Dammit. Who typed a question mark on the Teleprompter?

November 3, 2010 5:50 AM

Back in September, things weren't going very well at the KGTV newsroom. [SLYT]
posted by schmod (65 comments total)

This manages to combine separate instances of fail into one delicious package. It's like all the staff - presenters, reporters, and cameramen alike - turned up late, massively hungover, and with no idea as to what was going on that day.
posted by djgh at 6:06 AM on November 3, 2010 [4 favorites]

If television news was always like this, I would watch television news. This is brilliant.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:12 AM on November 3, 2010 [6 favorites]

You stay classy, San Diego.
posted by m@f at 6:13 AM on November 3, 2010 [4 favorites]

I can't stop laughing at the poor lady rehearsing her lines with the camera on her.
posted by NoMich at 6:15 AM on November 3, 2010 [2 favorites]

It's like all the staff - presenters, reporters, and cameramen alike - turned up late, massively hungover, and with no idea as to what was going on that day.

The day before was "bring your kid to work day" but somebody slipped up on the memo and instead of "kid" it said "giant bottle of Glenfiddich."
posted by Shepherd at 6:21 AM on November 3, 2010 [9 favorites]

I love the first few seconds the most. The weather lady's rehearsing, reaction and the subsequent camera pan are so perfectly timed.
posted by Monster_Zero at 6:21 AM on November 3, 2010

They are such a lovable group. The seasoned silver-foxish presenter looks mildly amused.
posted by slipperystar at 6:23 AM on November 3, 2010

This manages to combine separate instances of fail into one delicious package. It's like all the staff - presenters, reporters, and cameramen alike - turned up late, massively hungover, and with no idea as to what was going on that day.

You just summed up most local journalism. That's exactly what goes on.
posted by dortmunder at 6:27 AM on November 3, 2010

I thought the cameraman at the end had become fascinated by the wheelchair, but he kept moving past it and zooming in on something ... what? I can't quite make out what he's looking at ... oh, there ... oh my god.

IA IA!
posted by Astro Zombie at 6:28 AM on November 3, 2010 [4 favorites]

"So...how'd the new interns make out?"
posted by Smart Dalek at 6:29 AM on November 3, 2010

This looked a lot like what you see happening with a college tv news crew.
posted by Old'n'Busted at 6:30 AM on November 3, 2010 [1 favorite]

"Are we on?"
"Eh."
posted by Edison Carter at 6:31 AM on November 3, 2010

They don't have to all be hung over. Just the director.

"Okay. Zoom over to the highway. No, don't let that fucking bitch back in the frame! Keep zooming!"
posted by fungible at 6:35 AM on November 3, 2010 [3 favorites]

Aww, bless 'em. Was there a story behind this beyond incompetence? It seems so wilfully bad as to suggestion some sort of industrial action on the part of the production staff.
posted by RokkitNite at 6:36 AM on November 3, 2010 [1 favorite]

*suggest (damn teleprompter!)
posted by RokkitNite at 6:36 AM on November 3, 2010

I can't quite make out what he's looking at ... oh, there ... oh my god.

Wait...what was he looking at? I thought it was just panning the fence in question coupled with incompetent zoomage as well as the reporter accidentally getting in the shot.
posted by DU at 6:40 AM on November 3, 2010

also the co-anchor gives the wrong name of the field reporter.
posted by triceryclops at 6:44 AM on November 3, 2010 [4 favorites]

"Oh hey, I I took some of the left other cookies to work today. Everyone loved them!"

"Great! Wait, did you take the ones in the blue container ot eh white container?"

"Blue, those where the leftovers right?"

"No, white is leftover. Blue is for ..parties"


"Oh ......OH"
posted by The Whelk at 6:52 AM on November 3, 2010 [10 favorites]

How moving. That solitary, shadowy figure on the Rascal scooter, poot-poot-pooting along at 5 mph. A true symbol of the need for immigration reform.
posted by Gator at 6:52 AM on November 3, 2010 [14 favorites]

The phrasing of the FPP implies this was this September just past. The female anchor, when prompted for her name with "And this is...", says "Wednesday the 12th of September!" The 12th of September fell on a Sunday this year.

Of course, that could just be part of the high standards on display that day.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 6:53 AM on November 3, 2010 [5 favorites]

awesome. differently surreal is WXII's traffic reporter.
posted by mexican at 6:56 AM on November 3, 2010 [30 favorites]

The crawl says that Jon Stewart is going to host the Oscars and mentions something Hank Paulson said, so this is from September 2008.
posted by condour75 at 7:00 AM on November 3, 2010 [1 favorite]

The day before was "bring your kid to work day" but somebody slipped up on the memo and instead of "kid" it said "giant bottle of Glenfiddich."
posted by Shepherd at 2:21 PM on November 3

Thanks for that. I actually laughed out loud, very loudly when I read this comment.
posted by Decani at 7:01 AM on November 3, 2010

The crawl says that Jon Stewart is going to host the Oscars and mentions something Hank Paulson said, so this is from September 2008.

