So casual and out of the blue, the primary player, Frank Somerville, had no idea it would happen so quickly. And happen it did.
After he had an unforgetable on-air 10-minutes of slurred speech and hand-twitching histrionics; an episode that resulted in him being told to leave the KTVU studios (May 31) and its "10 O'Clock News", Somerville RETURNED to 10 last (Wednesday) night. KTVU and FOX Brass were so TIGHT-LIPPED about the return even Somerville was given scant notice. From the cover of an early August return --with ZERO PUB, Somerville was back on KTVU's air. The zero buzz? Exactly what Fox and KTVU wanted. By any means necessary. And the suits at KTVU made it mandatory clear to Somerville himself: DON'T SAY A WORD!
Of course I reached out to Frank himself and asked if he's OK. Silence. At 2 Jack London Square, "mums the word." Not at all surprised. I'm on it.
Reading the news off of a teleprompter is not an important job.Fewer and fewer people watch tv news anymore.so all your drama about a teleprompter reader and his booze problems just isn't interesting.
ReplyDeleteAgree with everything you wrote. People of a certain age treat these people like they are rock stars. This isn't the 60's, 70's or 80's anymore. In the words of a local celebrity, "nobody cares".
DeleteCan you IMAGINE how uncomfortable it must have been in that newsroom? The elephant in the room was the anchor over in the corner that no one wants to react to, but you can't ignore. Producers have to go over to him and pretend like it's just Another Day At The Office. Just mind-boggling.
ReplyDeleteI use to work at SJC as a cargo agent and a co-worker of mine was always appearing like he was sloshed half way into our night shift. We never saw him take a drink of liquor so we thought maybe he just had some speech issue of some sort. It wasn't until one day he had left his daily orange inside the work fridge and one of the day shift guys decided to eat it the next afternoon after his lunch and before our shift...immediately after biting the orange he could taste the vodka that had been apparently injected into the orange. Know we knew how and why the guy was shit-faced every single night...he kept his job for a few more weeks until he screwed up and sent a deceased person to Minneapolis instead of Detroit causing them to miss their own funeral.
ReplyDeleteSo thats where mom was flown off too.. dang it
DeleteAnd if viewers want to criticize the secrecy, good for them! Too bad like in politics, in especially in the case of The Firm, viewers/customers are just image and ratings pawns.
ReplyDeleteFrank Somerville's exit WAS news. News outlets reported on it, except for KTVU.
ReplyDeleteNow that he is back, that is also news.
I understand that personnel matters are private. But KTVU's choice not to report on news involving an employee seems dishonest.
News outfits never report on their own. You don't see KRON talking about Pero's exit, do you?
DeleteHe still has slight slurring of speech on tonight's newscast, but he seems in control. Maybe he needs a speech therapist to help.
ReplyDeletePerhaps he hasn't yet dried out completely.
DeleteI noticed the slurring too as well as a great effort just to get the words out, almost like his jaw was stiff. I agree with Rich: March 2022 and he's outta there, "Ticket to ride" as Ibañez would say.
DeleteA speech therapist cannot cure pickling of the brain.
DeleteI was so sad to see him back. I hope he's permanently out when his contract expires next March.
ReplyDeleteJust recently I was on YouTube checking out the George Watson story. I just hope this isn't a repeat of that. Everyone knows Frank has an issue,so just deal with it.
ReplyDeleteAgree with 5:03, nobody watches a station because of its anchors. They might avoid a station because of a particularly hideous anchor, but they don't look forward to a local newscast as if it were appointment television. I'll bet Channel 2's ratings didn't change at all while he was gone. That means that during contract negotiations next year, management can point out that nobody stopped watching because Frank was gone, so they can cut his pay in half.
ReplyDeleteI watch KTVU for Heather Holmes and KRON for Teresa Estacio.
DeleteRich, this is your big story, oh boy drug and drink rehab, move on you've been on this for months as if it was 9/11.
ReplyDeleteCame here to say Frank seemed like he was slurring his words last night, 11pm, & the person posting 8/5 at 10:33pm heard the same.
ReplyDeleteI'd watch the news if the anchor was drunk every night.
ReplyDeleteCan strokes also cause speech slurring? (just asking)
ReplyDeleteI saw Somerville was on, but didn't watch or listen to his broadcasts back on Wednesday when he returned.
They should start running newscasts like they do in Central America where the female anchors take off their clothes during the broadcast. Sorry "woke" idiots, sex sells.
ReplyDeleteFrank’s back? Missed it. Must have been too busy watching Julie Haener model another Little Bo Peep outfit from her “I was so cute at age 9” collection
ReplyDeleteI watched Frank on the news on Thursday - he sounded awful. He's definitely struggling NOT to slur, and speaking sooooo slowly and concentrating sooooo hard on every single word that he seemed heavily medicated to me.
ReplyDelete