The clip above reminds me of this classic SNL skit featuring Dana Carvey as Tom Brokaw: https://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/tom-brokaw-pre-tapes/n10894

And for all of its complexity, that WSB open looks pretty much like any local open within the past 20 years. It's boring and derivative. If someone wanted to parody a local newscast, she would probably come up with something like that. France Info TV's look, on the other hand, is unique. It's utterly original, which is what good design should always strive to be. Being different is a plus in my book.

To mark today's mayoral election in Chicago, let's turn back the clock 36 years to the 1983 vote, as seen on the 6 p.m. WLS news:

Something doesn't need to be complicated to be inventive. A Picasso painting is much less complex than a Kincaid painting, but it's far more inventive. The very simple pyramid at the Louvre is inventive, as is the St. Louis Arch and the Sydney Opera. Sometimes less really is more, and while you can recreate that look fairly quickly, it's very difficult to come up with it in the first place and make it work. Elegance and sophistication requires a lot of effort and ingenuity, even though the final product may seem simple at first glance. (When people look at modern art and say, "I could have done this," there is really once one response: "Why didn't you do it then, if you think it's so easy?") The WSB open looks tacky, as if aimed at video game-playing teenagers. The France Info TV look is elegant and graceful -- in other words, it's designed for adults.

From Austria, a preview of ORF eins's new look, which is set to launch next week:

A couple of newly uploaded WLS promos from 1998:

A topical promo for KTVK's Eyewitness News era (i.e., 1986 or earlier):

If you've ever wondered where you can see Mary Jo West these days: By the way, is the clip below the only one we've ever seen of West during her 1983-'86 stint at KTVK?

KTVK, 10 p.m. news, late '80s / early'90s: And a 1997 clip from KTVK's Tonight Arizona, which is what the 10 p.m. news was known as then:

I'm always pleasantly surprised when I walk past WBBM's lobby, for instance. It looked great even when their on-air look was a mess:

This is frustrating, because in many other areas, American design is world-class. In fact. some local stations have impressively designed lobbies that look far more modern and elegant that their news sets. I think that a lot has to do with the fact that many news directors are afraid to make any changes that aren't backed up by years of audience research.

Looks horrible. This country has so many great designers, yet TV news design has been, with rare exceptions (Tegna, etc.), wretchedly conservative for the better part of two decades. It's as if station managers don't want their product to look modern, elegant, and sophisticated. This is especially baffling since tech companies like Apple have proved that good design ultimately pays off. Graphics like this make TV news look like cheap video games. This is how good TV news design (set, graphics, etc.) can be if you encourage designers to be inventive:

Speaking of The China Syndrome, I've always thought that the movie's opening scene is an unusually realistic (at least for a Hollywood movie) portrayal of what goes on in a local news control room (and Small's news theme makes its first appearance toward the end):

For those who missed it the first time around (and yes, that's WBBM's Bill Kurtis doing the VO at the beginning):

Miami's WTVJ takes a look back at its first 70 years -- with plenty of historical footage: