Rivera was one of the first tv "reporters/journalists" who injected themselves into the story instead of making a straightforward report. Geraldo desperately wanted to make sure you knew how much he cared about the people involved in the story.
@goatprairie MY all-time favorite Hay-Raldo moment was discovered by accident. I came home early one night after smoking a little hash (or maybe a lot of hash. These things are hard to remember),and turned on the teebee to have something to do while feeding my munchies. The old ABC 20-20 show was on,and Hay-Raldo and his crew were doing an expose of a "mercenary training camp" somewhere in Georgia. It should have been named "Camp Wannabe" because it was populated primarily be wannabees with a rich fantasy life that had never served in uniform. Back then there were a lot of experienced combat veterans still young enough to take on hot missions,and it goes without question that someone with combat experience as an infantry NCO or officer were the people everybody was looking to hire,not wannabees who have memorized every Rambo movie.
Anyhow,I recognized the retired SGM running the camp,and his fingernail clippings probably have a higher IQ than Hay-raldo,so I decided it would be fun to watch. There were a bunch of funny moments,but the funniest one came near the end when the SGM looked Hay-raldo in the eye and told him on-camera "I know what kind of reporting you do,and you you alter any of the film or words spoken here by me or anyone that works for me,I will track you down wherever you are and kill you."
Hay-Raldo's eyes got so big they looked like they were on stalks,and he was instantly saturated with sweat as he turned to the camera and stuttered "You say this ladies and gentlemen! This man just threatened to kill me! If anything happens to me you will know who did it." I fully expected him to threaten to sic his mama on the SGM. I have never seen anyone as afraid as he was in my entire life. I laughed so loud I woke everyone up.
Damn shame this was in the pre-VCR days. I would love to have a copy of that to play to cheer me up occasionally.
BTW,I THINK that might have been his last appearance on 20/20,but could be wrong about that.