I decided to finally watch the heralded 4pm 'Seattle News Tonight" of Fox 13. Strangely produced with the main anchors hidden until 10-12 minutes in. Oh well, watch it and weep. Produced for replays. Looks like Hana may be #1 female unless Sabirah is off.
My take: Very odd to intro the two main anchors and then push immediately to Lauren Donovan at the keywall doing multiple stories. Rose and Kim become side players for no good reason. They could have done the same intros. Then they toss to Claire for weather, still no sign of the lead duo???? Are they saving Hana and Rose for the replay portion? Sheesh. Staring at 4:10, after the break, we see Hana and Rose anchor the back 50 minutes of the show from the main desk for replay.
Lauren is not strong enough to be a sub-anchor, so I assume Matthew Smith is off. Rayford should be doing this segment anyway to showcase another anchor, not a reporter like Donovan. I guess Rose and Kim are back on the cheap chair cheap studio update with the little flower pot at 5. Well, it's summer, I guess. But to quote Aretha Franklin, Who's Zoomin' Who?
I don't even think its necessary to have Donovan or Smith at the keywall doing multiple stories. Rose and Kim can handle them from the main anchor desk. Donovan is a strong reporter, and should be used more in that capacity. And Smith has his live streaming desk to look after. Who is tending to it while he is at the keywall?
ReplyDeleteLounge chairs are the new anchor desk. Unwatchable.
ReplyDeleteKOMO used a "living room" set back in the 1970s which you can see on Youtube (complete with shag carpeting!). That was of course the 70s and in lo-fi world, but its now 2025 and to make use of lounge chairs make it seem its a commissary rather than an anchor desk.
ReplyDeleteThe anchor desk is probably considered by the younger viewers (if there are any) as 'over the top' and 'old school authoritative." But the living room look offers little or no credibility or gravitas. The desk still sets the tone, just like a desk on Inside the NBA or GMA
ReplyDeleteI'm in my early 30s, and I find the anchor desk to be perfectly acceptable for traditional newscasts. The living room look is fine for lifestyle and chat shows, and is also okay for lighter segments during morning newscasts (serious news segments should still come from the anchor desk or newsroom).
DeleteWatched the 5 on Fox 13 Tuesday, the coffee table, cheap chairs and flower pot are gone. They are paying attention.
ReplyDeleteThat's good to hear. The coffee table, chairs, and flower pot are fine for a lifestyle or chat show, but not for a traditional newscast.
DeleteLots of yuks and banter between anchors. Seemed like they were treading water to fill time.
ReplyDeleteI get that feeling as well. Its as if they don't have enough content to fill a full hour of news, so they let the anchors banter for 30-90 seconds after each story to plug the gap. I'd rather see them cover more local stories during that time, even if they stories that are merely ripped from our region's local newspapers with no additional reporting added to them.
Deletethe chair that Donovan was sitting in looked strange. maybe cheap is the right word?
ReplyDelete