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It boggles the mind that he's limited to only the midday news. Maybe that'll change when the 4pm debuts. You still have to wonder how/where the new meteorologist will fit in. As for coverage, 5 and 7 were damn good. I'm sure Skilling was Skilling, but 2 and 32 were also short their chiefs tonight, with Curran and Kleist and Caplan and Strehl on duty. I was honestly surprised how well the Taft/Schwarz/Mowry tag team on 7 worked out. They were very balanced and no one upstaged the others. It also helps that Taft was awake and functioning.

That's generally the layout of the opens of the package.

Easy to tell apart. One looks good, the other one is an ill-conceived, crappy knock-off, and of course I'm not talking about the men behind the profiles.

I've been the biggest (though not the most vocal) critic of that bar on top, but if used properly, it should come in very handy on election night. So, there's that.

I rarely watch the 10, but I remember seeing it once or twice.

So much better. My B- is now a teetering B+/A-.

JIM'S ON!

Assembled in 1995, so goes the longest-serving 4 person news team in Chicago television history. Best of luck to Rich.

Terrell and Judy will anchor at 11, technically continuing the current arrangement. Tracy's along for the ride, but that was all but a given. http://abc7chicago.com/entertainment/abc-7-chicago-to-launch-1100-am-newscast-june-27th/1387154/

I watched it, but I'll be damned if I could remember. I want to say she wasn't.

They also did the 4. Frankly, I don't know why they didn't give Cheryl Burton the night off, since she only did the 5. I wonder if they dragged in Jerry to only do the 10.

I can't believe I'm giving them credit for something, but WFLD has made some changes to their set over the last few years that don't make it totally awful. It's not even the worst in the market.

I think he popped up a few nights last year or so, but that was like the first time since he left the shift. I'm disappointed he doesn't get as much fill-in time on the morning show, now that the AM B-team's become solidified and legit.

Tom Negovan's in Orlando, and Mark Suppelsa's off, so Steve Sanders is back on the news at 9. It feels so right.

That's certainly different.

More like kidnapped kicking and screaming from that line.

I'm beginning to think they just have no idea how to fill a vacancy over there. I was thinking the same thing about Blanzy. I agree about Holmes, though I actually don't mind Boyle. This just proves that management has no idea what's going to happen with Mike, despite the speculation that he'd be back "by the end of month". That was rumored in April, May, and June, yet here we are. I'm not a big Adamle fan at the desk, but he seems like a good guy, and I feel for him. That said, you have to wonder if he'll ever return. Frankly, I hope he does, if only because that means he's getting better.

Since NBC 5 is unsure when Mike Adamle with return, they're bringing in 4 familiar faces to fill some weekend shifts. They are Pat Boyle and Chris Boden from CSN, Laurence Holmes from 670 The Score, and Jeff Blanzy, 11-year veteran of ABC 7. Boyle and Holmes have filled in on WMAQ before, Boden once worked at CBS 2, has Blanzy hasn't been on the air since 2009. http://www.robertfeder.com/2016/06/08/robservations-police-hire-robin-robinson-as-special-adviser/

No chance. Never.

Color me surprised. I'd imagine Terrell and Judy will anchor, since Linda's cutting back and Rob reports at 10, though I guess Tanja could play a factor. We shall see.

Whaaaa?

Posted it in the shout box, but meteorologist Kalee Dionne joins in September. http://www.robertfeder.com/2016/06/03/kalee-dionne-joins-nbc-5-weather-front/ Meanwhile, the two male anchor job postings remain on their website.

I don't know if I'll go that far on that last line. Calling the buzzworthy, fear mongering, sky is falling stories "news" still doesn't make them news. So, yes, I did do a double take when he made that statement, but then he immediately started talking about Johnny Depp's divorce, and I turned off the TV and threw it out my window.

"Jerry, that was illegal!" God, I hope he never retires. Too bad Mark was off.

The 25-54 number isn't far off of February. NBC is up 0.2, ABC and WBBM are down 0.2, and WGN stays the same. Both 7 and 5 are up a few ticks in total viewers, while 2 and 9 merely traded a tenth of a point, with very little fluctuation since WGN joined the fray last fall. A quick footnote to the anchor transition; I find it interesting that, at a quick glance, the anchor bios page hasn't been changed, which really isn't all that surprising. Ron's still the first on the list, Alan a row down, and Rob with the reporters. The interesting part is that all 3, however, have updated bios reflecting their new roles of retired, lead, and 4 o'clock anchor. Makes you wonder why they're keeping Ron's bio up, if he's supposedly completely done with on-air media.