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This mandate couldn’t come quick enough for WABC. Easily the worst on-air presentation of any O&O.

Just for the record, this series of videos was posted 7-plus months ago. Things could have changed, since then, but yes, it's the only thing any of us have seen hinting at where they might be headed with the branding.

I'll repeat, since some of you are running with that screenshot... WBBM has not debuted the new look. That image is from a promotions department video from last fall. It is not necessarily a sign of their final branding.

I like the look of the wider shots. The shots that get a little tighter, like the "Sweet 16" and the "Suspected Chinese Agents Arrested" examples above, tend to make it look somewhat like a virtual set. But hey, I get it... you gotta do what you can with the space that you have. Still no sign of overall new network graphics, I see.

They all air “CBS News Now,” which has used the new graphics since its launch in July.

And WBBM's reveal ends up showing why they kept it simple with WWJ - they had no prior commitments to anything involving linear TV as they had no news to begin with. It really was just a chance to start fresh for that station. The other stations for better or worse do have at least something recognizable. I'll be honest, I was one of the anti-box people at the beginning, but after seeing all the variations I've kind of accepted them. They do seem very slapped together however, and need at least some retouching to make them fit the new image better (removing the double-eye in WCBS, maybe redesigning the star 11 for KTVT). All in all though CBS did great with the new look.

There’s too many CBS 2’s. 4 to be exact in the O&O station group. Hence why they want to give each market a unique and local feel with the call letters since channels don’t mean anything these days with streaming. This leaves WCBS the only one that kept the CBS 2 in its branding. Chicago is going the call letter route like KDKA, and KCBS focusing on KCAL instead.

I'm not saying that I don't buy that they're using a call letter box, but for reference the last time "WBBM" was a part of Channel 2's branding was 1997. Does that negate any chance of them going back that direction? Not at All- Much like the KCBS situation with the ratings, nothing can really be off the table in Chicago. What is interesting is that after 25 years, going back to calls when they happen to be the same calls as a top-rated radio station in the market who is no longer co-owned...

John & Craig have been moved around way too much. They, much like Kaity, deserve a weekday slot.

Agreed. John deserves back in the evenings. The moves the higher-ups made for (read: in spite of) him in recent years were an utter travesty.

John and Kala would be the right fit

CNN's 1-4pm ET version of CNN News Central debuted today. The open is updated to include DC landmarks and it seems Wolf has lost his studio? (The Situation Room used a flash cam again today. I was wondering if they'd go back to using the studio once rehearsals were done.) Interested to see what they do on election/primary days when they are setting up the studio and rehearsing for the evening election coverage.

Steve Harvey: Name a show that's replacing NBC 15 News at Noon and Gulf Coast Today. The National Desk! (Nope, another hour of Family Feud on top of the hour at 4: 00pm AND the 6:30 airing on WEAR!)

It intrigues me that as late as 1985, WMAQ was still using news opens from the late NewsCenter 5 era (which ended in 1982), with "Channel 5 News" awkwardly overlaid on top of the original "NewsCenter 5" title:

I *speculate* they'll let Chuck make 50 years or break the longest running anchor in America record. NBC then might buy him out, or he might opt to retire after achieving one of those. Ether way, no rush, he should stay as long as he can.

I wholeheartedly agree with you. They need to adjust their live coverage hours dynamically based on the circumstances, not solely basing everything on SPC outlooks that are issued 18-36 hours before the event. On TWC in the 90s and 2000s, they used to have shifts that were produced using one OCM and one person in the master control room pressing the buttons to run the show. It wasn't pretty, but it functioned. Automation technology has greatly advanced these days to where you can run a reasonable-quality broadcast with one or two people in the control room and one OCM in front of the camera. We've seen many nights where Carl Parker, Ray Stagich, or Mark Thibodeau break into long form programming every so often for only 30-60 seconds at a time. If they can do those short solo-hosted break-ins, why can't they stay live for longer periods of time when it really matters? What kind of extended coverage do they provide on their streaming platform? Is it hosted by OCMs, or is it automated weather maps/radar?

See regardless if its not dramatic as tornado coverage its still severe weather. That should ALWAYS be covered. I get your assumptions regarding the 10% and hatched tornado risk. Regardless there needs to be a better parameter for covering severe weather. If there are active tornado warnings and you're approaching going into programming hours they should pre-empt, period. That's the reason people turn to the weather channel anyways or at least used to. I know ways of getting warnings and keeping informed have changed since TWC formed but a channel devoted to weather should still be devoted to at least covering the severe cases of weather.

My guess is that this is a reaction to the fact that the SPC's 1am CT outlook today had a 10% hatched area for tornado risk, which SPC walked back as of the 8am CT update and moved it back down to a 5% risk area. TWC's decisions on pre-emptions this year seem to be based on hatched tornado risk areas. If there's a hatched tornado risk; they'll pre-empt, but if there's not a hatched tornado risk area, they don't pre-empt. The tornado risk areas last week that they refused to pre-empt programming for were standard 10% risk areas without the hatched area. IMO, those should be taken as seriously as a 10% hatched area, specially like last Thursday when there was a huge 45% hatched straight-line wind risk, but TWC hates covering straight-line wind events because it's not as dramatic as tornado coverage.

Sure enough, TWC added a bonus hour of coverage tonight at 8pm ET because the SPC put out an Enhanced Risk for all of the big cities in the northeast (which most of the threat seems to have flopped and/or been super mild), yet last week when the weather in the midwest was extreme, TWC wasn't there to cover it. The Northeast bias continues...

If it lasts longer than 30 days, we can call it a huge success, right?

Wow, that feels like almost a direct rip off of Night Light.

I have to wonder, could Bob Prather be heading back to Gray, especially with Bob Smith's impending retirement.....

I'm not sure if you're suggesting that CNN is using a virtual set, but they are not. The only "virtual" part is that they're using graphics on the video wall to give the appearance of multiple smaller monitors and depth.

Tamsen posted today on Instagram her father is not doing well and a lot of things happened all at once. so she flew to be with him. that could explain some of the absence, but with the new promo apparently around, I’m not sure if that means she’s not coming back but I don’t wanna ask. I don’t think it’s the right time.