Oil and Water

We had a chance to see Bruce Wolf handle the sports on Friday night's 10pm broadcast of WMAQ's news. Although JFBW is thrilled to see Bruce back on TV, there are some obvious chemistry issues with his new teammates.

Warner Saunders reads the news off of the teleprompter like he is seeing it for the first time. It seems like he does not even understand the news and he often flubs his lines. I wonder if Saunders dozes off between takes because he frequently reads the news like he just woke up. In all seriousness, Saunders is about as bad as local news gets.

Marion Brooks has been filling in for the competent Allison Rosati. When Brooks is not testifying about her affair with then-married former Atlanta mayor Bill Campbell in a federal corruption case, she is looking dazed and confused while reading her lines.

Not much to say about Brant Miller. This guy is more vanilla than cream soda. They could have a computer deliver the weather and it would be as interesting as Miller.

None of Bruce's 10pm teammates have any personality or ability to interact in any kind of entertaining or natural way. The requisite banter between newsreaders is unbearably painful as Bruce cracks jokes and the other people on set just don't get it. It's pretty awkward. Contrast this team with that of Barely Today. The BT team was fun and worked well together. The 10pm team is devoid of charisma and I look forward to Bruce making jokes at their expense.

Been Here For Years

Bruce is back. Robert Feder has reported that Bruce Wolf is moving to full-time sports anchor and reporter effective immediately. Look for Bruce at 5, 6 and 10 on Channel 5. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the last time Bruce and Bob Sirott teamed up on a newscast, David Orr was mayor. All we need is Marianne Murciano and a pair of Air Jordan IXs and this lineup will be a real Chicago classic.

Stop the Insanity

I'm not sure I knew what madness was until I read a few of the crazy posts on the WFLD message boards. Wow.

Goodbye Texas' Rose

Tamron Hall, Fox News in the Morning anchor and former Bruce Wolf foil, has joined MSNBC. Today was Tamron's last day at WFLD, and she will be replaced by Jan Jeffcoat, shown above. According to Yellow magazine, Jeffcoat was voted the "Sexiest Woman in Charlotte, North Carolina." Really?

Shot Through the Heart

So, no sooner do we cheer the return of Bruce Wolf to morning TV, does WMAQ pull the rug out from under Barely Today. As reported by the Sun-Times' Robert Feder, Bruce is being "reassigned to sports anchoring and reporting duties." That is so weak. The show was really entertaining. Too bad Bruce and Ellee cannot take over for the frauds in New York at 7 am.

Mea Culpa

In an earlier post, the JFBW Blog pooh-poohed the advent of the Ginger Zee Era on WFLD-TV. Maybe you can chalk that up to sour grapes because we were upset at Channel 32 for revamping the morning news team. In any case, we were wrong about Young Zee. Although Mark Strehl is still the people's choice, Ginger is Totally Legit™ and would have been an upgrade to Tammy Souza. Fox News in the Morning is on the precipice of unwatchability and would have benefitted from Valpo's Finest.