Bumpy start to Fox's `Morning'
About 15 minutes into the debut of the "Fox 25 Morning News" yesterday, viewers saw the new wrinkle in a program that vowed to be fresh and feisty. Transitioning from the headlines, commentator Doug "VB" Goudie weighed in on a dispute over Iraq policy between Senator Edward Kennedy and President George W. Bush by deriding the Massachusetts Democrat as "Senator Fatboy." Before the three-hour program was over, "VB" had dissed Democratic presidential hopeful Howard Dean and actor/
liberal activist Martin Sheen. He dismissed the Emmy Award given to African-American comedian Wayne Brady as an "affirmative action" choice, took a shot at Bill and Hillary Clinton, and made another reference to Kennedy as "a big fat guy." Is this WFXT-TV's (Channel 25) effort to infuse morning TV news with a talk radio sensibility? Is it stealing a page from corporate sibling Fox News Channel, which figured out how to merge news and ideology into a ratings winner? Or are we seeing the growing pains of an innovative local show that has real potential to make its mark?
The members of the show's talent troika arrived at the anchor desk from very different places. Cohost Jodi Applegate is a former "Weekend Today Show" anchor who launched WFXT's late-afternoon newscast in 2001. Her partner Gene Lavanchy was a 10-year veteran sports anchor at WHDH-TV (Channel 7). And Goudie, the riskiest hire, is a talk-radio emigre who worked as Howie Carr's sidekick and as a host on WRKO-AM (850).
The hardest part will be perfecting the snappy banter that is the show's selling point. Lavanchy, who may have the nimblest ad-lib reflexes, seems more like a choirboy than a wiseguy. Applegate has to resist the impulse to try too hard, as she did yesterday by suggesting that Lavanchy and VB lock lips to replicate Brad Garrett's Emmy-telecast kiss with Garry Shandling. (That was a nonstarter.)
VB may be able to succeed as the jolly cynic. But he needs to sharpen the sarcasm to a finer point, and do more than mock Kennedy's girth or roll his eyes at Hillary. Those broad strokes work in talk radio. On television, they can leave his colleagues grasping for comeback lines.
The big three are surrounded by a supporting crew of helicopter reporter Doug Meehan, meteorologist Cindy Fitzgibbon, and news reader Anqunette Jamison, who are likable, telegenic, and capable of fitting into the ensemble cast theme rather than simply functioning as appendages to the primary action.
In the last hour -- between 8 and 9 a.m. -- the chemistry seemed to click better. It was a good idea to bring fashion consultant Tony Corey into the studio to discuss the highs and lows of Emmy awards attire. But he seemed ill at ease.
Two opening-day dignitaries helped launch the show yesterday. Governor Mitt Romney politely parried a few questions on subjects ranging from the California recall to the state's economy. That was a journalistic tour de force compared to the lovefest with Patriots owner Bob Kraft. While Kraft rhapsodized about WFXT's corporate parent as "one of the world's great media companies," an admiring Lavanchy forgot his sports pedigree and never asked about the injuries that threaten to torpedo the Pats' season.
To his credit, VB later seized an opportunity to mock Lavanchy's less-than-probing interview technique. It was his best moment of the morning.
Mark Jurkowitz can be reached at jurkowitz@Globe.com Globe on NECN
Here's what's happening on "Around the Globe" today on NECN:
12:30 p.m.: "Globe at Home" -- Health/science writer Robyn Bradley and Rosemary Gordon, vision educator with Cambridge Health Associates, on whether eye exercises can improve vision. 4 p.m.: "Around the Globe" 6:30 p.m.: "New England Business Day" 8 p.m.: "NewsNight" Schedule is subject to change. 