Secrets of New York

The show has an interesting premise but the host just doesn't fit. Yes, she is quite beautiful but the spans to and from her while giving some excerpt of information doesn't seem plausible coming from her? She has an an overly dramatic tone which makes me feel like "oh please".

You need a native NY'er that carrier the personality and style of New York.

Just my simple opinion on as a first time viewer.

Kelly is a big star. she was supposed to host Top Chef when Padme's contact was up w/ Bravo after season 2...

i work at a nightclub in NY called the PINK ELEPHANT. Well this girl--KELLY CHOI--walked in and was soooo nice--sooo sweet and down to earth--i couldn't believe it was really her ! And when she walked in thru the corrider--it was like watching a movie being filmed right in front of me.( no matrix jacket ) She is stunning in person and just so personable you forget for a while your staring at a beautiful woman. but not for long. I can't imagine this girl staying " local" for long. And if you ever see her eating show it's great TV! Its so refreshing to watch a girl enjoy--really enjoy eating you can't rip off your wedding ring fast enough and throw it down the sink as her smile & sense of humor woo u! BIG FAN! this girl is going places--and we knew her when--on local tv in nyc. 1 in a million girl.

According to the IMDb website, Kelly was in born Seoul, Korea in Feb. 1976 making her 31 years old. She is 5'10"! It's hard to tell how tall she is since she doesn't stand next to anyone. I watch the show on a PBS station in LA.

I think Kelly's Korean, her face is too fine for Chinese or Japanese. And I'm glad someone else noticed to continuous repeating shows. Looks like the talent pool ran dry, though they started airing some new mini-shows.

Does anyone know if NYC TV's shows are really getting cancelled? Or is this just speculation?

On the other hand, I have noticed that except for the runway shows, everything else is all reruns.

nyc tv management are despicable bottom feeders. they are egregious egomaniacs and have no respect for their staff. i'm surpised the whole thing is still pretending to function.

Has anyone noticed the way Kelly Choi will walk from one spot to the next during an episode? Watch each step, it's almost as if she's sending a coded message in Morse Code!

Has anyone noticed the way Kelly Choi will walk from one spot to the next during an episode? Watch each step, it's almost as if she's sending a coded message in Morse Code!

Has anyone noticed the way Kelly Choi will walk from one spot to the next during an episode? Watch each step, it's almost as if she's sending a coded message in Morse Code!

NYCTV is one of 6 stations on my favorites button!

NYCTV is one of 6 stations on my favorites button!

"NYC Media Group would never have become the big big thing that it is today without a little bit of ego on the part of its Management."

Become what? NYCTV has become the lowest rated station in our region and the laughing stock of public broadcasting.

I don't detect any plastic surgery. I think Kelly looks like millions of other asian chicks

Kelly looks so plastic and hard to look at for a long period of time. Plastic surgery much? Also, her sing song voice is very annoying. everything sounds like a question. the shows is interesting but it can use another host.

Kelly Choi definitely has a Toyota compact booty

I would say toyota lexus or nissan headlights but I don't think she's japanese and china don't make cars so i say hyundai or kia. But korean cars sound cheap.........hmm

plumbers crack and Hyundai headlights

plumbers crackand Hyundai headlights

Christina (comment #72) sounds like an angry feminist. I think Kelly Choi's outfits need to be more revealing. Kelly should show more nippleage and cleavage. I'd like to see her show some plummers crack.

huh

Kela sucks. I dont know what you all are talking about. she's hard to watch.

Kelly Choi is great at what she does. She AND Kela Walker deserve their own shows. They are both beautiful, sophisticated women who I can see becoming really famous. Now why doesn't Kela have her own show??!

yeah the press play deal looks kind of like Current TV... should be interesting to see how that develops. one thing is for sure... Gotham certainly has an abundance of local filmake talent!

