Geoffrey

Colleen McVey's goodbye from News 12 Long Island tonight: http://longisland.news12.com/story/40843241/after-3-decades-on-the-air-news-12s-colleen-mcvey-signs-off

They went back to the original Jeff Glor look with the show logo in a horizontal banner, but the red lower-thirds have been turned blue. (Glor's logo eventually got moved into a box on the left side.) I do think the blue looks way better, though still overly simple and uninspired. I'm surprised they went so heavy on the New York City skyline for a broadcast that is leaving New York in the next couple months. Perhaps it's to make the transition to Washington even more obvious. But the buildings do look nice in that studio. At least twice, they put Norah's name on a lower-third. I'm not used to seeing a network evening anchor have their name show up in anything other than a logo during his or her broadcast. Super nerdy detail but this is TVNT so I had to bring it up. The broadcast seemed to have more urgency. It felt tired under Glor.

The CBSNNY ticker is better. I hate endless scrolls. This is more of a "flipper" in most parts. But it's too slow animating between sections. A seven-day forecast for multiple towns seems a bit much. I think it'd be better if it was a today/tonight/tomorrow type of thing with a few words describing the weather, not just icons and high temps. Also, the ticker doesn't match the lower thirds. The time and temperate doesn't line up with the CBS 2 bug. But the CBSNNY graphics have been creeping up on TV. They use the same look in full screens, maps, and the "credit" graphic on the upper left. By the way, they still use the scrolling ticker during CBS This Morning.

This seems so ridiculous. The segment is only important because of the talent, not because of the information being presented? Not sure if I mentioned this earlier but I would be in favor of eliminating regular traffic reports on newscasts. First of all, it doesn't affect a lot of the audience. (I have no idea what the percentage might be. Wish I had more data.) Second, my guess is that, by the time you get to the area of the incident, it'll be different. A slowdown caused by a normal accident might have been solved. A new incident may have popped up. Traffic on radio seems to make way more sense. (Not to mention Google Maps and Waze.) Of course, if there's a major incident, that could be reported more as a news story, perhaps with the chopper. But traffic reports shouldn't be dependent on whether the traffic anchor is available. It should be based on the need of the segments.

The CBS Evening News with Norah O'Donnell premieres from New York July 15th and it looks like the logo will be changing to blue.

I think what's more problematic than him having fun while the rest of his colleagues are working is that he's bragging to viewers that he doesn't stay in New York. Sure, he might be there four mornings a week, but it's not really his home anymore.

News 12 Long Island morning anchor Carol Silva announced this morning that she will be retiring at the end of December after nearly 30 years at the station. It's always sad to see longtime talent you grew up watching leave.

I agree with everything you said, and especially this line.

On the third day of the revamped broadcast, CBS made an adjustment to the graphic behind Gayle. It now looks a little bit less ridiculous.

Took me a while to notice but they sort of did a 180. They used to have the green room visible behind the main shot of the anchors but now they've spun around and use the side with the windows overlooking beautiful West 57th Street. Also, I don't believe they used the control room look on the one set of screens this morning. (Before today and dating back to CBS This Morning's debut, the control room-style of monitors was the default, but was sometimes replaced with other graphics and video.) (Screenshots below are from just after the Eye Opener last Thursday and this morning.)

CBS This Morning is pushing the "CTM" branding. (Not sure it'll ever be quite as recognized as "GMA.") Some of the graphics seem OK but I'm not liking the new lower-thirds... They look like something I'd have created myself ten years ago. Feels like a giant step back in terms of design. Same music. Eye Opener is still there. Despite the very light promos, the format seems to be the same, at least judging from the first few minutes.

I really hope the new graphics don't look like this cartoonish mess.

No.

I've seen this idea used before, though I can't remember where (possibly WBBM?). It was either about an empty studio or an empty newsroom. I don't mind it, though the execution seems off. And showing the anchors at the desk at end feels like it undoes the whole premise of the promo.

Page Six has been good with their CBS scoops lately so I think this is likely. My guess is that they have one source, though, and that source really doesn't like Norah for whatever reason. (Perhaps Norah IS bad. Perhaps the source is jealous of her success.) Also, how is Gayle pushing Norah out if CBS was already trying to get Norah to replace Jeff? This is a lot of changes, though. Kind of daring. But it's probably necessary. I do feel bad for Jeff... One day you're getting a big promotion and becoming the face of the network, the next you're being blamed for not being able to fix decades of struggles. But he was not the right pick. (I wish they'd bring Scott Pelley back... He might have been awkward but his writing was good and he had the trust.) I didn't think John Dickerson was good for mornings... Too bad he can't go back to Face The Nation.

