The cause of the world's problems is...Spiderman?

Once again I have totally failed to blog/tweet NY1 happenings in any kind of regular way. I had a horrendous work deadline, then promptly came down with strep throat when it was over. I’ve spent this past week catching up from that.

In any case, the news cycle rolls on. Congrats to NY1 for getting a hot scoop this week: They broke the story about Julie Taymor leaving the hugely troubled Spiderman production. I had to laugh at one of the dumb person on the street interviews accompanying Vivian Lee's story. One woman declared that the amount of money that has been spent on the critically panned show is disgraceful and could have been better spent on feeding the homeless and taking care of NYC, etc. I guess she didn’t realize Spiderman is a private, commercial enterprise and not a government-funded art project. I mean, that song-and-dance number about Arachne shopping for shoes sounded truly atrocious, but I’m not blaming the producers for the world’s social ills. They’ve messed up enough things on their own; no need to assign more blame.

What else has happened-oh yes, Chezza wrote a book! Seems Chezza-my inexplicable nickname for NY1 anchor Cheryl Wills-did some digging on her ancestry to find out more about her father, who passed away many years ago; turns out she’s the descendant of Civil War veteran Sandy Wills. The resulting book, “Die Free,” was just published. Congrats to Cheryl for this achievement.

And finally—this is old news by now, but I learned something fascinating during my hours of watching Ny1 the week that I was being a shut-in with strep throat. Pat Kiernan doesn’t drink coffee! Tea either, for that matter. How on earth does he handle the morning shift? I for one would be a basket case. I just developed a WHOLE NEW respect for PK. That is pretty intense.

OK-over and out for now.

Jesus, what a weekend.

It may be a good thing I'm nursing another cold, because between the stabbing spree in Brooklyn and the ensuing subway chaos, it has been a pretty excellent weekend to stay in.

One person who did NOT decide to stay in (yuk yuk yuk) is little Jack MacKenzie Clark, whose proud papa is none other than NY1's Roger Clark. Congrats to Roger and mom!

With that, I'm off to gobble some more Sudafed and return to my inviting couch.

Craig's Lust

Oh, Craig's List. My favorite story of yesterday/today--which Pat noted on "In the Papers" has actually played itself out quite quickly--is the one about upstate Congressman Christopher Lee, who sent a shirtless photo of himself to some gal he met on Craig's List (Lee is very married). Tthe photo makes me think of that disgusting commercial that frequently runs on NY1 (the ad is some supplement for older dudes) showing disturbingly buff 50- and 60-somethings bragging about their ripped bods and hanging out with way younger chicks. It makes me gag pretty much every time.

Also on in the papers-Chritsine Quinn has never been inside a Wal Mart. That actually takes some doing. I wish I could say the same! Maybe she just really, really never leaves NYC.

Elsewhere on NY1 this morning: I am not normally the biggest fan of Neil Rosen--I think he's frequently too soft on mediocre movies--but I enjoyed his scathing review of "Just Go with It," Jennifer Aniston's latest atrocity. He variously described it as "awful," "pathetic," "embarrassing" and "excruciating", practically yelled at Jennifer Aniston to stop doing these movies and concluded that he couldn't wait for it to end. But how do you really feel, Neil?

And finally--yesterday I got a very nice tweet from none other than Jamie Shupak saying she liked the idea of a NY1 and thanking me for the mentions--"the nice ones, anyway." I went back and read what I'd written and realized it was rather mixed and not altogether flattering. Needless to say, I'm slightly embarrassed! I often write without thinking that anyone is ever going to read this, let alone the people I'm writing about, though I do try to keep the tone of this thing light and make it clear that I am generally writing from the perspective of a fan. I don't want to be a serially vicious anonymous blogger. So if I've hurt anyone's feelings, I apologize. That said, I will still poke fun on occasion. Who can resist roasting the likes of Dan Eaton and George Whipple?*

*I'm sure both are very nice people.

Who is Pat's office spouse?

This morning’s “In the Papers” was particularly entertaining; there were several segments I wanted to highlight, but I was putting on my face and not in front of the computer so I’ll just pick a couple from memory.

Pat highlighted an article (I forget which paper) about what to get this Valentine’s Day for your “office spouse.” The article noted that the office spouse is not someone you’re having an affair with but rather someone who acts as a confidant, etc (but again, no sex).

I do not have one—one spouse is enough, thank you—but it got me wondering whom Pat’s might be. An easy guess would be Jamie Shupak, given their flirty a.m. banter, but I suspect there’s more of a mentor/mentee relationship there. Another good guess would be one of the finance hotties, Annika Pergament or Diane King, since they both cover finance and Pat has a certain affinity for that beat given his days as a CNNfn reporter.

But when you really think about it—my money’s on Roger Clark.

Another article Pat highlighted, in the Village Voice, chronicled the common problem of single women in New York and the oft-heard lament that there are not enough marriageable men in New York. The author controversially concludes that the women are the problem, not the men.

I haven’t read the article but, as a gal who didn’t get married until age 35, I certainly sympathize with these women and would probably reject that conclusion. But who knows—it was only after I left London to go back to New York that I found love. (I thought for sure my sarcastic sense of humor would go over like gangbusters with the English gents, but it turns out they don’t like redheads. Information that would have been useful to know BEFORE I moved over there!)

