Friday, December 23, 2022

KPIX Gets New Furniture from CBS But Still Lacking in News Content and Delivery

CBS gave KPIX a new look ..I haven't see all the new sets but sure, first glance, nice.

Only a few problems: why debut the new furniture when hardly anyone is watching? Was it deliberate? Did CBS roll out the new digs right before Christmas to gage public reaction? Of course, to a degree.

But here's the big deal.

I'm a more substance over style guy. KPIX is still stuck in mudville with below-average anchors and mildew reporters. Juliette Goodrich, Reed Cowan, a smidgen of Liz Cook equals good.

Brian Hackney, probably not a popular beer mate but as an anchor? Sure, he can read the teleprompter and he has some usefulness. Ryan Yamamoto? Still NO presence and personality. A new set doesn't help him or even remotely save the day, (or night).

PIX needs to refine its look, sure, and it did but appearence alone doesn't change the standings. PIX needs to major-tweak the anchor roster. Maybe Goodrich and Cowan at 6? Jules is more than capable to solo-anchor but Cowan, (who I've wamed to) is better than advertised and could probably help himself and Goodrich. A permanent pairing would be a dynamic team and give CBS-SF a force at 6. They need it.

I keep waiting for Liz Cook to make some impact and show some moxie. She's now a decade into her run here but viewers seem not so moved.

Sara Donchey is more than capable but SoCal looks/demeanor has muddled her year-long anniversary. OK, Scott Warren, (GM) give her the 11 but PROMOTE her and the newscast!

Lisa White, the new ND , you're curiously silent and morose with staff. If you showed a little pulse and leadership, maybe you'd get some results. Or was the 22 years of being passed over at both KRON and PIX more reflective of your work? Numbers don't lie.

KPIX is still an under-performing CBS property. I'm not sure moving out of a Sears look alone will change the present reality.

37 comments:

  1. I agree that the Donkey is a solid anchor but I also agree there has to be a certain level of expected decorum. I'm not saying she needs to dress like half these old fart windbags currently on local news, but I also feel like some of her wardrobe choices make the broadcast more about her than the news. I feel there are ways she can up her presentation while still retaining and showing her unique style.

    I get that TV is a visual medium and the Donkey is probably at the forefront of what local news will soon evolve into. Maybe I'm just thinking of some of the more distracting and outlandish outfits she's worn, but some limits and guardrails wouldn't be a bad thing.

    And no this isn't about a double-standard against women. I've said the same thing about guys like Raj Mathai who wears dirty sneakers with a suit, or the guy at kpix who wears suits two sizes too big.

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  2. And they've changed some of their music, again. I wonder how long they're going to stick with the in-studio standing up and wandering around act?

    Did I hear Goodrich say: "everyone needs a cousin Karen," last night?

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  3. I actually appreciate Hackney, "The guy who knows he's the smartest guy in the room". His earthquake breakdowns are excellent as he broke down the triple-junction zone that caused the Humboldt quake the other day. I can deal with the smugness. I like the information.

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    1. Hackney is the third smartest guy in that room, behind Heggen and Peck.

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    2. "Hackney is the third smartest guy in that room, behind Heggen and Peck."

      How do you know this? Do you know each of their capabilities? Can Peck shoot? Can Heggen write and perform his own music for his news pieces?

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    3. I know Brian personally. He is as far from smug as you can imagine. What he *is* is educated and assured of his knowledge—something Americans today are very intimidated by, for obvious reasons. (Google "Declining American education" if you need any help.) People are quick to believe idiots who spout nonsense off the tops of their heads but are terrified of real information.

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    4. He’s the Pete Wilson of today just add some more sighs and groans

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    5. Hackney is actually the fourth smartest guy in that room, behind Heggen, Peck, and Nakano.

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    6. Hackney might consider deploying some of that education and knowledge and watching tapes of his shows with someone who could point out moments that give rise to the feeling of him being less than approachable and personable, and then perhaps avoid those impulses.

      I have no doubt that he is highly intelligent but I've heard him do the "belittling/sniping at colleagues on camera" routine and it's not appealing. "Real information" given in a condescending way loses impact.

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    7. Yeah thats why I prefer when Peck & Heggen do the weather. They give a good overview with a lot of clear information & necessary information like air quality, water vapor, etc that needs to be presented in the forecast.

      Hackney doesn’t care to show any of that. While he is good and definitely one of the smartest guys in the world, I don’t like to see him do the weather. He should stick with just science & anchoring and leave Heggen, Peck & Jessica to the weather. Frankly, Hackney should seriously consider retiring or just not do the weather, he’s already 65; hope it won’t be a forced retirement like Alan Martin or Ken Bastida.

