Jan 2009
Q&A: Jan. 21
21/01/09 17:41
Question: I just saw James Aydelott doing the weather on Channel 5. I thought he had gone to Tulsa as a chief meteorologist. What happened?
Wayne Thigpen
Answer: He's still going, "but the whole thing got delayed a bit," Aydelott says in an email to unclebarky.com. "I'm staying until my replacement is hired, trained up in the ways of NBC5 and ready to go. We're probably looking at mid-February now at the earliest."
Aydelott eventually will be the main meteorologist at Tulsa's Fox affiliate, KOKI-TV.
Question: Do you know where Scott Murray is these days? I miss him on NBC5.
Pauline Porter
Answer: Sports anchor Murray left NBC5 in 2003 after 22 years at the station. He currently runs Murray Media, a Dallas-based production company.
Question: is Rescue Me coming back for another season, and if so, when? It seems like a really long time since it last aired.
Sherri Patrick
Answer: FX says that Rescue Me will return for a fifth season in spring 2009, but doesn't have a specific date yet. Production was delayed by the writers' strike after the last new episode of Season 4 aired in September 2007.
Question: You've mentioned that Oprah's D-FW viewer numbers are down. What do you attribute it to? Off hand, I wonder if it's because of her support for Barack Obama and D-FW being such a GOP-friendly area.
Keith Geeding
Answer: Her very public support of Obama may be a turn-off to some. But I think people finally have gotten tired of her after almost 23 years in the same 4 p.m. slot on WFAA8. That's a lot of mileage for any show. Particularly a daytime talk show.
Wayne Thigpen
Answer: He's still going, "but the whole thing got delayed a bit," Aydelott says in an email to unclebarky.com. "I'm staying until my replacement is hired, trained up in the ways of NBC5 and ready to go. We're probably looking at mid-February now at the earliest."
Aydelott eventually will be the main meteorologist at Tulsa's Fox affiliate, KOKI-TV.
Question: Do you know where Scott Murray is these days? I miss him on NBC5.
Pauline Porter
Answer: Sports anchor Murray left NBC5 in 2003 after 22 years at the station. He currently runs Murray Media, a Dallas-based production company.
Question: is Rescue Me coming back for another season, and if so, when? It seems like a really long time since it last aired.
Sherri Patrick
Answer: FX says that Rescue Me will return for a fifth season in spring 2009, but doesn't have a specific date yet. Production was delayed by the writers' strike after the last new episode of Season 4 aired in September 2007.
Question: You've mentioned that Oprah's D-FW viewer numbers are down. What do you attribute it to? Off hand, I wonder if it's because of her support for Barack Obama and D-FW being such a GOP-friendly area.
Keith Geeding
Answer: Her very public support of Obama may be a turn-off to some. But I think people finally have gotten tired of her after almost 23 years in the same 4 p.m. slot on WFAA8. That's a lot of mileage for any show. Particularly a daytime talk show.
Q&A: Jan. 13
13/01/09 10:14
Question: I have heard rumors that Dirty Sexy Money is moving to cable. If so, what channel and when will it air?
Carol
Answer: ABC dropped DSM from its lineup after the Dec. 17th episode, but four unaired episodes remain. The network likely will burn them off in the summer. A cable afterlife is highly unlikely at this point.
Question: The producers of Lost came out two years ago and said that the 2009 season would be the last one. The idea that it could go on forever was running off viewers, and the multiple plot lines were getting lost and unresolved. Is there an end in sight?
Jay Six
Answer: The producers plan to end Lost at the end of the 2009-10 season, which leaves two more seasons to go. Season 5 premieres on Jan. 21st with a two-hour chapter preceded by a one-hour recap.
Each of the final three seasons was supposed to have 16 episodes apiece enroute to a 117th and final episode in May 2010. But the writers' strike shortened last season to 14 episodes. So the final two seasons each will have 17. In other words, there indeed is an end in sight.
Question: What's the real scoop on Alan Colmes leaving Hannity & Colmes? Was it because Dick Morris totally dissected and filleted him on the air?
Mark Emmons
Answer: I doubt that the loathsome Morris had anything to do with Colmes' dropout after the Jan. 9th Hannity & Colmes. He still has a radio show syndicated by Fox News, so there's that. He also has a web site called Liberaland. But the deferential Colmes was never much of a match for either Hannity or any of the program's conveyor belt of conservative guests.
