World News Now

[fl19ga114sc105 3]

With more people staying up later and/or getting up early, there are still some of us out there who work the graveyard shift and don't get to see the news at 5, 6, and 11. With that said how many of us here are regular viewers of World News Now? The one any probably only news show in history of television that has its own polka. For me I've been an avid viewer since 2000 when Anderson Cooper anchored, and like most people literally stumbled upon it at 2:30am one night.

 

And in taking a page from WNN I put a poll with this post.

[Spring Rubber 703]

I've always wanted to but never actually remember to do so/get distracted by something else.

[WXmanTim 88]

I used to watch as much as was possible, but lately can't stand the show.

 

Sadly, the best years are in the past. What's on now is pretty dreadful compared to 1991 - 2000 or so (really more 1991 - 1998, in my estimation).

 

So you'll pardon me if I wax nostalgic for a moment...

 

On Monday morning, January 6, 1991 we were introduced to

(

). And all was good in the world (more,

).

 

Then KABC called and Lisa left Aaron with only a cardboard cutout (mentioned here, during a "sweet 16" retrospective).

 

But we, shortly, were introduced to the lovely Thalia Assuras (The Most Amazing Woman in Broadcasting, here, a retrospective on her last day). So pretty, so smart and so smart-looking in her Sally Jesse-esque glasses.

 

But the Aaron/Thalia show was not meant to last long. Aaron soon departed for a reporting gig and the weekend World News Tonight anchor desk.

 

For a while, it was Thalia Assuras and a cardboard cutout (usually of Sam Donaldson or Bill Greenwood). This period was quickly followed by the pairing of Boyd Matson with Thalia (see above). But you see, World News Now is (or, rather, was) a star maker. And Boyd soon left for the heart-stopping adventures of National Geographic Explorer.

 

Next came Thalia and Kevin Newman (two Canucks! Again, see above). But Thalia soon found herself perpetually "on assignment" and Newman was reduced to anchoring with whomever they could pull in from the newsroom at 2:00 in the morning.

 

Soon after Thalias return, Kevin left for the fun and sun of general assignment reporting (and Sunday GMA, I think) and was replaced by Marc Mullen (the best clip from this era, the notorious "Tickle Me Elmo", from Christmas 1996) , then Thalia left for good (le sigh).

 

But Asha Blake stepped in (here) and the chemistry between she and Marc Mullen was golden. When the late Roone Arledge, then president of ABC News, announced the network would attempt its own 24-hour news network, Asha, Mark and World News Now were poised to make it big (it was believed that most news programming on the network would be along the lines of World News Now...it never, obviously, got off the ground).

 

Soon Mark and Asha both left and the flame began die.

 

Anderson (see the elmo clip, above) brought some of it back, but by then I had lost interest and could no longer feed my inner insomniac with "rich, chocolatey, Ovaltine!" because I worked days.

 

(Here is a good primer on WNN of the past)

 

I've tried to watch a few times since being (back) in college. Ryan and Taina had good chemistry, but the Owen Wilson story put the kibosh on that pairing (

). Yes, it's sad that Mr. Wilson attempted suicide, but the story was reported during the feature "Skinny" segment and wasn't designed to be serious.

 

The current anchors, especially Jeremy Hubbard, have no chemistry and the show is so tightly scripted (likely in an over-reaction to the Wilson piece) that there is almost no personality (and on this, I point again at Jeremy Hubbard) to the show aside from an occasional airing of the "World News Polka."

 

The spark has gone completely out. It's sad and likely time to put the old warhorse to pasture.

[PTVNews 194]

I voted yes but I only see it a few times each year.

[Les Tremayne 2]

1992 was the debut year, actually. Early January 1992. I liked it much much better then. Aaron and Lisa had super chemistry.

[KRAP-TV 146]

I'm not sure if it's permanent, but this team of Jeremy Hubbard and Vinita Nair are really growing on me unlike any other team since Anderson and Alison. They have great chemistry!

[WXmanTim 88]

Perhaps, but that is likely due to Ms. Nair. When Hubbard was paired with the long-haired blond chick the chemistry was zilch.

 

I get to see snippets of the show in the morning, on the newsroom monitors, but the sound is off so I don't really pay attention...to busy putting the forecast together.

 

One of my biggest complaints is that during cross-talk segments, Hubbard is constantly looking at the camera instead of paying attention to his co-anchor. He either has little-to-no experience with IFBs or he just doesn't care.

 

I wish you could folks could watch WKRN's "News 2 This Morning" and see what real chemistry is between co-anchors (all three) and compare that to Hubbard and Nair at WNN.