I thought of her as son as I saw the thread title. http://www.komotv.com/nwa/soapqueen.asp
Gary Dobbs, used to be the weatherman for the Huntsville, AL ABC station, (WAAY). Refers to any sunny day in the forcast as “gorgeous”, but intentionally pronounces it as “GAW-jus!” every single time. Always predicts more snow accumulations than it turns out (will say 3" when everyone else says 1"- and is never right). Tells people to stock up on bread and milk if there is the slightest chance of snow (we panic at the chance of snow here in AL, gots have them staples in case we get snowed in for a week). I’m convinced Wears loud fire engine red or Masters green sport coats, made a big deal out of unveiling his new hair plugs, after months of doing the weather outside so he could wear a fedora until they grew in good. Became an even more annoying morning show host while at WAAY, left with his co-host for the new UPN affiliate. She left, but they still called the show “Toni and Gary Live” (still says it on their website even now) for months as he went through a series of co-hosts.
Jamie Cooper, “The Country Rover”. Started as a features reporter for the same station, doing mildly amusing stories about country folk in the area. Has been trading on his rep from that time ever since, but is a nasty, obnoxious, arrogant asshole who has burned bridges with sidekicks, advertisers, etc. all over the area, yet still retains a loyal following among country folks for some reason. Began to host morning TV shows for almost every local station or cable provider in north AL, depending on who would sell him time. Catch phrase fro 25 years was “Get outta here!” (says he adopted it since so many people who found him annoying said it to him), retired it and tried a new one “Do it early!”, didn’t catch on. Has had a series of very public divorces involving restraining orders, increasingly younger wives as co-hosts/eye candy on his various shows, and nasty fights and feuds with other TV personalities (including Dobbs) and station owners he bought time from, even getting yanked off the air live during a fight over use of the control room, threatening legal action against the station while on the air over the disclaimers the station ran, and having to put up with the station owner having the studio repainted as the show was on at 5 AM. At one time, he was technically competing against himself since he left his show on the NBC affiliate to start a new on UPN, but the old show still aired for months (guess he paid for the time that far ahead) with his name on it but hosted by his former sidekicks. Somehow made enough money to buy his own independent station recently, and plans to create more shows to fill the schedule with some of his various sidekicks/hangers on of various ilk.
I’ll have to post later about “The Swami” and “Les and Bud Unwired”, bad and incompetent is barely the tip of the iceberg.
Here in NYC, my personal favorite person to hate is Sue Simmons (local NBC news).
The woman is a total ditz, talentless and annoying. She started out as a hair stylist for the on air personalities and somehow moved on air herself (I shall show great self restraint and refrain from speculating on just **how ** she got the job). She makes more mistakes than I can count, which is inexcusable considering she’s been doing this for DECADES and this is not some small backwoods town you earn your stripes in… this is the big time, woman. Act like it.
She’s just like nails on a chalk board to me, inexplicably annoying and cringeworthy. I refuse to watch any newscast she “graces”.
I’ve always been an ABC person myself - I miss the days of Roger Grimsby and Bill Beutel. They were great together.
An under-appreciated skill, IMHO. It’s like the folk-art version of performance art.
Just wanted to point out this sentence:
Which is still making me laugh.
The news anchor that drives me crazy is Sandi Rinaldo. She’s well known to all you Canadians out there I’m sure. She’s very professional, but the way she speaks is just as bad as nails on a chalk board to my ears. Next time you watch the news listen to the way she drags out her vowels. “Union leaders and officials are taaaaalking today…”. Grrrrr
MArk Patrick is OK on the Bob and Tom show impersonating voices. He just shouldn’t have his own show to run.
My god, you took time out of your busy life to dis Gary Radnich (whom I kind of like), but in a thread where people are mentioning bad local commercials, you neglected Paul from the Diamond Center? I’m kicking you out of the club.
How can I ever forget the man who was the role model for the obnoxious TV reporter in Best Little Whore House In Texas, Marvin Zindler?
You remember him, right? The 90 yr old sherrif of that small town beat him up for being such a putz.
"And they found SLIME… in the ICE MACHINE!
MAAAARRRRvin Zindler, EEEYYYYYEEEEEwitness news!"
That was Houston, Tx, btw. I think it was ch 13.
Alright, Clevelanders, lets hear it.
