MorningNews

He’s back here after leaving ABC over a pay dispute and a failed stint at NBCU. He was filling in for Rob on weekend GMA iirc and filing reports for GMA3 before the WABC reunion. ABC handed him just as much of a lifeline if you ask me.

Yeah I’m not at all complaining about regular programming interruptions. I think they should always supersede whatever else is airing when necessary. I just wasn’t sure what that relationship between ABC and WABC looks like because they seem to avoid pre-empting GMA or WNT or other network programming even when the situation could call for. Back in the summer of 2021 when strong storms moved across the city bringing flooding and the MTA cancelled service leaving New Yorkers scrambling to get home, I was shocked at WABC ending their 11pm newscast to toss to Jimmy Kimmel. It would have been entirely appropriate for them to extend for special coverage especially as they showed pictures of people stranded in Times Square-42nd St.

What are the standards for WABC as the flagship O&O and largest market to preempt the national network morning show? I was surprised to see them sort of hastily wrap up the interview with the Suffolk Co. official reporting on the first storm-related death just to toss to a tape-delayed GMA.

The new home of the CBS Evening News most likely! /s

Report: Brian Williams turns down CBS Evening News. Looks like the writing could be on the wall for Norah.

That sounds so incredible.

I thought the reference was about being the first female-led anchor team of Today. It was in the same segment where Barbara Walters was mentioned as the first female and Bryant Gumbel as the first black anchors of the show. Overall a much more subdued anniversary special compared to what we’ve seen before. I actually really liked it too. Today isn’t my morning preference but the show does continue to be the most innovative program of its kind and they keep finding new ways to be innovating. GMA ushered in the lighter morning format, but Today pioneered so many staples of what morning TV is - streetside studios, consumer protection segments, concert series, etc.

I imagine this year’s anniversary will be very lowkey due to the pandemic. The fact that they’re only promoting it one week out compared to how they’ve marked their 50, 55 and 60th anniversaries. It’s crazy to think of how much the show has changed and been through since the 60th anniversary. It’s almost an entirely different program. Kathie Lee, Nancy Snyderman, Josh Elliott and Sam Champion were among NBCers who appeared on GMA for the 40th anniversary so I’d bet we could expect to see Tom, Jane, Bryant, Katie, Meredith and at least Kathie Lee in some capacity despite their respective roles today.

Art Rascon signed off from KTRK’s midday and 5 pm news yesterday after 23 years. His son Jacob Rascon anchored yesterday’s midday newscast with his father and officially started today as a morning anchor. Still not entirely sure what happens to Samica Knight in this instance as she has been the morning anchor since 2015 and she’s not in any of the photos from today.

Calls to fire Cheryl Burton are overblown for sure but last time I watched ABC7 Chicago with regularity I found her presenting style to be pretty amateurish and distracting, mostly in the way she reads the news and speaks with her hands. Haven’t watched in years so there’s a chance she’s gotten better but for a station with anchors like Alan, Judy and legends like Kathy and Ron, Cheryl was always the weaker of the bunch. She’s been there since the late 90s so even if her presenting style is weak, she’s no doubt a Chicago staple. Art Rascon of ABC13 in Houston is another glaring example of a weaker anchor that has other strengths to keep him in his position for 20 years. The man is abysmal at reading the news and that’s putting it kindly, yet he’s in Houston tv royalty.

I’m really hoping this works out well enough to keep it viable. It’s a joke for CBS to have no real news presence in a market as large as Detroit.

Not sure this is accurate. CBS Saturday Mornings has topped Saturday Today but has yet to beat Weekend GMA who is #1.

Anybody know what studio NN is broadcasting from tonight? Doesn’t look like 1A.

I think they’re referring to whatever the background is on the TS set haha. It’s pretty terrible but if that’s the theme then they did a great job replicating it at the HQs uptown.

GMA Weekend returned to the ABC News HQ this weekend with a revamped set that closely mirrors home base of Times Square. Kind of a bummer, I loved having the show from TS 7 days a week.

Jfc. From reporter to full on demagogue.

The biggest thing here will need to be consistency. If they’re going to cancel it all because they don’t have an immediate ROI then don’t even bother.

Yeah Chris was actually news anchor for Today for several years in the early 80s.

5 hours is a long time every morning.

I think weather reports are much more relevant to people’s everyday lives for sure. I once thought it was unconventional to not have traffic reports but it is rather pointless especially in a place like NYC where there are millions of traffic patterns which makes traffic reports somewhat ineffective.

Certainly not outraged here, I just don’t care much for the approach. It’s not so much that the interview isn’t live but more that I think it removes some of the authenticity of the show when the news interviews are recorded and then glaringly sliced and diced during the playback. I get why they do it for double and triple booked guests but the interviews in the show’s entire first hour follow this strategy regardless of if a guest is on another show which is what promoted my question. It’s not a big deal and others likely don’t even notice it.

This seems like the more plausible explanation. I was familiar with the concept for instances where guests are booked simultaneously on the 3 network shows, but GMA takes the prerecorded route for interviews in the first hour regardless of if a guest is appearing elsewhere or not. Before moving to the east coast, I had always assumed that the interviews had just been edited for tape delayed airings but turns out it’s part of the live airing which is what prompted my curiosity. Interesting to understand why they do it the way they do. Though I think they could stand to clean up the transition from tape to live, it’s ultimately not noticeably or even significant to the casual viewer who is assuredly not manically flipping between the 3 shows every few minutes to compare rundowns like myself lol.

A live television broadcast that literally opens the show pronouncing itself to be “live from Times Square” but then runs a bunch of prerecorded news interviews is weird. They don’t prerecord the second hour publicity focused interviews, they do record several of the first hour’s interviews which is supposed to be the more newsy portion of the show. This has been their practice even when there aren’t conflicts with 7am guests appearing on NBC or CBS.

Amy is reporting from Antartica this week and next with an exciting lineup set to fill in on GMA3. Any guesses on who steps in on Friday?