bc485

Fox 5 cut its 5:00 p.m. newscast to 30 minutes yesterday in order to once again air The D&A Show at 5:30 p.m.

Fox 5 is preempting the news once again, this time tomorrow night at 10:30 for a Rosanna Scotto special with Jennifer Lopez. The same special will also air at 9:30 tomorrow morning, preempting Good Day New York. [MEDIA=twitter]743521387428593665[/MEDIA]

The New York City / WCVB connection is pretty extensive. Here's a sample: Phil Lipof, the soon-to-be former 5:00 p.m. anchor at WCVB, joined from WABC a few years ago. Erika Tarantal, the current noon anchor at WCVB, joined from WNBC a few years ago. Reid Lamberty, the current weekend anchor at WCVB, previously worked at WCBS and WNYW (where he anchored Good Day Wake Up, the same newscast Ben Simmoneau anchored at Fox 5). Steve Lacy, Fox 5's current 5:00 and 10:00 p.m. anchor, joined Fox 5 from WCVB, where he a weekend anchor. Shiba Russell, formerly a WNBC anchor, came to WNBC from WCVB, where she was a weekend anchor.

I don't understand why they would preempt half of the 5:00 p.m. newscast for this show. I'm not going to comment on the content of the program itself, but why not try a show like this on a weekend morning or even preempt half of the 9:00 GDNY hour on a summer Friday to air this? I guess we shouldn't be surprised; after all, this is a station that has regularly preempted the second half of the 10:00 p.m. newscast for "After Empire," and "Friday Night Live." I'm all for trying new things and experimenting, but the decision to preempt the news for this lifestyle/entertainment programming seems to send the message that Fox 5 isn't really serious about the news.

I've noticed this, too, and always wondered why Priolo and Drew are the fill ins and not Huddy. Not for anything, but you'd think they would want someone with extensive national experience and a personality filling in on the main show. Maybe it is a personality thing, but it also could be a contractual issue

Juliet Huddy tweeted on Friday that Robert Moses, Teresa Priolo, Kerry Drew, and "possibly others for now" will be co-anchoring Good Day Early Call and Wake Up with her in the interim. For the first two days of this week, Robert Moses has anchored. Before Ben was hired, Antwan Lewis was the primary fill-in anchor between Steve Lacy's departure for evenings in January 2013 and Ben's start in June 2013, at which time Antwan was named weekend evening anchor. I think it is possible that Antwan will fill in again at some point... [MEDIA=twitter]736152025562533888[/MEDIA]

Dana Tyler filled in for Kristine Johnson today at 5:00 (alongside Dick Brennan, who was in for Maurice DuBois). This was a very rare 5:00 anchor appearance for Dana. Usually they'll have Alice Gainer as the main fill in for Kristine at 5:00 (Alice was also working today - she reported at 5:00).

Occasionally, but it usually does not impact on her Fox 5 duties.

Ben posted on his Facebook fan page that the decision to leave was his own. Fox 5 has posted video of his Good Day Wake Up farewell: http://www.fox5ny.com/good-day/146354469-video Ben's departure is a huge loss to Fox 5. He was a great anchor and reporter, and his chemistry with Juliet Huddy was very strong and unique. He also did a great job filling in for Greg Kelly on GDNY. They are huge shoes to fill, but who do we think will replace Ben? To me, the internal candidates are Robert Moses, Kerry Drew, Teresa Priolo, and Antwan Lewis, but I don't think any of them are the long-term solution and that they will have to hire from outside (either from another NYC station or from another market). Keep in mind, too, that the GDWU anchor will most likely also be the primary fill-in anchor for Greg Kelly on GDNY, so this person needs to be able to work with Rosanna Scotto and to conduct interviews and handle other unscripted segments. Juliet Huddy also brings a strong personality to the table, so whoever Ben's replacement is will need to be able to keep up with her somewhat unpredictable and unscripted personality. UPDATE: TVSpy is now reporting on Ben's departure, although the story contains no new information: http://www.adweek.com/tvspy/a-good-day-anchor-signed-off-wnyw-on-friday/171364

Good Day Wake Up anchor Ben Simmoneau is leaving Fox 5. Today is his last day.

Fox 5 has recently started airing a new set of promos, describing how they are producing a different, more "modern" newscast. This is an example of one of the promos, but I have seen many different versions, with each of the weekday anchors (Good Day Wake Up - Ben Simmoneau/Juliet Huddy; Good Day NY - Greg Kelly/Rosanna Scotto; Fox 5 News at 5 & 10 - Steve Lacy/Dari Alexander; and Fox 5 News at 6 - Ernie Anastos). Each promo essentially consists of each anchor team having a conversation with Byron Harmon, the news director/V.P. of News, describing how Fox 5's newscasts are unique. One promo even refers to "the NEW Fox 5 News." There are also clips from the various newscasts, and certain reporters/segments are singled out (Alison Morris, the business reporter, is described by the news director has having spiky, platinum hair in one of the promos). The promos certainly seem much better produced than some of the other more recent promos that the station has released, but I think describing a reporter's physical appearance in a promo is a bit strange. It's also rare to see the news director featured in a promo, but Harmon appears in every version I've seen. Generally speaking, I've noticed that Fox 5 anchors also seem to be much more active on Facebook (especially with Facebook Live) lately, and the lower-thirds now often include a link to the reporter's Facebook page, instead of his or her Twitter handle. The anchors are also sharing their personal opinions or viewpoints on certain stories more and more often on air, from what I can see. This is especially apparent on Good Day Wake Up and Good Day New York, where it's not uncommon to see Ben, Juliet, Rosanna, and Greg share their personal opinions about a certain story. I do not watch the evening newscasts as much, so I'm not sure if this is happening at night, too. This is quite a change from the traditional local newscast, where personal opinions were rarely, if ever, shared. The anchors have alluded to the fact that the station is encouraging them to use Facebook more often, and to share their opinions on air. Has anyone else noticed these changes? Does anyone have an opinion? Is this the future of local news, or is this a misguided attempt to modernize the newscasts?

