Techmaginary

It may be cold outside, but in Omaha's TV newsrooms, idiotic gimmicks are in full bloom.

Exhibit A: KETV swung into action on Monday evening with Brandi Petersen breathlessly introducing a "7 Mobile Live" report from Lincoln, which ended up being no more than a reporter on a cell phone in a car.

Exhibit B: SuxNews's 5 p.m. Tuesday "I On the Metro" found charisma-challenged reporter Gary Smollen

I don't know if you heard me counting. I did over a thousand.

First, several alert readers have corrected our identification of KHGI as a Grand Island station. Depending on whom you believe, KHGI (a.k.a. "NTV") is in Kearney or Axtell. Whatever. It's out there in the middle of the state somewhere.Second, another alert reader pointed out that new KETV weekend sports anchor Matt Schick's bio seems to suggest that he was the play-by-play announcer for

Happy Holidays: KETV Dethrones WOWT

Ratings from November sweeps are in, and if the ones we've been provided are accurate, it appears viewers may finally have tired of SuxNews.In the morning, KETV scored a 28.6, compared to 26.7 for WOWT and just 3.4 for KMTV.At 5 p.m., the next time period in which all three stations go head-to-head, it was KETV 28, WOWT 22, AND KMTV 6.Same order of finish at 6 p.m., with KETV at 23, a 17.5 for

Crutch

First, there was the "polar plunge."


Then came the "sun glare" craze.


Now, Giggly Jim Flowers and the Ejacuweather Hour-by-Hour Forecast Authority team have settled on their latest jargony obsession: "snow grains."


If he said it once during Wednesday's 6 p.m. Suxcast, he said it 20 times. (In the midst of all this, dimwit anchor J-Pa Knicely couldn't stop talking about cracker crumbs he

The Ant's Eye View

We appreciate creative camera work, especially in a market where there is seemingly so little of it. And no photographers seem to work harder at giving viewers interesting shots than those at KM3. However, too much of a good thing can be, well, too much of a good thing. Several times in the past week, the station has run stories featuring shots from ground-level looking up at the subject. It was

Tipperary

Remember when, at the end of the Mary Tyler Moore Show's run, everybody got fired except bumbling anchor Ted Baxter? Remember when, after owning Channel 3rd for one sweeps period, Urinal Broadcasting dismissed anchors Greg Peterson and Deb Ward, but kept insufferable toolbag Travis Justice?What happened at KPTM on Friday wasn't quite like those scenarios, except for the fact that J.J. Davis

Embarrassment

Goober Congressman Lee Terry, Jr. (not to be confused with bitter-sounding right-wing nut-job Lee Terry, Sr.) must know he's about to lose an election. Why else would he be saturating the airwaves with ads accusing challenger Jim Esch of being everything except a sex-offender? And why else would he be trying to latch onto Barack Obama's coattails?More interesting would be an ad explaining why