Spring Rubber

... and now that Tropical Storm Francine exists and is a threat to the US, America's Weather Center has returned to the July 29th format of originating from the FNC newsroom with a rotating cast of meteorologists joining Bob at the desk each segment.

In other news, the "new format" of America's Weather Center with Bob Van Dillen that rolled out on July 29th did not even survive the end of that very week. Once coverage of what would become Hurricane Debby started on Friday, August 2nd, the format and studio of the show went back to the old setup, and it's been that way ever since. Since Fox Weather's inception, special weather event coverage seems to always upend their schedule permanently. We're talking dating back to the December 2021 tornado outbreak that resulted in the first cancellation of America's Weather Tonight, and several weather events since then. They always seem to exit each special weather event with something permanently different with the schedule or show formatting.

That statement is so painful to read, knowing that it likely has nothing to do with what actually happened behind the scenes.

So what's the likely technical reason why this would happened? Could this be a flashcam studio that's shared by multiple networks, and the crew is responsible with changing the background between live hits? Or could this be a setup in Vance's home / hotel room where he himself would have been responsible for changing the background between live hits?

Here's another view from the opposite angle. That's quite the panoramic multi-window view of the capitol. Does anyone know if this is the same building where NBC, Fox, and C-SPAN are located, or if this is somewhere else? And do we know if this is the same building as NewsNation's previous DC studio?

Yellow and blue on a morning show... how original. The old wooden look was definitely unique. Was it the prettiest for the morning? Probably not, but it was unique.

I see that Jason posted a Fox Weather map about Tropical Storm Debby's rainfall forecast to Facebook yesterday. Wonder if that's still part of his ongoing contract.

I wonder if this means that Ari will have a permanent on-air schedule now. I know for the past couple of months, he's been appearing at random, whenever the network needed him. This morning, based on what I'm seeing, it looks like Ari hosted Fox Weather First alongside Craig, while Britta moved down to Weather Command to cover the landfall of Debby alongside Stephen.

Well well well, look who showed up at Fox Weather, starting today... Yep, that's Mike Seidel, who was laid off from TWC back in May. Today was his first day appearing with Fox Weather. Stephen and Kendall welcomed him to Fox Weather, also mentioning that Mike Seidel has been given the title of "Storm Specialist" with the network.

Britta Merwin and Ian Leonard are leading off the Tropical Depression Four coverage this morning. Guessing we'll see the normal weekend crew as part of extended coverage later today.

Yeah, it feels like it was written without any research of readily-available information.

Wow, I didn't realize that they were actually going to have the new facility ready this soon. In my mind, I was assuming either around election time or in 2025. I wonder if ABC News will have a set in the new facility ready for the election.

Fox Weather @ Night returned to the lineup tonight after several nights off the air, as Haley was working various day shift assignments the past few days. Still fun having a show that may or may not air on any given night on this ever-reliable program schedule.

I left the show on in the background throughout the afternoon. The show is almost 100% driven by conversations between Bob and other Fox Weather meteorologists and reporters. Basically every segment featured a different guest: Michael Estime, Ari Sarsalari, Ian Oliver, Kiyana Lewis, Robert Ray, and Greg Diamond (senior weather producer). Every hour is not fully live, but each hour is presented in a different order and with a slightly different arrangement of guests; for example, Robert Ray was not in hour 1, but he was in hour 2 (new) and hour 3 (recording from hour 2). On the other hand, Michael Estime led off hour 1, but hour 2 kicked off with Ari Sarsalari, who was the second guest in hour 1. The segment "Bob's Bet," where the guest who correctly answers a trivia question picks the music for tomorrow's show, returns from the beta test that they did for this show several weeks ago the last time that Bob anchored a full week of America's Weather Center.

Looks like Bob Van Dillen's new show is retaining the America's Weather Center name, but indeed, the show is now housed in the studio adjacent to the Fox News Newsroom. Michael Estime hosted Weather Command today (in for Stephen) and appears to be the first guest meteorologist on Bob's show.

It took me a few seconds to realize BVD was referring to himself and not the brand of underwear. Beyond that, I'm curious about the fact that he's wearing causal clothing, and the fact that the picture was taken inside the Fox News newsroom. I wonder if either of these things have anything to do with the new show. And on a separate note, despite the fact that Haley Meier was there Mon-Wed this week, Fox Weather @ Night did not air the entire week. Haley instead played the second fiddle role on Fox Weather Live while Kiyana hosted the show in Steve's absence. It seems a bit unusual, given that Haley has played the second fiddle role on that show in the past while still hosting Fox Weather @ Night the same evening. Makes me wonder if this is RIP to Fox Weather @ Night for the third time.

TWC rolled out "new" graphics today. Why do I put quotation marks around "new"? Well, that's because they basically said to the graphics designer, "We want the same thing as our current look, but pretend you're a graphics designer working in the mid-to-late 2000s, early HD era." My crappy phone pics likely do not do justice to the glorious, shiny 3D effects...

Haley Meier was assigned to fill in on Fox Weather First Weekend today, so that means that people who may have been tuning in tonight to see their weather for the upcoming work week are not getting that. Instead, Fox Weather switched over to reruns of Park'd at 6pm ET. The fact that Sunday-Thursday evening programming revolves around whether or not Haley Meier (and Kelly Costa before that) is available to record a show in the timeslot is just absurd. I know I said this a few posts ago, but I just cannot get over how stupid this is. I guess I could even respect putting an automated loop of weather maps in this timeslot when Haley is unavailable to do a show, but airing Park'd reruns instead is just terrible.

I woke up a bit early today. I see that Britta was in the third seat for the first hour of Weather Command, while Kendall came in for the second hour (and presumably beyond). Now that Fox Weather First is back to only three hours, I wonder if Britta and Craig will now regularly appear on the first hour of Weather Command, similar to how Britta and Jason used to do the same, the last time that Fox Weather First was a three-hour show.

With the FBN simulcast being added to weekdays, it looks like Fox Weather First has been rescued out of the small old Fox Business studio and moved back into the main Studio W. Also, that simulcasted 5am ET hour is now a two-anchor show instead of Britta solo. Looks like it's usually Craig Herrera as has been common lately.

You might even say that David is doing... Yeoman's work. I'll show myself out...

Over on WGN's side, one thing that stuck me is that on multiple occasions, Micah had to step in and re-focus the discussion, especially as it pertains to "What areas are currently under a warning, and the threat is imminent? What areas has the leading line of storms already cleared, and thus the warnings have been lifted?" This seems like something the meteorologists should be able to do on their own, but on several occasions, I found myself happy that Micah interrupted to get this pertinent information out to the viewers.

I believe last night was the first time that both Brant and Pete were away from the station during major severe weather coverage, right? Definitely a stress test for the young guns. I will say that I tended more toward ABC7 last night as a result.

Ah ok, this will actually help his job security, in that case.

Guess Max Gorden wasn't dramatic enough like Robert Ray to survive the layoffs.