Remember Emily Smith?
At times, I feel like the biographer of the Western New Yorker who left CBS News several months ago in hopes of landing a job in her hometown.
Yes, Mayor Michael Bloomberg some people would rather live in WNY than NYC.
A news veteran with a network resume, the 32-year-old Smith looked like the ideal candidate months ago to replace Lia Lando as anchor of the 5:30 p.m. and 10 p.m. news on Channel 4 and its sister station, WNLO-TV.
Lando, you may remember, was the temporary replacement for Lisa Flynn in those roles after Flynn retired. Lando turned down an offer to become the permanent replacement for Flynn after getting a better offer from a Rochester station.
According to sources, Channel 4 never called Smith. Eventually, Channel 4 decided to replace Lando with … Joe Arena, Don Postles, Jacquie Walker or anyone else on the payroll rather than spend the money to hire a new anchor.
Smith did talk with officials at Channel 2, which didn’t have a weekday anchoring opening for her.
Then she briefly tried being the “content jockey” for the new Rupert Murdoch-Steve Jobs vehicle, The Daily, before deciding it wasn’t for her after a month.
Now she’s just about given up the idea that you can go home again in local TV news.
Smith sent me a text this week that said she has accepted a job as a reporter and anchor fill-in at WCBS-TV in New York City.
In other words, she is good enough to work for a network owned-and-operated station but couldn’t get a job she wanted in her hometown.
She added the newscasts are streamed at cbs2NY.com if anyone from back home wants to see her.
In hindsight, Smith probably didn’t have much of a chance of getting a job in Buffalo now that the stations here are saving money by hiring reporters straight out of college and deciding against filling jobs.
* I didn’t watch a minute of it, but ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars” has quietly become a bigger reality show hit here than “American Idol.” Monday night’s opener had an impressive 18.6 rating, which is well above “Idol” numbers this year. Of course, “Idol” gets better numbers with young people that advertisers covet. “DWTS” is a hit with older viewers who remember when Ralph Macchio was “The Karate Kid” and Kirstie Alley (see above) was the love interest on “Cheers.”
* Attention Syracuse fans: According to the student newspaper The Daily Orange, the NCAA has admitted that a big backcourt violation called against Syracuse guard Scoop Jardine in the final minute of Sunday’s tournament game against Marquette with the score tied was an officiating mistake. Marquette hit the game-winning three-pointer on the subsequent possession. You might have thought the game announcers on the truTV telecast would have raised the issue or understood the rule, but they never addressed it.
pergament@msn.com
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.
To answer your question, which you always seem to ask whenever you write about this woman: No! NOBODY remembers Emily Smith!! And nobody remembers her because she wasn’t on the air (locally) here!!!
Granted, she had a cup of coffee at the network level on a show which was carried locally, but for goodness sakes it was reading the news overnight on a show that NOBODY WAS WATCHING!
God,…give it up already!
Hmm. Thanks. But my hits go up every time I write about her. I guess you don’t speak for everybody.