mountainave

 

Seems like there's a lot of vacation time being used up this week.. But I loved the combo they made at 6pm tonight!

 

Agreed. Lots of great banter at the desk.

Diana Williams, Rob Powers, Lee, and Anthony Johnson doing the 6 tonight. Not a combination seen very often, especially at 6!

 

Ok, there are a lot of red flags going off right now. Rob is co anchoring with Liz at 6pm right now and Laura is doing sports. This never happens. Bill or Liz usually solo when the other is out. Very, VERY odd. Could this be in prep for Bill retiring, could this be because NBC 4 doesn't solo at 6 anymore? Either way, very odd.

 

Interesting. I don't think Bill's retiring any time soon. I wonder if Rob volunteered to do it -- maybe they usually fly solo because it's hard to find people to do the 6, or maybe the ND figured she'd give it a shot? Just a pure guess.

 

Why do you need a separate set for the social media segment? There's nothing wrong with reading them from the regular set. As my man FTV Live put it:

 

Sara Haines annoys the hell out of me...

 

I didn't say either show needed one. I said it made sense. Do you think the average viewer would rather see anchors and guests interact with media in real time or just listen to them read tweets off the teleprompter? Clearly, the former.

 

With respect to Sara, I wouldn't go so far as to say she annoys the hell out of me, but I by no means would consider her a rising star, either.

Yes, it's not conducive for hard news, but it makes sense. People are migrating away from TV to online and social media, and viewers want to interact. This is a way to keep viewers and keep them engaged. Can't help but wonder if it was also motivated in part by Lara's contract renegotiation. This gives her something more to do on the show.

 

I know! When I saw that I was shocked. I mean, CBS this morning is not that good, but I didn't think it was that bad that more viewers would rather watch PIX than them. But Charlie Rose and Gail King are horrible talent in my view. I, like most people, always turn to WNYW after 7am to watch Rossanna & Greg. I guess most viewers would rather stay local at that time.

 

The key demo is 25-54, so I can't think of a reason why they'd show 25-49 and 18-49 other than because they lost in 25-54.

Not to mention, can you really attribute a single show's win to him? It could've been the content, among other things.

Any video clips from this morning posted somewhere?

 

Is WPIX the only station in NY covering Chris Christie's "State of the State" address? They seem to be the only station breaking for a special report.

 

What happened to the decision to only cover news within the five boroughs?

 

Either that, or Joe got a few more weeknight appearances written into a recent contract.

 

Speaking of contract, does Sade have the most vacation time of any WABC anchor? She's off all the time.

 

I wonder if at least some of it might be medical. She was hit by a car while reporting in the field for WABC around 10 years ago. She has also posted on social media during several of her absences about being sick with one thing or another. So, who knows. Just speculating.

Rob Nelson's bio is up on 7online.

 

I find her to be far more authentic and likable than Smith.

 

Haven't seen Smith, but I could see Haines being viewed as authentic and relatable. Makes sense.

 

Its not like she is a foreign affairs correspondent, she does light news (the news that pops) etc... she doesn't need to be as serious as Martha Raddatz.

 

I was really comparing her to Lara, but yes, true.

Speaking of Sara Haines, I don't really understand that hire. What does ABC News see in her? She does seem like a very nice person who loves her job and wants to do the best she can, but I don't think she's of the same caliber as most of the other (even newer) correspondents. Also, and somewhat random, I noticed that women who are successful in television news tend to have a slightly deeper voice than most women (probably helps convey authority and gravitas). Haines doesn't. Maybe that's why I have a hard time taking her as seriously.

 

I try not to be critical too often as I know these people are just trying to do the jobs they were hired for and everyone has strengths and weaknesses. Just sharing my observations.

 

Well, either Sara Haines (formerly of Today) or Rachel Smith (On The Red Carpet) sit at the desk to do pop news, so that gives the show 2 men and 2 women. The weather job could really go either way.

 

Forgot that they've been doing that. You're absolutely right.

 

 

 

I'm sure ABC is looking for a man to join Ginger on the Extreme Weather team. I think the boy girl ratio for the weather team is what ABC is looking to balance more so than the Weekend GMA personality bench.

 

I agree. And now that I think about it, all of the fill-in weather anchors I've seen so far have been men.

Interesting. Does he even have a job at the moment?

 

Part of me thinks they'd lean toward choosing a girl so there are two men (Dan and Ron) and two women (Bianna and a female weather anchor) as opposed to three men and one woman, although the other three anchors could change in the future and maybe they also don't want an all-female weather team (formerly Sam and Ginger), so who knows. Maybe gender isn't a factor at play here. Just speculating.

If you want nothing but politics and war, watch CBS or read the NY Times. What those dishing criticism seem to be forgetting is that ABC is a business. Just like any business, the news division is catering to what viewers want to watch. Clearly, that is useful news with some lighter feature stories incorporated. Is it ABC's job to decide what viewers should want? Should The Home Depot stop selling plants and flowers because it's supposed to be a hardware store and not a gardening store, even though customers go there for both hardware and gardening supplies? It's not like WN has become TMZ for crying out loud.

 

On another note, I find this interesting and frankly agree with Diane.

 

http://www.showbizspy.com/article/263712/diane-sawyer-stops-george-stephanopoulos-from-taking-over-world-news.html

 

 

ABC is in a very interesting time, Robin just signed (I guess Ginger did too), Josh and Lara are negotiating and George is up next year.

 

Okay. We really should take that entire article with a grain of salt. It quotes an unnamed source. That person could know nothing. Then again, that person could be dead on. We have no idea.

 

On another note, what happened to the reports that George had a clause in his contract stating that if he were not named Diane's replacement on World News, he'd be free to leave ABC without penalty?

Michelle Charlesworth and Kemberly Richardson this morning. Michelle and Tim Fleischer tonight.

Toni Yates and Tim Fleischer anchoring EWN at 6 (and I presume 11) tonight, with Andy Field doing the lead story. Talk about calling in the reserves! Toni's been behind the desk a lot the past few days. I haven't seen Tim anchor in years.

 

Edit: They work well together. Tim is really good.

Anchoring on Christmas Day will be Bill, Stacey Sager, and Lee. Stacey hasn't anchored in years. Normally it'd be Bill, Lee, and Lauren Glassberg, but she's on maternity leave.

Andy Field reported live tonight on the 11. What's up with that? Haven't seen him on EWN in years, and even back then it was a short stint. Maybe too many people are on vacation and he's just freelancing again?

 

Noticed the WCBS anchor and reporter lower thirds they are now using @LastNameWCBSWLNY

 

Yeah. What a waste of eight characters in the Twitter handle. Looks ridiculous.

 

I mean I think we're discussing something that isn't likely for at least a few years but I agree they'd probably bring it down to three teams. First of all I really don't think Diana would go back to the 11.. But I don't know.. You have to remember the New York news isn't the same on any channel anymore.. Most have new younger ppl coming in.. It's the start of a new generation here.. I don't see why David couldn't be the lead male anchor in the future because unless the other stations get someone else by then he's still the strongest.. But anyway why not this? By the way.. Who ever said Bill would be the first to leave?

4,6 David and Liz

5 Diana and Sade

11 David and Sade

 

David doing 2 hours on air? I don't know about that.

I don't think Bill's planning to retire anytime soon. But, when he does, you guys really think David will replace him? I think David fits well for a morning or afternoon show (i.e. in his current role or replacing Ken), but I have a hard time envisioning him as the anchor who is the face of the station's news coverage. Even Rob Powers fits that role better, I think.

 

Also, don't forget about Rob Nelson. Who knows what'll happen with him down the road.