Director's Cut Blog with Frank Macek

By Frank Macek Time for another edition of "Notes from the Newsroom" as your blogger shares some of thoughts on our little corner of local television. --- Congratulations to several WKYC staffers who take top honors in Cleveland Magazine's annual "Best of Cleveland" poll. This year's winners include Romona Robinson for best female anchor, Mark Nolan for best male anchor and Jim Donovan for best sports anchor in Cleveland. Also, SportsTime Ohio's Design Director Greg Goyla and his 80's cover band the "Spazmatics" were recognized for rocking 80's music like no other local group. They have even performed for former President George W. Bush. The "Best of Cleveland" party will be held on Friday, October 16th at 7 p.m. at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. WKYC.COM has launched a new project called "Tributes" that uses the power of wkyc.com to spread the word about the passing of our local residents through ...

Special to the Director's Cut By LYNN ELBER, AP Television Writer LOS ANGELES -- Changes are afoot at "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" involving original cast member Vincent D'Onofrio and newcomer Jeff Goldblum. According to two people close to the production, D'Onofrio is poised to leave as a series regular early in the ninth season on USA Network next spring. The people asked that their names not be used because they were not authorized to speak publicly about casting. Goldblum, who joined the series last season, may remain as lead detective and could be joined by Saffron Burrows, replacing Julianne Nicholson. Deals with Goldblum and Burrows have yet to be signed, one person said. USA Network and series producer Wolf Films declined comment. "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" has seen cast turnover before: Chris Noth co-starred for three seasons. Source: The Associated Press

Special to the Director's Cut Blog By LYNN ELBER, AP Television Writer LOS ANGELES -- NBC says Conan O'Brien hit his head during a stunt for the "Tonight Show" and the production was halted. The accident occurred Friday. O'Brien was being examined at a hospital, according to a person close to the production. The person, who lacked authorization to discuss details of the matter, spoke on condition of anonymity. Through NBC, O'Brien issued a statement to demonstrate that he was able to joke about the incident. O'Brien said that he recalled "enjoying the play with Mrs. Lincoln," and the next thing he was aware of was being served cookies and juice. A repeat of "Tonight" was shown Friday, NBC said. Source: The Associated Press --- Conan shares his experience Monday on the "Tonight Show"

By Frank Macek Time for another edition of "Notes from the Newsroom" as your blogger shares some of thoughts on our little corner of local television. --- No news is good news, so they say in this business. Fall continues where summer left off at the WKYC Digital Broadcast Center - not much new - which is why we've been a little scarce in doing a regular edition of "Notes from the Newsroom". The biggest thing going on right now is Fall Premiere Week(s). So far, we've seen mixed results for NBC with their schedule. The Jay Leno Show has fallen from its huge premiere on Monday, September 14th, but is still helping NBC and WKYC in the 10 pm hour. The always important final quarter hour of Jay's show (10:45 - 10:59 PM) has been a good lead-in for Channel 3 News at 11 PM in the demographics we need for our advertisers. It's funny how the tabloid news programs have been calling for the show to be cancelled. While I personally don't believe w...

Kids are back in school. Football's returned. Leaves are beginning to change. And in another sure sign of fall, NBC's studio 8H is busy once again for this week's season premiere of "Saturday Night Live". "I've got the super butterflies and I'm sick to my stomach all the time," said the show's head writer, Seth Myers. "The nightmares. Yeah, the nightmares are back," chimed in co-star Andy Samberg. But the SNL gang's coming off a dream season. A Presidential campaign that sent buzz off the charts and brought in the show's biggest audience in more than a decade. "We had so much fun last season, the hardest part, to be honest, was last season ending. We had all that momentum," Myers said. Now, the challenge is to top themselves. "It's a tall order, as orders go," Myers said. "Not Manute Bol tall, but Michael Jordan," added Samberg. "It's Jordan tall. Yea,"...