      I know I am overseas and still keeping tabs on archive.org to see how the graphics are. Hopefully Burch is on this week so if Heggen is out for the holidays again, Peck can fill in and not Hackney. Sometimes Hackney is boring

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    8. 6:54 cracking up..Pete Wilson, he of the endless audible sigh

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    9. Heggen is away overseas, I’m hoping Peck (very likely) will be the fill in the entire week if Burch does her usual morning shift. I really don’t want to see Hackney in the weather center, even at 11PM. He’s good but his presentation is boring. We will only know that on Sunday’s 11PM newscast; if Peck is in at 11, then he should be there in for Heggen, otherwise if Hackney is there at 11 filling in for Peck on the weather, then Peck will fill in on the morning show

      Last 2 years, Peck did the morning show & Hackney evening.

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    10. Yeah looks like Burch came this morning & as guessed correctly, Peck is filling in for Heggen and it may be for the full week. Happy not to see Hackney in the weather side this year, but he was alone anchoring this weekend and having Peck do the weather, who explains very well. Hackney is smart but he doesn’t go this deep into atmospheric rivers like Peck, Heggen or even Burch so he tends to be a little more boring.

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    11. I forgot to add one more thing, back in May, just a week before Memorial Day, Hackney was subbing for Heggen (Friday-Monday, 20-23rd). The day before the heat wave, they did not declare a First Alert Weather Day. He is good in weather but doesn’t know how First Alert weather really works. Peck, Heggen and even Mary Lee can do it better.

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  4. Been watching more of Juliette’s shows and she is pretty friggin funny . Nice to see her personality shine. She makes the doom and gloom more palatable with some comic relief and personality. What a concept ! Way to go PIX.

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  5. Reed Cowan's KPIX giving reports are the most phony bullshit I've seen on television. TV management are the worst. But the average person is dumb enough to believe that crap.

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  6. Hackney is good for news magazines where editors can exercise some control but he can not carry a live show.

    On content, I agree 100%. Kpix is carrying less and less content. If you take away sports and weather, actual news that happened that day is about 5 minutes out of 35 on the 11:00pm time slot. I want to stick them but this is getting frustrating.

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    1. I've been noticing this for awhile on KPIX, and to a lesser extent on other local news broadcasts. Two or three local, relevant stories per half hour, with the rest being filler. I'm so tired of having to watch a five-minute report on someone overcoming adversity on every news broadcast, which is why I watch less and less news.

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    2. "Two or three local, relevant stories per half hour, with the rest being filler."

      The king of this is KTVU, and they started it first. It's cheap. If it's not something like someone overcoming adversity, it's an "easy" story that requires no investigative acumen, such as a candlelight vigil, the closing of a beloved neighborhood eatery, or the latest tech gadget. It passes for news, but it's really PR. The only news you get today is police scanner stuff--fires, accidents, USGS earthquakes, yada-yada. It allows them to staff with a weekend-sized skeleton crew all the time and produce five or six hours of "news" a day. Ever notice how they run the same stories for three days, too?

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  7. Describe how Donchey is "Too Socal" ? That's borderline offensive for you to marginalize a person because they came from another part of the state. You never hear anyone in Socal describing the Bay Area female reporters as "frau's".
    The 415 Area code now has an "overlay". Get used to it.

    I watch PIX now for one very good reason...
    They don't mind taking a few chances, and they let the women look pretty, and not frumpy.

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    1. No, but in SoCal they describe the people here at "too NorCal."

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  8. Advice in the KPIX drive for improvement.
    Put more of Da Lin's reports on the weekdays, instead of mostly on weekends. He always does excellent work even in chaotic circumstances. Plus, we don't get distracted by his fashion.

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  9. Feels like a late night talk show opening, and then Donchey comes around from behind the set like she's coming through the Tonight Show curtain. Then, you get the full shot of whatever outlandish outfit she's wearing (were they oversized Crocs the other night?) that does her challenging figure no favors. I like her, but I'm not sure I like where this is going and it may be enough for me to try another station after watching/recording KPIX for the past 25 years.

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  10. OMG!
    11p on Pix has NO NEWS!!!

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  11. Man Rich, I don't know if you have watched this new 11pm news on KPIX or not, but the way it is branded and comes off, well, it seems to me not like a news program at all, but another late night talk show! I mean, it starts off with graphics that look like something Jimmy Kimmel would have as the opening for his show. Then, they announce it as being the Late News with Sara Donkey, after which, Sara Donkey walks out from behind the curtain, just like Johnny Carson or Jimmy Kimmel! The only thing missing is that they don't announce the "guests", and there is no band! I mean, c'mon now, I do really want to hear what the main man in media, Rich, has to say about this!

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  12. Local News is dead here. Has been for years. Just look at every local newscast. It’s like they all stopped trying. They now aspire to rise to the level of boring. At least KPIX is doing something. It almost doesn’t matter if it works, because nothing else is. Donchey at least has a pulse.