Has anyone seen the promos they are playing for this new show Press Play? Anyone know about that. looks cool

I think channel 25 is terrific! Its savvy and fresh. The shows are really well made

Candice

i recently saw the jails episode of SECRETS. the cinemaphotagraphy was wonderful... I had never seen N. Brother Isle in video before...wow!

i just discovered secrets of ny and its a fascinating show... well written. great photography

I think it's obvious Moose is someone in administration. Has anyone checked out the other NYC TV related pages on Gothamist? I sent the links of the three pages to Gale Brewer, as I know she'll just love the info on these three pages about NYC TV, which was recently subjected to her grilling. If you don't know who she is, she's a city council member for NYC, who was questioning NYC TV and the fact that they were straying from appealing to all New Yorkers and only going for young adults. You can send her your emails about how you feel about NYC TV to her public email address at brewer@council.nyc.ny.us - remember, it's your tax dollars paying for NYC TV! You should also contact Paul Cosgrave at DoITT, NYC TV's parental agency at http://www.nyc.gov/html/mail/html/maildoitt.html

Hey "walk the walk," you've totally got a point there! Have you checked out the crew lists on IMDb for the guys who work the network's shows? a good portion of them have been working for quite some time outside of NYC TV. Just browsing a few names I saw a few people working on indie projects to full films like the Ring and Spider-Man, various hip-hop/R&B shows and movies and more! That's the thing about corporate America if staff is underpaid as they are, as these big-wigs wouldn't be where they are without the workers. You can't have the top of the pyramid without the base! The least you can do is pay people what they deserve! Why is a more talented producer being paid $40,000 less than a barely-talented one I don't know. Is it because one's white and blond and the other one isn't? Isn't theat black chick, Kela, also a producer? Or am I thinking of Marilyn?

Wierson's just wrapping up shows so that they can fade from memory. Everyone know he wants to sell the shows elsewhere, but he legally can't, as the shows all belong to the city. Just look at how the shows are listed nowadays. They're no longer listed really as NYC TV, nowadays they're listed as NYC original productions and that Skyscraper company they set up - http://nyc.gov/html/nycmg/html/skyscraper/skyscraper.html

kelly choi is the hottest chick i have ever seen on TV

NYCTV execs need to wisen up and pay the staff the salaries they deserve. Its crazy to think that only a few top people should be getting six figure salaries...

The talent is the secret of the success of NYC TV. The network has among the best creative staff in all of NYC. Now - will management be able to retain them?

The problem with "team Wierson" is that they are always getting stiffed by career politicos across the street who are are more concerned with power and control than doing the right thing. And they pillage NYC-TV staff because they have such a deep pool of talent.

To make matters worse, NYC-TV is sorely understaffed. Although business is booming, it seems that the some folks are concerned that NYC-TV will grow so powerful they will lose control over it. One area in which this is especially prevelent is in Mac support. NYC-TV has been promising to hire additional Mac techs for months yet to this has failed to come through. Isn't growth usually a good thing?

then u dont know much about media companies. they are often fueled by their CEO's huge egos... Look at the You Tube guys or the Google team...I think Wierson fashions himself as the public face of the network - NYCTV's institutional ambassador to the public, so to speak. And I think that is smart business and smart politics. I think that what both the cable stations and WNYE have lacked in past years is strong leadership that can get things done. The criticim of Wierson and his top deputies is that they are too strong at times. Heavy-handed if you will. That being said, NYC Media Group would never have become the big big thing that it is today without a litle bit of ego on the part of its Management. Now if they can just get us the bodies we need to run this place. We can't run a ferrari on empty forevr. And maybe some raises.

***they have really resisted what I am sure would ordinarily be a huge temptation to use it as a means of propaganda.***

NYC TV doesn't do that luckily, although I wonder how many times Wierson has popped up in those commercials talking about shows and awards. Wasn't he featured in a 9.99 episode? I've never seen a head of a company place himself in the spotlight as much as Wierson.

u mean kela is a goddess! I agree! but she ain't on any of the secrets shows I have seen.

kea is a goddess...

kela is kela walker. she is an nyctv reporter

kela is a freelance reporter nyctv brings on for odd jobs. recently she has begun appearing on the 360 show as a sidekick to the blond girl who hosts it... like a beat reporter

is there anything to those barcodes on the show?

who is Kela that everyone keeps blogging about. what show is she on?