There are too many for me to pick just one, but as for advertisers, no one beats Mikie from regency windows.
Okay ** vanilla** , if you insist. Leon Bibb. He’s the weekend anchor for Channel 5 in Cleveland, and has a reputation as a “unique storyteller”. He has an overly dramatic presentation and when he does his Hometown features, the writing (his, I believe) is smarmy, the vocal inflections make William Shatner look good, and he just irritates the heck out of me. Then there’s a reporter, Chris Caswell, who started out as a rather irritating blonde bimbette who liked to use props to illustrate her stories…smacking a baseball bat into her hand , etc…and she had a breathless, beligerent presentation that couldn’t hide the fact that there was little or no substance behind some of her allegations. Now they are trying to present her as a mature anchor-type, but she’s still just a muckraker.
Susan Harf. She’s a “life strategist” who is frequently interviewed on the Rochester NY ABC affiliate. She’s asked about family questions and manages to piss me off with everything she says. Furthermore, she wears the most ugly, nauseating clothes I’ve seen anyone wear, ever, and her hair looks like it’s covered in motor oil.
Bob Lonsberry, a local radio talk show host, got fired for calling mayor Johnson, who’s black, orangutan and such. He generally seems to be considered an asshole . His website says
"Hey, friends, welcome to my site.
A writer is a fanatic.
A cocksure, arrogant little pain-in-the-neck fanatic who pecks out words under the delusion that it means something and makes a difference and somehow, over the morning coffee, somebody is going to agree.
Who knows, maybe it’s a mental illness. "
Which doesn’t exactly reassure me. (He is now in Utah. The Deseret News said, " Apparently, while Clear Channel Communications found Bob Lonsberry to be a racist in New York, it doesn’t think he’s a racist in Utah.")
Also, Jim “The Hammer” Shapiro. He’s a local lawyer, the kind with infomercials. He has flesh colored eyeballs and has jowls and sagging skin all over his face. The ad sucks – he isn’t looking at the screen, and there’s a bad animation of a hammer. He’s yelling in the ad, and his jowls shake.
Though I’ve got to say his “We HATE drunk drivers” is a lot better than the young, slick guy who says “you’ve made a mistake, and we want to help you get away with it” or some crap like that.
Los Angeles, KCET, local PBS station: ** Heull Hoswer. ** Hands down the most grating human being ever to be permitted on television in anything more challenging than a man-on-street moment.
And I recently learned that when the cameras are off, he’s a big bitchy baby to boot.
Jeff Heaton is the name of the local NBC weatherman.
And Leon Bibb RHYMES. During newstories. I keep shouting things like “Dear God, make it stop. Please make it stop.” My mother actually has to change the channel because I hate the man so much. And that intonation thing drives me batty, too. He will be talking about baby ducks in the park with this slow plodding voice. Gah.
But you missed Ted Henry. He said recently, to a story about depression “Gray is a color?” Brightest bulb in the box, is Ted Henry. Honestly, I think reading out loud is truly beyond his talents–and 2nd graders can manage that one. I really don’t know why he is still employed.
There is a show here called Good Day. The name of the woman on it is Lisa someone. She is the main reason I would not keep a gun in the same room as the television.
Dude, that was, uh, harsh…
I nominate Dave Pingalore. Ping, as he likes to be called. He is without a doubt the WORST sports anchor in history.
What? No mention of Treeboy?
There must not be a lot of southern NH Dopers around here anymore, because the first thing that came into my head when I saw this title was:
“Good EEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeevening!”
WNDS 50 weatherman Al Kaprelian. Used to be a bloated squealing tub of lard, but lost a lot of weight. Still squeals, as far as I know. Haven’t lived in the area for well over 10 years now and that voice sticks with me.
Possibly the best-loved local TV personality in my area:
Joe Pinner, weatherman emeritus from WIS-TV 10, and former host of the eponymous kiddie show “Mr. Knozit.”
He has this booming Ted Baxter voice. However, unlike Baxter (or at least Ted Knight) Pinner is always “on.” Working a few blocks from WIS-TV, I have passed by him on the street on many occasions, and have sat in the same restaurant a number of times.
He’s always “on.” Even when he’s just talking to the person beside him, or at the same table, it’s still that loud booming voice.
Doesn’t really fit in with the OP, but he can be pretty annoying to be around IRL because of that.