Made You Look

Nothing makes you look as dumb as when you trust an untrustworthy "alert reader."KETV's John Oakey is not, as reported here Thursday evening, leaving the station. We apologize for our stupidity.

Mal-Tard Word of the Day

gayng: organized group of criminals (example: "Wasn't Robert Ford a member of the Jesse James gayng?")

Botched By More People Than All Other Local Newscasts Combined

Premature Ejacu-Weather meteorologist Jim Flowers really tickled himself during Thursday night's forecast by playing "Auld Lang Syne" under the "extended forecast," which also featured a Baby New Year image hovering over the January 1st column. He just giggled and giggled during the last few sentences of his segment. Tracy Madden, echoing our sentiments exactly, told Jim she'd be glad when the

Getting your family on TV

Best Of Google TV Series

As the holidays get into full swing, I am spending more and more time with my extended family, getting in to all kinds of hi-jinks. Like any self-respecting embarrassing dad, I find love capturing these precious moments by making tons of great little videos and taking even more photos. I no longer need any fancy equipment to do this – most smart-phones now take great photos and videos (I love my Nexus S, if you're interested.)

The best part is that we can all slump on the sofa and re-live the best moments on my TV whenever we want, because it's powered by Google TV. In the not-so-distant past, your family would only get on TV if they were (un)lucky enough to get onto a TV show. More recently, you would have to find the right lead, plug your high-end camera into your TV and navigate though impossible menus and settings.

Now, you don't need any fancy equipment to do this, either – the media player app can play most media files that are plugged into the device (on a thumb-drive, for example) or streamed across the local network from a DLNA device like a PC or smart-phone.

My preference is to do a little editing, then save the best photos and videos to a Picasa Web Album, which I can do straight from my phone. Using the Gallery app on my TV, which syncs to Picasa, I immediately have a slide-show on a 46" photo-frame right in the living room. We've had a lot of fun using Picnik to add silly effects to our photos, which can be done from TV, phone, or anywhere.

I tend to upload the very best videos to YouTube, so that the world can share my family inanity. Watching these in Leanback mode on TV makes it feel like we've almost got our own TV channel – it's even in HD, which is pretty incredible for something recorded on a phone.

The most important point is that you don't need to use the same services I do. Because Google TV has a full web browser, it can access any website you want to use. For example Flickr looks great on the big screen and Vimeo Couch Mode is optimized for viewing on Google TV.

It's not just limited to the family member who happen to be on my sofa at that time. If you have the Logitech TV Cam, you can video chat with friends and family on the big screen (no more huddling around a tiny laptop screen). Next, I'm going to try using Qik to live stream from my phone to a TV - kind of like a live broadcast, right?

Posted by Larry Yang, Google TV Product Team

Hansen Sacked by KPTM

Fox42/KPTM is said to have canned anchor/reporter Dave Hansen today. A source there says he has been barred from the building. No word yet on why, but at KPTM, logic and reason seem to play a very small role in hiring and firing decisions. Or anything else that goes on there, for that matter.

Alert Reader Assists in Stowell Update

Where would this blog be without the assistance of our many alert readers. Less than 24 hours after our last post, we received info allowing us to provide more info about and a picture of new KMTV weekend anchor Kerri Stowell. As mentioned previously, she is originally from the KC area, is a grad of UMKC, and her old KCAU station bio says she enjoys reading. When is the last time WOWT or KETV

Same Song, 42nd Verse: Revolving Door Spinning Again at KPTM

The station that stability forgot, Omaha's Fox42, is going through more turmoil. The latest involves the impending departure of meteorologist Dean Wysocki, who is to be replaced June 27th by (we think) former KETVer Tyson Pearsall. Rather than be relegated to weekends, Wysocki has chosen to leave.His exit is the latest in a string of changes over the past several months, including the departures

Junk

Sometimes, we get the feeling that someone at SuxNews does this stuff just to get us to write about their sorry operation.


This is a screencap of a story awaiting viewers at at the SuxNews Facebook page. 


Our only gripe is that the face above the caption isn't that of J-Pa Knicely, Jimmy Thiedlecki, Brian Mastre, or Justin Joseph.

Exploitation

Two of the features on the inexplicable website set up for former anchor Pat Persaud on the Channel Sux "web channel" remind us that no one in Omaha broadcasting has ever been more willing to pimp out her family to further her career (if you consider her stupid little website an extension of her career, of course)."Pat's Personal Pics" includes lots of snapshots of her kids standing with tennis

Merit

We go through this every so often, but it's been a while.


From time to time, what typically happens is that we make comments about someone's on-air work or goofy affectation and we're deluged with emails saying things like, "But he's a really nice guy," or "She looks great."


Therefore, we'll say it again. The perspective we offer here is that of the viewer, and our comments are based on the

The Fantastic Four...If You Count FUBAR

Here to protect us? Good god. What have we done to deserve this?

Exit

For those of you who've been wondering what became of KETV reporter and weekend morning anchor Marla Rabe, sources tell us that she has not only left the building, she has left the biz. There's something about more money and better hours that attracts people. 


No word on the nature of her new career.


Rabe's departure is a loss for the station, which has done a good job in recent years of

Can't a Guy Just Have the Newsplex to Himself for Once?

Another of our alert readers poses an interesting question: Why is it that when KETV anchor Rob McCartney has the night off, Julie Cornell usually solos, but when Julie is gone, McCartney almost always gets a substitute co-anchor? This week, for example, McCartney was accompanied by stiff-as-a-board Suzanne Deyo on Monday and Tuesday, and by Brandi Petersen on Wednesday and Thursday. What is the

1000 Words

Our new favorite alert reader calls himself Joey and his screen captures of some of SuxNews's most representative moments make us laugh every time we see them.

Check 'em out here on photobucket, and do yourself a favor by subscribing to the RSS feed. Don't forget to read Joey's captions, which make the pics even better.

Happy New Year!

Spray

It only occurred to us this morning how comical it is to hear SuxNews morning boob Jimmy Thiedlecki say "Top Thickth Litht" (that's "Top Six List" for those of you who don't speak or read Thiedleckese).

KETV's Other Disaster: Laura Liggett

There are times when we wonder if KETV hasn't outsourced its hiring to WOWT. The well-documented joke that is Farah "Fubar" Fazal is Exhibit A. Exhibit B is Laura Liggett.Liggett is nearly as awful as Fubar, only considerably easier to watch and with a more pleasant voice, which is great, as long as you don't want any information. Near the end of the 5 p.m. newscast on Thursday, anchors Rob