George Michael

Lindsay Czarniak had just arrived on set after three weeks at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and didn't have time to meet the new NBC4 anchor before cameras started rolling. "Well, look who's back from China," said her new colleague as he introduced her sports segment on the air. "Oh, hello, Craig Melvin ," she responded. "I've never met you before. Good to meet you!" Czarniak, a Centreville native who'd become a darling of the local sports world after legendary anchor George Michael brought her to...

Lindsay Czarniak had just arrived on set after three weeks at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and didn't have time to meet the new NBC4 anchor before cameras started rolling. "Well, look who's back from China," said her new colleague as he introduced her sports segment on the air. "Oh, hello, Craig Melvin ," she responded. "I've never met you before. Good to meet you!" Czarniak, a Centreville native who'd become a darling of the local sports world after legendary anchor George Michael brought her to...

Regarding the Dec. 25 front-page article "Voice behind 'Machine' transformed sports on TV": I worked with the late George Michael only once, but his unexpected thoughtfulness on that occasion remains one of the highlights of my career in local television. I was working as a freelance cameraman at WRC. It was the evening of the news conference at which it would be announced that Washington was getting the baseball franchise that would become the Nationals. I was sent by the assignment desk to be the "cuts camera," which meant...

Lindsay Czarniak, the co-sports anchor at WRC (Channel 4), will leave the station next month for a job at ESPN, WRC said Wednesday. Czarniak's contract with the station, known as NBC4, expired this spring , leading to discussions with the sports cable network . At ESPN, Czarniak will be an anchor and host of programs originating from its Bristol, Conn., studios. Czarniak, 33, was a protege of WRC's longtime sports anchor, George Michael , who hired her as a sports reporter and weekend sports anchor in 2005,...

I was an intern in the sports department of WRC-TV during the summer of 1991. This meant a lot of logging baseball games in a very specific way, highlighting in red the plays that would possibly get airtime. This meant working in an intense atmosphere where perfection was the standard. This meant getting the opportunity to see the king of D.C. area sports, George Michael, put together the best sports broadcast in town. George, who died Thursday at age 70, made a huge impact on me that summer.

George Michael picked up the telephone Monday morning to call Sonny Jurgensen, his friend and former Channel 4 colleague, to rehash the Redskins' 9-7 victory over the woebegone St. Louis Rams on Sunday. They spoke for 40 minutes, and when they finished, Michael said he told Jurgensen, "If that [conversation] had been on the air, it would have been some great television. " Sadly, that chat will never see the light of day. Nor will Michael's face be seen or his blustery "now hear this" be heard anytime soon on local television, doing...

George Michael, the dean of local sportscasters, said yesterday he has ended his 28-year career with WRC (Channel 4) after the station sought to cut the budget of the interview programs and segments he hosts. Michael signed off as the station's lead sports anchor in March 2007 after rejecting demands by WRC's parent, NBC Universal, for deep cuts in his production staff. But he continued on the air with two weekly programs he created and produced, "Redskins Report" and "Full Court Press," as well as...

They are coming to town from all around the country -- television station general managers, news and sports directors, producers, cameramen, sportscasters, radio personalities. All once were employed by the late, great George Michael, a man who drove them to be better than they thought they were in a local broadcasting business that may never see his one-of-a-kind come around again. "I've been hearing from people almost every day for the last few weeks telling me they...

Lindsay Czarniak, the co-sports anchor at WRC (Channel 4), will leave the station next month for a job at ESPN, WRC said Wednesday. Czarniak's contract with the station, known as NBC4, expired this spring , leading to discussions with the sports cable network . At ESPN, Czarniak will be an anchor and host of programs originating from its Bristol, Conn., studios. Czarniak, 33, was a protege of WRC's longtime sports anchor, George Michael , who hired her as a sports reporter and weekend sports...

Joe Schreiber, longtime producer for George Michael, right, speaking about his former boss in Leonard Shapiro's online-only column on Thursday's memorial service for the longtime Channel 4 sports anchor. The complete column is at http://washingtonpost.com/sports .

Joe Schreiber, longtime producer for George Michael, right, speaking about his former boss in Leonard Shapiro's online-only column on Thursday's memorial service for the longtime Channel 4 sports anchor. The complete column is at http://washingtonpost.com/sports .

They are coming to town from all around the country -- television station general managers, news and sports directors, producers, cameramen, sportscasters, radio personalities. All once were employed by the late, great George Michael, a man who drove them to be better than they thought they were in a local broadcasting business that may never see his one-of-a-kind come around again. "I've been hearing from people almost every day for the last few weeks telling me they wanted to...

Regarding the Dec. 25 front-page article "Voice behind 'Machine' transformed sports on TV": I worked with the late George Michael only once, but his unexpected thoughtfulness on that occasion remains one of the highlights of my career in local television. I was working as a freelance cameraman at WRC. It was the evening of the news conference at which it would be announced that Washington was getting the baseball franchise that would become the Nationals. I was sent by the assignment desk to be the "cuts...

George Michael had a unique relationship with the Redskins, from his exclusive interviews with owner Daniel Snyder to the training camp seminars he offered players on dealing with the media. Perhaps for that reason, Coach Jim Zorn met with the team Thursday morning to talk about how large a figure Michael was, and to tell his players about Michael's death. But Zorn took it a step further after Thursday's practice, when he talked about his final visit with Michael. Zorn, who did his weekly coach's show with Michael during his first season with the Redskins,...

It's after 9 p.m. on Christmas Eve, and Joe Gibbs, a man of strong conviction, wants to talk about another man of strong conviction. "George had such great courage," the former Redskins head coach said of his friend George Michael, who died of cancer Thursday morning at age 70. "The last two years when I would talk to him to see how he was doing, he would have such concern for others. " He would often ask about Taylor, Gibbs's grandson, who was fighting leukemia. "By the time we were done, he ended up cheering me up. " Of all the...

I was an intern in the sports department of WRC-TV during the summer of 1991. This meant a lot of logging baseball games in a very specific way, highlighting in red the plays that would possibly get airtime. This meant working in an intense atmosphere where perfection was the standard. This meant getting the opportunity to see the king of D.C. area sports, George Michael, put together the best sports broadcast in town. George, who died Thursday at age 70, made a huge impact on me that summer.

Got a question about your favorite star or show? E-mail tvweek@washpost.com. Q: Can you tell me whether Boston Legal and Eli Stone will be back next season? -- Bernard Freiland, Columbia A: You're in luck. Both ABC series will return in the fall. "Boston Legal" is set to air Mondays at 10 p.m., and "Eli Stone," with Jonny Lee Miller, above, as a lawyer with various visions (including of singer George Michael), will be back Tuesdays at 10 p.m., the network said.

Through word of mouth in the community of people that revolved around and adored George Michael, I'd come to know in recent days that he was sicker than he would ever let on. And anyway, when the phone rang one recent Sunday morning George was in vintage form. He was having a good day and was in full voice, which is to say very loud, jumping from one topic to another. The Redskins stunk, the Wizards stunk, he hated a column I'd written a few days earlier. It was George unplugged, George wanting to know the latest, the same old George who'd just...

Until the very end, George Michael kept front and center in the top drawer of his desk a decades-old, chrome-plated stopwatch, the tool of his first trade and the measure of his unusual talent. Although he became most famous in Washington and across the country for his pioneering use of video highlights in a TV sports news wrapup, Michael's first career brought him a far deeper emotional bond with his audience. He was, for a generation of young people growing up in the St. Louis, Philadelphia and...