That is one Long Ass Commercial

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You thought the commercials during your newscast were long, you ain't seen nothing yet.

Arby’s is airing a commercial on a Duluth station that will last 13 hours. 

When the ad finishes it will enter the Guinness Book of World Records, shattering the record for the longest television commercial of 60 minutes, held by the Nivea brand for a spot that ran in Switzerland in 2011.

It's a stunt by Arby's to promote its new Smokehouse Brisket Sandwich.

The company filmed a brisket being smoked for 13 hours at the smokehouse in Texas that cures Arby’s brisket, and using the same cooking duration, cut of meat and seasonings.

In the dialogue-free commercial, a brisket is placed in a smoker that has been fitted with a glass window and internal light, and it cooks on the screen in one uncut shot.

Finally, the brisket is removed from the smoker and Neville Craw, Arby’s corporate executive chef (only his arms and apron-clad torso are seen), slices off some and assembles the sandwich, which includes smoked Gouda cheese, crispy fried onions and barbecue sauce.

Of course the sandwich will look better than anything you ever actually get in the store. They never do.

H/T NY Times

She Looks Familiar....

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An old face will be popping up on WTKR (Norfolk) in a couple of weeks.  

Beverly Kidd anchored WTKR’s 5pm newscast for a few years in the late 90’s and now she's back.

Kidd is returning home to Norfolk, Virginia where she started her broadcasting career. Since leaving in 2001, Beverly has been the Evening Newscast Anchor and Health Reporter at KTVK in Phoenix, Arizona.

“I'm so blessed that I am able to work with a group who are not only my friends but some of the best journalists in the local TV business,” Beverly said.

“Beverly is a pro. She has built-in fans and she is excited about how NewsChannel 3 Takes Action and Get Results every day,” said Tina Luque, WTKR News Director.

Really? That is what the News Director said?

Kidd starts at the station on June 9th. 

Live from the Couch is Dead

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CBS owned WLNY is pulling the plug on their morning show.

"The couch" the two-hour show launched in July 2012 and featured hosts Carolina Bermudez and WCBS/Ch.2 meteorologist, John Elliott.

The show, which suffered from low ratings, languished in a competitive timeslot against powerhouses like “Good Morning America,” “Today” and local shows like Fox 5’s “Good Day New York” and WPIX’s “PIX Morning News.”

Staffers learned about the show’s demise shortly after Friday’s telecast ended. About five people, including Bermudez, have lost their jobs, station sources said.

A station rep declined to comment.

H/T NY Daily News

Signing off in Tampa

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Longtime Tampa Anchor John Wilson has announced his plans to retire from Fox O&O WTVT.

Wilson has spent 50 years in the TV news business, but says now is the tome to go. 

"It is time for me to make a graceful exit, and I will do it in a few months," he said during his weekly 'My View' segment on Friday.

He said he would have left TV earlier but he had a chance to work and even anchor alongside his son at WTVT. 

"I will step away from here in six months," he added Friday, "in November, just before Thanksgiving, and count my blessings."

Of course that also coincides with the end of the November book. But we're sure that is just a coincidence. 

Right?

Talent Being Pushed out at Cox Jacksonville Stations

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Insiders tell FTVLive that a number of on air staffers at WTEV/WAWS Action News Jacksonville have been informed that their contracts are not being renewed.

Sources tell FTVLive that 5 members of the on air staff have been told that their services will no longer be needed.

FTVLive contacted WTEV News Director Bob Longo for comment.  

Longo's station promos promise to give you every story with every DETAIL..... but he did not want to give details to FTVLive.

"Out of respect for our employees, we don't publicly discuss personnel matters," Longo told FTVLive. So, the station promises to report "every detail" as long as it doesn't involve their own.

God I love the communications business.

FTVLive is working our sources and will have more on the story in the future. 

WTEV/WAWS is owned by Cox. No word if other cuts are happening Cox properties. Earlier Today, FTVLive FIRST reported that KIRO News Director Bob Jordan announced that he was retiring from the Cox station next month. 

Man Busted for Posing as Weatherman to Pick up Chicks

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I don't know about you, but if I was going to pretend I was someone else online, I think i would pick someone other than a Davenport, Iowa Weatherman.

Cops busted 24-year-old Matt Wendt and charged him with two aggravated misdemeanor counts of identity theft.

Wendt is accused of impersonating Greg Dutra, Weather Anchor at KWQC in Davenport, on social media accounts.

Dutra says he was contacted by a woman who claimed she and Dultra had communicated through several messages online.

At that point Dutra called in the cops and they traced Wendt down and arrested him. 

Police say they knew the guy was a fake weatherman when he gave them the forecast for the next day and it was actually right.

Ha ha...we're kidding....sort of.

H/T Kevin Eck @TVSpy

Sweeping Up in San Antonio

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San Antonio's ABC affiliate KSAT-TV nearly swept the local news ratings and finished No. 1 in prime time during the just-completed May sweeps.

According to Nielsen numbers, KSAT continued its traditional ratings reign for newscasts in the morning (5 to 7 a.m.), at noon and 5 p.m., 6 p.m. and 10 p.m.

