Jase

Rob Stafford anchors final newscast

Sally Schulze leaving WFLD

Sally started out as a writer at WFLD working her way up to anchor launching 'First at 4' newscast with Anthony Ponce in 2020.  

Some clarity….

ABC News launches internal investigation into Holmes/Robach affair

Worth noting is the possibility of Holmes being involved with a third individual and that ‘the review [investigation] focuses on morality language in Disney's corporate handbook.

4 hours ago, Georgie56 said:

With the film and TV industry growing in Atlanta and the state of Georgia overall, I don’t understand why CNN would want to minimize their presence in Atlanta. 

They have to cut cost anywhere and everywhere. No reason to hang on to large amounts of space that will likely go underutilized. They announced plans to move the CNN LA bureau to WBD offices in Burbank a couple of days ago. It's safe to assume they will continue to consolidate space as much as possible moving forward.

25 minutes ago, kshow said:

 

DeMarco started in early November.

The guy (can’t recall his name) who reads the news headlines welcomed him to the ABC News family yesterday so I assumed that was DeMarco’s first day on-air.

8 hours ago, Geoffrey said:

I wonder if there may be more happening behind the scenes for ABC to have taken them off the air after having a few days to look into this last week and over the weekend.

Something tells me that management was caught off guard about Holmes' 'relationship' with another ABC News employee (a former GMA producer) that they felt that a deeper investigation, if you will, needed to happen. Plus, someone likely voiced a concern about the two, for whatever reason, that forced management to pull them.

We likely won't know anything (and probably shouldn't) so it's just a waiting game at this point. I will say that Stephanie Ramos and DeMarco Morgan (who's first day with ABC News was yesterday I believe) seem to be a pretty good pair from what i saw briefly yesterday and today.

On 12/8/2022 at 9:21 AM, WeatherandTraffic said:

https://www.ftvlive.com/sqsp-test/2022/12/7/resurfacing-in-la

 

He's leaving for KCBS/KCAL. I really thought he was going to replace Brant Miller when he retires. So does Alicia move to the 11am and 4pm and be the main fill in for Brant and Iisha gets mornings, which he is pregnant btw. 

If true, they likely will find someone other than Alicia to succeed Paul at 11A & 4P. Brant doesn't appear to want to retire (maybe he's trying to outlast Skilling at WGN???) so whomever they hire would have to have a lot of patience. 

7 hours ago, mrschimpf said:

If NewsNation blows this chance to get her on Morning in America they're completely lost. This is one case where you go for it, current talent be damned.

 

And why Discovery is still not considering winding down networks continues to be beyond me; I know the RTC is why, but there is no reason for Destination America and Discovery Family to be on the air. Now with HLN there are 5-6 channels that should be gone.

NN would be foolish not to make an offer, but they’re not the brightest bunch. 
 

I think winding down networks is a real possibility in the very near future. With the stock price taking some major hits this year, they likely don’t want to have to deal with the upheaval winding down networks would bring.

This is a long shot for sure… but I wouldn’t be surprised if they consolidated their sports programming and create a sports network(s) again.

42 minutes ago, MorningNews said:

Maybe it’s fair to say tabloids and social media made a much bigger deal of this than needed be. The two have been separated from their marriages for a while now and are two consenting adults which the DailyMail piece buried in their story. 
 

Still a surprising story and I think it’ll be sometime before ABC has the two of them on air together though I think the best way to defend them from a rag piece and invasion of their privacy is to have them operate BAU. The duo are a strong part of the show’s sustained success.

I would argue that there is no reason to delay their return to working together. Yes, the optics aren’t ideal, but trying to ‘wait things out’ until the dust settles only provides people with the opportunity to continue to dig up more dirt, etc…

It is what it is.
 

As long as their relationship doesn’t effect their work and/or create an environment were others are effect by their actions, then there shouldn’t be a problem.

Rob had a pretty good run at WMAQ and for 10 years prior to that with Dateline. Guessing Patrick gets the 4P back with Stefan picking up the 5P and 6P newscasts.

1 hour ago, Geoffrey said:

I know they're public figures but that story and those photos feel incredibly creepy.

It's as if someone hired a p.i to follow them rather than a random paparazzi stumbling onto the two at a bar or something.

1 hour ago, 24994J said:

 

Yes.

They should have kept Patrick with Michelle rather than (unofficially) promoting JC. Not sure what the thought process is there (...if there is one).

14 minutes ago, NBC 5 Chicago said:

Also, Lauren Petty moved from reporting weekday mornings to full feature health reporter. WMAQ hasn't had that since Nesita Kwan  who left in 2015.

Solid choice.

Evrod made his debut last week. He will be anchoring weekend mornings (with Kate) and reporting during the week. That said, not sure who anchors with Michelle (JC maybe?) weekday mornings.

1 hour ago, WeatherandTraffic said:

That's it for Alan Krashesky. A true professional, class act of a journalist, reporter and anchor. He had the best retirement speech I've ever heard. Who will be his replacement. I prefer someone who can balance out Cheryl Burton. Rob is good for 4pm and 7pm newscasts as I said before. But. he is not top anchor material and pairing him with Cheryl Burton at 10pm is opening the door for the other stations to catch up in ratings. Ravi, Terrell, and Mark Rivera would be my top contenders for the lead anchor spot. Rob Elgas is not fit for the role. but he'll end up getting it and Ravi gets shafted yet again. 

WGN will likely continue nipping at WLS's heels, but it's highly unlikely any station will be able to overtake them overall.

Nice and simple set overall. However, I don't like those 'clamps' above/below the three video monitors and the desk is meh..

