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Channel 2 is adding a new weatherman to its morning news, Ron Fineman reports at his site. It's John Elliott, formerly of MSNBC, and his arrival will mean some kind of as-yet unexplained job change for Lisa Joyner. Fineman is also conducting a poll among his mostly TV industry subscribers to choose the best local field reporter. Right now it's a runoff between channel 2's Dave Lopez and channel 4's Patrick Healy.
More TV: KCET (Channel 28) is shuffling the evening lineup next week. Locally produced "Life and Times" moves up a half-hour to 6:30 p.m. and the PBS stalwart "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer" slides back to 7 p.m. For those keeping score at home, this pushes the folksy Huell Howser earlier to 6 p.m. L&T, incidentally, is preempted until Friday for the Democrats.
Still more: Bree Walker, who used to anchor on channel 2, will have a recurring role on "Carnivale" when the show returns to HBO in January. A Times story says she got the gig through a friend who is consulting producer. The story recounts Walker's local history: notoriety for having an affair with KCBS co-anchor Jim Lampley when both were still married to others, divorce and marriage to Lampley, then a talk radio-fueled controversy when Walker became pregnant. The radio host railed that since Walker was born with fused fingers, due to an inherited trait called ectrodactylism, she should not have babies. (In fact, her children also have the condition). When Walker was on Larry King recently, nobody in my house talked about her hands, but everybody commented on her lips. They appear to be considerably, uh, larger than when she did the news. (* Followup: The website AwfulPlasticSurgery.com compares before and after.) And as the sports guys say: oh by the way, she and Lampley are now divorced, but might get remarried.
I don't like the KCET move. Basically, it makes the Jim Lehrer Newshour 4 hour old stale news. KCET used to run it live at 3 pm, but dropped it in favor of more kids programming, which I suppose there is a need for but couldn't they just cooperate with the other three PBS affiliates in town for? For crying out loud, KOCE is being transmitted off Mount Wilson now, for some unknown reason (an Orange County station splattering 6 million others within line of sight yet not in their target area).
KOCE, if you're listening, run the Newshour live. Please.
Posted by: Robert Chang at July 27, 2004 08:49 PM
of LA Observed
having spent a number of years as a print reporter at the times before leaving a few years back, a few thoughts about our tv colleagues and who is the best. Most aren't very good at asking questions and, on breaking news scenes, seem unable to blend in with the scenery because of their self-awareness that maybe, just maybe someone will recognize them from television. and I have watched some try and use that c-level celebrity status to get interviews etc. not that I wouldn't have done the same thing if I had better hair and a good tan but it always pissed the ink-stained wretched off. But healy was always good at the scene. Lopez always struck me as a print guy who some how talked his way into a tv gig. smart guy, tough questions and a good bullshit detector. Please don't forget Warren Wilson, who is considered the lone person to trust in South Central from local news. There was also this cuban woman, I don't recall her name but we ran through south central together during the riots, or as one local corrected me once, `The experience.' anyhoo, i think she worked for channel 9 and her first name may have been christine but she was brave and tough and unlike most of her colleagues on the tube, actually gave the impression that she knew the Coliseum wasn't in `the heart of Watts' as LA's own Wil Farrell-style Anchorman Paul Moyer said while anchoring the riot coverage for Channel 4.
Posted by: anonymous at July 27, 2004 03:16 PM