Philadelphia being aced out in local Emmys
Local Emmys will be distributed on Saturday.
“Local” is an interesting word in regard to these awards.
The National Association of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS), the organization that created and distributes Emmys, did not form the local chapter in a way that reflects the way most Philadelphians think of it.
Rather than group stations in Philadelphia, surrounding tri-state counties, and maybe the folks from Lancaster, Harrisburg, and Scranton, NATAS delineated its chapters by state. That means that Philadelphia is part of a chapter than includes all of Pennsylvania and adjoining parts of Ohio, West Virginia, and New York that have little meaning to local viewers.
The local Emmy competition doesn’t seem as keen or worth following because a large proportion of nominations come from Pittsburgh, a smaller market than Philadelphia but one deemed large and one whose stations compete equally.
The result is categories that include dozens of shows Philadelphian never see on stations they don’t know featuring people they never heard of.
It robs the entire exercise of some fun. It’s hard to compare or root for a favorite if you don’t know anything about the people vying with them for an award.
Take this year’s category of Overall Excellence by a local TV station.
Only one Philadelphia station, Channel 10, competes while three from Pittsburgh dominate the contest. Penn State’s station, WPSU, rounds out the field.
In the News Excellence category, Channel 3 joins Channel 10 among local stations, but the others are all from Pittsburgh. How could someone here judge that competition fairly?
My favorite categories are the ones that cite individual achievement. In what could be considered the Best Individual Program Editor race, most of the nominees come from independent producers. History and sports seem to impress.
Among those vying are Jon Kohl, who edits the interesting shows on Philadelphia during different periods for Sam Katz’s History Making Productions, and Mike O’Connor of the Eagles Television Network.
Locals fare better in the News Editing race in which Channel 3’s Dani Dolan and Michael Hickey vie with Channel 10’s Megan Robinette and Mike Hurst and Channel 29’s James Ring. Jeffrey Crowe from NBC Sports Philadelphia is cited about nominees for Best Editor of Short Form material.
Among anchors, only Channel 10 can boast a local nominee. Two in fact, Tracy Davidson from the morning broadcast and Jim Rosenfield from the evening.
Channel 10 also has a pair of meteorologists in the Weather Anchor category, Tammie Souza and Violeta Yas.
All of the nominated sports anchors or reporters come from other markets. Sixers play-by-play announcer Marc Zumoff, from NBC Sports Philadelphia, takes his usual place among nominees for the best in his field.
Channel 3’s Henry Rosoff is the only local among nominees in the category for feature reporters. Channel 10’s Steven Fisher is the lone local among general assignment reporters. Channel 10’s Keith Jones and Telemundo’s Iris Delgado are represented among specialty reporters.
Perennial winner Brad Nau, now at Channel 3, is once again included among Best News Photographers. Matt Schaffer from Channel 10 joins him in that category.
Thomas Finer and Tom Kretschmer, both of NBC Sports Philadelphia, vie for an Emmy as Sports Photographers.
Three video journalists, Tim Furlong and Steven Fisher from Channel 10, and Bill Rohrer from Channel 29, are in the Emmy hunt. Rohrer’s work was lauded in a column earlier this year.
In the writing categories, only Andrew Ferrett from History Making Productions is based in Philadelphia.
Jessica Dean gone from Channel 3
Figures.
Just after I cite Channel 3’s Jessica Dean as one of the anchors for my fantasy evening news team (with Channel 29’s Lucy Noland), she is gone.
Dean left “Eyewitness News” Sept. 26. Her departure, she says in a Twitter, is to move on to a new opportunity, one she apparently has lined up but doesn’t state.
The rumor mill has Dean going to CBS’s weekday afternoon chat show, “The Talk,” on which she’s been a guest panelist, but that has not been confirmed and may not be conclusive.
I enjoyed Dean for her businesslike way of presenting news and her fresh, natural way of exchanging comments with colleagues Ukee Washington, Kate Bilo, and Don Bell. Dean always conveyed ease and intelligence in her reports. She avoided gushiness or an urge to make a pun or find some catchy phrase to describe something that was better spoken about plainly.
There is a vacancy on “The Talk” now that moderating co-host Julie Chen left in the wake of her husband, Les Moonves’s, resignation as head of CBS. Dean’s guest appearances, though, were based more on a plan to showcase local CBS anchors, so it’s difficult to say how deep her ties to the program actually are.
Why speculate? Dean’s Twitter account remains active. I’ll monitor it to learn the next chapter. My hope, and guess, is that chapter will be as successful as Dean’s tenure at Channel 3.
In Dean’s absence, Natasha Brown has been taking her place with Washington at the anchor desk. Brown is a long-time asset to Channel 3, and it would greeted happily if she moved from her weekend post to take the weekday job.
Battle of late night
Both NBC’s Jimmy Fallon and CBS’s Stephen Colbert are mimics.
Each peppers his monologues and interviews with imitations and impersonations of the famous and vocally identifiable.
Each has made a specialty out of imitating President Donald Trump.
Of the two, I’d rate Colbert as the better Trump mimic. There’s more facets and more astute body language in his takeoff.
Fallon, though, has one advantage.
Hearing him on several occasions from a room away and not looking at him, I heard elements of Trump’s voice in Fallon’s. They have tone and timbre in common.
This was noticed when Fallon spoke as himself and was not doing Trump or talking about the President. From a distance, I thought he was.
“Tonight” watchers, listen and see if you hear what I do.
“Late Show” viewers can test it too.
Although I don’t blame Colbert fans for not wanting to cross over to Fallon. Colbert’s monologues may be biased and tend to pander, but they are sharper and done with more gusto that his counterpart’s.
‘Conners’ return
Call me a contrarian, but I would be happiest about ABC’s debut of “The Conners,” a revival of “Roseanne” without the title star, Roseanne Barr, if I thought the joke was Barr isn’t fired, the character Roseanne doesn’t die, and all goes back to the way it was for 10 years of the original run and the wonderful episodes from the return last year.
Alas, I know Roseanne being on the wrong side of political correctness was more of a push to exile than what she actually said or did – Really, someone cares about insults to Valerie Jarrett? – but I’d love for a miracle of restoration to happen.
No such luck in this McCarthyesque climate, where it isn’t good enough to chastise or warn someone instead of annihilating them!
And I still look forward to “The Conners” coming to the air 8 p.m. Oct. 16, locally on Channel 6.
Neal Zoren’s television column appears every Monday.