After Six Weeks, KPIX 'Nightbeat' Is Lost In Space And the Butt Of All Jokes Inside 855 Battery; 'GAME OFF!'

 Barely six weeks after its long-anticipated debut, KPIX's youth-oriented, (that's the intent at least), experiment, "Nightbeat" is attracting very few viewers and has become the butt of jokes among some of its own staffers. One need only watch it to discover why.

As I wrote here early on, PIX wasn't planning on going after KTVU's "10 O'clock News" viewership--concentrating instead on attracting a younger, tech-oriented demo that might be interested in watching an airy, lighter newscast dominated with quicker stories geared toward their liking. Nice concept, extremely poor execution. "Nightbeat" is an acquired taste: like herring in coffee. I really wanted to like this experiment and have tried long and hard to give it a chance but the look, sound and appearance of the show leaves me shaking my head in disbelief, like are they kidding? No they're not.

Veronica De La Cruz, the newbie star reader PIX brought out from NY to anchor this mess, (along with the conventional 6 PM newscast), continues to look diminished here in this vehicle. Bad enough the program is awful, worse yet, it marginalizes VDLC and she comes off looking clueless and superficial. For starters, the "TRENDING" graphics and over-reliance on gimmicks such as the weatherman and sports guys without ties is forced and contrived. Even geek millennials can smell a rat when they see one. Nightbeat's patronizing pillage to Gen Y is a sorry excuse of farcical minutiae with sophomoric "bits" and dumbing down of the news. Moreover, the idiotic and loud, "GAME ON!" shout each night uttered by De La Cruz to introduce the sports segment looks more like a "Saturday Night Live" skit. Why not just a snappy, "hey, Dennis, tell us what's going on in sports tonight?" No, that would have been too normal and acceptable --go with a stupid gimmick that has staffers texting in-house jokes to one another, that indeed is TRENDING!


Worse yet, the split-screen close-up of both O'Donnell and VDLC back and forth looks awful and awkward. Absurd, really. Who was the genius that came up with this beauty? Calling all interns.

Nightbeat is both condescending and foolish. Remarkably stupid too. It's perfectly fine to cater to a younger demo by offering Twitter and Facebook "updates" but when it's the centerpiece of your program and when the subject matter frequently is unabashed trivial garbage, what's the point? Here's PIX trying to offer an alternative newscast that has to rely on superficial crap --in essence mocking the very audience it's trying to cater to--why not just come out and say, "Hey, you kids are a bunch of fucking morons!" At least that would be honest.


Furthermore, and quite frankly, utterly befuddling, why would KPIX constantly utilize the Facebook/Twitter card? Wouldn't that be defeating the purpose? The Facebookers and Twitter crowd are more than likely NOT watching a local TV newscast--maybe the blueprint would have been better off by merely concocting a fresh, good, compact, simple news program, remember that age-old relic? GAME OFF!

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KTVU News Graphically-Challenged: Viewer Discretion Advised-- May Cause Mental Disorder

Graphically, speaking. The complete tour.





Then this...





Anybody feel like Chinses food?





I didn't know this guy was Ken Wayne.




And the All-Time Leader in the clubhouse.

Exclusive: KTVU Reporters Vacar and Fowler Get Stripped of Editor Status; News Director Rosenthal Does Dirty Deeds Behind Back; Indignation at Jack London Square

  Siege Mentality inside KTVU...

KTVU veteran reporters, Tom Vacar and John Fowler--both with over two decades of tenure over at Jack London Square, have been stripped of their "Editor" status. Worse yet, the indignation was told to them by co-workers and not by the ND, Lee Rosenthal, who did the dirty deed himself!

How coincidental.

Word is that both Vacar and Fowler were outraged, according to a station source.

Vacar was KTVU's Consumer Editor and Fowler, the Health and Science Editor. Both have won numerous industry awards and local Emmys.

**In another outrageous move, according to my sources, Jeff Holub, the PR director, had reporter, Eric Rasmusen's, wife, one of their best promotions writers and producers escorted out of the building when he learned she landed another job.

Another producer in the department is supposedly going to a Cox station in Oklahoma, so she gets to stay for her last two weeks, and is given a heroes send off.

It used to be at KTVU, if you were being wooed by another offer, KTVU would do something to keep you, and failing that, they would win you the best, allowing you your last two weeks. Now their intent is to humiliate you as a shot across the deck as a warning to all the worker bees in the hive.

**Rich Lieberman 415 Media Exclusive

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Source Close to KTVU Asiana Name Gaffe: 'Perfect Storm' of Unintended Consequences; In-House Joke That Somehow Aired; The Latest

   Spoke to a person close to the entire matter at hand and this individual told me that the entire affair was a "perfect storm" of unintended consequences. In other words, an internal "joke" that wasn't meant to get anywhere near the studio, let alone the anchor desk.

"I don't think (the person) who sent it could ever imagine that it would have made air, " said the KTVU insider.

That person who sent the joke e-mail; a longtime source that the station has relied on in the past as a trusted informant, is now at the heart of the investigation. It's looking pretty simple from here: the fake, joke e-mail that wasn't meant for anyone other than in-house laughter found its way, remarkably to the air, and thus, cost four people their jobs. It's abhorrent and indefensible and it's probably played out in almost every newsroom in America. How many joke e-mails have you and your co-workers in the office laughed at a matter that would never be intended for outside viewing? Only, this internal joke got through the fortress. No excuses, indeed, but it sheds light on matter. Was it racist and offensive? Did it cross the line? Yes and Yes. Ultimately, and I still can't fathom this: IT MADE IT PAST PEOPLE WHO SHOULD KNOW BETTER. End of story.

**Keep it here for any late-breaking developments.


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KGO-TV's Cheryl Jennings: 'old', blonde and good; in industry that shuns middle-aged women, Jennings excels

Cheryl Jennings has been at KGO-TV/ABC7 in SF since 1979 and is generally regarded as one of the most dedicated news people in the business. Her unassuming style in the anchor chair, combined with a steady, no-nonsense approach to delivering the news is a chief asset.

Jennings is something of an anomaly in major-market TV news: she's considered "old" by business standards. Sure, it helps that Jennings is attractive and "easy on the eyes", (uh, TV is a visual medium) yet by most industry standards, the idea of a middle-aged woman anchor, no matter how talented, how versatile, is almost unheard of these days. Cynical? Sure. Reality? Yes.

Jennings exact age isn't known, but one would guess she's in her mid-to-late 50's. For a lot of women in TV news, whether reporting and/or anchoring, the post-50 era is often times the beginning of the end. Again, that sounds cruel, but in an increasingly competitive and bottom-line mentality like local TV news, it is fact.

Or have you not seen the growing legion of decidedly younger, cheaper, and yes, cute newswomen that have become a constant in the business. Its easy to go straight to Fox News and see their notorious staple of blond and young anchors, pundits, but the "young and cheap" model is most evident in the local news biz.

Jennings certainly has earned her stripes. An emmy winner, she joined ABC7 in 1979 as a general assignment reporter and became the weekend news anchor in 1986. In 1988, she was promoted to weekday anchor. She's a pioneer in reporting on children's issues, women's rights and domestic violence and has been recognized locally and nationally for her active involvement.

Recently, Jennings was selected by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, Northern California Chapter for the 2009 Governor's Award for truly outstanding and unique accomplishments.