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I had the honor of going to the same church as Donna when I lived near Baton Rouge for a brief time, couldn’t be nicer. RIP to a great anchor, and a great person.

Wow I am hoping and praying that Carly is okay. She answered one person on her Facebook saying "thanks for you're message" an hour ago.

I'm not gonna lie, this one hurts...and those living in the Baton Rouge market or has worked in the market would say the same thing. I watched her in the late 80s and the 90s with George Sells while I was in junior high and high school. She was awesome at her job and an even better person off the set. My condolences to her family and the Channel 9 family.

I wonder how much longer Nexstar is planning on running WJZY under the FOX O&O branding. Will it be like WJW where it took a good seven or eight years before they even tweaked the brand long after Fox had sold them off? The current WJW look would look good on them.... as opposed to what happened at WXIN which got the current Nexstar FOX package.

^ if you think about it GMA, Today and The Early Show each had heavy wood toned sets back then. Today, the sets are much more modern looking because that’s what’s in. Times change. I personally liked when the set was flipped with the windows behind home base. The show could use a retooling certainly but I’m not sure all the criticisms are fair. GMA is really good at what it does and keep in mind that since it’s inception in 1975 it was always geared to be the more informal / entertainment geared morning option. For the first 20 years they anchored from a living room set and was hosted by actors.

Agreed that the first 45 mins of GMA is still pretty good, from a news perspective. George is sharp with his news analysis and his interviews with political newsmakers. If what you’re looking for is feel good/celebrity soft news, the 8am hour (especially during normal times) is right up your alley. With Michael Strahan, I just don’t understand the logic of having him pretend to be a hard news journalist during the 7am hour. At the very least, he should be removed from the top of the show. Amy Robach, TJ Holmes and Cecilia Vega would be better fits. And I think we are all on the same page with the set — it really needs to go.

Fact. "Today" has plugged the hell out of "Peacock" the last couple months on the show, and "CTM" loves having Simon & Shuster authors (co-owned with CBS) on regularly as well as giving rave reviews to that NFL game on Nickelodeon earlier this month. Is there anything wrong with plugging sister networks/companies? Of course not. But it seems to be happening way more than ever on morning TV.

Agreed. GMA is just over the top tabloid, with frequent usage of "breaking overnight", "shocking" and "dramatic video". (Today is following suit). There's some good bits you can get out of the first 30-45 minutes, but that's about it. I find myself tolerating Weekend GMA better. I don't' mind a distinction in the morning shows. One being the high energy show like current GMA or the Today Show in Australia, one being the slower paced more intellectual program like CBS This Morning or the old U.S. Today show, etc.. . But GMA can be unwatchable at times especially with the silly Disney promotion and celebrity fluff. The current Today Show is a bit less extreme but still flawed. Today seems to be going the more human interest, "authentic moments", emotional, laugh, cry, lifestyle" route. But GMA is still number one, either because audiences haven't seen older GMA and Today to make a comparison, or TV viewers are just making the best out of the current crop of morning shows. Overall, CBS This Morning IMO is the best out of the bunch, news and lifestyle discussion wise.

In Houston, ABC Owned KTRK ABC 13 still have its "Cares About Texas" campaign. I think its still be used in PSA commercials.

Agree that the top 45-60 minutes are still relatively valuable (read: better than nothing) when it comes to gathering info if it's your only form of morning news. The trend has been in the works for a long time now, but I'm sure the increased polarization and political nature of the news cycle has forced a lot of the soft material to dip into a significantly more syrupy-sweet feel-good infomercial-adjacent nature to balance the harshness of the rest out. After all, the bar for "good" news is so low now, so of course, it has little substance and works well for settling into a daze of background noise and dopamine-fueled consumerism. GMA will likely never go back to something more serious and news-heavy, given how good their ratings are right now. Also, yes, the set is hiddy. Even the show during the days of when Gibson and Sawyer were there made so much better use of the Times Square factor. Now, they could basically be in a remote studio and no one would bat an eye. And I like blue, but that extreme splash of blue everywhere with the occasional and awkward yellow or orange make no sense. Throw the whole thing away and start again.

It's not just the set.... which looks like the inside of a raspberry blue Slurpee machine at 7-11. I started taking a look at GMA again recently after not watching it for decades. I kid you not... let's just say the last time I really watched was the Hartman/Gibson/Lunden eras. Yup, call me Rip Van Winkle; I'm that old. Hey, I was busy at work putting food on the table and a roof over my head. I've recently had some time away from work and decided to take a peek. The program nowadays is an unwatchable trainwreck of show stacking, plus a 2 hour Disney Corporation infomercial. They grimly report about 400,000 Coronavirus deaths in one segment with super sad faces... and a split second later (with practically zero transition) they overexcitedly shill the newest Star Wars/Muppets crap that's going to be on Disney+ with a toothy grin. Can't forget the latest Disney park updates as well. I hope people who are watching GMA are taking it with a grain of salt. Robin Roberts and George Snuffleupugus are great anchors, but their talents are being wasted on the wrong show.

Agree. This set is way too busy and over the top. But I guess ABC likes that because that’s what they’re all about. They overhype everything. Everything is “breaking.” They never speak in past tense. And they only know how to describe things in hyperbole. So I guess it makes sense they’d build a set and chose a color to commit visual assault on the viewers, in addition to verbal/editorial assault. The new TV3 plays into this as well.

I completely agree. I am never a fan of change for the sake of change -- which this seems.

I really like CBS This Morning, though I do miss The Early Show. I usually watch it in the mornings if I'm not watching KDKA's AM news on WPCW.

Warren Woods, a Saskatchewan sportscaster (previously with STV/Global Regina) and radio host, died from COVID-19 complications yesterday at the age of 66 https://awfulannouncing.com/international/canadian-sportscaster-warren-woodsy-woods-passes-away-at-66-after-battle-with-covid-19.html

Baton Rouge Television and WAFB are mourning the loss of legendary anchor Donna Britt. Britt passed away this morning after losing her battle of ALS. Donna Britt was 62. Thoughts, prayers, and condolences are with Donna's family and to her extended family at WAFB 9 News. https://www.wafb.com/2021/01/21/beloved-wafb-anchor-donna-britt-passes-away/