THE debut of weatherman John Bolaris yesterday on CBS/Ch. 2 was a lot more low-key than his departure from the NBC station in Philadelphia the evening before Thanksgiving.
Bolaris, 43, is Ch. 2’s new weeknight weatherguy on the 4:30, 5, 5:30 and 11 p.m. newscasts. A native of Long Island, he formerly worked at Ch. 2 from 1987 to 1990, then went to Philly for 12 years.
“Welcome back from being here 13 years ago,” Dana Tyler said awkwardly (and inaccurately) as she and Ernie Anastos greeted Bolaris on the 5 o’clock news yesterday.
“Back home,” Bolaris replied, “[and] hopefully to stay.”
That was the extent of the banter between the weatherman and the anchors as Bolaris delivered the weather data and forecast as if he’d been doing it everyday of his life, which he has been, only not around here.
Bolaris was apparently so popular back in Philly that his old station devoted almost the entire half-hour of his last newscast Nov. 27 to saluting him and his greatness.
I happened to be in Philly that evening, and came upon this unseemly display as I searched in vain for real news at 11 o’clock.
Hopefully, John’s gotten all those tear-filled Philly farewells out of his system. From what I saw yesterday, it looks like he’s ready to go to work.
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Hey, Robert De Niro, analyze this: Your stint as guest-host on “Saturday Night Live” sucked.
It’s official, De Niro fans – the once-great actor’s career has officially gone down the tubes now that he’s guest-hosted one of the worst editions of “SNL” in the show’s entire miserable history.
I had high hopes for De Niro on “SNL” this past weekend, but the first couple of sketches were so pathetic that I bailed after about a half-hour. And don’t call me up today complaining that I missed the best stuff by tuning out. I know better – it could only have gotten worse.
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I love overseas newscasts, but the language barrier is a real problem.
Soon, however, that obstacle will be eliminated when WNYE/Ch. 25 adds English subtitles to the foreign-language newscasts it imports from Italy, Poland and Greece (although the Greeks have yet to OK the plan).
The subtitled newscasts – along with a newly added subtitled Russian newscast – should begin appearing nightly in March. WNYE, which is licensed to the New York City Board of Education, already airs a subtitled French newscast.
The English-language enhancements are part of an ongoing overhaul of the station under the supervision of Ned Kandel, a producer of kids’ shows such as “Who’s Afraid of the Dark?” who came to WNYE a year ago with a mandate to remake the place.
Recently, he’s added a number of new shows, including a “Jeopardy-style quiz show for high schoolers plus a showcase for student-made documentaries. The schedule’s on WNYE’s Web site, wnye.nycenet.edu/