B-Day

Thanks for the birthday wishes, guys! I’m a year older, no more wiser!

Channel 13 is broadcasting “A Walk Through the Bronx” with David Hartman and Barry Lewis. I think the only borough they haven’t done now is Staten Island. (I missed the first half hour, so I’ll have to watch it another time! – but great stuff — if this doesn’t make you a PBS member, well, who am I say? Ok, I’m stepping off the soapbox now ;-)).

ABC has announced the new anchors of World News Tonight – Elizabeth Vargas and Bob Woodruff. Familiar ABC faces who are pretty professional and have been substituting for Peter Jennings, so the transition won’t be bad (please don’t change the theme song like you did to Nightline!). In their 40’s, so there’s time to groom them (and I believe they’re contemporaries of Brian Williams, so he won’t be the lonely kid on the block). And with having two, you can let one go once it seems like the American audience likes one more than the other (sort of what I’m hoping they’ll do to Nightline, because having three “anchors” is a pain; but maybe having two will be interesting? There hasn’t been two anchors on the air on nightly national news since MacNeil/Lehrer were both on). Sorry to Charles Gibson, who had rotated with Woodruff and Vargas in substituting for Jennings; Gibson’s only disadvantage was his age (you can’t groom a guy who’s doesn’t need the grooming, but then again, your audience won’t age with him if he’s already older than them). Well, good luck to Bob and Liz. Brian’s got the lead, so step on it!

And, speaking of Brian Williams – I have to say, NBC Nightly News’ Daily Nightly Blog is a fascinating piece of work. You get the behind the scenes look of the crafting of the news; Brian Williams has a nice voice (and his team seem like decent people, not just professional journalists). Is this the wave of the future – network news going the blog route? Hmm. (Personally, I remember the days back when Brian Williams was our local Channel 2 WCBS anchor man. So weird to realize that he’s made it quite big).

I’m almost up to date on “Grey’s Anatomy” on ABC. I like it more than “Desperate Housewives,” in that I actually like the characters on “Grey’s Anatomy.” (they’re a bunch of lunatics on “Desperate Housewives,” which is – I suppose – the point).

Wikipedia has to make a change… when Anonymous posts that John Seigenthaler, Sr., was behind the JFK assasination (which is ridiculous), it’s entirely understandable that Seigenthaler would want Wikipedia to change its rules on who posts what.

More snow…