2007. The 12th was a Friday in 2008 and it is unlikely they would be announcing Stewart to host the Oscars five and a half months after he did. Of course the chyron operator could have been into the angel dust as well, so really, anything goes.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 7:09 AM on November 3, 2010 [2 favorites]

awesome. differently surreal is WXII's traffic reporter.
posted by mexican at 9:56 AM on November 3 [1 favorite -] Favorite added! [!]

The clown nose makes it.
posted by SPUTNIK at 7:13 AM on November 3, 2010 [1 favorite]

I love the lady trying to get back in the frame, and the camera man's all like, "NOOO! I'm getting artsy!"
posted by dirigibleman at 7:17 AM on November 3, 2010 [5 favorites]

That traffic reporter is awesome, particularly the third clip. It's almost as if the director threw her a football jersey and told her to ad-lib for 3 minutes to kill time.

WANT THIS DOG?
posted by schmod at 7:18 AM on November 3, 2010

My take is that this is a director who's having a bad day.... possibly the crew was in the control room joking and time got away from them. Next thing you know they're live on air and NO ONE had their 10 second warning.

While it is fun to watch, I'm sure it was awful for the crew.
posted by TuxHeDoh at 7:21 AM on November 3, 2010 [2 favorites]

We voted down Prop 19 to avoid things like this.
posted by Obscure Reference at 7:27 AM on November 3, 2010

Seriously...that's some bad day right there, alright. When it rains it pours!

Jennie Stencel doing sports was better than any other sportscast I have ever seen.
posted by Xoebe at 7:27 AM on November 3, 2010

Oh my god, Jennie Stencel is frickin' hilarious.
posted by afx237vi at 7:32 AM on November 3, 2010 [2 favorites]

awesome. differently surreal is WXII's traffic reporter.
posted by mexican at 9:56 AM on November 3 [2 favorites +] [!]

Oh, my god! It's Luna Lovegood doing the sports report!
posted by jaruwaan at 7:37 AM on November 3, 2010 [2 favorites]

Jennie Stencel doing sports was better than any other sportscast I have ever seen.

No kidding. "Look at this—wheee!"
posted by stargell at 7:37 AM on November 3, 2010 [1 favorite]

Jennie Stencel is my new hero.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 7:40 AM on November 3, 2010 [1 favorite]

oh no! she left the news! alert Jon Stewart!
posted by Potomac Avenue at 7:47 AM on November 3, 2010 [1 favorite]

The clown nose makes it.
posted by SPUTNIK at 9:13 AM .

You can almost hear the guy getting a boner as he announces that he used that nose last week.
posted by Sailormom at 7:50 AM on November 3, 2010

Is it possible that the poor field correspondent is out on her own with a camera and a tripod, and the pan and zoom is a malfunction (or accidental misuse of) some kind of remote-control unit? (It reminded me a little of what happens when I start up a videogame that silently recalibrates my controller while, unbeknownst to me, my cat is leaning on the joystick, leading to much frustration as I try to figure out why my character keeps moving down and to the left.)

Another explanation I could imagine is that the newscast went live something like 30 seconds or so before anyone involved was expecting it. It feels like everyone is almost ready, and then suddenly taken aback. "Hey, the red light's on. Are we live?" Teleprompter script hasn't been loaded up properly, studio camera isn't pointed in the right direction yet, camera operator in the field doesn't have his tripod head position quite locked down and ready to start shooting the reporter.

On preview, also what TuxHeDoh said.
posted by Joey Bagels at 7:54 AM on November 3, 2010

But how did they teach the bear in the background to juggle like that?
posted by inigo2 at 8:12 AM on November 3, 2010 [1 favorite]

Another explanation I could imagine is that the newscast went live something like 30 seconds or so before anyone involved was expecting it.

My best guess is that something went horribly wrong with their IFB immediately before the broadcast, which is why nobody got prompted about what to do. The director and graphics operator seem to be the only people who got the right cues.

It's possible that the reporter is using a robotic camera setup, although I seriously doubt it. Robotics are expensive, and camera operators are generally pretty cheap.
posted by schmod at 8:49 AM on November 3, 2010 [1 favorite]

Oh my God. Jennie Stencel is fantastic
posted by IanMorr at 8:59 AM on November 3, 2010 [14 favorites]

1) That clip was fantastic, I've watched it several times and can't stop laughing

2) This thread was worth it more to find out about the amazing Jennie Stencel. More TV newsrooms should hire from the improv circuit, she's fantastic!
posted by hincandenza at 10:03 AM on November 3, 2010 [1 favorite]

Yeah, looks like either everybody expected everybody else to notice what time it was, or somebody adjusted the clocks five minutes behind except for the person rolling their open and switching to the live feed. Or they just fired the entire technical staff and had a bunch of interns running it for the first time*.

