Channel 4's Duncan Loved It Here

Channel 4 wanted to keep reporter-anchor Jericka Duncan so badly that the station’s news director even thought of playing matchmaker.

“I joked with (news director Joe Schlaerth) that if I had gotten married maybe I’d stay in Buffalo,” laughed Duncan in a telephone interview.

“He tried,” she added with a laugh. “He had a couple of (dating) suggestions. But it was not like he had a list of people.”

Love didn’t happen here so she is off to the City of Brotherly Love – Philadelphia – in mid-August. She confirmed she will be a general assignment reporter at KYW-TV, the CBS affiliate in the No.4 market in the country.

She leaves after her three-year deal with Channel 4 was completed.

“I am young (26) and single and this is the time for me explore other opportunities,” said Duncan.

She has been impressive in her stay here. Until she leaves, Duncan said she will continue to anchor “Weekend Wake Up” and work as a night reporter the other three days of her work week.

“I had a great experience at Channel 4,” she added. She noted that she was able to report, anchor and even do some sports anchoring. “I’m very grateful for the opportunity. I am fortunate and blessed to have landed a job here.”

She is excited about the Philadelphia opportunity and said both Schlaerth and General Manager Chris Musial wished her the best.

Duncan is the daughter of a TV sports anchor and sports director who has worked in many markets so she knew she had chosen a field that required several moves. Still, she said it won’t be easy leaving since she has established strong friendships in the community and with her church in Buffalo.

“It is a community you don’t forget,” said Duncan. “I’m leaving but I will definitely be back to visit.”

* I’m no fan of Channel 7 General Manager Bill Ransom and he’s certainly no fan of mine. But there was a reason I chose not to run a recent website survey that placed him No. 1 in the list of the 10 worst people in TV news days before it landed in a blog in the Buffalo News.

I am only mentioning it now because The News blog needs some perspective. One should always consider the source before running an unfair list or at least explain and fully understand the background of who is behind the list.

Scott Jones, who is in charge of the Top 10 list, is a former executive news producer at Channel 7 who at one time was in the running to be the station’s news director. He also was the co-founder of the website RealAmherst.com.

According to sources who worked at Channel 7 at the time, Jones and Ransom had a falling out about a decade ago before Jones left the station.

The same sources said Jones also didn’t get along with the eventual news director, Staci Feger. Feger, who now is a news director in Alaska, was No. 10 on Jones’ Top 10 list.

Asked if the list should be considered fair and credible, one former Channel 7 staffer laughed and said: “No way is it fair.”

Full disclosure here: I also was a frequent target of Jones.

The News should either take down the discredited survey or at the very least insert some perspective about Jones.

* One of my spies tells me that Channel 2 reporter Aaron Saykin will soon work a part-time schedule to attend the University at Buffalo Law School. Considering the state of TV news, it is a very smart move.

* Finally, Spain's 1-0 victory over Netherlands Sunday for the World Cup had a 4.3 local rating on Channel 7. That was lower than the 5.0 rating that the United States' elimination loss to Ghana had here.

Of course, several of ABC's announcers candidly said the title game was a dog. "Lipstick on a pig," said ABC's Alexi Lalas. "This was a pig of a game."

pergament@msn.com

ESPN Keeps Suspense Going in LeBron Call

Some thoughts a day or so after LBJ supposedly made his big decision:

* What did they know and when did they know it?

That’s my question to ESPN reporters and analysts after LeBron James announced he was leaving the Cleveland Cavaliers for the Miami Heat.

I was playing a tennis league match Thursday night when LBJ told the world on ESPN that he was joining Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh to become a member of the Miami Heat. So I recorded “The Decision” for later viewing.

I didn’t feel like I would be missing anything live because all afternoon long ESPN’s Chris Broussard had speculated that James was joining the Heat unless he changed his mind at the last minute.

Of course, I laughed on Tuesday when first word of LBJ’s 9 p.m. Thursday press conference leaked. The idea that the media would get 48 hours to learn “The Decision” and it wouldn’t leak before then was pretty funny in this Twitter and Facebook world.

The announcement that there would be announcement was an invitation or even an inducement to discover the truth.

