Terilyn Joe used to be a part of the Bay Area TV News landscape. She anchored at KNTV and KGO-TV. It was at KGO where she made her mark, well, sort of.Hard to believe it's been nearly 15 years since Joe left 900 Front.
The stories still make the rounds. She swore like a sailor. She threw eggs and tomatoes at construction workers at her pad, but beat it. It's good to be a local celebrity.
I liked Joe. She read the news well and seemed to evoke a sort of don't fuck with me persona-- pretty reasonable in my book, but so many people hated her guts. I mean, despised her.
One KGO staffer referred to Joe as the "evil bitch."
The last I checked Joe runs her own production company these days. She's in her mid 50's, a minefield for some women television anchors particularly those who work in major markets or the cable outlets. Diane Sawyer is an exception.
One thing's for sure. During and after Joe's tenure at KGO she left an indelible mark on the local TV broadcast scene, for better or worse. Some say that may have been her intention. It's a rough world out there, ladies and gentleman.
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I suspect the collective response was much the same during her time at KNTV in San Jose.
ReplyDeleteI would hardly say indelible. The only thing I remember about Terilyn Joe was that her hairstyle was reminiscent of the Marlo Thomas "flip" from That Girl. Van Amburg, Dave McElhatton, Dennis Richmond: THEY left indelible marks on the Bay Area television news landscape.
ReplyDeleteI always thought Joe looked like Disney's Pocahontas.
DeleteJust like I thought Don Sanchez, 15-20 years ago, looked like Ned Flanders.
Don't forget Evan White. VERY underrated and a real stickler for truth and accuracy and unbiased reporting. I worked as a writer under him briefly and he really put my tit through the wringer, but in the end I was a better writer and *thinker* for it, even though sometimes I cursed him under my breath at the time. He created a list of writing guidelines that I stumbled on one day (saved in an obscure location inside the computer system) that I printed out, learned, and used for the rest of my time in Bay Area news. I felt, and feel, that guide had some of the best advice I've ever read, but as the ranks began to fill up with young kids and lawyer or consultant types replacing the seasoned journalists, the ways of handling news based on that guide more and more began to be called into question by dummies with no news judgment. For example, Evan despised it when a writer said "alleged suspect," as in "Police are looking for an alleged suspect (or alleged gunman)" First of all, he hated the word "alleged," considering it a "weasel word." (He's right.) Secondly, and more unarguably, you can't be looking for an alleged suspect. You are looking for a SUSPECT. The identity, when they catch him or her, may be alleged (by police), but the fact that there is a bonafide suspect is not. But with more and more lawyers filling the ranks, that's the kind of mealy-mouthed reporting we began to get (and now get as a matter of course; it's now considered correct). He's demand we say, "Police say the suspect is 6 foot one, about 30 years old..." etc., rather than "The alleged suspect is..." The former gives attribution. How can a suspect be alleged. If they're looking for someone there *is* a suspect. If they call off the search, as they did with that Oakland Amber Alert from the parking lot of a Safeway a couple weeks ago, there is no longer a suspect. But until then there IS a suspect. The lawyer-dorks would say, completely not understanding their own field, law, that that is incriminating someone, but it is not. It is simply saying there is undeniably a suspect. A suspect is not a guilty person. When he is convinced he is a guilty person or "the kidnapper," "the murderer," etc. But now they even say "alleged murderer" AFTER a conviction! They're so afraid of actually saying something that everything has to be couched in soft language. Maybe they should call their broadcasts "The Alleged News."
DeleteThis is largely why Evan quit the biz. Today we have haircuts like Terry McSweeney pretending to be journalists, and the lapdog consultants like that just fine.
>>> He created a list of writing guidelines that I stumbled on one day (saved in an obscure location inside the computer system) that I printed out, learned, and used for the rest of my time in Bay Area news. ... <<< I am curious. ... I would like to look at that list one day. ... Any possibility?
DeleteTerilyn "Ho" was one of her nicknames and calling her a bitch is a compliment. Basically, a dragon lady.
ReplyDeleteDidn't she bang an nba player back in the day?
DeleteMaybe. Anna Chavez and Radnich made night music for a while, Chavez supposedly to get back at her husband for banging somebody of his own, or so went the rumor.
DeleteDon't know about that one but the lawyers sure had a field day when she returned from Asia on assignment armed with charges against the KGO cameraman who accompanied her. Rumor is that a little alcohol was involved.
DeleteShe's a bitch alrght.
DeleteGotta admit, she was nice looking woman. Psycho bitch from hell, but nice looking!
ReplyDeleteAll this may be true, bu Terilyn gave FLAWLESS delivery! Perfect speaking is no where to be seen in this market any more.
ReplyDeleteT. J. was very professional on the air.
ReplyDeleteI really liked Terilyn Joe. In my opinion, she is one of KGO-TV's most popular and memorable anchors and reporters of all time.
ReplyDelete> The last I checked Joe runs her own production company these days.
ReplyDeleteAll the ones who've fallen out--Susan Blake, Terri Joe, Leslie Griffith, Suzanne Shaw--have their own production/consulting companies these days, though what they produce is a mystery to me, since I don't see their names on anything, Malou Nubla's half-hour annoying infomercials excepted. All except Elaine Corral, who resigned on air and left the biz permanently. Where she is and what she's up to now seems to be a mystery. A few years ago she made noises she wanted a second career in feature films as a mom or something, but that's all it turned out to be--noise.
Dana King?
DeleteI always thought that Elaine Corral was one of the best anchors around during that time period.
DeleteI always thought Terliyn Joe was a fine anchor, but she had this aggressive, edginess that really bothers me in women. The thing I like about most women is that they don't HAVE to be aggressive to be strong or human. The ones that end up being pushy and egotistical, are more obnoxious than the guys who act that way. Joe was unfortunately one of those kinds of women.
ReplyDeleteFor some reason I keep running into Terilyn Joe away from the Bay Area. Once years ago up in Mendocino after she left KGO and she was with a very cute young guy. And just last year up in Tahoe having dinner with the ladies. She looked the same last year as she did 15 years ago. She seemed friendly enough out and about, although we all know people can be totally different at work versus with friends.
ReplyDeleteWas in Phoenix last week and the local NBC affiliate's Lin Sue Cooney could be TJ's doppelganger from 15 years back.
ReplyDeleteWas in my French class in Grade 11. All we remember up here was the same helmet hair and her winning some Miss Vancouver Chinatown deal back then...then popping up with Lloyd Robertson on CTV News. To be honest, if you scroll back to her high school days, she was nice enough but not exactly a fun-loving person. Too chilly for school really.
ReplyDeleteI honestly found some of her friends a heckuva lot more approachable in our awkward days back then.
That seems so long ago.
ReplyDeleteI produced for TJ, and she was the most solid news anchor I've ever worked with. At that level, you have to have an edge to stave off all the competition coming through the door. I admired her. She quit KNTV because the new NBC execs wanted to poke fun at her expense. They wanted to do a promo with her in the kitchen with just eggs and tomatoes. I thought it was hilarious, but TJ didn't. She got the last laugh when they had to pay our her million dollar contract.
ReplyDelete