mountainave

On 7/3/2021 at 10:38 PM, MisterBill said:

 

 

I do not claim to know how things work, but don't they have a weather producer who handles stuff like that?

 

I don't believe WABC has in-house weather producers, no.  They basically outsource the function of a weather producer to AccuWeather.  Sometimes (or more than sometimes?) Jeff or Amy work during the week behind the scenes while Sam or Lee are on the air.

On 5/18/2021 at 8:20 PM, mrschimpf said:

The TVNewser spin that "tapping the former executive in charge of GMA to run the newsroom will put any fears among staffers to bed" is...not great at all. I was hoping for just a 'news and weather' basic morning show, but now all I see is "NewsNation's STEALS and DEALS!" and yet another news outlet amplifying minor local crime stories to national 'outrages' like Today and GMA already do.

 

There's just no real direction out here outside of 'offer big contracts to network talent and hope they move the sticks'.

The problem, unfortunately, is that what you were hoping for doesn't attract eyeballs.  The latter does.  

7 hours ago, DMA said:

 

No, current CDC guidance allows vaccinated people from different households to be unmasked indoors:

 

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/fully-vaccinated.html

 

 

Obviously the circumstances of a workplace will be different, so it is good that stations are acting cautiously rather than moving too fast. 

You’re right. I stand corrected. 

19 hours ago, NowBergen said:

6 foot rules still apply inside.  Some are returning to sets, but not the full compliment.  That will take more time once more people are vaccinated.

Right.  I don't think you will see most stations return to having anchors sit shoulder to shoulder until the CDC says it's okay for vaccinated people of different households to be indoors, unmasked, within 6 feet from each other. 

They only just last week said vaccinated people could be unmasked if outdoors and 6 ft apart, so I imagine it will be some time.

Stephanopoulos and Roberts will both serve as Jeopardy guest hosts, announced today.

On 3/28/2021 at 12:19 AM, Roadrunner said:

This isn't really a lineup-related thing (well...it could be someday), but I thought this was a pretty significant grab for CNN:

She had a very prominent role with CBS so I did not expect this (I'm also just OOTL about her relationship with CBS these past few months).

Weijia and Ed have a larger role at the WH today and there's less upward room at CBS so I guess this was the best fit for her. 

Was surprised by this, too.  She was one of the best (read: newsmaking) White House correspondents in the last year; certainly at CBS.  CBS's loss; CNN's gain.  

https://variety.com/2021/tv/news/paula-reid-cnn-legal-affairs-cbs-news-1234938932/

Gone is the orange, replaced with red. 

1 hour ago, Gavin said:

Well I don't see anything wrong, first comment to highlighted is a quote from a sentence. So if your trying to make my grammar look bad nice try, two I have an opinion nothing seems wrong here.

That's okay.  I will point it out for you. 

You claimed that Elizabeth Vargas got her job because of her race ("...[Simpson was] unfairly latinolized by the terrible Elizabeth Vargas")

And you then claimed Tom Llamas got his job because of his race ("...you know that 'hermano' connection...")

Has the thought crossed your mind that perhaps they got their jobs because they are both qualified and talented?

I will grant you the benefit of the doubt and assume it was unintentional, but it is otherwise suggestive of either casual or overt racism.

On 1/25/2021 at 7:48 PM, Gavin said:

...Carol Simpson in the 1980s until 2003. When she was unfairly latinolized by the terrible Elizabeth Vargas....

18 hours ago, Gavin said:

No he locked-in too well with NBCU News Group president Cesar Conde!!! You know that "hermano" connection.

Do I need to actually spell this out, or does putting these two posts together speak for itself?

In terms of career progression, one would not go from anchoring a broadcast at WABC to anchoring World News Now. It pays less and the hours are worse. If anything, you sometimes see the opposite - Liz Cho and Rob Nelson, for example, both anchored WNN before coming to WABC. 

For most, anchoring a broadcast at WABC would be the apex of a career.  

3 hours ago, newsman123 said:

Really? He was just demoted from the C WH job, and given a weekend anchor shift as a consolation to save face. Jake is being groomed to replace wolf. 

I don't think it's a demotion; it's probably a promotion.  He retains a significant title as chief domestic correspondent, and is given a show to anchor. 

He was a WH correspondent for eight years and Chief for three.  It's not a job people hold (or want) forever, especially as they get older.  It involves long hours and lots of travel. 

Now, he gets to do a lot of his work while sitting behind a desk.

Chad Matthews has been promoted from VP/News Director to President & GM of WABC-TV.  You'll recall he was promoted from Asst. ND to ND when Camille Edwards left the station.

The GM spot was left open when Debra O'Connell received a major promotion of her own to head all of Disney's networks.  O'Connell was brought in to run WABC-TV after Dave Davis left the station.

https://abc7ny.com/chad-matthews-wabc-wabctv-eyewitness-news/10348180/

Well, that was fast.  Good for them.

If memory serves me correctly from last time around, Tom Llamas and Cecilia Vega were initially chosen to split the weekend until Vega was promoted to the White House beat and Llamas took over both days.  

15 hours ago, Georgie56 said:

I assume Whit will do double duty on GMA and WNT on the weekends now?

