It wasn't just the drinking but the prescription drugs combined with the alcohol. It consumed him.
Only did he realize that he was done in the business did he come to grips with reality. The truth was cruel: Frank suddenly took in his own fate. Done. Finished.
And this was before his latest, most serious incidemt: Monday night's arrest, (twice!) in Berkeley that is the most disturbing.
In a way, it's good. Frank can't hurt anyone anymore, including himself. He clearly needs help --lots of it.
With all this reality bites, he can seek the professional guidance he'll need in the coming days, months and years. Only Frank will have to acknowledge he's hit rock bottom. That's a tough chore for some. Addiction is a powerful dose of reality.
Frank Somerville, hopefully, will understand all this sooner rather than later.
Unfortunately there may be one more step before he truly hits his bottom, and that is to almost die. Which he might, next time. But if he doesn't, that could be his genuine turning point, when he finally stops bullshitting himself and everyone else. Then he can come out of the tunnel. And maybe find another calling, because he's done as an anchor, and has been. It'll be years before anyone would take a chance on a recovering and rehabilitated Frank, by which time he'll simply be too old. He has to accept that and let go, of everything. Including the ego.
ReplyDeleteNot necessarily. Everyone is different and that "turning point" can manifest itself in many ways. For me. It was just having that moment of clarity and being sick of the lie. I wasn't fooling anyone but myself. It is not an easy road and never will be. Nobody is ever truly lost if one has faith. It can be done.
DeleteI think Somerville's story ends in the grave the next time we hear about him.
DeleteAnd so the difference between a Shakespearian tragedy seen on stage versus real life. Except---in this case, there is no difference. As a professional journalist, the self-destructive Frank Somerville embarrassed his professional colleagues and this business. We will likely never know what personal demons drove him there. But, every time Frank hits bottom, he seems to bounce back up, fall back down, and crash again even lower. It's very public. To see what Frank Somerville had and what he has lost? No words. Frank, if you're reading this, please get real. Or soon I fear we will be reading your obituary.
ReplyDeleteSadly, based on what I saw when an unshaven, beet-faced man appeared on KRON to declare he had everything under control when he looked like he had just stepped out of the gutter, I have a feeling he won't get help and he won't get "real" because he still doesn't think he has any issues. Or not any he's out of control with, at least. So he won't change, and he'll keep sinking lower and lower. If anyone still thinks he deserves a "second chance," after being forced into rehab once, returning and doing the news incapacitated, returning again and attempting an end-run around his boss, the news director, and getting suspended until his contract was up, then ramming his Porsche into another person's car, and now THIS, they're nuts. Frank's had second chances. About four or five, by my count, plus possibly others we don't know about. And his appearance wouldn't do anything to resurrect KTVU's flagging fortunes as some here keep saying. He'd attract attention for a few days, but by the start of the next week all interest would disappear, just like his interview at KRON created zero buzz. It's like a car wreck on the freeway: You look at it for a moment as you're driving past, but then you turn your attention to other things and quickly forget about it. Frank's a car wreck. Plain and simple.
DeleteFrank is sick. He needs to find the path to sobriety and start the trek. Evidently there are underlying issues - there always are “issues” behind the self-medication. He needs to deal with those problems and his addictions.
ReplyDeleteHe is 65, an age when most working folk start living again by stepping away from the 9 to 5. Now Frank must do the homework to get straight and enjoy life again.
Millions of folks with addictions have recovered and live happy productive lives, Frank can do so when he decides “enough is enough”.
While I'm sure his problems go back farther than we know, and farther even than he's willing to admit himself, it's odd that the cracks started showing so late in life. Even when I worked there and knew him (late 90s-early 2000s) he seemed to be going through a midlife crisis of sorts. Perhaps he never got over it. With the sports cars, the girls, the bars, and the drinking, it certainly seems like it.
DeleteIt is too late for Somerville. Lost cause, better not to waste any more attention on him.
DeleteAre any of our 'crack' reporters asking how did he get to the Berkeley hills home while intoxicated?
ReplyDeleteNo doubt he did the responsible thing and took an Uber.
DeleteOh yeah, and he's out on bail again from the second arrest.
DeleteHope he is able to recover
ReplyDeleteMaybe Pam Moore can do an update interview with Frank.
