bc485

doesn't huddy get called to the network on weekends?

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/

according to FTV it says she was not renewed and replaced by Baruch Shemtov(kid looks like he is too young to be in tv)

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 don't think so, I think any window for Fox 5 to try a newscast at 11 has passed long ago.

 

You know you mention Ben Simmoneau and I've always thought he was an odd fit on the early show with Huddy personality-wise. Lacy was really good, I thought, with Huddy on the Wake Up show. I could see Simmoneau maybe trying the 6 (that Ernie show is just bizarre and the ratings show it). They would never do this but I think Good Day with Lacy and Huddy would be much better than it is now. I can't stand Kelly.

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

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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.

It's not unusual to see a weekday anchor fill in on a weekend, but it is highly unusual that the entire weekday team would replace the weekend team for a day, especially when there is nothing special about this particular Sunday morning.

It looks like CBS 2's weekday morning team (Wragge, Calvi, and Elliott) will be anchoring the Sunday morning newscast tomorrow, pursuant to the following tweets from John Elliott and Chris Wragge:

@ChrisWragge: Tomorrow am!! We are hours away from a Monday @CBS2ThisMorning on SUNDAY! When 5 days aren't enough let's pick 6 @MaryCalviTV @JohnElliottTV

@JohnElliottTV: Goodnight @MaryCalviTV & @ChrisWragge See you bright and early tomorrow for a special Sunday edition of Monday's show...

This seems highly unusual. Any idea why this may be happening?

Diane Macedo has started anchoring weekend mornings as of today, replacing Cindy Hsu.

Here is Andrea Grymes' tweet from this morning: @AndreaGrymesTV: Welcoming @VMurdockTV back from mat. leave & @dianermacedo to our wknd AM team! @HsuTV still on at night! @CBSNewYork Live 6-7am!

Based on this tweet, Cindy Hsu will be anchoring weekend evenings only.

Andrea Grymes tweeted a photo of herself and Cindy Hsu from a promo shoot this morning: https://mobile.twitter.com/AndreaGrymesTV/media/grid?idx=0&tid=441611386805051392

I'm not sure if this is indicative of anything specifically, but it seems strange to me that they would be taping a promo featuring Cindy and Andrea if one of them is going to soon be replaced by Diane Macedo...

Former Fox 5 reporter Dick Brennan reported on CBS 2 News This Morning live from the scene of the tornadoes in Oklahoma. I'd guess that he has joined CBS NewsPath (maybe only on a freelance basis)... I guess we'll have to stay tuned to see if he appears again...