Antonio Mora & CBS 2: 5 Years a Nuthin'

[former newsboy 52]

There's only 3 reasons this guy's still in the top chair at WBBM: his ethnicity, his network background, and his support from Joe Ahern. How else would someone explain it?

 

Mora's predecessor, David Kerley, was shown the door when he didn't move the needle after only a year, more or less. Linda MacLennan was only allowed back for about the same length of time and Tracy Townsend lasted a little while longer than that (off and on). And let's not forget Carol Marin's arguably short 9 months on the job.

 

In fact, since Lester Holt & Linda MacLennan were replaced by Marin back in 2000, no one's survived 'BBM's never-ending game of musical anchor chairs longer than Antonio Mora. And in WBBM-years, 5 of them is an eternity. Then there's Diann Burns' 3 1/2 years, the same amount of time Antonio & Diann have been teamed up together at 10PM.

 

So why the longevity? Certainly not ratings. In reality, it's as if 'BBM's 10PM news doesn't even exist anymore with numbers that barely register and a production that's so drab it begs you to change the channel. Next to WLS' top-notch presentation and players, Channel 2 looks like a local cable access show.

 

How much longer can we expect more of the same from the former powerhouse station that used to call itself home to the legendary anchor team of Bill Kurtis and Walter Jacobson? Is there real reason to think Mr. Ahern's contract will be renewed come September when it expires? I'd say 5 years is plenty of time to prove unsuccessful.

[slimshady760 0]

Antonio is better when he has a better co-anchor, like MaryAnn Childers or Alita Gillen. Diann Burns is the problem and her ass needs to be fired.

[former newsboy 52]

I'd have to agree with the replies. Diann Burns certainly isn't earning her $2 Million a year paycheck. I was focusing on Antonio because he's been there longer, longer than anyone since Lester & Linda - something I don't quite understand, since he hasn't exactly been a hit to say the least.

 

And I don't know about everyone else on here, but hasn't this week been great with Mary Ann filling in for Diann everynight?! Just feels right.

[slimshady760 0]

Sanjaya would be better than Diann

[slimshady760 0]

lol

[former newsboy 52]

Did anyone else catch Channel 2 News on Friday Night? Both Antonio Mora & Mary Ann Childers were fillin in and I must say, those two together improved the entire feel of the newscast 1000%. I kept wonderin, "these are the fill-ins"?! It was really first-rate.

 

Truth be told, I've done my fair-share of ripping apart Antonio (that's even the basis for this thread) and I still say he's not all he was cracked-up to be when he came over from ABC. But it's finally dawned on me that he wasn't the problem, Diann Burns was. I now totally agree that Antonio's much better when paired with someone else, namely Mary Ann Childers or Alita Guillen. He comes across as much smarter and professional. (But Antonio & Alita, that's a little too Telemundo!)

 

It also made a world of difference that Howard Sudberry was fillin in for the unapt Mark Malone. If Channel 2 can't get Bruce Wolf, why in the world does management prefer Malone over Howard?!? The viewers certainly haven't taken a liking to him, heck, it's been more than 3 years and I don't think anyone even knows he's there.

 

But really, Antonio, Mary Ann, Steve, and Howard make sense, there's a real symmetry there that's lost with Rob, Diann, Steve, and Mark. With the recent anchor change, I wish managemnt would have went with the former instead.