Already set in motion BEFORE the DUI arrest Thursday night, Fox and KTVU were already in the process of moving on from Frank Somerville. His contract is up on Jan. 28th and he was out the door. The only negotiations were whether KTVU would pay him some settlement and give him his proper due. He did have 31 years at the station, 13 as co-anchor at the "10 O'Clock News."
Thursday Night's arrest on suspicion of DUI and the VIDEO, both of the crash and his post-accident stagger from the Porsche--which of course went viral--has accelerated a move to MOVE ON.
Fox and KTVU will formally meet sometime next week to go over further details; an announcement is probably coming on Monday or early next week.
*415 Media EXCLUSIVE
This is like watching Godzilla get it at the end of the movie.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the workmen’s comp lawyer can represent him in court. She did such a fine job representing the author of hypocrisy in America.
DeleteThere is no such thing as "workmen's comp".
DeleteFOX must feel like they just won Willy Wonka's Golden Ticket.
ReplyDeleteBecause they did!
It was not necessary for the quick meeting of Fox management to have lasted more than a few minutes. The guy is a train wreck and an embarrassment. Totally unfit for the position.
ReplyDeleteI feel badly for Frank. Fox probably pushed him over. It’s really sad how far KTVU has fallen, even despite Frank’s health issues. I hope Frank recovers and has a chance to get back at Fox O&O.
ReplyDeleteSo you think KTVU made him a drunk driver, do you?
DeleteWhile Fox may have exasperated his issues, the train wreck that is Frank Somerville was going off the rails long ago. Pretty sure he is done. Not just at Fox but in media in general. He has a long journey to recovery and redemption. Hopefully he will seek the help that he so desperately needs.
DeleteNo more... "face of the station"
ReplyDelete...It's now going to
Roberta Gonzalez
Yes, the frank-fill-ins are nothing over Roberta.
Unless you pull in Sal.
Roberta & Sal
Face(s) of the station.
Thanks for your superb coverage Rich. If my math is correct Frank won’t get paid for the remaining month of the contract correct? That’d be around $42,000 if he was getting paid $500k. I assume he has been getting paid while on suspension? I’m always amazed how his life spiraled out of control. Is this truly rock bottom now? Get some help Frank.
ReplyDeleteWhile I would have felt sorry for Frank if he recognized his problem and dealt with it, the fact is, and it is quite obvious, he did NOT deal with it, and continued his downward spiral that seems to be caused by none other than himself. So it is a real shame for a storied career to end this way, but he seems to have brought it on himself. The good news, if there is any, is that as you pointed out so greatly, Rich, that KTVU was handed an "out" on a silver platter, courtesy of Frank himself...
ReplyDeleteTerminating him now might not be the smart play - surely it could open a lawsuit opportunity from Frank which would then open a can of worms for FOX via discovery. Pay him off some now, or just ride out the contact for 27 days.
ReplyDeleteNo, it would not trigger a lawsuit. Have you never signed a personal services tv contract? Employer has big outs for acts of moral turpitude..case closed
DeleteProof you know nothing about law and should keep your opinions to yourself. That's completely not how the law and "opening a lawsuit opportunity" works. Precisely the opposite, in fact.
DeleteEasiest for KTVU just to pay him until the end of the contract. KTVU isn't going to save that much money by firing him with less than a month to go, and it avoids legal hassles.
DeleteDear 4:24.. Where did you go to law school, the McDonald's Hamburger College of Law?
DeleteAs a YouTube-trained lawyer, I can say you’re all wrong. He will ride the hope rails of public sympathy. Don’t be surprised to see a “Jus’ Being Frank” podcast and will have a huge audience then he fade into oblivion like KTVU’s ratings in the coming months. Trust me.
DeleteThis would never have happened had Heather Holmes been made anchor years ago.
ReplyDeleteThe only staggering caught on video would be because of her new Gucci heels. Well that or a walk of shame home from Ibanez' house.
Hey is that guy commentating in the video Stanley Behaving Badly?
ReplyDeleteFrank has only himself to blame for all of this and nobody else. Bye Felicia!
ReplyDeleteFOX = SUCCUBUS.
ReplyDeleteWhy terminate him if his contract is about to expire, and they've kept him off the air for months anyway? It makes them look like they're kicking him when he's down, just to save some money that doesn't amount to much in the overall scheme of things.
ReplyDeleteWell, for one thing if they terminate him WITH CAUSE he has little if any recourse in a lawsuit. If they just let him go he has more legal grounds to sue.
DeleteFor another, not doing anything could send the signal that Fox condones this behavior--after something like this they still (technically) keep him employed!?! Why on earth would anyone still want to be associated with him? It looks bad. Now Fox can look like the guys wearing the white hats, terminating him with cause for something no one would have any tolerance for, rather than an unfeeling employer who let him go because he tried to bring attention to the plight of people of color who go missing.
He is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. That said, alcoholism is a sad disease. I wish some had a bit more compassion for this man. There but for the grace of God...