It was inevitable by the time ESPN's show began Thursday that the world would know where James was headed before he confirmed he was joining the Heat in an interview with reporter Jim Gray.

I just wonder when Broussard and everybody else at ESPN speculating that he was going to Miami really knew and just tried to keep the suspense going.

Perhaps because much of the suspense had been eliminated before LeBron confirmed what he was going to do, local ratings on ESPN weren’t as high as one might have expected.

The hour started with a 5.0 rating here and peaked at 6.4 at 9:15 p.m. when LeBron gave his decision. At that point, ESPN’s ratings were higher than anything that aired locally on a network affiliate. However, the rating slipped to a 4.5 at 9:30 p.m. and a 3.4 at 9:45 p.m. to average about a 5 rating for the hour. That was lower than a “CSI” (6.0) repeat on Channel 4 and a new episode of the Canadian series “Rookie Blue” (5.8) on Channel 7.

The Buffalo rating wasn't close to the national rating, but that's not a surprise. The national number was inflated by the big numbers in the big markets -- New York (No.1) Chicago (No.3) Miami (17) and Cleveland (18) -- that had teams that were in the LeBron sweepstakes.

* Was it just me or did LeBron sort of blame his mother for helping him decide to leave his hometown team? LeBron said his mom advised him to do what made him happy, which made it easier to join the Heat. He should have kept his mom out of it.

It would be hard for some players to still be happy with the knowledge that they would immediately become villains in their hometown. In the short run, James is defining happiness with the opportunity to win titles. In the long run, happiness might have been defined as choosing loyalty over a better opportunity to win titles. We’ll see.

However, the ugly statement that Cleveland Owner Dan Gilbert made about LeBron’s departure almost immediately made the star a sympathetic character in some quarters. No one deserved that kind of talk.

* LeBron noted that that he could have made more money by staying in Cleveland. But let’s be honest. The money he makes playing the game is a bonus added to the millions more that he makes from endorsements.

On the other hand, the decision to leave Cleveland could actually cost him endorsement money if he remains a villain for awhile or if D-Wade becomes a bigger Madison Advertising commodity.

I’m not an accountant. But since there is no state income tax in Florida, I suspect that LeBron actually could make as much money after taxes playing in Miami next year if he becomes a Florida resident as he could have if he stayed in Cleveland.

* NBA Commissioner David Stern is always mindful of the importance of public relations.

That makes one wonder why he didn’t exert his influence with one of the league’s TV partners, ESPN, and tell them to just say no to the one-hour special.

And he might have tried to convince LeBron it was a bad idea.

He certainly should have tried to stop Gilbert from making his statement.

Who knows? Maybe he did try to do all three things.

One thing is clear: The hype-fest tarnished the image of one of the league’s biggest stars, one of its TV partners and one of its owners.

* Now on to the World Cup, which ends Sunday when Netherlands and Spain play for the title on ABC affiliate Channel 7 at 1:30 p.m.

I’ve watched enough soccer over the last few weeks to realize that instant replay might not be the total answer to all the lousy officiating calls. I can’t count the number of times that the game announcers have complained that a bad call was made, only to hear intermission and post-game analysts look at the same footage and defend the call. Clearly, instant replay could slow down the game at an alarming pace.

pergament@msn.com

T.O. Show Says Goodbye to Buffalo

Now that Terrell Owens is a former Buffalo Bill, the question is how long will Western New Yorkers stay interested in season two of VH-1’s “The T.O Show”?

Judging by Sunday’s 10:30 p.m. premiere, I’m guessing about seven minutes.

That’s how long the focus is on Buffalo in an episode titled “Bye Bye Buffalo.”

As Western New York temperatures hit the high 90s this summer, it is pretty funny watching Owens walking and running around WNY wearing a Russian hat that covers both ears as the snow and the winter wind flies around him.

The snowy pictures of WNY in January just before he left town without fanfare strike a contrast with Owens’ arrival in 2009 when fans rocked the Buffalo airport on a summer-like night.

Buffalonians shouldn’t get too hot under the collar about the winter cliché. After all, it is cold and snowy here in January.

As I said in a previous blog, they should be more concerned about Owens’ words. And he doesn’t have anything negative to say about his time here and takes some responsibility for last year’s disappointing season. Those are wise public relations moves.