Appreciate the update. So weird.

They just didn't do traffic today??

Good catch! As usual in recent years, CBS 2 seems to be doing things in their piecemeal style, which results in a sloppy on-air appearance. Why move the bug but not reconfigure the lower-third banners? I'd imagine that's coming next but what's with the on-air testing? I just went back and checked the noon broadcast. It seems CBS 2 had no idea what they were doing with the bug. They used the "new bug" at the beginning, then reverted back to the original position at 12:01, then moved it back to the new spot at 12:05. But then it was back in the original spot after the first commercial break and seems to have remained there for the rest of the newscast. Oh, and the left side of the lower-thirds haven't been 4:3 safe since this package debuted a few years ago because that's where they stick things like "Breaking News" and story-specific text. But the bug on the right had been 4:3 safe until today. I'm interested to see how long until they make the adjustments to the lower-thirds and if they can use the full screen for the seven-day forecast (that five-plus-two look should have died years ago but was a holdover of John Bolaris' "+2" thing... Yes, it's that old). (And my fingers are crossed for a complete redesign... This package is sloppy all over.) Update: WLNY has moved the bug over to the right as well tonight.

I also noticed the similarity with Fox News' look having the show title on the lower line of the lower-third. I'm really not a fan of the new lower-thirds. Before today, for the last few years, lower-thirds were pretty much only used to identify CBS News correspondents and no one else. Now they're a permanent fixture on the screen, like the other two evening newscasts. And CBS's are huge. They have two different banners for one-line headlines and one us a big red one. I don't understand why they're using two. The red one matches the one used to identify people (which spells out "Senator" for the first time I can remember instead of abbreviating it). It's just really ugly and lacks any design. I'm expecting them to make modifications in the coming days... perhaps either to remove the show title completely or to have it be replaced by the L3 for people when that pops up. We'll see. That "Evening Newsfeed" segment right before the first tease felt gimmicky and reminded me of World News Tonight. Then the first tease was correspondent-driven with no VO from Glor. The open is similar to what it had been but they rearranged the way it looks... the and changing of the pictures no longer seems to "match" the music. The studio has been darkened and Glor sits for most of the broadcast, unlike Pelley, who stood for most of it.

CBS This Morning's graphics changes, particularly the lower-thirds, constantly seem to be an evolution rather than a huge change. Interesting how the elements aren't connected... Reminds me of CNN. Now the text is centered. I'm not a fan of how the angle on the right side of the lower-third, as rkolsen pointed out, seems to be random. It never seems to "go" with the CBS bug at all. (Also, is the bug necessary when it's already in the CBS This Morning logo on the left side?) I do like how the lower-thirds continue to treat names/titles differently than the rest of the text they display, with the colors from the top and bottom elements swapping for people. I also like how they continue to have a different color scheme for politics (and, presumably, breaking news).

I hope the new set uses the correct logo in all places! I'm surprised it's going to take so long.

In case it's not obvious, the part with the drop-down weather monitor is also virtual. Yes, CBS 2 is still using chromakey for weather but does a pretty good job of making it look like part of their studio.

As someone who has worked with Cindy, I'm very happy to see her get this kind of attention. She is one of the kindest people you will meet and I'm pretty sure everyone who has ever met her has the utmost admiration for her.

The open looks very nice... but isn't it too focused on New York? Wouldn't it be more appropriate to feature the country or even the world? Anyone want to place bets as to whether they include the tree, maybe with some snowflakes in the air, come December? The lower-thirds graphics, particularly the "coming up" set, feel very "local news" to me.

How strange it was turning on CBS 2 News at Noon and seeing so many unfamiliar faces: Jessica Moore anchoring the newscast solo and Nicole Mitchell doing the weather. (This was even stranger considering that they sent weekend morning meteorologist Vanessa Murdock outside to report on the heat... They couldn't have used a familiar face to do the weather and maybe a reporter outside?) This comes as the station seems to be experimenting with a bunch of different new reporters, all female. It makes CBS 2 feel unfamiliar with amateur.