7 Back on Set
WABC_21_June_2007.jpgWednesday’s 5 p.m. edition of Eyewitness News marked the return to the station’s normal news studio after a fire forced them out and temporarily off the air on May 28th and their studio mate Live with Regis and Kelly to another studio. The set appears to just be a fix of the one that was damaged, but with a slightly different skyline backdrop.

Anchor Bill Ritter writing in his daily “Behind the News” column on the station’s website wrote, “The damage from the fire that swept through our studio has been repaired, thanks to a 24/7 effort by our remarkable technical and engineering and maintenance and stage crews. I'm not sure I can say enough about the good work they all did these past three-plus weeks.” He also noted that viewers contacted the station to find out how the work was progressing.

One thing we found odd was Ritter saying that “our viewers stayed with us through our obviously temporary patch of a news set.” He seems to have forgotten that viewers watch the news for the news and the people who deliver it and not where they deliver it. Although we are sure that some new viewers may have tuned in curious to see what happened after the fire.

We found that the close quarters doing the newscast from the newsroom actually improved the dynamic of the newscast and in a way we are a bit sad to see them move back to their rather unremarkable studio set.

The Duke of Fox 5
After pinch hitting on weekends WNYW’s Duke Castiglione has been tapped to be the weekday sports anchor for the station. He starts in his new position on Monday working Sunday-Thursday on the 10 p.m. newscast and hosting the Sunday night sports wrap up show “Sports Extra”. One thing that shouldn’t surprise anyone is that he used to be on WCBS where Lew Leone, the station’s Vice President and General Manager last worked and has brought some other talent from his past gig. You may also remember him from NY1's "Sports on 1". Reischea Canidate, who was in the job since John Discepolo left last year, moves to weekends.

Wedding Bells
We all know June is the month for weddings so it isn’t a shock that there is wedding themed programming. Fox’s Morning Show with Mike and Juliet will be hosting a wedding next Wednesday as the culmination of their “Dream Wedding Series”. A Jersey City couple, Karina Munoz and Courtenay Hathcock, who have been through some hardships including having their wedding canceled by an ice storm dealing with cancer, will be tying the knot after a few weeks getting things ready on the show for the big day.

The Office Video Game?
You wouldn’t expect NBC’s “The Office” to spawn a video game, but Universal Pictures Digital Platforms Group has entered a multi-year agreement with game publisher MumboJumbo to create a line of video games based on the show.

Sues Chef
Abrasive British chef and reality television star Gordon Ramsay is getting sued. He is being accused of faking scenes for his new Fox reality show "Kitchen Nightmares". According to the Daily News, the former general manager of Manhattan eatery Dillons, Martin Hyde, claims that he was fired at Ramsay’s urging, the chef lied about spoiled food and broken furniture and that the show faked scenes by hiring actors to pose as customers. Hyde is suing for millions of dollars and for the show not to be broadcast.

Crazy Eddie is Back on TV
If you grew up in the tri-state area in the 1980s, you probably remember the ads for electronics retailer Crazy Eddie. Well the two guys behind the store which was basically a big scam Eddie and Sam Antar will be appearing on next Wednesday at 10 p.m. on CNBC’s "Business Nation". The cousins, who haven’t spoken for twenty years will be reunited on the show. We should add neither of the Antars were the on air pitchman who bellowed, “His prices are insane!”