“I feel like I let the team and the city down,” said Owens.

Owens is even questioning whether he wants to play football again if another National Football League team calls. Let’s just say there won’t be an hour ESPN special called “The Decision” about this free agent’s choice of his next team.

Most of the episode concerns Owen’s disagreements with his publicists and best friends, Monique Jackson and Kita Williams, over his living arrangements and his relationships with women.

Mo (the tougher one) and Kita (the funnier one) both take Owens into their homes in Los Angeles, which leads to the kind of conflict that reality show watchers love. Mo is pregnant with her third child, which adds an extra element of drama and humor.

T.O. plays the good guy and baby sits for Mo and her husband Vic. He even changes a diaper on camera. I’m not going to go for a cheap laugh and say he dropped it. Oh, I guess I did.

Of course, T.O.’s social life is another focus. He reaches out to his beautiful former girlfriend, Kari, and even agrees to try counseling.

I wish I could say all of this was more interesting that it sounds. The first episode is so routine that it makes one wonder if VH-1 should have joined the Bills and cut ties with Owens, too.

But, hey, the first season had strong ratings and a short clip of highlights show some more promising material.

A VH-1 release also notes that the season will see Terrell try modeling, guest on a talk show that deals with sex and is reunited with Donovan McNabb, the quarterback who he criticized when they both played for the Philadelphia Eagles.

Tennis star Andy Roddick makes a guest appearance in the seventh episode. Owens attends the Kentucky Derby with Kita, auditions for a movie role and gets a part. In the season finale, he makes a marriage proposal. Kari appears to be a long shot and T.O.’s former fiancé appears to be the favorite.

In other words, there is a lot going on and makes “The Decision” whether to keep watching after the routine premiere somewhat tough.

Rating: 2 stars out of 4

* YES Network announced two months ago that it would carry two New York Yankee games in 3-D. The games with Seattle air this weekend. Of course, I’m guessing more people read this start-up blog than have 3-D sets right now. I only hope the blog grows at the same pace as sales of 3-D sets.

* Nice to see that the newspaper that I love confirmed today that Channel 4 reporter Jericka Duncan is leaving for a job in Philadelphia. Of course, stilltalkintv reported it a few days ago and even spelled her name right. I also got a brief message recently from another Channel 4 reporter thanking me for spelling her name right after it was misspelled in the Buffalo News.

Hey, we all make mistakes. I've been guilty of spelling names wrong, too. But as a journalism professor who got an F when he was a Syracuse University student and spelled a subject's name wrong, it embarrasses me. After all, it isn’t really that hard to check how to spell the names of local TV reporters. You just go on a station’s website to check, especially when it concerns unusual spellings.

* If you want to know first what is happening in local TV, stilltalkintv is usually your place to go. About a month after it was reported here that anchor Lisa Flynn was exiting Channel 4, the newspaper confirmed it. So at least it is getting much quicker about reporting old TV news that first appears in this blog. I feel like I deserve a finder's fee. It would be nice if the News at least credited where the news was first reported. But that's probably asking too much.

pergament@msn

"Friday Night Lights" Finally Scores in Emmys

Cheers. Big cheers to the voters for the Emmy nominations announced this morning.

I got my wish stated in a recent blog.

Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton of Friday Night Lights” – who play the most supportive married couple on television – were nominated in the best actor and best actress category, respectively.

Long overdue. Maybe it will get some local viewers to watch the low-rated series, which is having a terrific fourth season. It airs on Friday nights on Channel 2 and is available On Demand for free.

The “Lights” nominations were good news for NBC, which is carrying “Lights” after it previously played on DirecTV in an arrangement that saved the series from cancellation.

NBC also took a hit on the chin when Conan O’Brien’s short run as the host of “The Tonight Show” got a nomination and Jay Leno’s version did not. The right call. The news comes on the heels of reports that Leno’s recent ratings are even lower than O’Brien’s.

Notably, David Letterman’s program wasn’t nominated in the category, either. That may be more surprising than Leno’s slight.

The “Lights” nomination and the Leno slight are enough for me to forgive the Emmys for any other “mistakes” I find once I get through the pages and pages of nominations.

