24994J

GMA, Today, and The Early Show had been streetside for 12+ years by the time WABC debuted their corner set. At a local level, 3 stations in Chicago were in streetside space before WABC. Fox29 in Philly also comes to mind, predating New York. Revolutionary? Hardly.

Keeping a sports analogy, Berman is a great back-up quarterback. He'll get the job done in the absence of a starter, better than other teams in comparable situations, but there are likely better options out there to lead in the long-term. That said, players like that often move to worse teams for their chance at the #1 position. Berman would absolutely be an upgrade over Carlson. However, I feel like WFLD has favored Tina Nguyen more, in recent months.

Not only is Lou Canellis in, but Mike Berman is out, and supposedly the moves aren't related. Sure. Right. https://chicago.suntimes.com/2026/01/21/nbc-5-chicago-fires-sports-anchor-mike-berman-lou-canellis-expected-to-start-next-week-leila-rahimi-jeff-blanzy-stacy-standohar

KGO is obviously dumping it, too. We just don't know their timeline.

Current bosses' decisions in 2026 might differ from former bosses' decisions in 2003. Crazy thought, I know.

That dude's uploads are always a little sloppy and lacking commentary, so I'm still posting my copy of the open here.

The right has never been known for respecting consent.

I don't want to hear any freedom of speech gripes, but time to turn down the politics. We're getting way off-course, if we're analyzing episodes of freaking Law & Order. Consider this a friendly reminder to keep this more CBSEN-focused, with politics relevant to the news department's moves.

Marion Brooks posted that it'll debut on Saturday with a soft launch.

I love how many times y'all have gotten your hopes up for Toni over the years, to get burned EVERY time. It's my favorite every 3-to-5-year tradition.

The Evening News? Probably not without violating some terms in their affiliation agreement.

Pregame and some in-game graphics were the same, but the scoreboard & nearly all lower thirds were changed. It's definitely an evolution of the outgoing look, a heavy refresh.

It's a green screen. WLS did something similar back in the summer, when their set had some work done. It's low-frills and less dynamic, but it gets the job done. As always, the average viewer won't notice or care.

Who's the sports guy in that 4-shot?

For all my issues with Burton, I do respect that she's willing to drop the facade and look a little goofy...of course it has to be on her terms. But beyond that, a younger, new generation late news has forced the need for a little freshness. I'm not about to say that one era comes to the same level as another, but between the pandemic and a slew of retirements, this is as about cohesive that the late team has felt in almost a decade. You have a meteorologist and sports anchor who are very good friends on & off-air, plus the WMAQ import who bounces well off them both. There's a shred of Magers-Taft-Giangreco in there, and I like it. That said, Burton still feels a little like the odd one out in the current group, the mom trying to be cool in front of teenagers (I much prefer her dynamic with Ravi Baichwal, who plays the grounded adult better), but the other 3 feel like a group that's built to last, no matter who's in the chair next to Rob. Oh, and this is still going. Guess it's back for good, or at least until it's not.

And it should be noted that he's leaving the weekend evening shift to do this program. Honestly, having your political reporter tied to a weekend shift never made sense to me, since most of his beat is a 9-5 job.

Only 7s, no ABCs.

There's been an internal East vs. West "fight" going on since they decided to standardize graphics. The earliest demos of the package, spearheaded to a degree by the Chicago brain trust, used the WABC layout, and this was before the 2021 network logo change and short-lived co-branding rules. That said, there was a point around that time, pre-2023 launch, when the KABC/KGO layout would have spread to all four 7s, but they ultimately decided to keep the Ws and Ks separate. ...until now. The word I've received is that the new KABC set will be without any ABC meatballs, anyway, only solo Circle 7s, but that that logo change will happen by the time the set debuts.

Nexstar is replacing their VOs across the whole group, opting for a cheaper agency of talent, and possibly even some AI voices, at some point.

AI voiceovers are rolling out across (most) Nexstar stations, period. Old stuff will remain until phased out.

Even then, WPVI's isn't bad. They devoted way too much space for weather, and the opposite side stand-up is also large, to the point where the main desk area seemed like an afterthought.

They are. The set is being dismantled, this week, and they're targeting March for the new one's debut.

Dude. This is even more mind-numbing than your usual Captain Obvious posts. She's been hired to be THE 10pm host, not the first in a rotation. They might have fill-ins over the holidays between Banfield and Pavlich, but not after Katie starts. Reading is your friend.

Some of y'all are talking about Curt like he's 90 with one foot in the grave. Have to do one round-trip, cross-country flight a week at age 60, but it's only for 20-plus weeks out of the year, and you get Fridays off on those weeks? The horror.