Leaving after Barack Obama's election seems like odd timing, but in reality who really cares? Colmes may be a nice guy, but he still can't carry Phil Donahue's copies of Ms. magazine. Matter of fact, I wish Hannity would have Donahue on more often. At least he gives as good as he gets.
Question: What is the consensus of opinion on Cynthia Izaguirre? I know the ratings are not the best due to the constant changing of her male partners. But Cynthia is too hyper most of the time for me, and is just not right for this market.
Mel
Answer: Izaguirre, who's beginning her second year as co-anchor of WFAA8's Daybreak, has not proven yet that she's a long-term answer for the station's continuing early morning ratings woes. WFAA8 backed her with a big promotional campaign last year, but seemingly to little avail so far. It's true, though, that Daybreak hasn't been helped by the departure of two male anchors -- Justin Farmer and Brad Hawkins -- since she made her January 2008 debut.
A new co-anchor, almost assuredly hired from outside, will be joining her by spring or earlier. Stability of some sort could go a long way toward improving Daybreak's ratings performance. But Izaguirre still hasn't resonated in D-FW, so her performance also will be closely watched and evaluated by station management.
Question: Why do networks start prime-time at 8 p.m. in the Eastern/Pacific time zones, but 7 p.m. in the central?
Don Teague
Answer: This is a bit deep for me, but there's a pretty good, in-depth answer here. Overall, though, I'd say we're lucky that D-FW is in a central time zone. Particularly thankful are local TV news providers whose 10 p.m. -- rather than 11 p.m. -- newscasts are still before the bedtime hours of most working people. In eastern time zones, there's a notable tail-off in viewing levels between 10 and 11 p.m.
Carol
Answer: ABC dropped DSM from its lineup after the Dec. 17th episode, but four unaired episodes remain. The network likely will burn them off in the summer. A cable afterlife is highly unlikely at this point.
Question: The producers of Lost came out two years ago and said that the 2009 season would be the last one. The idea that it could go on forever was running off viewers, and the multiple plot lines were getting lost and unresolved. Is there an end in sight?
Jay Six
Answer: The producers plan to end Lost at the end of the 2009-10 season, which leaves two more seasons to go. Season 5 premieres on Jan. 21st with a two-hour chapter preceded by a one-hour recap.
Each of the final three seasons was supposed to have 16 episodes apiece enroute to a 117th and final episode in May 2010. But the writers' strike shortened last season to 14 episodes. So the final two seasons each will have 17. In other words, there indeed is an end in sight.
Question: What's the real scoop on Alan Colmes leaving Hannity & Colmes? Was it because Dick Morris totally dissected and filleted him on the air?
Mark Emmons
Answer: I doubt that the loathsome Morris had anything to do with Colmes' dropout after the Jan. 9th Hannity & Colmes. He still has a radio show syndicated by Fox News, so there's that. He also has a web site called Liberaland. But the deferential Colmes was never much of a match for either Hannity or any of the program's conveyor belt of conservative guests.
Leaving after Barack Obama's election seems like odd timing, but in reality who really cares? Colmes may be a nice guy, but he still can't carry Phil Donahue's copies of Ms. magazine. Matter of fact, I wish Hannity would have Donahue on more often. At least he gives as good as he gets.
Question: What is the consensus of opinion on Cynthia Izaguirre? I know the ratings are not the best due to the constant changing of her male partners. But Cynthia is too hyper most of the time for me, and is just not right for this market.
Mel
Answer: Izaguirre, who's beginning her second year as co-anchor of WFAA8's Daybreak, has not proven yet that she's a long-term answer for the station's continuing early morning ratings woes. WFAA8 backed her with a big promotional campaign last year, but seemingly to little avail so far. It's true, though, that Daybreak hasn't been helped by the departure of two male anchors -- Justin Farmer and Brad Hawkins -- since she made her January 2008 debut.
A new co-anchor, almost assuredly hired from outside, will be joining her by spring or earlier. Stability of some sort could go a long way toward improving Daybreak's ratings performance. But Izaguirre still hasn't resonated in D-FW, so her performance also will be closely watched and evaluated by station management.
Question: Why do networks start prime-time at 8 p.m. in the Eastern/Pacific time zones, but 7 p.m. in the central?
Don Teague
Answer: This is a bit deep for me, but there's a pretty good, in-depth answer here. Overall, though, I'd say we're lucky that D-FW is in a central time zone. Particularly thankful are local TV news providers whose 10 p.m. -- rather than 11 p.m. -- newscasts are still before the bedtime hours of most working people. In eastern time zones, there's a notable tail-off in viewing levels between 10 and 11 p.m.