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The Definitive ABC 7 Thread


24994J

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I'm kind of wondering with "The F.A.B. Life" (the lifestyle program coming to ABC O&Os this fall) premiering, where will it end up on WLS's schedule? While most of the other O&Os have the option of replacing Millionaire & Jeopardy's rerun (with Millionaire moving back to replace the second half of the expanded midday news in most markets), WLS's (and KTRK's) situation isn't that clear. The first two options below have been speculated in the media, but I also think the third would be an intriguing option:

  • It could replace Windy City Live at 11am (causing WCL to be cancelled).
  • It could replace Rachel Ray at 1pm (causing RR to move to a post-midnight time slot or another station)
  • Put it at 3pm. Move Inside Edition to 11:30am, truncating WCL to a half hour at 11am. Jeopardy would move to 4:30pm (or 4pm), truncating the 4pm news to a half hour.

I know the third option would anger a lot of people, as not only will news time be lost, but Inside Edition & Jeopardy would once again be changing timeslots.

 

The View, The Chew, and General Hospital are all safe as they are network programs and WLS is a network O&O. Live with Kelly and Michael I would imagine is also safe as they went to all that trouble to take it from WGN and is also one of the higher rated syndicated shows.

 

Has anyone heard anything lately?

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As I've said before, if they try to cut Windy City Live in half, they might as well cancel it. Rachael Ray is the likely victim. Also, management has said (take their word for it or not) that WCL, Inside Edition and Jeopardy! are safe in their time slots.

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Troy Christensen is reporting in the field this afternoon during severe weather coverage, much like Phil Schwarz, though Phil has implied over the years that the latter half of the work week is his "weekend"...hence Troy's appearance. Phil's out in the field, too. He's really come a long way in his delivery and presence since joining the station, and I'd hope the station picks him up full-time when Jerry retires.

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Those Facebook posts must be done by the station, because all 5 meteorologists are posting them at virtually the same time, with the same wording and info. It's even more obnoxious on Twitter, but considering the warnings and stuff, it's not totally unwarranted.

 

As for needing Phil and Troy, I don't see the point. Jerry is on tonight. Nothing is so severe over such a wide area for them to be tag-teaming.

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ABC 7 and Wciu are simucasting w/ Cheryl, Jerry, Hosea and Linda. The U has been going weather-heavy, with some news and breaks.

 

NBC and FOX are rolling. Very disappointed in WGN and Skilling.

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Now that I'm in front of the tube, I get it. I did not realize the stations were in rolling coverage. Taft, Glaros (maybe Baskerville) and Skilling are breaking in periodically.

I hope ABC7 didn't have the best coverage in town... Watching cheryl sit next to Jerry and nod was beyond pathetic...

 

When I said tag teaming was good that isn't what I meant at all...

I meant one at the green screen and one on the weather computer with them talking to each other and switching off with the person not on screen chiming in with updates etc. At no point should one be idle and sitting.

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I hope ABC7 didn't have the best coverage in town... Watching cheryl sit next to Jerry and nod was beyond pathetic...

 

When I said tag teaming was good that isn't what I meant at all...

She's a fiery little thing. Mike Caplan would have been spot on with jerry.
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And that's what I'm complaining about... If this is the future of their coverage meteorologist wise... Not good.

 

Sadly this isn't her forte. When it comes to breaking weather coverage, she is weak. Jerry sounds sick (I dont know if he really is) and has to carry the load. I feel bad for him.

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They've been having problems with the green screen, for sure, which isn't helping. Having Alan and Kathy has helped them immensely, though. I've sampled a little bit of everybody's coverage this evening, and while things were a little rocky at the start, I can't find anything significant about which to complain.

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I'm going to play devil's advocate for a moment.

 

I agree with all of your points on the Taft/Scott tandem tonight, but I think we might be being a little harsh. Breaking coverage is not Cheryl's forte, but we need to keep in mind that this is like the first time the two of them have been at the helm of rolling coverage (the February blizzard, maybe, but I don't think Jerry came in that weekend for any extended period of time).

