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Let's face it, would they really want such a female-heavy broadcast? George would get lost in the sea of estrogen. Don't tell me that many people (namely women) don't like tuning in to watch Josh, a young, handsome, single man give them the news. And another thing, not to sound insensitive (my apologies either way), but would Amy be the most sound option right now?

Huh, I guess you're right. I coulda sworn I had mentioned it, but yeah, Tanja and Ravi did the morning show while Hosea and Judy went to NYC to do something on the GMA set.

I was only referring to when they did the morning show together a week or two ago. It's on here in a earlier post.

Like I said, she and Ravi are good together, so it went well. A thirty minute show doesn't necessarily lend itself to a ton of banter or interaction, but she was okay.

Well, I think solo anchors on weekend evenings might be a thing of the past. Last Sunday, Ben filled in for Ravi, and Tanja is filling in for Karen tonight.

I wonder if they're considering letterboxing the SD feed, maybe even updating the on-air package.

Mike's dad died. That was enough to occupy his time. Phil was on vacation, and Jerry was using some saved days off. Tracy actually addressed the issue on social media last night, and it kinda sounds like she stepped up to the challenge, and volunteered to take this shift. As for Troy, he was apparently at the station, but it sounds like he would've taken over coverage in the early afternoon if necessary. Why they didn't just give him the morning show on Thursday and/or Friday, I don't know.

Yeah, I just watched some of the 6 o'clock news, and that tight 2-anchor shot is not doin' it for me. Quick question, though; when Diana fills in on other newscasts, does she usually sit on the right or left? I've seen her sit in with Bill, and she sits on the right (naturally), but with Rob, she's still in her regular seat. Just wondering...

Well, Tracy's back for a second night, as teased ahead of the 4 o'clock show. Phil tweeted earlier that he was on a beach all week, and just got back this afternoon. This all still seems to be kinda odd to me.

Oh. Yeah, there's that.

First off, Tracy was on this morning, but it sounds like Troy was on, as well. I wasn't up early enough to see, but she makes reference to him on the forecast video online, and he was active on Facebook this morning. As for chemistry...this is going to be kind of hard to describe. I've never really seen a bad anchor team on ABC7. Never. Some are weaker than others, and those are mostly due to lack of any regularity, but then you see an odd pairing that works. I have an example of each of these. Last fall, all the evening women were off, and Stacey Baca filled in. She and Ron together were a revelation. She also melded really well with Mark and Jerry, though she had sat with them before. A few weeks ago, the morning crew went to NY to film something with the GMA team, and we got our first chance to see Tanja Babich anchor, alongside fellow Canadian Ravi. They were very good together, and it's clear, on and off the air (social media, etc.) that they've bonded over their similarities (she is in his old office). She's only been at the station for two months, but you couldn't tell. On the flip side, Stacey and Cheryl did the 5 together once, and it was awkward. I can't put my finger on it, but it just didn't quite work well. Now, it was mentioned that Alan and Kathy can be awkward. To be polite, I could not disagree more. I think that sometimes when two people have worked together for so long, a lot of the visible chemistry is lost, but it's there. You have to keep in mind that they've sat beside each other on a broadcast for around 20 of the last 24 years. Not to "go there", but most marriages don't last that long. You also have to consider that fact that Jerry has been on their team the whole time, and JR has done sports for the 6pm show for umpteen years. The foursome have done the same broadcast with each other every weeknight for SIXTEEN YEARS. That's unheard of nowadays, and needs to be taken into account. :rant:

Lest we forget this gem... [yt]tNpOm02ot_I[/yt] To be frank, any awkwardness is probably on Cheryl. I do like her, but she cannot banter to save her life. As for Kathy, she has somehow (I don't really see it) developed this reputation over the years of coming across as a little...what's the word I'm looking for...bitchy? I dunno...

She did the WHOLE DAY. As for why, it wasn't addressed. It is odd, though, seeing as both Jerry and Mike were on yesterday and today is her birthday. I would guess that what led to this was last-minute. I do know that Mike's dad passed away last week, leading to Phil filling in, while Jerry was planned to be off. I appreciate that they didn't make a big deal about Tracy being on, and I kinda hope they go to her once in awhile on a weeknight. What's interesting is the fantastic chemistry between Kathy and Tracy. We never really get to see any interaction between Kathy and another female outside of Cheryl (we know how that comes across sometimes), and it was refreshing to have less testosterone at the desk. I'm curious as to how the dynamic would be with a more regular line-up, as Alan, Cheryl and Mark were also off. Oh, and now that I think about it. She did tag-team with Mike earlier in the year on the 4 and 5 shows after doing the morning, but this is unprecedented. I would guess the last time she did a full weeknight was back in 1994 when she did weekends and Mike was in the morning.

1. Meredith's not going to do it. The last thing they want to do is remind viewers of supposed "happier" times. And Katie? Really? 2. We (myself included) went through this two years ago when Robin Roberts was going to be off that long period of time, and we were wrong. NBC's not going to get overly creative with this, no dream teams or blasts from the past. They're going to keep it simple. Plain and simple, Natalie and Tamron will take the big chair in Savannah's absence. The other will read the news. Willie or Carson might fill in for Natalie a couple times, and maybe the show will do a 2-man anchor team with Matt once or twice for fun, but I even doubt that.

To be honest, that theme always reminded me of the . Don't know why, it just did.

Well, things are back to normal in the ratings, in fact, GMA's numbers are higher than ever... http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/morning-show-ratings-week-of-march-3_b217097

Sorry, couldn't help myself. Carry on...

I miss Charlie and Diane. A lot.

Some dunkoff on their website had this to say... ...to which I responded... I didn't realize that CTM's is even closer than I originally thought.

No hard feelings? Right. It is ACTUALLY possible that this was in the works before the Orange Room debuted. These things don't just go from idea to launch in a few weeks, or even a couple of months. Besides, you're acting like NBC never copied a competitor and/or lied about it before.

Never mind.

So many goodies...late-90s WLS is always great, some Jim Rosenfield is a bonus. Great to see Ron Magers, it's rare to see his later work at NBC5 (he hasn't missed a best since). I always forget that Maurice DuBois was at WFLD, especially with the mustache.

So far, they've made only one reference (verbal with non-offensive segment graphic) during the newscast plus the updated tab on the Upper 3rd on the maps...but the main segment hasn't aired yet. Nothing mentioned in the opens, either, and the meteorologists' titles are no different. This COULD work, but we'll just have to see, and whatever promotion they do will never be as prominent as it is right now. EDIT: The only verbal reference made during the main segment was of the "First Alert 7-Day Forecast". I'm not losing any sleep over this one. ...And sports is still just "Sports".

It does seem like an odd choice, not because of the name, but the fact that the AccuWeather branding holds some weight as it is. It is gimmicky, for sure, but I like this 7-day graphic better than the old...as frivolous as that might be. The fact that it exists in other markets doesn't bother me, either. I will say, it does unify the brand better than 'ABC 7 Weather', which I felt was always a little generic. Personally, I would've liked it if they went with 'Eyewitness Weather' or whatever, but I guess this will have to do. I wonder if they made this move as a way to prevent NBC5 from picking up the branding, ala WNBC and WCAU. It's still better than 'MetroVision7'. Barely.

So, this is new...today... With a new 7-day graphic...