11 minutes ago, Roadrunner said:

It did feel weird how things just happened today. Probably reveals a slight bit of the tension behind-the-scenes. Shep usually has a short 1-minute news segment in the middle of Closing Bell: Overtime at 4:30 and instead of that today, the anchor said "we have some news of our own today" and then just acknowledged that The News was being canceled. It was definitely spontaneous that the newscast was being cancelled for the day because they then replaced the hour with a documentary they filmed and debuted more than a year ago about the 2021 boom in retail trading. All the usual promos for The News was scrapped throughout the day. I don't expect much for Shep's departure either. I'm also a little curious about what will happen to the reporters they hired for the operation; hopefully their jobs aren't just toast like that as well.

 

There's genuinely so much CNBC could do given the resources they already have. It's not like Bloomberg hasn't shown how they can distribute/air their worldwide programming. But, oh well...

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/11/03/cnbc-cancels-the-news-with-shepard-smith-after-two-years.html

Two key things from the article....

'Smith’s show will end at an unspecified date later this month. His team includes about 20 people. The company will work over the coming weeks to help employees affected by the cancellation find other potential opportunities across NBC News Group.'

'While other news organizations such as CNN are going through cost cutting measures, the decision to replace Smith’s show with a nightly business program is strategic in nature. Sullivan is attempting to clarify CNBC’s brand as specifically targeting business, given the many choices on TV and on the internet for more general news, he said in the e-mail.'

2 hours ago, jrogo said:

Bummer, I always enjoyed watching Shep whenever I got the chance, he anchored very straight forward news, just like he promised he would. I’m surprised NBCU didn’t move him to streaming.
 

Based off the reaction from social media, it appears people liked him and would watch him else where. 
 

I could see him anchoring a news hour on CNN *if* it was the right situation, pay and format. 60 Minuets or something streaming could be options. BBC News is set to launch new World News programs based out of D.C/NYC, that would be a great fit. 

As for CNBC, I agree, they should just join CNBC World, it’d be better than shark tank and a great alternative to cable “news” channels.

 

Interestingly The News isn’t on tonight…..

Moving him to streaming and with him taking over NBC News Daily (the version that is simulcast on NBC and NBC News Now) could be an option. Hopefully they can find a role for him somewhere. 

7 hours ago, CLETVFan said:

Apparently, reports had the new network chief hoping that Tapper was going to be the new face of primetime.  That didn't look like it was going to happen.

Had the ratings improved, they ‘likely’ would’ve kept him there in prime time. Also, Tapper wasn’t too keen on working the night shift anyway.

2 hours ago, swillh2k2 said:

 

Mentioned it in Discord, but Chris Licht at least has to give Shep a call, right? It's almost too good a fit with the vision he has for CNN.

I can't see him going to CNN in part because when he left FNC, it appeared that he wanted to get away from being on a 'opinion' heavy network like MSNBC or CNN. Being on CNBC was, in some way, a perfect fit for him. Now with both CNN/WBD and NBCUniversal looking to cut cost, not sure where Shep could land.

2 hours ago, mre29 said:

I wonder if Nexstar will change the network's name since it'll clearly be a very different beast from what it's been.

 

It would cost millions to re-brand the network, so a name change isn’t going to happen anytime soon. Plus, one would hope they learned a lesson when they renamed WGN America before getting rid of the non-news programming.

3 hours ago, CLETVFan said:

No back orders for some of the new shows!

https://deadline.com/2022/11/the-winchesters-amp-walker-independence-no-back-orders-cw-cutbacks-season-2-canceled-renewed-1235159619/

1 hour ago, Adam MadMan said:

In other cost cutting news, The CW is considering cutting license fees for dramas to $1 million across the board.

Hopefully, once they hire their programming chief, they can nail down what type of network they want the CW to be. I fear this may turn into a NewsNation situation were programming is all over the place and shows are incompatible with each other. I get wanting to save money and whatnot, but that can't be done overnight. They need slow down a bit and plan things out.  

On 10/17/2022 at 11:38 PM, 24994J said:

NBC 5 is now a tie-optional operation, and I'm not sure how to feel about it.

 

Yeah... it's way too casual of a look for a news anchor (regardless of the time of day). Not sure if this is an attempt to appeal to a younger demo, but this isn't the way to do it.

54 minutes ago, NowBergen said:

The statement NBCU/Comcast said in a presentation this week was that is it under evaluation.  Lot's of "done deal" speculation is out there.  I would imagine it gets complicated as they have to deal with the producers of 10 pm shows, especially Dick Wolf who would lose two hours of content.  Would it mean Saturday becomes appointment TV like it was in the days of All in the Family, Mary Tyler Moore and Carol Burnett?  That ship sank decades ago.

Wolf and NBC have a partnership that has lasted more than 3 decades and I'm certain the two can work something out that benefits them both. The Chicago shows and SVU are in the last (of a 3 yr) renewal deal so discussions/renew talks about those shows were going to happen anyway. 

What I could see happening is dramas having shorter seasons (which wouldn't be a bad thing).

Even without Alan, WLS will remain in great position overall in comparison to say WMAQ and WBBM with their current anchor roster.
 

I could see small changes happening with ‘planning for the future’ being pushed down the line (in another 5-10 years maybe).

3 minutes ago, 24994J said:

 

Nope. The long left and right side walls, with the mounted monitors are hard set, but everything up-set from the cameras is virtual. Only the desk and anchors (ha) are real. It's all a green screen, otherwise. You can see all that in the OP link.

Yes. I see now. Nevertheless, a really cool effect. Not 'feeling' the graphics, but I can get past that.