 

None of us can say she isn't trying, and Jerry is definitely not 100%, but I think they have a significant chemistry problem, more than anything else. Krash, Kathy and Jerry have worked side-by-side for 25 years, and have a certain rhythm during such events, and throwing a new voice into the mix can cause a lot of awkwardness. I also don't think he's giving her much of a chance to fully contribute, leaving her to nod in agreement. By holding her back a little, he's picking up the slack and pushing himself a little too hard.

 

It is certainly a disadvantage to have a far more inexperienced member of the team, but with time she should improve due to her surroundings. I already find her more palatable than when she first joined the station, and she should be much improved when Jerry does retire next year. Yes, she's not Mike, but I'm not expecting her to be, and I do think that's added pressure thrown in that certainly wouldn't help her.

 

I still don't like the arrangement, but it is what it is, and I'm trying my best to give a chance. We also need to remember that even after Jerry leaves, she'll have Phil and Tracy to hopefully have her back when she needs it. She's gotten a bit of bum deal over the last few months being branded as both a professional and personal homewrecker, and for grinning and bearing it, I'm rooting for her to rise to the challenge and succeed.

 

Through it all, I think their real star tonight has been Troy. He hasn't been on much (more than Phil), but he's been very solid, despite few opportunities to appear on the big stage.

 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

...And the green screen clicker just fried again.

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I can accept those points too... It just seems like this kind of thing wasn't worked out in advance.... I think that is a bit of a lapse on their part. It would have been less clunky in a more traditional situation like I described above. Cheryl almost looked like an intern sitting there...

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It reminded me of when my dad would help me with homework, reaching over in front of me and doing it himself without really helping me.

 

In terms of things being thrown together and unprepared, everybody in town was caught a little off-guard. Everyone was prepared to handle the storms and even tornado warnings, but the system just blew up when the sun came out and warmed things up this afternoon, leading to the bigger spread of damage and a heavier workload for the weather teams. There may be only 1 life lost (1 is 1 too many), but the conditions were about as bad as they could be, based on what was anticipated.

 

One last thing on tandem; Jerry started the main forecast spot, Cheryl finished it, and both seemed to be back on their game. He wasn't bumbling and slow, and she was very straight-forward and to-the-point. Kudos to them both for picking things back up.

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It reminded me of when my dad would help me with homework, reaching over in front of me and doing it himself without really helping me.

 

In terms of things being thrown together and unprepared, everybody in town was caught a little off-guard. Everyone was prepared to handle the storms and even tornado warnings, but the system just blew up when the sun came out and warmed things up this afternoon, leading to the bigger spread of damage and a heavier workload for the weather teams. There may be only 1 life lost (1 is 1 too many), but the conditions were about as bad as they could be, based on what was anticipated.

 

One last thing on tandem; Jerry started the main forecast spot, Cheryl finished it, and both seemed to be back on their game. He wasn't bumbling and slow, and she was very straight-forward and to-the-point. Kudos to them both for picking things back up.

 

I'm glad they finished stronger... my phone nearly ran out of juice so I missed it... was this the main 1017 forecast?
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As I have said before, when Scott was at WMAQ, it was a very similar situation (very bad weather/entire weather team on-air) and she seemed out of her element. So I dont see things getting better. As far as technical issues, they could have sent someone (or both) upstairs and run things from there if they couldn't get things going in the studio.

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As far as technical issues, they could have sent someone (or both) upstairs and run things from there if they couldn't get things going in the studio.

 

Shoulda, woulda, coulda. Ultimately, they managed and got the important information out, even if it was very awkward, at times. I'd deem tonight to be rare miss on the tech side for them.

 

Oh, since we're going deep on the personnel side, I'll mention that Magers was on at 5, but he sounded like crap, so I'm not surprised he wasn't back at any point this evening.

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