With that-happy Wednesday.

More jobs at NY1

To apply for the job openings below, go to www.timewarnercable.com/careers and fill in the requisition number.


1. NY1 News – Video Journalist - Politics, Requisition # 124961BR

2. NY1 News – Transit Reporter, Requisition # 125594BR

3. NY1 News – Associate Producer - Creative Services , Requisition # 125452BR
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. YNN Albany – Producer, Requisition # 125266BR

2. YNN Albany – Producer, Requisition # 125524BR

3. YNN Buffalo – News Assistant, Requisition # 125050BR

4. YNN Buffalo – Video Journalist / Reporter, Requisition # 125504BR

NY1, YNN now hiring

Looks like NY1 is adding some new positions; its sister station in Albany, YNN, is also going on something of a hiring binge. Go to www.timewarnercable.com/careers to apply:

NY1 News – News Assistant (Bergen) , Requisition # 124068BR

NY1 News – NY1 Noticias Traffic Reporter , Requisition # 123583BR

NY1 News – Writer , Requisition # 124787BR

YNN Rochester – Senior Assignment Editor, Requisition # 124813BR

YNN Rochester – Producer, Requisition # 124806BR

YNN Albany – Anchor, Requisition # 124832BR

YNN Buffalo – Senior Producer, Requisition # 123717BR

YNN Buffalo – Video Journalist / Reporter, Requisition # 123721BR

YNN Albany – Anchor / Video Journalist, Requisition # 124468BR

Hudson Valley (Middletown) – News Assistant, Requisition # 123723BR

YNN Buffalo – Video Journalist / Reporter, Requisition # 124659BR

YNN Syracuse – Photographer / Truck Operator, Requisition # 124663BR

YNN Buffalo – News Assistant, Requisition # 124693BR

YNN Albany – Capital Tonight Reporter, Requisition # 124681BR

YNN Buffalo – Producer, Requisition # 124810BR

Happy New Year!

NY1 yearend wrapup

As the Simpsons’ Dr. Nick says, hello everybody! I’m back from my holiday breather. I was out of town for the entire shitstorm-I mean snowstorm-so missed all the coverage. But I can’t say I’m sorry I missed the actual storm.

Anyway, let me start my first post of the new year by begging you to go over and read Patspapers.com, in the unlikely event that the three of you who read this don’t already. They are struggling and they need more traffic! Read more about Pat’s plea here:

http://www.patspapers.com/blog/item/call_to_action_tuesday_pats_papers_sos/

Now that that’s out of the way, I thought it might be fun to do a year-end wrapup—call it the Year in New York One. This will be half-assed, since I got a crazy new job early last year that does not leave me much time for TV watching anymore, but here’s what I’ve managed to catch.

The biggest change is that they seem to have gotten a raft of new reporters.

Here are my reviews of these folk:

Jamie Shupak—I honestly don’t know what to think about her. She looks like a precocious high school student who got a really, really good internship (though she’s had a couple of other TV traffic reporting jobs, so she’s not a newbie). And I am getting a little tired of her endless cheerleading for the weekend (“we made it to Fridayyyyyy!”). That said, I like her better than Debbie Duhane (“Alternate side parking rules, THEY are in effect…”) and the reports are generally better, in large part because they are making much better use of graphics. And I like her focus on mass transit; I’ve actually changed travel plans to work on occasion because of her reports. But she’s also a liiiiittle to flirty with Pat for my taste (though who can blame the gal?).

Inside City Hall—I haven’t seen the show in forever, but obviously, there were a lot of huge changes in the wake of the Dominic Carter saga. I have to hand it to Michael Scotto, who did a great job filling in during what was a crazy time to be replacing a long-time anchor.

Rocco Vertuccio—Is he new? I don’t know, but I don’t remember seeing him before this year. Anyway, I don’t really have an opinion on him, other than to suggest that his name could not be more Italian. Maybe he should be the Carroll Gardens reporter.

Lindsay Christ—She technically joined in 2009, but I just noticed her this year. Whoops. Anyway, it seems like she has the makings of a pretty good reporter, and she’s got great credentials (she used to teach before she became a reporter). But…is it just me or does her delivery seem a little, well, weird? At times she sounds like a lobotomy patient reading off a cue card. Maybe with a little practice she’ll relax and get a bit more natural. She could take a page out of Roger Clark’s playbook.

That chick from Chow.com—I like these stories but I find the gal who delivers them to be really annoying. I just wish she’d be a little more formal and not say stuff like “awesome”, etc. I mean, she’s not a full-time broadcast correspondent but the tone of her segments is so out of sync with the rest of the NY Living segments that it’s jarring. But maybe I’m just jealous because I want her job!

Speaking of education, the Cathie Black story seems to have been one of the bigger stories of the year, but my FAVORITE moment in all of NY1’s blizzard of coverage came from Roger’s report on her first day on the job, when she toured all the schools. At her first stop, in Brooklyn, they filmed a PAINFUL segment of her attempting to high-five a student, who totally left her hanging.

Aaaaaand that’s all the brilliant analysis and insight I can offer for now. More inanities to come. Happy Fridayyyyyyyyy!