.
It was one of my old friends from "A Current Affair"--many of whom had landed at "Hard Copy" after "ACA" was canceled. The friend was working as a producer at "Hard Copy"--in the show's cool offices on famous Paramount movie lot in West Hollywood. The friend invited me to come check it out and asked if I was interested in doing a little freelance work.
With a wife, a new baby and no job--I said "sure."
And as fate would have it--the very first story "Hard Copy" sent me out on was to my home Salt Lake City . There was some wacky old coot there who was running late night t.v. ads marketing some sort of magical elixir that he claimed would cure just about everything from the common cold to cancer. Of course the claims were a little suspect and "Hard Copy" was preparing an story to expose the guy--but first they needed to confront him and give him a chance to say something in his own behalf--basically what we're talking here is the classic t.v. ambush interview--a little trick of the trade that I have to confess I have always been pretty good at.
Anyway--to make a long story not quite so long--me and a camera crew caught up with the crusty old snake-oil salesman in a South Salt Lake parking lot late one afternoon and what does the old guy do?--you guessed it--he goes nuts--throwing several hay-maker at me! And to make things even better--he does so while the camera is rolling!
He's an older man but he's a big, heavy-set guy and he grazes me on the jaw and gave me a push. But don't shed any tears--the punch didn't hurt a bit and it made for great t.v. Needless to say my new employers at "Hard Copy" were absolutely delighted for now they had the drama that their snake-oil story so desperately needed. Originally they had intended for me to act as only a behind-the- scenes producer but suddenly those plans changed--the flying fists at my face were the story!
Of course "Hard Copy" promoted the hell out of it--saying "our producer Mike Watkiss...confronts....blah, blah, blah." You know the schtick.
Well after a couple of days the story finally runs--giving me a lot of unexpected face time on a national t.v. show that I really wasn't even officially working for.
And then it happened--literally the very next day--I get the out-of-the-blue telephone call that would change my life.
"Hi, this is Dennis O'Neill"... the guy on the other end says..."I'm the News Director at KTVK in Phoenix...saw you get punched on t.v. last night...it was great!...we've been following your career for years...how'd you like to come work for us?
Television is a crazy business--no doubt about it! At that very time my wife and I were anxious to get the hell out of L.A.--she has a sister in a Phoenix suburb--and we had actually spoken several time in recent weeks about the possibility of either moving back to Salt Lake City or maybe giving Phoenix a try.
A new job--a new city--the choice was easy. And the rest as they say is history.
I suddenly find myself reflecting on all this as the anniversary of that fateful episode rapidly approaches. Phoenix and KTVK have been very good to me. During the last decade the station's management has given me great latitude to pursue a lot of stories that I think are important--specifically exposing the abuses of women and children in Arizona and Utah's polygamous underworld--and for that I will always be grateful!
Which leads me to the bottomline: it's always good to remember that the hand--or in my case--the fist of fate--works in very mysterious ways!...more to came. mw
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