http://www.adweek.com/tvspy/wnbc-announces-anchor-change-at-6-pm-team-for-new-4-pm/167560 WNBC has announced new anchor lineups for its late afternoon/early evening newscasts in conjunction with the launch of the 4:00 p.m. newscast. Natalie Pasquarella seems to be the big winner. 4:00 p.m.: Stefan Holt, Natalie Pasquarella, Dave Price (Weather) 5:00 p.m. (back to a full hour): Sibila Vargas, David Ushery, Janice Huff (Weather) 6:00 p.m.: Chuck Scarborough, Natalie Pasquarella, Janice Huff (Weather), Bruce Beck (Sports)

TunedIn reports that former WCBS weekend morning anchor Diane Macedo is likely joining WNBC as 4:00 p.m. anchor: http://tunedinnyc.com/2016/03/11/diane-macedo-likely-returning-to-anchor-desk-at-wnbc/

Today is Diane Macedo's last day at CBS 2. [MEDIA=twitter]706417516432793601[/MEDIA]

Anchor Shiba Russell and reporter Brynn Gingras are out at WNBC: http://tunedinnyc.com/2016/02/12/wnbc-shakeup-shiba-russell-out-brynn-gingras-cnn-bound/

If this is true, it's a terrible decision. Baruch Shemtov is difficult to watch, to say the least. In every report, he seems to be shouting. Anna Gilligan was great, although she is too good to be stuck doing a few short entertainment reports each morning.

Brian Conybeare anchored the News at 5:00 p.m. (in for Maurice DuBois, who anchored the CBS Evening News) on CBS 2, and the News at 9:00 p.m. (in for Dick Brennan) on WLNY tonight. Kristine Johnson also anchored CBS This Morning today and last Friday. Moreover, Kristine and Maurice both had stories on CBS Sunday Morning this week. They are both getting pretty major exposure on the national stage lately.

PIX is starting a weekday 6:30 p.m. newscast with.... Kaity Tong and Brenda Blackmon. http://nypost.com/2015/12/08/wpix-launching-630-p-m-newscast-to-rival-network-news/

Cindy Hsu finally returned to the anchor desk tonight on WLNY's News at 9:00 p.m.

I agree that Fox 5 probably will not bother with an 11:00 p.m. newscast at this point. In my opinion, a weekend version of Good Day NY is more likely to happen. Everyone is entitled to his or her opinion, but have you watched Good Day Early Call/Wake Up lately? I think Juliet and Ben are awesome together, but Ben has also done a nice job filling in for Steve Lacy this week (although the content of the 10:00 p.m. newscast leaves a lot to be desired; I'm really surprised they stuck with their "After Empire" show at 10:30 last night, in light of a relatively busy news night). I also think Huddy is awesome, but she never even fills in on the main GDNY show, which is a shame, because she's MUCH better suited for that show than the other fill ins they use (Drew and Priolo). Additionally, who knows what the actual arrangement with Huddy is. She has been filling in on Fox and Friends Weekend more often lately, so I would imagine she's still under contract with Fox News and that her time at Fox 5 could come to an end at any time if Fox News wants her back. I truly hope that does not happen, since she adds a lot to the show (it's obvious that she is responsible for a lot of the fun because it tends to be much duller when she's off).

Another weekend without Cindy Hsu. In fact, this is the sixth weekend in a row that Diane Macedo has filled in, always noting that Cindy is off.

Cindy Hsu has been MIA for about one month now. This is the fourth weekend that she has been missing from the anchor desk, although the fill-in (Diane Macedo for the last three weeks, and Dick Brennan tonight) has always mentioned that he/she is "in for Cindy." I also checked the video archive at cbsnewyork.com, and it looks like her most recent report was near the end of July.

The Fox 5 newsroom is being renovated, according to a tweet from Teresa Priolo this morning: https://twitter.com/fox5teresa/status/635066407437340672 [ATTACH]1582.IPB[/ATTACH] As you can see in the photo, the logo is the same one that appears on the new FOX5NY.com website (which is a combination of the older logo with the larger 5 that is still used in some graphics and in the studio, and the newer, simpler Fox 5 logo that appears as the bug during newscasts). I wonder if a new studio and/or graphics are close behind? The current look is a few years old now, and the studio is very dated, with very few updates since its debut in maybe 2006/2007.

This is totally unrelated to the news, but it looks like Steve Lacy and Anna Gilligan are getting married... to each other: http://registry.theknot.com/anna-gilligan-steve-lacy-october-2015/10985749

I completely disagree about the Ben/Juliet Good Day Early Call/Wakeup team. I am a longtime viewer of CBS 2's morning newscast, but I've recently made the switch to GDWU, and find Juliet and Ben to be a great team. Juliet has really loosened Ben up quite a bit, and they seem to be having a lot of fun in the morning (although I agree that people seem to either love or hate Juliet - there's no in between). I, too, wonder why Juilet never fills in for Rosanna on the main show.