mountainave

Gio is filling in for Lara through Wednesday while Lara fills in for Robin. He's done the news for GMA Weekend, but if I'm not mistaken (do correct me if I am), I think this is Gio's first time filling in for an anchor on GMA weekday.

Not that I'm aware of. I thought Heather wasn't too bad at all, either.

They should do this more often! http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/video?id=9487105

Sara Haines needs to tone down the touching and rubbing of Gio Benitez.

Haven't been watching it regularly. Is it not Josh, Lara, and Ginger every day anymore?

They've still got Rob Schmidt anchoring just a half hour per day? Why even bother.

They used it this morning, too. It's gotta go. Not sure what it looks like in HD, but it looks absolutely ridiculous on a CRT.

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!

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.

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.

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?

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

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.

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

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.

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

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?