From a first glance, most of the usual suspects were nominated with a few freshman exceptions. Fox should be thrilled for all the support for “Glee” in the comedy category. CBS should be happy with the best drama nomination for “The Good Wife,” which was my favorite new drama of the year. Julianna Margulies, the series star, also deservedly was nominated as best dramatic actress.

In a minor surprise, “Damages” of FX didn’t make the cut in the best drama category, apparently losing its place to “True Blood.”

After further review, here are some notable things in the lengthy nomination report:

* Buffalo’s Christine Baranski received two nominations – one for her supporting role on “The Good Wife” and the other for a guest spot on “The Big Bang Theory.”

* Jim and Pam’s wedding on “The Office” in an episode called “Niagara” earned writing nominations for Greg Daniels and Mindy Kaling.

* Batavia native Thom Beer saw his series, “The Deadliest Catch,” earn a nomination in the outstanding non-fiction category that included PBS’ “American Experience” and “American Masters.”

* The Time Warner commercial guy, Mike O’Malley, received a guest nomination for his role of the father of Kurt Hummel. Chris Colfer, who plays the openly gay son, Kurt, also was nominated as were "Glee" cast members Lea Michele, Matthew Morrison and Jane Lynch.

* Every adult member of the cast of the ABC comedy “Modern Family,” with the exception of Ed O’Neill, was nominated in some category.

* Terry O’Quinn, who played John Locke on “Lost,” was nominated again in a supporting category. So was Michael Emerson, who played Ben. And Matthew Fox got a nomination as Jack Shephard.

* HBO’s new series, “Treme,” FX’s new series “Justified” and two veteran ABC series, “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Private Practice,” didn’t get any significant nominations. Nor did Fox's "Fringe."

* The Year of Betty White ended with her appearance on “Saturday Night Live” and in the Snickers commercial, “The Game,” both getting nominated.

* And finally “The End” of “Lost” may be debated for years to come. The voters liked it and gave writers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse nominations in a category that included two episodes of “Mad Men” and episodes of “Friday Night Lights” and “The Good Wife.”

pergament@msn.com

Terrell Owens Out in the Cold

As Western New York temperatures hit the high 90s this summer, it is pretty amusing watching the first seven minutes of the second season premiere of “The T.O. Show.”

Titled “Bye Bye Buffalo,” the season premiere of the reality show airs at 10:30 p.m Sunday on VH-1.

After his one season with the Buffalo Bills ended in disappointment, wide receiver Terrell Owens is shown walking and running around WNY wearing a Russian hat that covers both ears as the snow and the winter wind flies around him.

The snowy pictures of WNY in January just before he left town without fanfare strike a contrast with Owens’ summer arrival when fans rocked the Buffalo airport on a summer-like night.

Buffalonians shouldn’t get too hot under the collar about the winter cliché. After all, it is cold and snowy here in January.

They should be more concerned about Owens’ words. And he doesn’t have anything negative to say about his time here and takes some responsibility for last year’s disappointing season. Those are wise public relations moves.

“I feel like I let the team and the city down,” said Owens.

One of his publicists, Monique Jackson, isn’t as kind. Jackson is pregnant and is ready to go back to Los Angeles to enjoy an easier life.

“Instead I’m in Buffalo freezing my ass off,” she said.

After seven minutes, Owens, Jackson and publicist Kita Williams head to Los Angeles as the wide receiver waits during the off-season to find out which team he is going to play for this coming season.

The second season consists of 10 episodes, including a one-hour season finale. A VH-1 release said Mo gives birth to her third child and Owens wraps filming on his first movie role in the finale.

The premiere episode will be reviewed in a future blog.

pergament@msn.com

Channel 4's Duncan Leaving for No.4 Market

It looks like Channel 4 is going to have to play another round of musical chairs shortly.

According to sources, reporter-anchor Jericka Duncan is leaving the CBS affiliate to take a job at KYW-TV in Philadelphia, a CBS owned-and-operated station in the No.4 market in the country. Her last day at Channel 4 is scheduled to be in mid-August.