Editor's Note: The Director's Cut Blog through WKYC and Gannett's new Content One, now has access to all the resources of both our newspaper and broadcast divisions. As a result, our blog will be able to bring you many more timely and interesting feature articles about new technology has it relates to television and broadcasting in addition to our regular articles about what's happening at WKYC. ----- Special to the Director's Cut Blog By Kim Komando With football season here, maybe you're eyeing your old televisions and considering new sets. Before you buy, learn about the latest developments in television technology. Your choices aren't limited to LCD and plasma. A slew of new technologies are hitting the market: LED TVs Sony, Sharp, Samsung, LG and Toshiba all make LED TVs. These are really LCD sets. However, they use light-emitting diodes for backlights. Other LCDs use cold cathode fluorescent lamps. LED backlights provide clearer, crisper i...

A reporter in Georgia quickly became a part of the story while covering flooding in the south. Tom Regan was in a neighborhood devastated by raging flood waters when the story took an unexpected turn. It reminds us of the dangers associated with covering the news for our reporters and photographers where a seemingly routine event takes an unexpected twist. Take a look at the video below:

Special to the Director's Cut By Matt Kelley , USA TODAY WASHINGTON -- The FBI destroyed its files on former CBS News anchorman Walter Cronkite two years ago under a policy that has been criticized by researchers for allowing potentially valuable records to be wiped out. A search of the agency's main index of the subjects of FBI investigations found some records tied to Cronkite's name were destroyed in October 2007, the FBI said in response to a Freedom of Information Act request by USA TODAY. Cronkite's death in July at age 92 made any FBI files about him available for release under the federal law. The FBI should have preserved records about Cronkite, who anchored CBS' newscasts from 1962 to 1981, said Scott Hodes, a former top lawyer in the FBI's records office. All FBI records on such a prominent person should have been saved under the FBI's policies, Hodes said. "You're not supposed to destroy records that are historically valuable,...

Here are some new weather promos currently airing on WKYC in high definition. If you haven't done so already, become a Friend of Channel 3 Weather on Facebook: CLICK HERE Promo #1: Betsy and Hollie Promo #2: WKYC Weather On-Line

It was another huge night for NBC Universal at the 61st Annual Primetime Emmy Awards as the NBC network again won 16 combined Emmys, including five for "30 Rock," which was the most-honored series on any broadcast or cable network at this year's awards. "30 Rock" also claimed its third, back-to-back win as Outstanding Comedy Series giving NBC a win in that category for the past four years. NBC also tied HBO for the most wins of the evening with five. The awards, presented by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences at the annual Emmyfest at the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles, also proclaimed Tina Fey as the latest Emmy juggernaut to be recognized as she added two more Emmys to her trophy case for executive-producing "30 Rock" and for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Variety/Music/Comedy Series for her portrayal of then-Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin on NBC's "Saturday Night Live." She won three Emmys last year for writing, producing and perfo...

Last night's Giants-Cowboys game on NBC Sports had the best overnight rating ever for a "Sunday Night Football" game. The Giants 33-31 victory, in the unveiling of the new $1.2 billion Cowboys Stadium, earned a 16.5 overnight rating and 27 share (8:30-11:45 p.m. ET), the best overnight rating for a primetime NFL game in 11 years. CRUSHED EMMYS: For the third straight year, "Sunday Night Football" delivered a convincing victory while competing head-to-head with "television's biggest night," the Emmy Awards. While the Emmys were up versus a year ago, SNF still out-rated the Awards show on CBS by 65 percent (16.5 vs. 10.0). Head-to-head from 8:30-11 p.m., "Sunday Night Football" out-rated the Emmy Awards by a 71-percent margin (16.6/26 vs. 9.7/15). NBC averaged a 12.8/21 from 7-11 p.m. in metered-market households. It's NBC's highest Sunday average, excluding the Super Bowl and Olympics, since January 25, 2004 and the highest Su...

Editor's Note: It happens to even the best at some point in their careers. Viewer discretion is advised! ------- NEW YORK -- A veteran New York City news anchor flubs a line and an obscene catch phrase goes viral on the Internet. Ernie Anastos of Fox affiliate WNYW was bantering with the weatherman Wednesday night when he cheerfully dropped an F-bomb on the air. What he likely intended to say was, "Keep plucking that chicken." Anastos didn't appear to recognize the error, though co-anchor Dari Alexander's eyes bugged out after he said it. Videos of the mistake circulated widely online Thursday, as the phrase took on a life of its own. Fox isn't laughing, though. The vice president and general manager of WNYW, Lew Leone, says he's "disappointed" in Anastos' comment and the anchor will apologize on the air Thursday evening. Roll that beautiful bean footage: Source: The Associated Press

