Al Roker on TWC?

[coriolis]

What's up with this? The morning show on TWC now feels like one of the network morning shows. Flashy graphics, dumbed-down reporting, Stephanie Abrams in a supporting role? LOL, the new ownership is making changes, you bet!

[Ed Mahmoud]

General Electric. What can I say?


TWC has been dumbing down the programming for at least a decade.

No idea if it helps the ratings or not.


Pretty sure Roker is not a trained met. I know Willard Scott was one of the original Ronald McDonald clows...

[Category 5]

I've been saying that when John Hope died, the downward spiral began, it started to really go downhill after storm stories came on, then NBC taking over was the final nail in the coffin.

[lester]

What's up with this? The morning show on TWC now feels like one of the network morning shows. Flashy graphics, dumbed-down reporting, Stephanie Abrams in a supporting role? LOL, the new ownership is making changes, you bet!

you forgot to add the "cha"

and yeah from what i've seen that's not gonna wake me up in the morning it'll probably make me press the snooze button

[OpieStorm]

TWC has completely loss sight of it's intention as being, well....THE WEATHER CHANNEL.

[Frank2]

I've been saying that when John Hope died, the downward spiral began...

I agree, and glad John isn't around to see this...

I remember when he left us in 1982 for his new life in Atlanta, and though sad to be leaving NOAA, was at the same time excited that his retirement from the Government meant the start of a new career in television - at a cable channel that would be entirely devoted to weather...

We wondered at that time if this new 24-hour weather cable channel would last (by my recollection, one of my supervisors saying that "At least he [John] will have his annunity to fall back on if it doesn't work out") - actually TWC did well, for awhile...

* * *

I try very hard to be happy with Stephanie Abrams, but to be totally honest she usually presents herself as a very hyper loud gong - apparently that is exactly what media is looking for nowdays...

Personally I like Al Roker's style, but had to laugh when he was explaining the weather - at a screen that was at such an acute angle that the viewer could hardly see what he was pointing at...

Hopefully it was just a first day problem - but I wouldn't be surprised if it was supposed to be that way...

It's very sad, and is why those of the John Hope, Charles Kuralt and Walter Cronkite genre of media people are literally a dying group, since to them the gloss or high-technology of it all was never as important as giving the audience accurate information...

Back in their time there was limited access to information, but what was available was given accurately - today often just the opposite is true...

It also makes me feel very outdated, given the secular media's choice for people under 30 (Al being an exception, since he's already a bit of a legend), since their thinking makes someone in my 50-60 age group feel totally useless...

I might be a little slow in getting out of bed tomorrow morning - if that...

Frank

[lurkey]

It also makes me feel very outdated, given the secular media's choice for people under 30 (Al being an exception, since he's already a bit of a legend), since their thinking makes someone in my 50-60 age group feel totally useless...

I might be a little slow in getting out of bed tomorrow morning - if that...

Frank

Well think of it this way, their advertisers will be losing your ad $$ . . . (people in the 50-60 age group stilll have money right? ) personally, I quit watching TWC awhile back ago. . . between the local 24-hr weather channel and the internet (I've had to make time to look at it the morning, though), I found alternatives.. . .

Though I would also say even, my mom has gotten vocally annoyed with the Weather Channel recently and she has stopped watching as much. . .

[HURAKAN]

I only watch TWC during tropical cyclones landfalls.

[breeze]

I used to watch TWC every morning while getting ready for work - it was very informative
about weather issues, and yet pleasant - light music during "Local on the 8's" , people talking
in a normal tone of voice. It was a nice alternative to having to listen to the local news
stations going over all of the murders, break-ins and other miserable news that certainly
made for a depressing start to the day. Now, TWC is like a LOUD party, which is not what MY
brain wants to even attempt to comprehend first thing in the morning. Maybe I'm just getting
older... or, maybe I just expect more "weather" and less silliness from The Weather Channel.

[Brent]

I can't remember the last time I watched TWC really... probably Ike's landfall. They truly have gone downhill.

[Stephanie]

I used to watch TWC every morning while getting ready for work - it was very informative
about weather issues, and yet pleasant - light music during "Local on the 8's" , people talking
in a normal tone of voice. It was a nice alternative to having to listen to the local news
stations going over all of the murders, break-ins and other miserable news that certainly
made for a depressing start to the day. Now, TWC is like a LOUD party, which is not what MY
brain wants to even attempt to comprehend first thing in the morning. Maybe I'm just getting
older... or, maybe I just expect more "weather" and less silliness from The Weather Channel.

I used to watch it in the morning while getting ready. Now I tune in for the local forecast and then switch to CNN.

Totally ridiculous.

[wx247]

I never thought there would be a day when I longed for Marshall Seese and Heather Tesch. Now there is.

[Frank2]

It seems "WUWA" is NBC's first step at having TWC broadcasts originate in New York City instead of Atlanta...

That'll truly be the end of TWC...

Frank

P.S. It is sad that the days of Marshall Seese and others has passed (they released former early-morning OCM Cheryl Lemke from her contract for the very LOUD under 30 crowd, and as others said, it keeps many away from watching first thing in the morning, since that is not what most viewers want to experience first thing in the morning)...

[wx247]

I miss seeing Dave Schwartz, Marny Stanier, Jill Brown, and Sharon Resultan.

[grentz7721]

Those 4 you metion are liad-off from TWC, wx247.

[wx247]

Those 4 you metion are liad-off from TWC, wx247.

Yes, I know. They were a part of the good ole days of TWC, indeed.

[azskyman]

Sad to see the changes continue. Al Roker has followed in the paths of other "weather entertainment" icons. He's a likeable guy for the role. Stephanie is caught up in the rise to notoriety too.

TWC as we knew it is evolving still more.

Like trying to figure out why the good shows that seem to have merit on TV are the ones that get cut, I sometimes wonder if we haven't dummed down our own standards in many other ways too.

Some of those who lost their jobs at TWC held the bar higher than the market apparently thinks it should. Now you get an entertainment network mixing with science...and, well, this is where it is heading.

[Stephanie]

I think that you hit the nail on the head Steve. "Dumbing down" is definately an appropriate phrase to describe what it happening. I do think Al Roker is a good guy, but if I wanted to watch Good Morning America, I'd put that on when it came on.

One of these days, TWC will be no more. I really think that NBC is grasping at straws to draw viewership and ratings and they're totally missing the whole point of the channel to begin with. However, I think that something else will come along to take it's place in time.

[george_r_1961]

TWC will prosper as long as Stephanie Abrams is there

[Frank2]

At least it's good for the people who sell ear plugs...

:)