Posted by chicagomedia.org on July 11, 2008 at 09:33:52:
Jacobson's suit seems TV-friendly
Regardless of whether a jury finds merit in the $1 million-plus lawsuit former WMAQ-Ch. 5 reporter Amy Jacobson and her family filed this week against WBBM-Ch. 2 parent CBS and others for airing videotape of her in swimming attire at the home of a potential source last summer, there may be some ancillary benefit.
The complaint, submitted by attorney Kathleen Zellner, reads like the outline for a Lifetime cable movie, which could provide the happy ending (and some of the cash) she seeks if litigation doesn't.
Among the plot points detailed:
Jacobson, 38, had a 3.94 grade point average at the University of Iowa and "progressed from needing food stamps to earning more than $100,000 a year," pursuing her dream of becoming a newscaster. She had "first thought about becoming a reporter in kindergarten, when she would watch Fahey Flynn on the ABC Channel 7 noon news."
What the suit doesn't say is that most Chicago-area kids Jacobson's age in the mid-1970s favored "Bozo's Circus," "B.J. & Dirty Dragon," or "Magilla Gorilla" at noon, rather than the news. Never mind that WLS-Ch. 7 has aired "All My Children" at noon since its 1970 debut and didn't launch an 11:30 a.m. newscast—later expanded to an hour at 11 a.m.—until 1992, nine years after Flynn's death.
Reached Thursday, Jacobson said she was inspired by Flynn at a young age in whatever time slot.
But back to the complaint/movie, already in progress: Once a successful TV journalist "happily married with two beautiful children," her life was "shattered" after Channel 2 aired its video and she lost her job at Channel 5. Jacobson and husband Jaime Anglada sold "their dream home" and now "rent a small apartment with their two children that is within sight of their former home." She unsuccessfully has sought TV jobs throughout the country.
One of her kids, age 4, "still cries when it is mentioned that his mother lost her job." And Anglada "was deprived of the financial support of Amy Jacobson, her companionship, her felicity, sexual relations and related losses."
Asked about making so much of her family's private life public through the lawsuit, Jacobson referred all further questions to Zellner, who did not return a call.
"Isn't there something else to write about?" Jacobson said, before a TV movie could be suggested.
Anybody have a number for Heather Graham's agent? How about Anne Heche? Elizabeth Berkley?
(Rosenthal)