SECRETS is breaking new ground as far as history shows go. the History channel would be wise to pay attention

secrets is a franchise, i learned that the History Channel has made an offer to bust out the series to London, Rome, etc but Wierson balked. Word is that City Hall put the kabosh on it.

i think ralph mcdaniels should host SECRETS

i think the girl who hosts NY 360 (the blonde) should switch places with Kelly and host Secrets. the blonde seems dead already and that personality would much better fit the donre of the secrets show. u can see Kelly's true personality on Eat Out - the other show she hosts. there her true personality shines.

secrets of ny is a really great show. i wish there were more. i cant believe its getting cancelled!

a friend emailed me this blog - i am a total NYC history buff, and I have seen Secrets of New York several times. It really does a wonderful job of bringing the city's history to life. I could do without some of the gimmicks and all the fast editing but I get it - thats the way the MTV generation consumes television - not the way us old-timers (mid 40s) need to get our fix. Anyway, I like the show. there seem to be a wholse slew of episodes I'd like to see but havent been on sionce I started recording it with my DVR.

I think Kelly Choi is the sexy girl on local TV

The #1 problem with NYCTV is that government isnt supposed to be running TV stations period. I have to hand it to the managers that they have really resisted what I am sure would ordinarily be a huge temptation to use it as a means of propaganda. That certainly hasn't been the case as far as WNYE is concerned. If anything, the managers seem to stress the idea of independence. But salaries seem to be locked into subpar industry rates and there seems to be little any of them can do about it. That being said, I am somewhat perplexed that some of our coworkers (or probably one or two) have decide to turn this blog into a complaint forum. I have gripes with management from time to time and always press my case before them in person or through my supervisor. Or via the union. It is nothing but juvenile to anonomysly make accusations as I am seeing in this web log. True or not. Frankly it is embarassing. While not everyone gets all the credit they deserve, this is a complicated organization and frankly, as a long time WNYE vet, I never would have guessed that one day shows we produced would be on WNBC or that we would be the center of attention of the whole city like we were (in BK) last year during the Voter Guide tapings.

There is a lot of backtalk and underhandedness between the administration staff of NYC Media Group from what I've seen the short time I've been here. Everyone is just looking to get their name in the spotlight before they leave. They know their time in office is limited by Bloomberg's term in office, they're just looking to build their resumes before their time is up. They may act friendly in front of each other, but when alone it is much different in the administration offices. Luckily I'll be leaving soon, I'd hate for me to leave having absorbed some of the egos I've seen displayed. However not all of NYC Media is bad, the producers, the editors and most of the talent seems to be good- hearted people. The major butt of some jokes though seem to be directed at their two locations in Brooklyn and Bronx though. I've heard the administration refer to the Bronx staff as being mentally retarded or slow, while the Brooklyn staff is referred to as the Den of Horrors and Cave of Morlocks. I've yet to meet either sets of staff, and I doubt I will, but those jokes kind of show the amount of professionalism I have to endure at times with my time at NYC Media Group.

I'd like to know more of the complaints behind NYC Media Group, as well as the opinions of the viewers.

