HanSolo

It doesn’t change anything about what I said.

Fundamentally they’re different things. Most sitcoms run a handful of seasons in syndication before fading into the sunset or landing on some bottom of the barrel diginet or cable channel. Maybe streaming. The big ones that last cycle upon cycle are the exceptions, and even they tend to get pushed further and further into the fringe hours. Theres a perfectly good reason to perhaps take something out of production off the schedule: you have something better for the bottom line. Or at least something you anticipate to be such.

A good question. With the other series over on 17, it seems fair to wonder if there’s really a need for the old one. It seems everyone else’s schedules aren’t really in need of that, at least this season. Maybe a surprise is looming. But not sure who would want that in lieu of something else on the schedule.

Awesome. The less Judy the better.

Well deserved indeed. And talk about jumping into the fire, tackling Milton in week one. Granted it’s more impactful on the other side of the state, but a hurricane right out of the gate is quite the beginning. Sundays at noon are pre-empted enough as it is; Saturdays would be a lousy spot for midday news. College football wipes it out automatically for months on end, and they kind of need that hour for the E/I junk outside of that season given all the Saturday sports coverage. Totally get not bothering there.

Sometimes people misspeak? Maybe he is, maybe it’s just a misstatement.

He will be missed by many. It was a boneheaded decision…twice…to pass him over for full-time gigs. But good for him for now getting that opportunity, and getting off weekends. And in the interest of fairness, boneheaded though the decisions have been to not recognize what they had, at least management let him have his goodbyes instead of bum-rushing him out the door.

Serious upgrade. There’s only so many elements and so many shapes to a studio. Of course if one stretches the point there will be “resemblances.” But it’s clearly distinct. And looks great.

Somewhere I read Caroline is now on Sundays regularly. But with that coming post Sowers’ announcement of leaving, it makes sense they didn’t do a new open for it. Heck, they barely got use out of the Maggie Kent/Chris Sowers one for Saturdays. Oh well, such is life. I’m sure they know what they’re doing with the weather coverage and have a perfectly good reason. Maybe some of it was while teams were practicing in the new studio setup. Maybe some was Karen just wanting or needing some10 am shifts off. Maybe they’re experimenting for team permutations. As it is, the “normal” schedule for Brittany is Wednesdays through Sundays. If you assume in the interim Payton covers most weekend mornings, that could be a Saturday to Wednesday week, not withstanding moving some things around here and there when needed. Really would only put “everyone” on once a week, and with vacations and whatnot, rarely even then. They don’t seem to have an issue going with two of the regular three at 10, and bring in a sub if it’s down to one regular (or none, and thus two subs). Gives them some good flexibility thus far.

It was necessary because the powers that be felt it was time.

Hey, if you can share some best practices and elements, great. No harm in some commonalities.

At 4 and 5 only for traffic. The monitor looks great. Back to a mix of green screen and green screen and the much more advanced weather center for the morning show. It’s like a security blanket or something, but whatever. The big board (not to be confused with the retired “Big Board” ) offers a more modern approach, and a good option for the weather anchor to walk back to the desk less awkwardly than with the green screen in the old setup. And the effective impossibility of doing that with the current green screen setup. They seemed fine using one of the standup areas for traffic and the rear-most touchscreen, so keeping the green screen for that seems…needless, and doesn’t add to the appeal while detracting from having all the personalities able to engage on the set more easily. But again, whatever. They cling to it, they cling to it. It’s all well and good to have tucked away as a backup, but with that much space available, they could do just fine. Just like the last set was a nice evolution from the previous one, this follows suit. Not a radical departure, but a well-done revamp that keeps it fresh and engaging with possibilities for visual variety. The expanded weather area and multiple screens could be used effectively in a severe weather scenario, a little more cohesively than the last setup. That wasn’t lacking, they just made some nice adjustments. Onward and upward. Let’s see how they put it to use in time. One or two days in is barely fresh out of the box. There can be more ways to do things to come.

At 4 and 5 only for traffic. The monitor looks great.

Absolutely love the upgrades, especially the use of a screen for the weather. May the green screen remain banished to the nether regions of the studio. In the year of our lord 2024, it’s nice to step beyond the old conventions and upgrade technology. The desk looks nice, the presentation areas are better, the entire theme is fresher and brighter.

Indeed it is. In bits and pieces of glimpses so far (ok, I know it’s early on, just having some fun)

With the sponsorship plugs, and pushing to the timing limit, there’s not much need for a long theme. They’re most often talking over the lyrics now, and frequently have only a few seconds before the inevitable close-of-show billboard.

Props to turning that one weekend of a different version of the theme into a fun little play on true crime shows. That was a fun way to present it. I do remember hearing it when it debuted and kind of doing a “huh?” type expression…and then moved on with my life. Honestly, it never would have entered my mind to go to the effort of calling to complain about theme music. Clearly, I am part of a very different group of people. I get change can be a little noticeable. Heck the first day WPVI was using the newsroom for their weekend shows a few weeks back, my oft’ oblivious kid did that same kind of “huh?” expression, proceeded to look up that they’re building a new set and promptly moved on with life. Might as well say, I’m also someone who didn’t care a lick that the weather “clouds” with messages finally went away. In and of itself, I don’t get the angst over the theme. Life moves on, it was just a different recording of the same tune. But I get they got swamped and decided not to go back down that road again. And now are goofing on it.

The Gates is an hour. One for one replacement for the Talk.

The ship sailed on the Gates being a half hour, so unless B&B goes bye-bye, that 12:30 start time is locked in for the foreseeable future. Down the road, if the Gates fizzles, who knows. If the network decides it really has something with the morning hour and Deal is odd show out, so be it. It’s a perfectly suitable and flexible option and does decently enough for a daytime game show, companion in many markets to Price. It’s possible, but also a long way from becoming reality.

Reasons why there’s a less than 0% chance of “mandating” carriage. They already take up more of an affiliate’s schedule in daytime than ABC & NBC, so getting another hour is a non-starter. Now, if they were to (this is not a serious proposition) cancel Y&R, you could make that case. Or (slightly more so plausible) if they sent Let’s Make a Deal out to pasture. Or (perhaps most plausible but not for some time) if The Gates fails to get out of the gate on a good footing, that could be an hour to claim for the morning brand expansion. But the idea any affiliate group is ceding an hour back is just not reality in 2024.

No.

Nearly anything would be an improvement over the pimping out of the set and the tacky theme week gimmicks.

As an O&O, the “option” isn’t much of one of the ultimate powers that be state otherwise. Moving Drew to a full hour at 3 certainly made sense, more so than that random Feud hour, but it becomes an interesting case at 9 am. Would it be odd to axe the just-expanded newscast? Sure. But could it become a casualty of what the network wants to do with its own properties? Also sure. It will be interesting to see how the various pieces come into focus.

And the pizza while sitting there biding their time is awesome.

0% chance it would work. Maybe less than zero were that mathematically possible.