ReplyDeleteHad I been Pam, my first question on that interview works have been simply, “Are you an alcoholic?” I’m sure he would have said no.
DeleteShe did ask that question. He waffled on the answer.
DeleteHe is doing George Watson and one better (worse).....He will do time I am sure with all the additional charges brought against him. Right about this time he's still in jail - this story is bound to have a tragic ending...
ReplyDeleteYou know George Watson came to my mind as well - and they're from the same station, no less. I thought, "Can George Watson call him up and talk some sense into him? Is he not aware of what happened to George Watson?" But, as they often say, until the person themselves owns up to the fact that they have a problem NO ONE can make them get the help they need. As bad as this is, I don't think he's reached *his* bottom yet. Some people just have to sink in deeper - the water is above their head before they realize they're drowning.
Delete"You know George Watson came to my mind as well - and they're from the same station, no less."
DeleteSomeone should write a book called The Curse of KTVU. Every anchor who sits at that desk seems to have a bad end: Tori Campbell and Frank and Leslie Griffith and Elaine Corral and George Watson and so many others. If someone offers you the chance to anchor at Jack London, RUN!
When I saw Frank's interview, I thought immediately of the "Watson is still a drunk" interview and did not believe that Frank was "well." I believed that he thought he was well.
DeleteYou can't punish your liver like that for long. I wonder if Frank has a doctor he would listen to. Or is it already too late?
ReplyDeleteMarinated liver with onions is delish! Ask Anthony Hopkins in "Silence of the lambs" Lol! Don't forget the Chianti!
DeleteHe needs the George Watson life journey manual.
ReplyDeleteHe never was employable again despite several on your blog thinking he should get a second chance (which really would have been his third or fourth or fifth chance). But now he’s beyond toast.
ReplyDelete"And this was before his latest, most serious incidemt [sic]: Monday night's arresr [sic] in Berkeley that is the most disturbing."
ReplyDeleteActually this latest is two incidents, according to numerous sources: Franklin was arrested, then arrested again after returning to the scene to retrieve some personal property. (Maybe he left his bottle of Johnnie Walker at the home?) What a f****** idiot, literally returning to the scene of the crime, only to get jailed again. (On the bright side, his bunk was probably still warm.)
Unless I missed it, not a word on the KTVU website.
ReplyDeleteNo, of course not. NBC11 and KRON are covering it, as are the Chronicle and Merc.
DeleteI was looking forward to Bailey O’Carroll’s hard-hitting exposé about the rise and fall of Frank Somerville. Instead, the dunces at KTVU are too busy replaying stories they’ve been running since last Wednesday.
DeleteHe got arrested again and he's in the jailhouse now!
ReplyDeleteNo, the news says he made bail.
DeleteHe's not in jail. He posted bail.
DeleteHe had the world in his hands, had a million chances to keep on the straight and narrow but didn't or won't, don't see how he'll keep clean, shame...
ReplyDeleteGreat. Julie Haener will use this as an excuse to miss work for the next three months.
ReplyDeleteWell....she is currently in Europe so you probably aren't wrong
DeleteJulie will hang with Mark
ReplyDeleteAs sad as this story is, it is not uncommon. "John Schubeck died last week, penniless at age 61. In his prime, he was a $ 1 million a year anchorman in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. He was also one of the most brilliant, yet downright goofy, denizens of the TV news fraternity — a man who, despite his considerable success, was absolutely convinced that what he did for a living was absurd and vaguely demeaning."
ReplyDeleteI wonder if Frank is broke. I read the details of the incident elsewhere and it seems his brother was assaulted by him while protecting their father. Wonder what that was about; it could have become elder abuse although maybe Frank qualifies as an elder now too. I have zero sympathy anymore in any case for the guy.
DeleteSorry typo John Schubeck died in 1997
DeleteI lost my dear older brother to substance abuse, but he was strung. It took him 19 years, a prison sentence, numerous jail and mental hospital stints and even sleeping on the streets before he finally offed himself at age 37. He had a good heart, but like a lot of his generation, he fell into the morass of the 1960s when Dr Timothy Leary was touting LSD by telling young Americans to “turn on, tune in and drop out.” My brother and many of our mutual friends did just that. Most have been gone for many years. Losing them to this self destructive illness is tough to watch, but sometimes you just have to let them go.
ReplyDeleteTwo or now three DUIs? Where's MADD?
ReplyDelete