As far as Weirson is concerned, he's just using NYCTV to suit his own personal ambition. He's too smart for his own good and I'm sure he'll be gone soon enough - running some big media outfit in LA. but then what? Who runs the place? Tollin is a jerk and no one wants to see Unger in control. Trevor Scotland seems to deserve the reigns but he'll certainly get passed over. The Bridge was genious.

the thing about Wierson is that he totally dominates all of NYCTV for better and for worse. Even those of us in the trenches who think he is a slave-driver realize that this place was a heap of crap til he got there. But he's a big bully and he is way too cocky and at times he's demeaning. Even though, he can also be friendly and I see him somewhat coach-like with other people. He is much more chill now cuase he has a kid. His wife by the way is this hot Brazilian chick who is way way out of his league and is only probably with him because of his money. He used to be a banker and then ran some company and made all this $$. I personally do not mind him as he is usually pleasant to me but thankfully I do not deal with him all that much - but he does play favorites. Like Tollin and Scotland he gives total free-reign to. And he and Seth Unger have the weirdest relationship ever. Seth and his group suddenly arrived at NYCTV after being gone for like 2 years.

The secrets show is Wierson's baby. it is the by far best show that NYCTV does (its really the only one worth watching) but Wierson is putting it on hiatus which in TV means its getting canceled - so no one, post nor EFP is very happy with that. No one can figure that out.

It's probably the general manager's decision to have her look sexually revealing, whether it's approiate or just slutty. I mean have you seen the guy, Wierson, he looks like an ex-jock going through mid-life crisis. He panders himself all over TV, no wonder we keep seeing repeats of the same shows. NYC TV is still a kid splashing around in the kiddy pool in the shallow end, while the big kids play in the pool.

i think kelly choi should dress more appropriately as a journalist. i understand the theme of "secrets of new york"--go ahead, wear the trench, but there are scenes where she is provocatively showing her legs (all the way up to her thighs), wind blowing and she intentionally stands against the direction of the wind where practically her entire lower body is exposed. i think someone needs to find her a more "professional appropriate" stylist. in addition, she wears skanky, cleavage revealing, clubbing tops in "eat out ny." whats worse is that when she interviews chefs--she cuts them off. there is a segment where she sits down with individuals from ny magazine and asks them for their favorite restaurants, etc. she always puts her legs on the seat (whereas the other journalists will sit (female) with her legs crossed or (male) cross legs. i think NYCTV should either get a more professional journalist or change the entire look of kelly choi.

No, but you have a book called Secrets of New York that Wierson stole his idea for the show from. The book used to be listed in the credits, but no longer.

Is there a companion bok to Secrets of NY?

Arick Wierson is the creator of SoNYC? isnt he also the station manager?

Is there any trivia for the show on its IMDB page?

I know I am an audio geek, I am myself an audio engineer and technician for one of the biggest houses in nyc, All I have to say is I have been mixing for many many years and I have been watching this channel for about 2 years now, NYC TV must have hired a Pro mixer now for their shows because i hear a HUGE IMPROVEMENT! The entire presentation of the shows and network are 100% better, Audio and Video wise. I am impressed!

Kudos!

Kelly Choi is a babe, she is so beautiful. I hope she gets into acting so I can see more of her

i saw kelly choi shooting secrets recently - she was on a harley in midtown. everyone was staring...pretty cool!

WHAT FASCINATES ME IS THAT CLEARLY KELLY'S RINGS HAVE THIS DEEP DARK (SINISTER?) MEANING... HOW THEY CHANGE HANDS, DIFFERENT FINGERS... ANYONE ABLE TO SCAN THE VIDEO UP CLOSE TO READ THE ENCRYPTIONS ON THEM?

fred. u hit the nail on the head...who scans tv shows? its a gimmick.. dont mean a damn thing!!

mixx - u are a loser

i copied the bar code and ran it thur a bar code scanner (Datalogic Heron Barcode Scanner) and the results came up empty. I then ran through a software off a DL9600 Viper that recognizes most scan-data types. still no dice..so anyoen have any success deciphering the secrets of ny barcodes?

kelly choi is the svengali of primetime local television

if u ask me, i'd say that nyctv has had a few strokes of genius and a few strike-outs...secrets is one of those strokes of genius

yeah with secrets its kelly's way or the hi-way!

