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The Channel 6 Action News Thread


Jess

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  • 2 weeks later...

That is legitimately the first time I've ever seen two anchors handle a 6 or 11pm broadcast on WPVI. They never do this. Never.

 

I don't see why it's necessary, since Perez has done an admirable job handling the weekend broadcasts since Rob Jennings retired. (In fact, he's weekend anchor pretty much; they just haven't added his name to the opens)

 

But yeah, it really really throws me when they go to break and there are two anchors.

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I gotta say I actually enjoyed it, a lot. Walter solo was a bit boring. I feel like the newscast flowed better with both of them. I guess it helps that I also think Sarah and Walter make a good team, going back to the days when they were fill-ins on the weekday morning newscast before they settled on Matt and Tamela. Sometimes change is good. There's a first time for everything. And I truly believe when Jim does call it quits, two people will replace him.

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I gotta say I actually enjoyed it, a lot. Walter solo was a bit boring. I feel like the newscast flowed better with both of them. I guess it helps that I also think Sarah and Walter make a good team, going back to the days when they were fill-ins on the weekday morning newscast before they settled on Matt and Tamela. Sometimes change is good. There's a first time for everything. And I truly believe when Jim does call it quits, two people will replace him.

 

....And Sometimes Change Ain't Always Good. I had a feeling some ND wanted to experiment something tonight. After all, we are in the start of the February books.

 

And although I do feel that they'll probably do a two-anchor format should Jim leaves, feeling that they may feel that no other new anchor would have that kind of leadership that Jim has, I don't think it would be right to break that solo format on the 6 & 11pm, which have been synonymous to Channel 6 Action News for decades.

 

If It Ain't Broke Don't Fix It. Change Ain't Always Good. Don't fix shit that ain't broken. Just Sayin'. Take It For What It's Worth.

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Yeah, it felt exactly like "hey, let's test this out" to me. The 6 and 11 use crazy camera angles for going to break - it looked completely off to see two people at the desk.

 

This is probably 20+ years of watching Action News speaking, but I think solo anchors, when done right, make a lot more sense than constantly doing these boy-girl anchor teams. Jim Gardner's, like, 20 seconds of banter with Cecily Tynan feel way more authentic than many anchor pairings I've seen.

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It did feel like a test. Oddly enough, Sarah was not on the noon today, Nydia Han was on with Rick. If she does move to weekend evenings, they should just have Tamela or Monica handle the noon with Rick.

 

Solo anchors do work, but it takes the right person to do it, and I feel not too many are capable of doing it. There are not too many Jim Gardners out there.

 

And CircleSeven, here change already happened in the sense that the weekend anchor retired last summer. So why not test things out now? It's not like they are changing the music theme.

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And CircleSeven, here change already happened in the sense that the weekend anchor retired last summer. So why not test things out now? It's not like they are changing the music theme.

Don't think I wasn't aware of Rob Jennings departure last July.

 

You're talking about why not "test things out" now, why haven't they "test things out" at the time of Rob's departure, and not wait until six months later (while Walter has been comfortably anchoring the weekends solo) to meddle with that format, which I think its very risky and gutsy since its the start of sweeps. Yes it's not like as you pointed out "It's not like they are changing the music theme" (although I don't know why you would bring that element up, knowing that they wouldn't be as stupid to even think about altering that), but they have to realize that too much meddling with the formula they've followed through for a long time may not be a good thing.

 

But lets see if this happens again this coming weekend.....

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I actually liked it, too...I've always enjoyed Sarah & Walter together, going back to when they filled in in the mornings like someone said.

 

 

I think Nydia Han was on the noon show again today, but I think I saw Sarah reporting last night? Could be wrong, I don't remember. Sarah is both a great anchor AND a great reporter. I've always liked her.

 

On a different note, there have been many times on WFMZ when either Eve or Jaciel are out on the morning show, and they do a 4-hour program solo. How ridiculous.

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Yeah, Nydia was on the noon yesterday and today. And you're right, Sarah is a great anchor and reporter - very, very underrated talent there.

 

The Action News of today bears scant resemblance to the Action News of, say, 1996. It's more female-targeted, it's slower-paced, and a lot of the quirks (magnetic weather boards) have slowly disappeared. Oh, and it's considerably looser. All of this was slow evolution - it wasn't as drastic as the theme song change. When things happen you barely notice - it took me a couple weeks to realize the frowny clouds and the magnetic board were gone. That's because in 1998, one of the key elements they added was a big rear-projection screen to replace the old magnetic maps. And slowly but surely, more computerized elements were added in. And then I mention the "farm system", where they add new talent and gradually work them up to key positions. Stinger animations were added as the years went on, and they even have a custom 615 remix of the theme music that they use for Breaking News, etc.

 

I've noticed other "test" things as well, mostly on the noon. Today, Rick anchored with Nydia Han in for Sarah Bloomquist, and usually they just have one of them solo when the other's not available. A few weeks ago, I saw Matt and Tamela do the noon news, even though Bloomquist and Williams were in (and neither were doing extra shifts).

 

It's not anywhere near as dramatic as the changes made at WCAU over the last two years, but 6ABC has learned how to evolve and change without alienating viewers.

 

 

Solo anchors do work, but it takes the right person to do it, and I feel not too many are capable of doing it. There are not too many Jim Gardners out there.

 

No, but look at all the major national news programs. All of the nightly newscasts? Solo anchors. CNN's news hours? Solo anchors. The Daily Show? Solo anchor. (Hell, I even prefer single-anchor Weekend Update. But that's more because the first ones I encountered were Norm MacDonald, then Colin Quinn.)

