The startling news that Sue Simmons will be ending her stint as beloved WNBC anchor this summer—apparently due to her $5 million salary, as well as her rumored unwillingness to be cooperative—is now moving into the "what's next" phase, and attention is on noon and 5 p.m. newscast anchor Shiba Russell. Well, does she do a groundhog impression? more ›

The bombshell news that WNBC 4 is not renewing beloved anchorwoman Sue Simmons' contract continues to shock tri-state residents who have grown up loving her warm, wacky rapport with everyone around her. But the NY Post suggests that her antics off-set, plus a $5 million salary, were impetus for the decision: A station source said, “It is a lot of money, and many people have been under the impression that Sue had been phoning it in for a while." Fine, WNBC wants to deny us the pleasure of her messing around with Brian Williams. more ›

Last week WNBC/Channel 4 told anchorwoman Sue Simmons her contract would not be renewed, according to the NY Post. This means the four-time Emmy award winner Simmons will only be on air until June, leaving poor Chuck Scarborough without his co-anchor of more than three decades. And leaving New Yorkers without their beloved Chuck and Sue! more ›

Have you noticed something missing from NBC's 11 PM news lately? Poor Chuck Scarborough has had to handle it all by himself since early November, when New York's favorite f-bomb dropping news anchor Sue Simmons went under the knife for major spinal surgery! Well now we can all breathe a sigh of relief: Sue's made a full recovery, and as of Monday night, she's back. more ›

Everyone loves to "Keep fucking that chicken!" Well, at least say the bizarre yet irresistible catch phrase coined by WNYW Fox 5 anchor Ernie Anastos. If it's not Jon Stewart being jealous that Anastos got to use it first, then it's the Reverend Al Sharpton guessing that term's meaning. The Reverend told City Room, "It could be a kind of phrase: ‘Well, keep doing what you are doing. Keep going after it.' Even if you are tired or distracted, keep on doing that chicken, that kind of thing." We don't think fatigue or distraction will ever keep us from saying "Keep fucking that chicken!" (and then giggling for a few minutes). more ›

Len Berman didn't exactly use his farewell from the WNBC 4 sports desk as an opportunity to have his Howard Beale moment, but he did get in a couple of jabs at all of the cutbacks around the station that led them to let him go after almost twenty-five years covering local sports there. When presented with a cake, Berman quipped, "Is this in the budget?" Apparently personalizing it was not. more ›

Tonight will be the final broadcasts at WNBC 4 for longtime sportscaster Len Berman. Berman will be on the 6 and 11 p.m. newscasts tonight and tells the Daily News, "I know they have a video and surprises planned at 6 p.m." Will one of those surprises be a goodbye kiss from Sue Simmons? His heart is likely racing to find out. As for what happens next, Berman tells the News, "I am happy to report there will be a next time." His signature segment of wacky highlights, "Spanning the World," will remain at its second home on . There hasn't been any word on further pink slips at WNBC, which has seen quite a few recently. As for his departure, Berman says he has "definitely mixed emotions." Here's to hoping that nobody got hurt. more ›

Jimmy Fallon talked with us this afternoon about his foray into Late Night which, believe it or not, is less than two weeks away. We were wondering how he was able to get his show up and running with its premiere coming a mere week after Conan goes off the air (his final Late Night in New York is tomorrow night). Fallon told us that he won't be moving into Conan's digs at Studio 6A inside 30 Rock, but rather into 6B, home until recently of WNBC 4 New York—or as Fallon put it, house of "the great Chuck Scarborough and Sue Simmons" (not to mention Matt Lauer and Ira Joe Fisher). more ›

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Fans of Chuck Scarborough and Sue Simmons won’t have to stay up to 11 p.m. to see the long time anchor team together. WNBC will also have the team anchoring back at 6 p.m. starting next week. Simmons will also be moving back into her seemingly traditional 5 p.m. slot anchoring with David Ushery who will be displaced from the 6 p.m. newscast. Scarborough will still be the front man for New York Nightly News at 7 p.m. Lynda Baquero and Michael Gargiulo will be out of the anchor chairs, but will remain with the station. more ›

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WNBC anchor Sue Simmons's unexpected cursing during a Monday night promo continues to be watercooler gossip. The veteran news anchor appeared on yesterday's broadcasts, surprising some industry insiders who thought she might be suspended. more ›

Beloved WNBC anchor Sue Simmons was doing a promo during the 10 p.m. hour for the 11 p.m. news broadcast, when she went from describing a story about food prices going up and the weight of food products going down to saying "What the fuck are you doing?!" (See video above.) When the 11 p.m. broadcast rolled around, there was no mention of the mishap until after the lead stories were out of the way and then Simmons faced the camera:

"We need to acknowledge an unfortunate mistake that i made in one of the teases we bring to you before this program. While we were live, just after 10 o'clock, I said a word that many people find offensive. I'm truly sorry it was a mistake on my part and I sincerely apologize."