*this actually happened at a place I worked at
posted by davejay at 10:32 AM on November 3, 2010

I see Steven Slater found a job as a cameraman.
posted by stormpooper at 10:33 AM on November 3, 2010

Hmm, I think I need to see if I can't get one of my local stations to offer her a job. It would make their newscasts much more..tolerable.
posted by wierdo at 10:37 AM on November 3, 2010

Jennie Stencel, I mean, not the folks from San Diego.
posted by wierdo at 10:38 AM on November 3, 2010

I have never seen anyone look as hilariously terrified as that weatherwoman. If those three seconds aren't already a gif somewhere, they really need to be.

Meanwhile, Jennie Stencel is brilliant. Such a refreshing change from that horrible painful unfunny joshing inflicted on the public by planklike local news anchors everywhere.
posted by FelliniBlank at 10:41 AM on November 3, 2010 [1 favorite]

Birthdays and anniversaries. But she skipped his birthday.
posted by mudpuppie at 11:37 AM on November 3, 2010 [2 favorites]

Aha. A YouTube commentator helpfully pointed this out:

The reason the camera pans off is because the technical director is supposed to insert video (B-Roll) footage as she introduces her news package. Then when the news package is done, the camera will pan from the bridge back to his original shot with the reporter (presumably). Clearly, someone messed up and didn't show any B-roll

_{This may be the first time in YouTube's history that one of their commentators has been helpful, polite, or insightful. Google clearly did not plan for this occurrence, as they provide no mechanism to link to individual comments.}
posted by schmod at 12:39 PM on November 3, 2010 [13 favorites]

Man, the brunette sitting next to Jennie is a right poisonous cow.
posted by fullerine at 12:41 PM on November 3, 2010 [1 favorite]

I think I'm in love with Jennie Stencel.
posted by rachaelfaith at 1:10 PM on November 3, 2010

Why did they have Jennie when there was never any traffic?
posted by Monday at 2:09 PM on November 3, 2010

Why did they have Jennie when there was never any traffic?

That just makes it extra awesome. It's Winston-Salem has like two highways and yet somehow needs a traffic reporter. Those maps are as funny as Jennie herself.
posted by FelliniBlank at 3:39 PM on November 3, 2010 [1 favorite]

Winston-Salem traffic maps have ARROWS, people. RED ARROWS.
posted by vortex genie 2 at 4:22 PM on November 3, 2010

posted by Edison Carter

Ep-po-po-ponysterical!!
posted by mephron at 7:08 PM on November 3, 2010

Agreed. I read the comments and watched every Jennie Stencel video before I actually watched the video linked in the FPP. I hate local news with a passion, but I'd be less down on it if they did away with the lame scripted banter and put an actual funny person on the program. Jennie Stencel made those yahoos she worked with seem more tolerable, which just blows my mind. IT DOESN'T HAVE TO SUCK!!!
posted by LiliaNic at 7:08 PM on November 3, 2010

Jennie! JENNIE! Jennie! JENNIE!
posted by jeremias at 7:52 PM on November 3, 2010 [1 favorite]

Ep-po-po-ponysterical!!

I will help bring down Network XXIII... one way or another.
posted by Edison Carter at 6:57 AM on November 4, 2010

This is just about the sweetest thing I've seen in a long time. I have the same problem, Jennie!
posted by Edison Carter at 7:22 AM on November 4, 2010 [3 favorites]

Ok, I wasn't on the Jennie Stencil bandwagon until Edison Carter's link above. Now I'm driving the goddamn thing.
posted by turducken at 9:42 AM on November 4, 2010 [1 favorite]

The video's been taken down.
posted by Joseph Gurl at 5:16 PM on November 4, 2010

Many of them won't play in the embedded player, but will if you click through to YouTube.
posted by wierdo at 6:49 PM on November 4, 2010

But when I click through, I see that indeed the one in this post is gone. :(
posted by wierdo at 6:50 PM on November 4, 2010

Nooooo! It's gone! Does anyone happen to have saved it for some reason?
posted by DoctorFedora at 2:25 AM on November 5, 2010

New Link (for now)
posted by schmod at 8:32 AM on November 5, 2010

:( this was one of the funnier things I had seen in a while. It's a shame that they removed it.
posted by proneSMK at 4:36 PM on November 10, 2010