Whit is probably not a shoe-in for the role, ultimately.  ABC is under pressure to not appoint another white man to anchor a broadcast, between the racial reckoning over the summer broadly and the Barbara Fedida catastrophe specifically.  Expect to see Whit fill-in, yes, but also expect to see a rotating cast of sit-ins including Amy Robach, Linsey Davis, Cecilia Vega, and Rebecca Jarvis. 

Less likely but also possible includes TJ Holmes, Gio Benitez, Byron Pitts, and Dan Harris.

1 hour ago, Liugrad2020 said:

.

I saw he was going to be a co-host of this week.

Where?

Jon Karl is launching a new interview show on ABC News Live, but I’ve not seen any reporting that he’s also joining This Week permanently. 

4 hours ago, tvtime07 said:

It's the same issue with Stephanopoulos double dipping with GMA and This Week. ABC would have been able to keep Jake Tapper if they gave him This Week all those years ago. 

 

20/20 is pretty much a shell of its former self and is no longer the multi-topical format that gave us segments like 'Give Me a Break', does anyone really host the current show? Seems like the Friday program became a 2-hour crime docuseries, I don't think Muir or Robach even introduce the story. Looking at the ratings, it looks like the crime series is working. At this point, ABC should give 20/20 another timeslot, like Wednesdays, 10/9c; none of their scripted programming is working at that time period and they would be better off utilizing to talent and resources of ABC News and possibly have a standard newsmagazine format in rotation. 

That’s right. The plan was for George to leave This Week when he was appointed to anchor GMA.  For some reason, ABC passed over Tapper and hired Christiane Amanpour to helm This Week. The ratings tanked, Amanpour was dismissed, and ABC passed over Tapper a second time asking George to take the show back. 
 

Re: 20/2, yeah, they seem to have taken the 48 hours and Dateline approach, and that’s what draws eyeballs. 

It's surprising to me that ABC wouldn't bump Muir off 20/20 and open the role for another anchor, simply as a talent retention tool.  But I assume the case is that Muir enjoys retaining the 20/20 anchor role in addition to his WNT duties, if for no other reason than money and/or visibility.

5 hours ago, kdex86 said:

I have a bone to pick about ABC World News Tonight:

 

WHY IS THE BACK HALF SO COMMERCIAL HEAVY?????????

 

There have been several instances where I tune in at 6:47 PM (Eastern), to find the program at a commercial.  Sometimes I'll have to wait up to 3 minutes before the news is back.  At that point there'll be a short story, then David will say "when we come back..."

 

This is followed by another 3 minutes of commercials.  Then 1 minute later ... "WHEN WE COME BACK!"  AGAIN!!!!!!

 

I understand that commercials "pay the bills" but why do you have to go BACK to commercial 1 minute after airing 3 minutes of commercials!  I swear from 6:47 to 7:00 I watched 10 minutes of commercials to 3 minutes of actual news.  Is this time of the evening a "cold" time for TV viewing (or a "hot" time for advertising)?

Because they run no commercials for the first 15+ minutes of the broadcast.

Brooke Baldwin is back on the air. 

10 minutes ago, SnellKrell said:

I totally disagree with your justifying his inappropriate Tweets.

 

Fortunately, for Mr. Lipof, his Tweet pages have been removed!

I'm not exactly sure what you mean by Tweet pages, but his Twitter account has not been removed.  It's still there.  https://twitter.com/lipoftv

Instead of broadly claiming he is biased, the more appropriately thing to do would be to cite specific instances in which you feel he stated something biased.  If you have examples, please share them.

Phil does not express his own political views on his Twitter page, which I've followed for years, so that's not an accurate statement to make.  If you're referring to the occasional comment he makes on Twitter calling into question a demonstrably false lie President Trump tells, or lamenting an unprofessional tone or ad hominem attack made by a politician, it's completely justified as a journalist and is consistent with comments made by network and cable news correspondents.  

On 9/15/2020 at 3:42 PM, Bill from Maspeth said:

They try to "lighten things up a bit" weekend mornings, therefore some stuff may come off as downright stupid.

With that said, weekend mornings haven't been the same since Phil Lipoff left the building.

I think Rob Nelson was an amazing talent for a morning show.  But, yes, Phil Lipof is great himself, too.

I know that the WABC street-side studio has multiple layers of thick glass, at least one of which is shatterproof (i.e., bulletproof) as you can see from the photos.  But it does present risks.

Certainly could have been a different situation were Sam or Lee out on that sidewalk doing a weather live shot.

If I were the technical director I might have thrown to an extended commercial break and relocated the anchors to the upstairs newsroom to continue the broadcast from there.  But I have no doubt WABC has their own contingency plans in place.  The entire ABC building has on-site security, so they could have deployed multiple security officers to stand out on the sidewalk while the broadcast continued from the studio until the police arrived.

1 hour ago, wabceyewitness said:

Seems that the longer headlines tease is in favor of shorter, tighter and music-less teases before commercial breaks. 
 

Also, the A block stretching to about 18 minutes. 

Could be a savvy ratings play by postponing the first commercial break.