Mannym13

I think that if you took out the background of 30 Rock and used the camera shots they used before, it would look much better and less tabloid-like to many of you. I think it looks great now, but maybe even better with that change (and the addition of NBC NEWS under the peacock).

I just noticed that they brought Al and Natalie in for the open today, something they've stopped doing recently. The inconsistency gets on my nerves, to be honest.

I love that open. It's so perfect, aside from my little gripe about how it doesn't say NBC NEWS underneath the peacock.

 

NN anchor will anchor till about 4, then after that I've never seen anyone but the NN anchor.

 

I recall David Gregory anchoring late at night the night Bin Laden was killed. That was a Sunday.

Lester on tonight. First time on air on a weekend since his first week of filling in for Brian.

Looks nice and very well done. I was kinda expecting ESPN to help out with graphics and instead of an ESPN logo and ABC7 logo would be slapped on, but I'm glad that's not the case.

 

I personally think that Stefan's got to be in the running for the 4:30pm (replacing Rob). If he gets it, I assume he continues on the 11am, and Anthony Ponce gets promoted to weekday mornings.

 

I agree 100% with this statement. I don't see it any other way unless they bring back Dick Johnson.

In a throwback to late 2012, TODAY started off with just Matt and Savannah at the desk, but there were mugs place where Natalie and Al would be. I thought it was interesting because the desk is so big and is made for multiple people, so just two looked weird. Natalie and Carson later joined at 7:16.

Just noticed this today: New NBC 5 mic flags. Instead of "CHICAGO HD," they simply read "NEWS." They are still triangular but with a slight curvature and are bigger, too. I believe they are Rycote mic flags with decals, identical to the ones NBC Sports uses. I like 'Chicago,' but without 'HD,' because 'news' just looks too big; there's a lot of empty blue space.

 

Link to the type of mic flag.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/857667-REG/Rycote_107302_Rycote_Triangle_Mic_Flag.html

Solid election coverage tonight. Everything, I thought, was on point. Nothing went wrong, as both the guest, who I didn't catch the name of, and Mike Flannery did well analyzing and explaining, along with great reporting from, most notably, Dane Placko and Craig Wall. Plus, I love the FOX affiliate election theme.

One thing I just noticed is the fact that the desks in the background have wheels on them, or at least what look to be wheels. I understand that wheels are practical and allow for quick movement, but this look extremely cheap to me. They have to find a way to conceal that.

I honestly love the way it looks, but I don't like the NBC 5 logo on the glass panel on the left. I think that's unnecessary. I also don't see why it can't read "NBC 5 Weather Center" instead of Storm Team. Those are my only two gripes about this great looking update to the weather center.

 

There was a monitor there as recently as two weeks ago. You can see the logo inset in the desk animate in this video: https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10153581516393797&permPage=1

 

Finally got a really good look at it and was finally able to see that it is a moving monitor, so I guess the still, retro logo was just indeed a temporary fix, bummer.

 

I still think the new graphics, and now-departed L3's would've looked better if they had decided to go with widescreen presentation. As it is, the news bug info is WAAAAAAY inside the safe zone, and while the skyline effect is nice, a lot of space that could be used for text is wasted.

 

I couldn't agree more. The bug takes up to much room, and when it's not there and it's just a light blue that fills the void with the L3s to the right, it looks bad. It really does bug me (pun 100% intended). That's one fix that they need to change. Also, it's 2015, no reason to not fully broadcast in 16:9.

I don't think it was a monitor with a moving picture before and don't remember exactly what was there, but now it's a still of "FOX 32," which is relatively small and doesn't take up the whole area like the temporary replacement did. I googled for a picture of the desk and found a Feder article where there is one picture with what I saw on the desk tonight. (Scroll to number 5) http://www.robertfeder.com/2013/12/06/eyewitness-news-better-late-as-ever/ Only difference is that the border I saw tonight was 2 different shades of gray. Light gray in width and the darker gray seen in that picture in height. So I guess it wasn't a moving monitor before, and now I'm just left saying: why have such a small logo on the desk when the space is there to make it larger? More googling shows me that WFLD has done that ever since the set debuted in 2009. I couldn't paste the link but it's a NewscastStudio piece.

 

If that was there prior to the old panel re-appearing, I can pretty much tell you what happened right now: the monitor died and they needed something to fill that spot. No time to get a new panel printed, just slap the old one in there and stick a light behind it. Done.

 

Not positive that there was and that makes the most sense.

 

 

The wooden look makes it bring class to it rather than it looking like a space machine with all the blue and the video monitor in the center

 

I 100% agree. It's a good fit. If they decide to keep it a still, instead of a monitor, of "FOX 32 Chicago" if and when they get one, I'd really like the way that matches up with the desk. Too much blue sometimes becomes overkill, kinda like ABC7.

 

 

Maybe it's all in the nostalgia?

 

I guess, but it also just feels right. It's not too flashy, but not too dull, even for something that, as said by Weeters earlier, is most likely a temporary fix.

Yeah. I love the way it looks on those wooden panels. It does look really good. The white "WFLD" tab is what completes it, in my opinion.

Same thing as last night. I wonder what for.

 

I need to start back watching FOX 32 News to see the changes...

 

I will certainly watch closely tonight.

I just noticed that the newsdesk now has the old logo at the center. Not "FOX 32 Chicago" but "FOX NEWS Chicago WFLD." I found that odd and a flashback to just a few years ago.

Tonight on Nightly, I believe they just debuted a new mini desk where Brian stands behind and teases the stories in front of a monitor to his left, our right. Gone is the intro from the side view of the desk with Brian spinning around at the end of the opening tease. I don't recall seeing this last week, so I think it's brand new. Can anyone confirm? It looks nice and glossy, btw.

 

I should add that the desk and monitor are located to the right of the main desk.

 

I do gotta say, I really like the Jeff and Dawn team at 9pm. I also have seen an improvement in the 9pm news in my opinion. For example, they started right away with team coverage with Craig and Alexa in the field and Bill in the Weather Center. If you think about it, sadly, 2 reporters for WFLD is a lot in one newscast since they lack personnel. Idk just my opinion. Put it this way, I don't want to fall asleep anymore now that Sirott's dry humor is gone.

 

I like Jeff's down-to-earth persona, it's easing when I'm watching the broadcast. I will admit I was a doubter when they began, but I often find myself watching WFLD @9. Jeff and Dawn are great together, Lou will be Lou, and Bill is kind of quirky funny, especially when they stand together at the end of the newscast. I partly watch because I'm waiting for Modern Family and TMZ, and because my dad would watch Robinson and Suppelsa back in the day, so I got used to FOX 32, but I like what I see. They're not THAT bad; in fact, they're very watchable.

 

Oof. I forgot how painful their New Years Eve show was.

 

The botched, off beat countdown was my favorite part.

Just saw a promo for the 7pm newscast on WCIU during Countdown Chicago on ABC 7 and I noticed that the logo for the newscast, for now, I guess, is the ABC 7 Eyewitness news logo with a red tab extending to the right with WCIU on it. So we may see that in the coming weeks. I was so focused on the logo that I didn't pay attention to who, talent wise, was featured in the promo, but I believe, it was Sanders, Yu, Cheryl Scott, and Jim Rose on sports (85% positive).

 

 

& oh, by the way, HAPPY NEW YEAR!

 

Ravi is in for Ron tonight just like on Wednesday. Was Ron really on last night, or was that a typo?

 

Ron was on last night. Not a typo