ReplyDeleteJust stop.This drunken fool chose to drive while obviously impaired, plowing into another car and then continuing the madness. Did you not understand how someone could be injured or killed by someone acting out this way? God has nothing to do with it. He chose this path for himself. Maybe he was just trying to escape having to move to Sacramento or Fresno or some other hellhole. Maybe he was upset that the media would only cover a white anchorman's bad behavior and not a black one's. Wasn't that his beef about how evil the media was to cover the Gabby Petito story?
DeleteAnonymous January 1, 2022 at 3:42 PM:
DeleteNot only that, but he knows he has a drinking problem, he'd previously checked himself in to a treatment center, declared himself "cured" after, from what I understand, a three-day weekend, then showed up drunk on air a month or so later, denied he was drunk and claimed he had "taken the wrong prescription pills." (For the record, I used to have a friend who was a bartender in college and he said that was the most common excuse he heard.) So he had enough red flags...this was not a first encounter with inebriation or impairment. All I can say is, why I'm no fan of her management skills for other reasons, Amber Eikel has to look good in Fox management's eyes for her decision to cut the cord with this loser. He makes George Watson look like the poster child for sobriety.
Anonymous @ 3:42pm, nobody is saying he isn't responsible for his actions. I disagreed vehemently with his rant about the Gabby Petito coverage, I disagree with his apparent overall left-wing politics, but I also am saddened to see him descend into the abyss of addiction and hopelessness and destroy his life and career. The fact that you seem to make light of his situation obviously shows that you either don't have a shred of humanity in you or have never to deal with addition on a personal level.
Delete5:08...You are right. I've never had to deal with an "addition".
DeleteKTVU -- The House of Horrors. Was just wondering, did any of KTVU's Friday newscasts mention the arrest? How did the rest of Bay Area TV news do??
ReplyDeleteNot a word. "Frank who?"
DeleteKRON and KNTV did stories, with cell phone video. I don't think PIX did. I can't stand to watch that travesty called KGO anymore, so I have no idea about them.
It seems KRON4 and NBCBayArea both have the video on their websites. I wouldn't know if or when the stories were broadcast. I didn't see anything on KTVU, nor would I expect it.
DeleteI checked in a few times but didnt see it mentioned on KTVU. Saw it covered on KRON, they showed a video of the crash and Somerville being held up as he stumbles around. It was all the same info as on their web articles
DeleteI feel for Frank. He's depressed and in the grips of his addition. His whole career should not be defined by the DUI and slurring on air. He is a good journalist that has a problem.
ReplyDeleteMore than that, as a prominent media figure he's unfairly in the spotlight, not just an anonymous joe battling a severe addiction disorder in private. I hope he can finally get the help he needs, and can one day, if he so chooses, serve as a positive example of successful recovery for others. His medical problems and the poor decisions they fueled need not determine his legacy.
DeleteHe's in the grips of his subtraction, not addition. Actually it's more like division since Donna left with half of everything.
DeleteHe's a schmuck. One who never paid attention to Murrow's famous quote, "Just because your voice reaches halfway around the world doesn't mean you are any wiser than when it reached only to the end of the bar."
6:58... He has already chosen his "legacy".
Delete@7:13 and @10:11, pretty pathetic that you feel the need to smugly pile on this broken man from your keyboard to feel better about yourselves. God forbid you or a family member is ever in the grips of substance addiction.
DeleteAddiction sis a downward spiral until you’re done. And nobody else can make you done. Hopefully he is done. If he is he will find there are lots of people willing to help with no expectation of anything in return. He never had to take a drink again. Speaking from experience.
ReplyDeleteRemoving Somerville is just one step forward. No image-obsession from, for, and about Eikel is going to change the fact that there is still an East Bay mutiny at The Firm. Until they stop their see-hear-speak act, the worst is yet to come.
ReplyDeletewords to be rid of : moral turpitude....look it up...
ReplyDeleteso, everyone at ktvu including those 'in charge' have known about this for .....ever? haven't they been enabling the guy then?
what a clusterfuck this is....
Fox must feel like Tony Soprano...when he was set to whack Richie Aprile...but then didn't have to...because his sister Janice did after Richie hit her.
ReplyDeleteAnyone who works at KTVU is trying to get out. Anyone who watches KTVU is supporting Amber Eikels tragically horrible lack of management and of course lining the pockets of Fox Corporation.
ReplyDeleteThey should have let him go with the intern affair costing the station millions in settlement. This guy is not worth it and he owns his family, friends and viewers a big apology. The most trusted news will be the most untrusted news. I wonder how his former anchors like Tori Campbell feels about this guy. Losing money from a divorce and job does not mean he can waste his money on alcohol and be on TV around the world.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if he went on drunken spree declaring the I TOLD YOU SO! Wasn’t there some story that Gasia Mikka-Alien did about that rant he did on women of color not getting same news coverage time as white women gone missing? And didn’t she do that story like a day or 2 before Friday? Maybe he was thinking that KTVU bosses were going to beg him to come back? Oh no, Lucy! You got some esplaining to do!!!
ReplyDelete