Re: WBBM-TV gets big set upgrade

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: Wow - this actually reads more like a Rob Feder column than the Phil Rosenthal I'm used to. : : : Channel 2 news set gets a big upgrade : : : : : WBBM-Ch. 2 used to look like it was doing its newscasts from a well-lit closet. Puppet shows have had bigger, more impressive sets. The Channel 2 news team crammed in around a desk that appeared to be the size of a coffee table. : : That era of intimacy officially ended this week, as the beleaguered CBS-owned station finally abandoned its decrepit barn on McClurg Court for state-of-the-art digs across from Daley Plaza. In its effort to stand apart from the crowd, Channel 2 has added a street-level news studio—just like ABC-owned WLS-Ch. 7 and NBC-owned WMAQ-Ch. 5. : : But what no doubt seems like a reasonably sized space to passersby on the corner of Dearborn and Washington Streets comes across on-camera as roughly the size of an airplane hangar. : : It's the McMansion of news sets. : : It is no longer enough for WBBM anchors Rob Johnson and Anne State to "toss" to sportscaster Ryan Baker and weathercaster Steve Baskerville. Nothing less than a full-out heave will do. : : For all a viewer would know, poor Baker and Baskerville are working from the 773 area code, while Johnson and State work in the 312, or the "heart of Chicago," a slogan the station already has worn out through clumsy repetition that threatens to make it the "headache of Chicago" before too long. : : A bank of monitors—TV shorthand for "if something happens, we probably won't miss it"—could be effective, but only if the screens show live news events as they occur. Anything less, and the "The Situation Room"-effect more closely resembles situation comedy. The daytime beauty shots during the 10 p.m. newscast Monday were a dead give-away. : : Maybe it's simply that in the rush to get into the new facility there hasn't been time for Channel 2 crews to figure out how to choreograph their newscasts. Shots seem framed to showcase the size and breadth of the new studio in high-definition, recalling the way actions and gestures were wildly exaggerated in cheesy, old 3-D movies to spotlight the illusion of depth. : : Real depth comes from content, not all the bells, whistles and monitors around it. : : Channel 2 on Monday picked up its second national Emmy in recent years. Its coverage of last year's Blue Line emergency was honored by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences for Outstanding Regional News Story—Spot News despite the claustrophobic set at WBBM's old headquarters. : : A good set enhances the content. When the scenery is louder than the headlines, it becomes the news, which is not becoming at all. : : : : (rosenthal/trib)

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