TSSZNews

I've not seen NBC do it for the most part - most of the time you see Today rerun or Access. CBS still has an Overnight News but it's taped in advance, so maybe adding EN to that gives the affiliates who want it a breather off buying syndie shows. Though with how much they've touted CBSN (where Evening airs at I think 10PM ET) and now rolling out on the O&Os, I don't really see the purpose.

They have been hiring for technical roles in DC, and there's always been a control room there, so it's safe to say at least a good chunk of the production is coming from DC.

Aesthetically, it's the nicest set they've had since...well, the last Washington set. I wish it didn't give such a CNN / FOX O&O feel, but that's sort of to be expected with the new EP coming from the Situation Room. I hope they find good use for those floor panels. Visually, it's the most polished look since the Couric era. They really could have put their money where their mouth is and led with politics tonight if that's the whole reason to set up shop there. A little disappointed it was weather instead.

That's the big problem with the show moving to Washington, though--does the American public really want even the perception of another newscast focused on politics when there are so many dedicated to the cause, and so many speaking to any number of different politically-minded choirs? I'm not saying leading with weather every night is the way forward, either. There's room for one of the national newscasts to do in-depth reporting every night, CBS would fit the bill like a glove, and they used to do it during the Pelley era. Even something akin to CBC's current format of The National where it's not a clean introduction of the news of the day, but rather an analytical approach to the news with investigative reporting sprinkled in, would work. Instead, they're trying to copy ABC and it shows.

The whole thing's kind of all over the place -- the open screams Linear Drift, the lower-thirds feel like RenderOn, and I see some hints of the last-gen Access Hollywood look later in the show. Their headline bed is a library track from NSM and if you were jamming to the opening to Telemundo like I was, I have good news.

In another universe, it is! Nice look--if it indeed was in-house, well done. Hope it makes its way to other stations in the group.

Is....is that SCOTT CHAPIN???

Even more interesting on that KJRH tape - there's a cut of Finale used in one of the weather promos.

Interesting time to experiment given we're at the November book...

It's weird because the previous FTN studio was perfectly serviceable for the Evening News and was only a year or so old - and IIRC Norah anchored EN from there a couple times and it looked really good. An 11PM or otherwise late national news won't work - too many are in bed by that hour and it would probably need to be "edgy" to have a snowball's chance. What I do think would work is someone expanding their evening newscast to an hour each night, so there's more opportunity to produce and air stories with depth and not try to jam everything most of the public already knows into 90 second packages--basically put on a watered down 60 Minutes, but every night. That's basically what Scott Pelley's Evening News was, and even in a 30 minute slot it was excellent. As the syndication market falters and more programming's coming in-house, I wonder what network would have the guts to try it. CBS, honestly, is a prime candidate. Their syndie arm just dropped the Insider and while Inside Edition filled the hole in a lot of markets, that time could absolutely be spent putting better content on the air. I bet plenty of station groups would love to not have to pay for another half-hour of programming for their stations.

Kinda wonder if ViacomCBS would buy MediaWorks out - it would be an excellent complement to TEN in Australia and it absolutely makes sense to do in this "bigger is better" world of scale.

Based on the reactions to this-- I cannot wait for the shitstorm to ensue when WNEP picks up the Tegna theme.

Careful what you wish for...

That's fair - but I've seen faster course corrections. I wonder if the FTVLive piece alludes more to the idea of giving local stations more autonomy in the presentation. They haven't really messed with KFMB since the acquisition, for example. KPNX, KGW, KIII and KING have all largely been left alone in this. Same can probably be said for WTLV/WJXX and WBIR. I'd argue WVEC's largely been left out of the experiment--probably because they learned their lesson the one night they demoed a "different" 11PM newscast live (wish I could find that because it makes all the current experience on the air at the other stations look like 60 Minutes!) KUSA found success with Next and they remain on solid ground. I suspect WBNS and WTHR will be able to stay the course as well. It's mostly been the runners-up or bottom-dwellers--and, for some reason, Cleveland and Dallas--that have had to deal with this. This really isn't hard - all they had to do was find a way to replicate the Next format at the rest of their stations. Maybe there's hope yet if a course correction is indeed coming.

I'm not convinced the FTVLIve story is accurate, simply because I can't imagine anyone high up in the company would have allowed WKYC's blanket rebrand to go through were that the case.

KTVU may want to have a word re: the ratings, but that aside, SVN definitely ranks up there and absolutely is the model almost everything we know about FOX today is based off of - from FOX News Channel, to sports, to a lot of the older O&Os even. You could even say that about HDH to an extent--and they're still pulling in great numbers in Boston without a network affiliation. I suspect the Ansin family will sell when Ed dies and it will be to FOX - both in Miami and Boston. Would be really interesting to see if they're handled with kid gloves as an O&O.

Are we sure Novocom didn't...you know, do that look for WESH?

Looks like KYW commissioned some updates to Enforcer...

The Morning Exchange comparison is the most interesting observation of the bunch - because that's a format that has and can worked well in Cleveland and attract some new eyeballs.

Does the left bar show drive times or traffic information in the morning? That's something where it would be extremely useful to have in a prominent, constant spot in the morning. Other than that - I'm willing to give it a "first day" pass, but they don't have much time to figure this out.

If you look further down in the article, there's a video embed that essentially details the mission statement of each of the new shows with talent included. The messaging is definitely MUCH stronger on those spots--I get a real CCO vibe from them. I get the sense they want to try and give all the dayparts a feel and personality akin to KUSA's Next--appropriate to each timeslot. That's probably not going to work because as excellent a show as it is, Next is still personality driven and it's not as simple as taking that format to other markets...but logo aside, I kinda hope it does?

You know what it reminds me of? And that was the channel's best era. As much as I want WKYC to open up that huge newsroom and do a similar style show, it's Tegna, so... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Ah yes, the Land of the 3. Oh wait--sorry--wrong 3.

A real shame KOIN dropped The Unexpected—they commissioned some really nice updates to that package. That aside, I’m not as thrilled with the graphics as others here, but it works well as a non-network branded package, much like the “ABC” Nexstar package.

Looks a little like it's trying to be WISH, but flatter.