 

And while there is never going to be another Jim Gardner, Rick Williams, Monica Malpass, Lisa Thomas-Laury, Marc Howard, and even newer people like Brian Taff and Matt O'Donnell have all subbed in Jim's chair and done just fine. Across the street, they've been having Jim Rosenfield solo on days when Renee or Jacqueline are out, and he's excellent. And there are others. I still think that Larry Mendte never needed a co-anchor; his solo stints were way more compelling and dynamic. Larry Kane had that Action News desk years before Jim Gardner arrived, and he's also been better as a solo act (with the exceptions of Alan Frio and Diane Allen). Outside of the market, Ron Magers basically did a tour of the entire studio one night when he was solo. And when WABC decided to just have Bill do the 6pm by himself, he really blossomed - and this was a guy who worked well with many great co-anchors, including the best co-anchor ever (Roger Grimsby).

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Don't think I wasn't aware of Rob Jennings departure last July.

 

You're talking about why not "test things out" now, why haven't they "test things out" at the time of Rob's departure, and not wait until six months later (while Walter has been comfortably anchoring the weekends solo) to meddle with that format, which I think its very risky and gutsy since its the start of sweeps. Yes it's not like as you pointed out "It's not like they are changing the music theme" (although I don't know why you would bring that element up, knowing that they wouldn't be as stupid to even think about altering that), but they have to realize that too much meddling with the formula they've followed through for a long time may not be a good thing.

 

But lets see if this happens again this coming weekend.....

 

Okay, first off, I wasn't thinking or assuming you didn't know about Rob Jennings retirement.

 

So you ask why wait six months? Because that's how Channel 6 is! When they make changes, they do them slow and gradually!

 

And I bring the music up because that is a change people will get angry about (I mean the masses, not news junkies like us). Adding Sarah as a co-anchor to the weekend evenings will not anger the masses, but prolly just a few news junkies. When they tried to change the music, they were flooded with complaint calls. I doubt that happened this past weekend.

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No, but look at all the major national news programs. All of the nightly newscasts? Solo anchors. CNN's news hours? Solo anchors. The Daily Show? Solo anchor. (Hell, I even prefer single-anchor Weekend Update. But that's more because the first ones I encountered were Norm MacDonald, then Colin Quinn.)

Comparing apples and oranges. The network news and the cable news channel are different newscasts from local newscasts. Do they have a regular traffic, weather, and sports segment? What works for them might not work locally.

 

All the solo anchors you mentioned are legends in their own right. I don't really see it with today's anchors. When Jim anchors solo on 10, it feels like a long boring newscast.

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Okay, first off, I wasn't thinking or assuming you didn't know about Rob Jennings retirement.

 

So you ask why wait six months? Because that's how Channel 6 is! When they make changes, they do them slow and gradually!

 

And I bring the music up because that is a change people will get angry about (I mean the masses, not news junkies like us). Adding Sarah as a co-anchor to the weekend evenings will not anger the masses, but prolly just a few news junkies. When they tried to change the music, they were flooded with complaint calls. I doubt that happened this past weekend.

Even though they probably do things as you put it "slow and gradually!", I didn't think bringing another anchor to the fold on Sunday was slow or gradual at all, not in any strecth of the imagination. I think what they did on Sunday was something out-of-the-orginary that was very snap-of-the-finger approach "OH! Let's Try Something New Today, Let's try this".

 

Even if (and I can't assume if it did get any complaints on Sunday) it probably didn't get alot of complaints, and I'm not sure how many people you think are the "masses", but if enough people saw it, and may not like a duo anchorship on the weekend evening shows (and it don't have to mean Sarah, they might do this same thing this weekend with a different anchor (I hope that's not the case)), folks will probably catch on and complain.

 

In other words, whether its any cosmetic, content/style/delivery or any other changes, music change or not, if an average viewers sees something that is unusual in the newscasts they've relate too (even when they see duo instead of solo), or if they keep meddling with the formula, folks will complain. Simple as that.

 

I've noticed other "test" things as well, mostly on the noon. Today, Rick anchored with Nydia Han in for Sarah Bloomquist, and usually they just have one of them solo when the other's not available. A few weeks ago, I saw Matt and Tamela do the noon news, even though Bloomquist and Williams were in (and neither were doing extra shifts).

Now I wasn't aware about these series of "tests". They surely was "testing" alright. Hmmmm.

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Rick Williams and Eva Pilgrim are about to take over for Matt and Tam on the extended storm coverage. Why not Rick and Sarah? Or Rick and Monica?

 

And, it's not as if Sarah had the day off yesterday - she did a report about the 6ABC Zoo Balloon collapsing at 6pm last night.

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I guarantee nobody (like, literally anybody besides people on this website) could care any less that 2 people anchored weekend evening shows. They're used to seeing it in every other newscast on every station. I'm looking for a valid argument otherwise, but I don't see people finding 2 people reading the news taking away from the product whatsoever.

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A midnight update seems highly unlikely. Remember, in 2012, they still had Nightline in the post-news spot. Now that it's Kimmel, they're not going to break his show in two.

 

I agree. And besides, most of the NBC stations will have news at (or a bit after) 11:30pm on most nights during the games. They tend to end the primetime coverage at midnight during the summer games. Like during London games, most nights they ended minutes (and on the first week, 15 minutes) after midnight.

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They're basically doing a "6ABC To Go" for the next few weeks. They were actually doing some online-only cut-ins today. (6abc.com must get a lot of traffic if they're doing that.) One of them I tuned in, like, a minute too early. They had the "6ABC WILL BE RIGHT BACK" graphic... but then they cut to one with the Action News logo and a lower saying "Action News Update Coming Up." This lasted for a couple of minutes.... and was accompanied by their bumper music.

 

Two minutes of listening to the Action News Bumper is awesome. I don't care how repetitive it is. That piece of music is awesome.

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