In recent station moves, Duncan was named to replace Michele McClintick as the anchor of Weekend Wake Up after McClintick moved to nights. At most, Duncan’s move to the weekends will last about a month before she leaves for the City of Brotherly Love.

Duncan has been impressive in reporting, anchor and even sports roles since joining Channel 4 three years ago from WETM in Elmira.

* Mylous Hairston, the Channel 4 anchor who is president of the local chapter of the union that represents anchors and reporters at the station, said last week it’s a surprise that local stations are hiring 20something reporters straight out of college.

He notes that Buffalo used to be a market that required on-air personnel to work three-to-five years in a small market (like Duncan did) in Elmira or Erie, Pa.

“Buffalo has become a starting market as opposed to a mid-market,” said Hairston. “It’s a sign of the times. The company is looking to hire the least experienced.”

It wouldn’t be so bad if veteran reporters and anchors could mentor the new hires. But that’s become increasingly difficult to do since the veterans have so much more to do now that they don’t have the time to mentor.

The young reporters at Channel 4 get a respectable salary when hired. The minimum reporting salary at the station is $34,000, said Hairston.

* This morning, Steve Carell told Meredith Vieira on “Today” that he wants his departure from NBC’s “The Office” next May to be “a little subdued” and “not an enormous send-off.”

Not likely. NBC undoubtedly will milk it for everything it can. Carell’s departure from one of the network's few popular series after one more season puts more pressure on one of its new fall shows to become a hit.

Can the show survive the loss of paper company boss Michael Scott, the lead character played by Carell?

That’s a tough question. A big name star would help, but what big star would want to deal with the comparisons to Carell? The reaction to Carell's replacment surely won’t be subdued.

pergament@msn.com

Leno Comeback Isn't a Hit on Channel 2

Leftovers after a long holiday weekend:

* Several national blogs and a few newspapers have noted that Jay Leno’s ratings for “The Tonight Show” are now lower than Conan O’Brien’s were.

Which got me wondering: How is Leno doing in Western New York?

Sure enough, O’Brien’s ratings last June when he premiered were higher than Leno’s this June on Channel 2, the local NBC affiliate. The margin was .1 of one percent with O’Brien averaging a 4.2 and Leno a 4.1.

O’Brien’s figures should come with an asterisk since his premiere week in June of 2009 saw a spike in the ratings that inflated the average slightly.

But still it is clear that the ratings for Leno’s comeback so far haven’t been worth the upheaval it caused. And it makes one wonder – again – if NBC should have stuck with O’Brien. That’s always been my view.

By the way, Letterman beat Leno here with a 4.4 rating average on Channel 4, the local CBS affiliate.

* Lia Lando has had an impressive three days as anchor of the news on Channel 4 at 5:30 p.m. and on CW-23 at 10 p.m. She is a soft-spoken anchor who articulates the copy she reads very well.

However, it is unclear if she wants Lisa Flynn’s old job permanently. Lando, a mother of two who lives in Rochester, may just be here until the July sweeps are over or until the summer ends. The July sweeps are the least important of the four sweeps periods during the year.

If Channel 4 starts running an intro into the newscasts featuring Lando, then viewers will know she may be here longer. Right now, it starts those newscasts with a cold opening without the traditional introduction of the anchors.

* The Emmy Award nominations arrive Thursday with cable TV again expected to take the bulk of the nominations. The one network show that deserves several nominations is NBC’s “Friday Night Lights,” which annually is ignored in the big categories. I’ve seen the entire current season (which previously played on DirecTV) and it gets better every week. It airs weekly on Friday nights on Channel 2.

Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton, who play the most loving married couple on TV, deserve nominations along with Zach Gilford. Chandler plays a high school football coach, Britton plays a high school principal and Gilford plays the former quarterback who has moved to Chicago to pursue an art career.

* Proud father Irv Weinstein sent along an email that reports his daughter, Beth Krom, is running for a congressional seat in California. But all my California readers probably know that. A two-term mayor of Irvine, Calif., Krom is a Democrat running against a Republican incumbent, John Campbell. Campbell is best known for being co-sponsor of the so-called “Birther Bill” that would require future presidential candidates to submit proof of United States citizenship. In other words, he isn’t one of President Obama’s biggest fans.

pergament@msn.com