The TV Zone

ABC News just released a few additional details on the big Charles Gibson/Sarah Palin debriefing - the only major network interview the McCain campaign's agreed to. The headlline: Outtakes of the interview will be EVERYWHERE on ABC Thursday and Friday.

Says ABC, "The first excerpts will air on Thursday’s 'World News with Charles Gibson' and 'Nightline,' followed by 'Good Morning America,' 'World News,' '20/20' and 'Nightline' on Friday. Additional portions will air across ABC News’ platforms, including ABC News Radio, ABC News NOW, ABCNEWS.com, and ABC NewsOne beginning Thursday."

The interview is, of course, a big deal and not for exclusivity reasons alone; Palin remains a cipher to most and Oprah's refusal to even have her on her show until after the election has even made the entire process a controversial one. Gibson - handed one of the biggest scoops of his career- has already been made out to be a patsy in some corners of the all-knowing-all-seeing blogosphere (Josh Marshall of "TPM" has declaimed that it will be "unwatchable.")

My sense: It'll be fine. Gibson's actually a pretty good interviewer - fair, down the middle, no tricky questions. He can be a softie, too - some of the interviews with Hillary during the campaign were marshmallows, but some were not. In any event, viewers'll know a lot more about the woman from Wasilla by Friday than they do now...

Another thing to keep in mind: This interview will fall on Sept. 11, and I'm sure the coincidence hasn't escaped the notice of the Mc Campaign, which perhaps even orchestrated the timing. Knowing Charlie's in Alaska through the middle of this week for the interview, they had to know that outtakes would air on Nine Eleven. Why important? Because Palin automatically now becomes allied with one of the most important dates in modern history in the eyes and minds of viewers.