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Looks like Rob is finally back on Weekend GMA.

ABC News’ press release for GMA3 (which was issued at the end of the previous week) had listed Thursday as a “wrap show” (i.e., a show with repeat or previously recorded segments) and Friday as a regular show. This was probably because the of the previously scheduled January 6 committee hearing that would have preempted the show in many markets, but the hearings were moved back to 3:00 pm EDT. It looks like Friday’s planned show was swapped with Thursday’s (either a mistake on the release or a change due to changes in the hearings schedule). They may have even originally intended to tape the show on a Thursday to be aired on Friday. Summer Friday afternoon ratings tend to skew lower for daytime programs. A highlight show vs. a “live” show probably doesn’t make a significant difference for the ratings and it’s a way to save on production costs. True, it seems like a miss not having them cover significant breaking stories, but between ABC News Live and Special Reports (as needed) it feels like they have things sufficiently covered if viewers want to follow the stories. And, heads up, this coming Friday is scheduled to be a wrap show, too.

I’ve been wondering about this, too. The first weekend he was out seemed abrupt; no one filled in for him—Gio Benitez read the weather from the anchor desk. I thought maybe had a last-minute positive on a COVID test or something like that. And they’ve stopped saying that the o&o meteorologists that have been filling in are “in for Rob.” Maybe there was a conflict with him and a member of the GMA production staff?

Replying with my best news anchor impression: Speaking in participles, right or wrong, the broadcast news equivalent of verbal shorthand. Televised news programs, competing with other news sources—social media, on-demand, news sites, etc.—for viewers eyes and time. Every second matters, needing to be efficient when telling stories, packing in as much useful and relevant information as possible.

I might have been wrong about the work being done. Very subtle updates continue to happen, so I’m hoping there’s still things happening behind that home base wall and it’s temporary. The large windows have been trimmed out with a large blue light box, covering the older concrete-looking wall. Also, the white light box has been removed from the side of the large screen to the right of the new floating screen.

Debuted last week. I originally thought it was a temporary setup to hide more work on the on the first floor (ABC had all but eliminated seamed video walls in previous updates of both studio TV-3 and Times Square Studios), but I think it might be permanent. They hadn’t shown camera left of that setup for a while, but Rebecca Jarvis did a standup showing the windows closer to the side door this week. I thought for sure the home base backdrop was temporary, too. It seems surprisingly cheap looking for what’s essentially the backdrop for a little more than half the show, but it doesn’t appear that any more work is being done. GMA3 actually has the nicer setup now.

GMA started using the cold open greeting with a shot of the anchors at the desk before getting to the headlines this morning for the first time since the start of the pandemic. A very pleasant way to start the show.