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  13. The music is definitely better than their CBS local music. But there are 2 bits that CBS local got used; tease for the morning show close & traffic with Gianna. I hope the CBS Local package is on the way out the door soon.

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  14. The intro for the 11:00pm news is like a late night talk show.

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  15. Big difference between the 11PM on weekdays & weekends. The theme music and opening is better on the weekends. I do not really like the music they’re putting for Sara Donchey and should stick with the regular theme for the weekday 11PM as they do on the weekend. What if Sara leaves or even Reed? It should not be necessarily dedicated to 1 person on weekdays. Stick with the Afternoon & Evening Edition, much more simpler. For Juliette Goodrich, she’s a veteran anchor & one of the most solid anchors who knows how to anchor the news well…this has been evident since the 90’s.

    On the weekend the 5PM news theme still has small bits of CBS local and Saturdays after the 7AM newscast (Recorded and I wake up later in the morning) still has that CBS Local tease theme close music. Weekdays it’s just the traffic still containing it & some cases the rejoin of the 3PM broadcast.

    I thought CBS Local was on the way out the door and it would 100% be on Antfood. The new theme music & graphics are really good (5-note This is CBS). It’s an upgrade & more uplifting like the previous Enforcer (prior to the downgrade to CBS local in 2021).

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    1. Edit from my last post, KPIX weekend morning edition news has now fully got rid of CBS local, even the tease theme is gone. I really like the new theme, more upbeat & cheery.

      The only few places having CBS local thats not gotten pushed out the door are the weekend 5PM news at the end, the weekday 3PM news having 2 rejoin music from CBS local. My assumption is that in the coming months those will be out the door soon.

      11PM news opens rotate the opening music every few days, and don’t get me started on that Colbert & Donchey ad. Almost cringed. Weekends at 11PM is unchanged and the same should be on the weekdays. Worst experiment KPIX has done with their weeknight 11PM news, ugh!

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  16. As of April 10, during the 3PM newscast they have switched their weather packages. I believe CBS Colorado & Pittsburgh were the first few examples that also rolled out the new weather packages along with their new graphics/music.

    I’ll tell you, I kind of like & hate it. Here’s what I like:

    - First Alert Weather is lined up on the left side.
    - Text is readable and a bit bigger.
    - 7 day forecast is kind of like the Accuweather thing with needed clouds on the background (or kind of like a weather app).

    Dislike:

    - When showing the Right Now screen or today’s highs with an outside view, there is only a white-colored block table and no gradient to still show a full live view.
    - Same problem with the above point with the temperature map when presenting what averages would be for microclimates.

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  17. Unexpectedly today, both Paul & Jessica were off and unlike last month, I saw Peck fill in for the morning (wish it was Mary instead as Peck has had enough airtime with Reed going thru fill-ins and weekends and now the morning show?)

    And today afternoon Brian Hackney filled in for Paul. No one knew the day would come where he would feel reunited with Juliette Goodrich as he misses her on the weekends. Quite awkward like New Years Eve 2021 on the 3PM newscast (only because they both could have anchored while having Hackney on double duty), but nice to see for a change. In my opinion it would have been nicer to have Lee in the morning and Peck in the afternoon.

    Hackney is good in weather no doubt, injects personality and has no ego but Peck’s presentations are far better as well as his personality.

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  18. Hackney doing Saturday’s weather is incomplete. Seems that it’s clear that as he ages he doesn’t seem to like what he’s doing. He skipped by giving an incomplete futurecast and no extended forecast. Even Peck or Heggen give complete details. They should have brought Darren Peck for the morning in Heggen’s absence.

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  19. Today morning’s forecast was done by Gianna Franco who is typically a traffic anchor but also does anchor duties/fill-in & also fill-in on sports.

    Most of the time it would be done by a meteorologist and thought they’d snag Mary Lee. Gianna isn’t bad at all, but it’s the first time I’ve seen her do the weather. Guess this happened as Paul Heggen is on vacation in the Caribbean island with his wife & likely is gonna be away the whole week. Plus Darren Peck filled in yesterday evening (3pm up to and including the 11pm newscast) and gonna be likely the entire week. This was just like March’s situation but looks like Hackney does not ever want to come in the morning.

    KPIX should seriously get either at least 1 or 2 more meteorologists, suppose if Lee &/or Hackney really leaves KPIX in the future. Even the other local Bay Area stations have at least a 4-5 or even 6 meteorologists and can cover nicely.

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  20. Any of the male meteologists are preferable to Burch or any of the previous female forecasters. It seems the women think we tune in to watch them, not the weather. She stands in front of every graphic. Last summer she stood directly in front of the comparison list of heat exhaustion & heat stroke symptoms during the entire segment. If there is an image on the screen, she'll stand in front of it. The worst example is the 7-day forecast. While the men walk behind the transparent columns so we can see the days in which we are interested, she stands in front and wanders back and forth, as she obscures our view. Finally, at least the men are professional.

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