Thursday, May 20, 2010

TV News Observations

Does anyone actually rise at 4:30 a.m. in time to watch FOX 29's "Good Day at 4:30"? Only my bed and I know that I will never see the darkness of day at THAT hour...but did record the 4:30 show to check it out. Definitely not much traffic at that hour...and the typical weather segments with Sue along with news of the day. I have never been able to get used to or take a liking to Mike Jerrick. Probably a nice guy...just has never grown on me.
Speaking of FOX 29, I see they continue with their new format during the 5, 6 and 10 p.m. shows of doing more chat, opinion and conjecture than actually giving us "news". In a nutshell, this format is really what most TV newscasts have become. A wasteland of air time! I will never like this format, period! Just give me the news of the day. Is that so hard?
Over at Channel 6, I saw Lisa Thomas Laury anchoring with Rick Williams on the 5 o'clock news yesterday. It reminded me of the days "back when". It was good to see LTL on the desk for a change! I would much rather watch her any day than listening to Brian Taff's grating accent! Wow, it really is annoying.
I see Channel 6 has a new/second promo airing for the Action News "Big Board". Sure does make illustrating a story or the weather much more interesting and animated! My understanding is that one of those can cost big bucks! I've heard in the range of $300,000 including all the software. I'd be curious if that's accurate.
I hear Denise James remains sidelined as she continues her recovery from shoulder surgery.
Over at Channel 3, Liz Keptner sees her remaining days on the anchor desk continue to dwindle. Her last day is just a little more than a week away (May 28th). Still no "official word" from management on whom her replacement will be. Personally, I'd enjoy seeing Pat Ciarrocchi again in the mornings. Who knows if she'd even be interested in those grueling hours? I have a feeling Natasha Brown might be in the running for the job. We shall see!
Meanwhile, I can't comment on anything on Channel 10's airwaves as I do not watch NBC 10 News and haven't in several years. In my opinion, their news product has gone down the tubes; I don't care for most of their reporters and have never cared for Tim Lake or Terry Ruggles.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I too do not like the new Fox29 format. I actually wrote the station and told them that whenever I see the split screen anchor on one side, guest on the other, I turn to another station. It's really unbearable to watch. Btw, How dare you not like Tim Lake? At least he's a standard in Philly news and he's got the best smile on air. I like him though I don't get to watch nbc10 nor cbs3 that much.