Crikey

Media commentators nationwide let out a collective gasp of horror on Monday as Today Tonight anchor Naomi Robson announced her resignation after ten years at the helm. She told viewers:

I’ve been incredibly fortunate to have had your wonderful and generous support. And I can’t thank you enough for your letters, cards and emails, when I’ve got into a scrape.

From that point of view, it was a difficult decision because we’ve been through a lot together. And I feel so privileged that you’ve trusted me with your thoughts and your ideas and for sharing your lives with me. For that I am truly grateful.

Scrapes included the infamous Wa Wa episode and subsequent deportation, the make up van allegations at Beaconsfield, the confession that Robson once dated a drug dealer and the infamous lizard shirt, all of which means Naomi will be sorely missed, not just for her high couture fashion, but because she’s just so much fun to make fun of.

Amanda Meade of The Australian’s media section, she of the attack job on Naomi earlier this year, is salivating in print in anticipation of Robson’s finale.

Diary can’t wait for tomorrow night to see how Naomi Robson makes her final exit from Seven’s Today Tonight. Will there be a bloopers tape of her wearing a lizard on her shoulder? Will she have a laugh at herself by playing the infamous recording of her complaining about the f — ing autocue?

And Meade doesn’t let a good opportunity of another dig for old time’s sake pass her by:

While Seven insists Robson jumped and was not pushed, it is no secret she is damaged goods. Robson, even by the tabloid TV standards, has become a laughing stock. Once she became a target, everything she did was highlighted. Once the public learned a little more about her, the less they were taken by her.

Mark Day in The Oz is a little kinder. He says it’s not the presenter, it’s the “lizards of tabloid TV”

It is easy to send up Naomi, but it is also a tad unfair because she did survive a long time in the bizarre world of television current affairs. It is no easy task to sit at a desk five nights a week and present four to six stories focusing on human failings while maintaining your dignity and your credibility.

But the SMH’s Radar kicks Naomi while she’s down:

Seven has evidently judged that Naomi’s image was so bad that it brought the show into disrepute. And given how bad the show is, that’s a far more damning indictment on her character than anything I can write.

Vale, Naomi. I would write “farewell”, but I don’t particularly want you to, and I have every confidence you won’t.

But here at Crikey, we hold a strange affection for Naomi, and in a tribute to the Queen of Mea Culpas, we’ve pulled together a series of YouTube delights, to bring you a snaphot of a stellar career:

There’s the Apology for Dropping the F Bomb.

Naomi Addresses the Wa Wa controversy.

Naomi’s Awfully Unfunny April Fools Joke.

and Naomi Takes a Swipe at Media Watch.

And for those who like to grieve and/or gloat in large public displays, the Committee for the Removal of Imbecilic Television Anchors, aka “CRITA’, are holding a small soiree in Melbourne tomorrow night to mark the “devastating loss.”