Chuck Thomas Dies at 84

Channel 6's first weathercaster, Chuck Thomas, died this past weekend at age 84. Complete WOWT story is here.

F.F. Fs-Up Fire Feature

So KETV sends Farah Fazal out to cover a fire story Wednesday night at 10. And she turns in what, for her, is a better-than-usual effort. But it still sucked. We weren't going to mention it, thinking perhaps that we were being too nit-picky. But then we received an email this morning from an alert reader, citing the very things we considered writing about:We have been watching with amazement the

Mary Nelson Says "Hell, Let's Just Make Up Some News"

We knew it was bullshit as we watched the story. On Monday, Action 3 News at 5 p.m. led with Mary Nelson reporting live from Lincoln that she had located the winner of the $365 million Powerball lottery. A "rags to riches story" if it's true, anchor Greg Peterson told us as he threw it to Nelson.She proceeded to show us an extremely hairy man who held forth about what he wanted to do with the

What the hell is Pat wearing tonight?

It's a study in contrasts, if nothing else. Male anchor wearing a professional looking coat and tie. Female "anchor" dressed like she's attired for the annual dental office picnic. The yellow outfit WOWT anchor Pat Persaud draped herself in Tuesday evening was an, um, interesting choice, to say the least. Scooping from one shoulder down to mid-sternum and then back up to the other shoulder, this

A Little Piece of Heaven

Not only did Channel 3's Wednesday 10 p.m. newscast not feature "For What It's Worth," which died with the change in station ownership, it also contained neither hide nor thinning hair of "Sports Director" Travis Justice. We're sure Journal Broadcast Group is just teasing us, but it's fun to imagine Justice's role being reduced even more.

People We Like

Today's note from yet another alert reader brings news that Z-92's Todd 'n' Tyler were discussing us on their Monday morning show. Our reader also tells us that TnT expressed surprise that we had nice things to say about some of the changes at KMTV because we "hate everything."While we've noted numerous people and things we like on local TV stations, we'll supply a list of some of our current

Sheila Brummer's Desperate Cry for Attention

Perhaps miffed that Farrah Fazal was getting too much recognition, Sheila Brummer delivered another of her "my mouth is moving and sounds are coming out but none of them are English words" moments. Just before signing off "Live at 4" on Friday, she and co-anchor Brian "Fat Hands" Mastre told viewers that authorities had released the name of the pedestrian killed by a train on Wednesday. Brummer

Playing Hide the Helmet

Oops. It appears KETV has been playing a little chroma-key background trick on viewers to inflate the look of its "Newsplex." Evidence? Click here for the screwup that let the cat out of the bag.

"That Squirrel Can Really Water-Ski!"

WOWT's high-talking Ejacuweather meteorologist, Jeff Jensen, came right out and admitted another truism on Wednesday's 4 p.m. Dumb and Brummer newscast: "There's a pig of a storm over Kansas right now. Since there's nothing going on around here, I thought we'd take a look at it." He babbled for another 30 seconds or so about the blip on the radar screen that, he said, was "hugging I-70."So now

We'd Prefer Hell, Thank You

One of the few faces on TV that make us wish we were watching Travis Justice:On Tuesday, residents of Dover, Pennsylvania voted to remove their entire school board after the board had mandated the teaching of "intelligent design" in science classes. On Thursday, televangelist Pat Robertson suggested that they shouldn't expect any more help from God."While you're living in My universe, you'll obey

But Who Gets It?

An alert reader points us to a story at newsblues.com detailing an email sent out last Friday to employees of Emmis Communications by CEO Jeff Smulyan. Emmis is in the process of selling 16 of its TV outlets, including KMTV here in Omaha. In the email, Smulyan apologizes for a "difficult year" and announces a "minimum bonus for each TV employee equal (to) three months' salary."It's not clear if

PatWatch, Day 13: Omaha in Suspense

John Knicely has returned to Channel 6, while the soon-to-be-put-out-to-pasture Pat Persaud remains among the missing, with just 55 days left in her career. The panic in the streets is palpable. People all over town are asking, "Why isn't Pat talking about herpes and canker sores during dinner?"

Jimmy Thiedlecki Name of the Day

Kudos to the Channel Sux producer who must've thought it'd be a hoot to hear Jimmy thay the name of a thity hard hit by the Thaturday earthquake in Chile: kun-THEP-thee-yone. It's Concepcion in regular-talk.

Strikes

The tools adjusting the Channel Sux "Sports Machine" came up with this stunning discovery for Friday's 10 p.m. 'cast: an Omaha Royals baseball player is trying to make it to the big leagues.Sweet Hoover's Ghost, does it really take a staff of four to track down this kind of information? Talk about pissing away money; paying for this kind of work is almost as big a waste as John "J-Pa" Knicely's