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This is what I’m thinking:
* One would have thought that Channel 4 would have made its decision by now on who is going to be the permanent replacement for Lisa Flynn as anchor of its 5:30 p.m. news and the 10 p.m. news on sister station WNLO-TV.
Lia Lando, who is married with young children and lives in Rochester, has filled the job since Flynn left two months ago. The ratings for July were solid, which also suggested that Lando is the front-runner for the job if she wants it.
According to sources, she wants it and also is popular within the newsroom.
So you have to wonder what the holdup is in signing Lando and putting her in the intros before the newscast begins.
A couple of recent developments make you wonder if Lando is a sure thing to be the long-term plan.
Emily Smith, a Buffalo native who was a Channel 4 producer early in her career and used to work at WBEN-AM, recently left her job as an anchor for CBS’ Up to the Minute in New York City. That should end the speculation that she wouldn’t leave Manhattan for a job here. According to sources, she is very interested in working in her hometown and would certainly be interested in the Channel 4 job.
Lando, meanwhile, would also seem to be an ideal candidate for an open anchor job at WHEC-TV, the NBC affiliate in Rochester. After all, that’s where she lives. It would be a much easier commute for her if she didn’t want to move her family down the Thruway. Lando mentioned on a Wednesday newscast during some happy talk that she has a six-year-old.
Of course, Channel 4 has a third in-house candidate in Melissa Holmes. However, she would seem to be too valuable in her present position as morning anchor of “Wake Up” when it moves at 7 a.m. to WNLO-TV.
Channel 4 is notoriously slow to fill openings – it still hasn’t hired a sports reporter to replace Robin Adams. But a decision has to be made shortly.
Lando impressed initially and her ratings are strong but she isn’t exactly the most energetic anchor in town and she doesn’t shine in happy talk. However, she fits very nicely the profile of a Channel 4 anchor.
Smith also would be a feel-good homecoming story and would likely give Channel 4 something it loves in its anchors and reporter – stability.
At this point, it would be a surprise if Lando doesn’t get the job after a two-month tryout. But if there is one sure thing in broadcasting these days it is there are no sure things.
* After the murder indictment of Main Street shooting suspect Riccardo M. McCray Wednesday, Channel 4 took the camouflage off of the footage of him it shot when he surrendered at the station several days earlier. The Buffalo News, Channel 7 and other media outlets also allowed Western New Yorkers to see the face of the man accused of one of the more heinous crimes in recent history.
The media was extremely co-operative with law enforcement authorities in declining to show McCray’s face before the indictment. Once he was indicted, there was no reason to keep his face hidden from the public.
A case also could have been made that the media should have shown McCray’s face even when the police asked photographs not be shown before it had time to put him in lineups and get him indicted. After all, he was a wanted man accused of a violent act and was believed to be at large in the community.
As a group, the media decided that accepting the police request to keep his face hidden was the right way to go rather than showing it and possibly jeopardizing the case against him.
According to sources, Channel 4 didn’t run the footage showing McCray’s face without first feeling out law enforcement officials, who didn’t seem to have a problem with it. One imagines the other outlets that carried it may have also asked if running the picture would disturb law enforcement officials.
* Bristol Palin, who will be in the next edition of “Dancing with the Stars,” reportedly has said she plans to avoid wearing skimpy outfits that seem to be a requirement for young female contestants. So put Bristol down as either the first or second female to be eliminated this fall.
* I’ll give On Demand viewers a few more days to catch Tuesday’s strong season finale of “Rescue Me” on FX before addressing the final scene. Let’s just say, the game-changing scene was a shock and made one wonder if it was real or just one of those creative moments in the show that was the product of Tommy Gavin’s (Denis Leary,see above) vivid imagination.
Alan Pergament was the television critic for The Buffalo News for 28 years. He currently is an adjunct professor at Buffalo State College and Medaille College, teaching courses in communications. He also writes a monthly column on the media for Buffalo Spree magazine.
Perhaps Smith is simply tired of a going nowhere overnight job and wants to trade-in on her age and drop-dead gorgeous looks for a cable news babe job. Certainly seems more likely from a career and financial POV.
Have you heard anything about the absence of Mary Friona from Channel 2?