You sound like u have a hand fetish! Weirdo

kela on secrets? r u nuts

anyone ever noticed how the host of the show uses her hands? the rings, the pockets...its all very intriguing...just caught an airing last week...she was always doing something with her hands... as if it was some "coded" message....

screw kelly. make it "kela all the time" - as in Kela Walker.

NYCTV GENERAL MANAGER LISTEN UP: I PROPOSE THAT NYCTV RENAMES ITSELF AND MAKES ITSELF THE KELLY CHOY CHANNEL

"everything kelly"

OR

"all kely all the time"

anyone out there know the back-story on how/why the series changed from being a cheesy lifestyle series to a post-modern matrix-y take on history? that sounds like something iteresting

I HATE TO BE A PARTY POOPER BUT SECRETS IS SHOT ON SD...PLAIN OLD STANDARD DEF GUYS.

secrets is my favorite show on earth.

secrets is NOT shot in HD. its shot on film. thats why it looks so good.

i do know u can buy bootleg secrets dvds on canal street..saw a few last weekend

does anyone know where (or if at all) the secrets of ny soundtrack is available? i have been searching online and have come up empty so far...

anyone have any scoop on whne the next season of SoNY begins? its all repeats now

MAN SCERETS IS JUST AN OK SHOW. NOT BAD NOT GREAT. STOP WITH ALL THE OVER-ANALYSIS!!!

I just stumbled across secrets last week...what a terrific show.

They are shot in HD but I believe they use just F900s and a varicam or 2. not 100% sure but it seems weiner milien, who ive seen is the DP of the show, looks at the F900 and still sees "Sony colors."

I think the cameras they are using is a mistake for a show like Secrets Of NYC. I know from personal experience that the F900s don't quite track right. The Varicam tracks color vastly better according to my eye although I don't see the shades of tonalities that I do on the AG-HVX200. on the latter, the gain settings are easier to manage for this type of multicam shoot.

Hey y'all am I the only one who is in LOVE with Kelly Choi?!?!?!?!?

No it is all shot in HD. I have a friend who knows on of the producers and Secrets is shot in HD for sure using Sony HDW F900 and Sony HVR Z1Us.



According to my source. the titling sequence (with Kelly in the classic lincoln convertible) was shot on a Panasonic AG-HVX 200.

Not its not shot in HD. should be but it wreaks of SD.lots of color-adjustment going on. nice touch.

coded narration? that is ridiculous. get a life

I overheard at a cocktail party that the cadence of the narration is pupuseful; that in Secrets of NY, if you take every third letter of every first word in a sentence - or something like that - it spells out something. Is this BS or does anyone else know something about this?

Secrets is shot in HD and down-converted to standard-def. But it looks amazing. Its one of the best-conceived shows made in the doc genre. And the lighting and true cinematic touch put on the show makes it look like it was hand-polished by Michael Mann himself.

YL

I went to college a few years ahead of Kelly Choi down in VA

her name back then was Young Choi. How's that for a secret!!

I find it really cool the way Secrets of NY rolls in rock music interludes into the show ...no one in the documentary sphere is doing that. I think when documentarians wake up to all the innovation going on in SNY, docuementaries will changes dramatically - forever.

I too am curious about the more archane secrets embedded in the show. The necklace may be just ad hoc costume arrangements but not sure. The narration seems to have a cadence that alludes to several meanings. its actually really fascinating to listen to secrets without the visual. try it. especially the skyscraper episode.

I assume the cape is just creative costuming; never noticed the necklace but will pay attention next time.

I have a question: what is the significance of the bar code that appears under each name. its obviously another code, but is it a real code or just something stylistic?

Does anyone know more about the symbolic significance of the black cape? Also, I've noticed that Kelly's necklace changes and I was wondering if anyone did any reserach on what each symbol around her neck means.

Secrets IS a sleeper hit. I love it!! (Wish there were more)

I think "Secrets" is a sleeper hit. It will only be amtter of time before History channel or Nat'l Geo steal the concept.

Noise is sacred. U mess with it. U mess with All Willysburgh!!!