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Chris Bath's public farewell from Channel Seven on Sunday was, as these things go, a fairly low key affair: no tears, no flowers, and no timeslot favours as the news veteran's final bow was bumped close to nightclub hours by the three-hour foxtrot-fest that preceded it.
Taking to the air as the clock ticked past even the scheduled late start of 9.30, Bath surely understood that them's the breaks – Dancing With The Stars was once her side gig, after all. And having been in the business since David Koch's only audience for Dad jokes was his own offspring, it's doubtful much surprises her in TV land.
And so she kept it no-fuss. The moment, and its twitter hashtag, #bathiefinale, was necessarily and briefly noted at the start – a Bath plug, if you will.
Thanks for the wonderful messages for my last day @7NewsSydney Next #Bathiefinale @sundaynighton7 after @DancingAU pic.twitter.com/2Aqiez4eus— Chris Bath (@ChrisBath7)
July 24, 2015
ON NOW | Join @ChrisBath7 as she presents her final 220th edition of @sundaynighton7 #BathieFinale #SN7 pic.twitter.com/vJTeMPsxQV— Channel 7 (@Channel7)
July 26, 2015
Among those to Tweet farewell messages were Prime Minister Tony Abbott and AFL player Adam Goodes.
Thank you @TonyAbbottMHR & thank you for watching @sundaynighton7 https://t.co/w2S1ETb0mJ— Chris Bath (@ChrisBath7)
July 26, 2015
Thanks Goodesy. Watching you work now! Bring it on #GoSwans & thanks for watching @sundaynighton7 @7NewsSydney https://t.co/KjfBhbTWSe— Chris Bath (@ChrisBath7)
July 26, 2015
For the next hour Bath spent approximately 120 seconds on camera as the evening's stories unfolded, business as usual. Then she came back to say goodbye.
"I am definitely going to miss my wonderful and talented colleagues back at Sunday Night HQ, the crews, the journalists, producers, editors and support staff who tell stories with passion and integrity like no other program on the telly," Bath said.
"Sharing their reports with you has been a huge privilege and a great joy. Mel Doyle will be stepping into this role and I assure you, you will be in very good hands.
"On a personal note, I can't thank you enough for welcoming me into your homes and for making me a part of your Sunday night for so many years. Thank you for watching from the bottom of my heart."
Bath has the last laugh
This launched us into a video montage of Bath's memorable on-camera moments (and some off-stage larking), a look back that reminded us she leaves Seven having established strong journalistic chops, and career longevity deftly managed from the backburner to the breakfast hotplate, but which naturally left alone one notable career snag: Seven's souped-up star wars that earned her the rumoured in-house label 'Bath Vader'.
Bath had been savvy enough to bin that diss by including the jibe on her office farewell party invitation last week, and Sunday's public send-off was plainly no place for brawling with backstabbers. But the Bath departure and the ugly gossip surrounding it has been a reminder that television remains a curious and sometimes cruel place for women to make their mark.
Make her mark she did, as both a reporter and as a polished newsreader in an age when those two talents were no longer considered mutually exclusive. But she and her woman colleagues have also had to contend with an epidemic of 'catfight' coverage detailing their alleged rivalries and rancour. And then there's the apparent need for a woman in TV news to "humanise" herself – to become the viewer's friend: witness Bath's own eyebrow-raising stint as a jitter-bugging contestant on Dancing With The Stars.
It seems it has been ever thus. When Bath first started in broadcasting, the most famous journalist and most famous woman on the box was the impeccable Jana Wendt, and even she fell prey – the 'Perfumed Steamroller' was given a famous ad campaign makeover to the backing of Dire Straits' Lady Writer. We knew Wendt was cool and uber-competent – Nine insisted on reminding us that she was also "a woman who can laugh".
In Chris Bath's case, we know she can laugh. We also know she can dance. We don't know what she's going to do next – but here's hoping it's what she does best, leaving the sideshows and the scandals behind.