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Something you don't see everyday...Amy Rutledge anchored the first 30 minutes of the 4 o'clock news today with Ben, but was losing her voice. It was so bad that the 4:30 half hour had Jackie Bangs coming out of the bullpen. Weeknight Jackie doesn't happen often enough.

They're starting to post some Jerry clips for his final 2 weeks, including this piece about who helped him get his foot in the door of his first on-air job.

This, a million times over. Even if ratings went down in his absence, it's hard to justify a single salary that eats 5% of the show's (estimated $500M) revenue stream, especially at a time when the your industry is under attack, and a responsibility to accuracy is paramount. Not only did he eat the profits, he's also damaged the greater brands and blurred the thin line between supposed "good" the journalists should be and the "evil" they report on and try to hold accountable.

Matt was overpaid. Megyn is overpaid. Hoda getting paid on the same level as Savannah is just fine.

"First show? Get a load of this, Robin."

NBC posted the updated open so one of us doesn't have to.

Ratings are in. 'Countdown Chicago' was up 30-some percent, while (whatever NBC 5 aired) lost half its viewers from last year. http://www.robertfeder.com/2018/01/02/abc-7-rings-new-year-top-ratings/

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Freelance talent not having an online bio is pretty standard policy, not a personal dig, especially on the ABC websites.

I can't imagine that this was an official show hashtag, but #GinAndJanet is trending tonight.

There are a handful of reporters that don't have Twitter accounts, so it's likely just personal. Her bio is on the website with a Facebook link only. I wouldn't think too much into it, especially with her highest-profile gig of the year later tonight.

Throw Mike Janssen into the mix. He fills in for Jim most often.

I'm a follower and contributor, already. As for the graphic, Mark Rivera is correct, but they spelled Diane Pathieu wrong.

Okay, so I'm not losing it. As for the blazer, I love that he always wears it, but that gold turtleneck needs to be burned in the video fireplace they sat in front of at the end of the show.

"Hey, do we have the new guy's name in the system?" "Yeah, put up the graphic." "Wait, I'm gonna make sure it's corre-" "Just put it up. It's fine."

The D.C. correspondents ruled the day, with Jon Karl anchoring 'This Week' later on.

It's not sports, obviously, but somebody needs to put together a '30 for 30'-like documentary of the whole ordeal. #neverforget

Will Jones' cold weather live shot immediately followed Phil, while Michelle was after that at a department store. Good thing history didn't repeat itself, as Phil did most of his hit with the AR graphics on the south end of the studio.

Update: the solo Baichwal-to-Gallardo post-weather toss went off without a hitch.

Even Feder is making note of it. https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1671078486247923

God, I'm going to miss these, and unfortunately, they didn't produce one this year.

The old team's back together (in the Feder comments section)!

Kathy joked at 6 that they have a month to make fun of Jerry. I know that that's mostly a joke, but if the announcement on Facebook was any indication, they are prepared to embrace the humor as they look back. "Here we go..."

I'd imagine McGinnis will get most shifts. They could just continue with the Schwarz/Mowry cycle on weeknights, too, if they don't want to name an immediate successor/can't come up with the weekend replacement in due time.

Cheryl will likely be defacto chief, though I could see them going without the formal title, and heavily promote the evening duo, especially if Larry moves to weeknights.