WNBC’s Sue Simmons is known as a big Mets fan, so it's no surprise she was tapped to host a look back at Shea Stadium in its final year. So expect Sue being Sue along with some amazing Mets moments, concerts and some Jets (and we aren’t just talking about those coming into LaGuardia). The Amazin' Shea (Saturday, 7:30 p.m., WNBC 4) also will feature some interviews with some of the Mets greats. It is half the length of the station’s hour long look at Yankee Stadium from last week, but if that is any indication of the quality this will be another home run. more ›

Every year, we look forward to Groundhog Day for the appearances of Punxsutawney Phil, Staten Island Chuck, and the inevitable multiple screenings of the movie Groundhog Day, starring Bill Murray. But we also love Groundhog Day because it means that WNBC newswoman Sue Simmons is prodded into doing her impression of a groundhog. We love a beautiful woman not afraid to make herself look ridiculous--like when she fell off her chair and recovered somewhat gracefully. The video was recorded yesterday, as Sue has today--Groundhog Day--off from work. more ›

A look at some of this week's noteworthy television: more ›

When Asa Aarons was let go last week, we had a gut feeling that WNBC’s 5:30PM consumer news and features based newscast News 4 You was getting a vote of no confidence. Now our gut feeling has been confirmed since the station will be replacing the newscast starting next Monday. It is also part of a late afternoon shuffle with the 4:30PM edition of Merv Griffin’s Crosswords being replaced by Access Hollywood, which also repeats in its current time slot at 7:30PM. more ›

Starting on September 10th, WNBC will be making a seismic shift on the local television landscape. Live at Five is gone, with infotainment show Extra taking its place at 5 p.m. with News 4 You remaining at 5:30 p.m. However, there will be not net loss of newscasts, since WNBC will be starting a new 7 p.m. newscast, but it is not as new an idea as it would seem, since WNYW aired a 7 p.m. newscast from 1987 to 1993. WNBC’s Station Manager and Senior Vice President of News, Dan Forman, noted: “Our news at 7pm meets the needs of viewers coming home from work and is a perfect compliment to ‘NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams,’ which precedes it.” more ›

While poking around on YouTube recently we stumbled onto this awesome clip from 1989 of David Letterman appearing on Live at Five and Live at Five simultaneously appearing on Late Night With David Letterman. In it, we see Letterman, whose studio 6A is just across the hall from WNBC's Live at Five's studio 6B, being interviewed by Jack Cafferty (and vice versa) on the occasion of a prime time anniversary show. Late Night taped its show every afternoon as Live at Five broadcast live, and Letterman on occasion popped in on Live at Five and was noted for complaining that WNBC's newscast got better guests then he did. more ›

A look at some noteworthy television this week: more ›

A look at some noteworthy television this week: more ›

Friday will mark the end of an era when Sue Simmons will anchor her final Live at Five in almost twenty-seven years. As we have mentioned before, WNBC has decided to do some shifting of its early evening newscasts with a 30 minute newscast at 5:00 anchored by Lynda Baquero and David Ushery followed by a Perri Peltz anchored a light news and features half hour called News 4 You. Sue will be teamed up with 11:00 “anchor husband” Chuck Scarborough at 6:00. more ›

A look at some noteworthy televison this weel: more ›

Richard Huff in Thursday’s Daily News has revealed some major changes for WNBC’s early evening news line up starting next month. Channel 4 hopes that the rejiggering will make the station more competitive with WABC who dominates the 5 p.m. hour on the coattails of Oprah. more ›

Jen made her first high-definition television appearance last night on WNBC's Live at Five. She spoke to Sue Simmons and Lynda Baquero about New York blogs-- besides Gothamist, she also mentioned Brownstoner and Midtown Lunch. more ›

Hoorah! WNBC has a clip of Sue Simmons's Groundhog Impression, 2007 edition from yesterday's newscast. How did the WNBC anchor start imitating woodland creatures?

Sue says her imitation of the groundhog face actually began before she came to New York, when she was a reporter in New Haven. On Groundhog Day one year, she ended a live shot with the groundhog face, and for weeks, people kept coming up to her asking for a repeat performace.

Wednesday night, WNBC invited a bunch of bloggers to its first NYC Blogger Summit. Why? As Anil Dash put it, to "engage bloggers and encourage them to provide information and resources to the station's news-gathering efforts, in exchange for credit and exposure." more ›

This past Wednesday, the WNBC Live at Five team was joking around with NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams. Live at Five co-anchor Perri Peltz talking about flossing and periodontal disease, and, as you can see from the YouTube video above for the first 2+ minutes, it's important but very boring stuff. So co-anchor Sue Simmons "pretends" to fall asleep during the banter...but ends up falling off her chair! Good times! more ›

-- Poor Sue Simmons: NBC4 News has gone high-definition! more ›

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