NEW YORK -- Critics may not have loved Jay Leno's prime-time debut, but 17.7 million viewers tuned in to check him out. Nielsen Media Research says that's the biggest audience for a prime-time television show since the "American Idol" finale in May. Not only was Leno's debut heavily publicized, but he piggybacked on one of Monday's biggest stories. Leno had scheduled Kanye West, who was pressed to explain why he interrupted Taylor Swift the night before on the MTV Video Music Awards. That's a big boost for NBC, but the challenge will be to hold viewers. Critics were harsh, with Robert Bianco of USA Today slamming it as a "cut-rate, snooze-inducing, rehashed bore." On WKYC, the show did a 16 HH rating, 24 share according to the Nielsen overnight numbers. Source: The Associated Press, Nielsen

By Frank Macek Finally, the time has come. Jay's new show has the potential to re-define the last hour of prime time and has far ranging implications - if successful - for all the big 3 networks. The days of expensive dramas at 10 p.m. may be nearing an end. Your blogger would like to share some of my own thoughts about the premiere of the "Jay Leno Show" that debuted Monday Night on Channel 3 at 10 p.m. that we wrote as the show aired live tonight: Instantly, I felt the old "Tonight Show with Jay Leno" had just moved to 10 p.m. The open didn't "wow" me, but the monologue was fresh and faster paced. The monologue was always among Jay's strongest features of the old "Tonight Show" - so it only makes sense to take advantage of his brand of unique comedy, the cute skits and the always entertaining Kevin Eubanks with the new "Primetime Band." The "Cheaters" sketch worked well in the monologue, which was among th...

Congratulations to a number of our WKYC and SportsTime Ohio colleauges who won awards at the 40th Annual Emmy Awards of the Lower Great Lakes Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. The ceremony was held Saturday night at the Intercontinental Hotel and included several WKYC presenters such as Del Donahoo, "Good Company Today" co-host Fred Griffith and WKYC news consultant Virgil Dominic. Also, a special recognition was given to WKYC editor John Marinko who retired last year. He was given a Gold Circle Award for more than 50 years in local broadcasting. Here are a list of our winners this year: Newscast-Morning/Daytime: "Channel 3 News Today" - WKYC News Director Rita Andolsen Investigative Report - Single Story: "Sugarcreek Slaughter" - WKYC Investigator Tom Meyer Continuing Coverage: "Strip Search" - WKYC Investigator Tom Meyer, Editor Brandi Paulson and Videographer Tom Genovese Sports-News Single Story...

Saturday Night Live Shuffles Actors "Saturday Night Live" has cut two and added two for the season premiere on September 26th. Numerous media outlets are reporting Michaela Watkins and Casey Wilson are out and comedians Jenny Slate and Nasim Pedrad have joined the show. Watkins joined the program last fall as a featured cast member. Wilson joined "SNL" in 2008 after the Hollywood writers strike. Former WKYC General Manager Bill Scaffide Heading South To Retire? The Virginian Pilot newspaper reports former WKYC General Manager, most recently GM at WTVZ in Norfolk, is heading to Florida - not for another job, but to apparently enter semi-retirement. Scaffide left the station last week as the moving trucks planned to head for West Palm Beach. Bill was proud of making that station profitable during his 3 year tenure. We have lots of memories of Bill doing the same thing at WKYC and Multimedia when deep staff cuts were made after the station was acquired from NBC. ...

By Frank Macek Time for another edition of "Notes from the Newsroom" as your blogger shares some of thoughts on our little corner of local television. --- It's hard to believe it is September already and fall is just a few short weeks away. We'll be kicking off a new fall schedule in just 12 days with the new "Jay Leno Show." NBC affiliates are a little apprehensive - to say the least - about NBC's new approach to Prime Time. For his part, Jay is ready to go and excited about being part of their new revolution. Time & the ratings will tell. Many of you have weighed in on our new set tweaks, designed to add a little more color and depth to our background. Some of you like it, some of you don't. The single biggest complaint is the fact we didn't do live monitors for the right side of background. Given the high cost of buying many monitors and the current economic climiate, we decided to go with the "fake" monitor wall for now o...