“We're really thrilled to continue in Jim Boyle's footsteps in delivering the news that connects with South Texas,” KSAT news director Bernice Kearney-Bonner said.

Boyle, a longtime news director at the station, died in March.

The station's one Achilles' heel is the 4 p.m. broadcast. Led by Ursula Pari, it continued to lag behind the Deborah Knapp-anchored “First at Four” on KENS-TV, which had a 5.5 rating to KSAT's 4.2. A ratings point equals 9,062 San Antonio-area households.

In other head-to-head news races, KENS finished second and WOAI-TV third.

However, in the late-news competition, KABB-TV's more youthful 9 p.m. news, co-anchored by Mike Valdes and Cynthia Lee (who left the station Wednesday), actually outdrew the 10 p.m. broadcast on WOAI, its more established Sinclair Broadcasting sister station. The Fox affiliate drew a 5.6 rating for its late newscast, KABB reported; WOAI, 4.6.

KSAT's signature 10 p.m. news hour — co-anchored by Steve Spriester and Isis Romero — was a big success story for the station. Its first half-hour not only beat all news competitors, but the second half walloped David Letterman's “Late Show” and Jimmy Fallon's “Tonight Show.”

More from the San Antonio Express News

No Olympics and Chicago Station Falls Back in the Ratings (Update)

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Unfortunately, they don't have a Winter Olympics in May....

WMAQ (Chicago) had a very good February book thanks to the Winter Games. But, without that the station has fallen back to a familiar spot in the numbers.

Behind WLS.

Chicago's blowtorch WLS was back in their usual spot at the top of the ratings.

 The station finished the May sweeps number 1 in all local news time periods from morning to night.

More on the Chicago Ratings from Robert Feder

Update: WGN Anchor Larry Potash emailed FTVLive to say that while WLS is on top in households in the AM news race, WGN's Morning News wins in the demos.

And this is why I hate posting ratings stories. LOL

Here's the email from Larry:

Love your website---great work.     Long-time reader, first time emailer:   maybe WLS is #1 in HH  but I’m not sure why that would matter.  As our industry defines  success by demos…. WLS is a distant second in the morning.

Fox News Anchor Had Just Left Rehab Facility Before Arrest

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When Police Arrested Fox News Anchor Gregg Jarrett at the airport in Minneapolis, they found gabapentin pills in his pocket, according to the report.

Gabapentin does not mix well with alcohol and is used as a anticonvulsant used to treat conditions ranging from epilepsy to restless leg syndrome, according to the U.S. National Library of Medicine. "Strange or unusual thoughts" and drowsiness are listed as potential side effects of the medication. Alcohol may add to the drowsiness, the Library of Medicine adds.

Police also found when they searched Jarrett's bag it was revealed he was recently released from an alcohol and chemical dependency treatment facility.

It appears that rehab stint didn't work very well. 

A Fox News spokeswoman said Jarrett, who has not been on the air since mid-April, is dealing with "serious personal issues" and his return to the air has yet to be determined.

H/T USA Today

CNN Staffer Claims he was Fired Because of his Clothes

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A gay ex-CNN staffer from Queens claims he was discriminated against and eventually fired for wearing extravagant outfits that included mariachi suits, yellow track suits and cowboy hats to work.

The NY Post reports that in a $65 million (Really? $65 Million) Brooklyn federal lawsuit filed Thursday, former CNN studio technician William Kane claims that a supervisor, John Silva, hated his taste in clothes and recommended that he transfer to the makeup or entertainment units.

Kane asserts that several on-air personalities — including Anderson Cooper and former talk show host Piers Morgan — objected to Silva’s treatment of Kane and rushed to defend his zeal for out-there fashion.

Kane said that Silva especially objected to a full mariachi suit — complete with sombrero — that he donned on set in October 2012.

The confrontation came after Kane officially informed Silva that he was gay after keeping his orientation a secret for 11 years at the network, the suit notes.

Silva told Kane that the Mexican ensemble was “too flamboyant for a male in our department.” Meanwhile, Kane said correspondents including Fareed Zakaria and Christiane Amanpour went wild for the getup, according to court papers.

Zakaria even tired on the sombrero and Amanpour tweeted out a picture with Kane saying: “¡ARRIBA! The lovely Billy with our studio crew arrived on set in style today.”

Kane said he was eventually booted from his work on studio shows before being fired last July.

A CNN rep said she hadn’t seen the suit but noted that Kane’s complaints to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission had been tossed.

Maybe if he dressed up as a blackfish, he would still be working there. 

Just saying.... 

Reporter Warns Neighbors As Fire Re-Ignites

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WTVG (Toledo) Reporter Tony Geftos was at the scene of the obligatory overnight house fire doing some live reports for the morning newscast.

The reporting got a bit more interesting when the fire flared back out.

Geftos ran to the neighboring houses and knocked on doors to alert people the fire was going again.

Let's go to the video:

Punking The Competition

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Yesterday, FTVLive showed you video of a guy drinking out of a flower vase behind a Harrisburg Reporter's live shot.

Now word comes that the guy that photobombed the WHTM live shot, worked across the street at WHP.

He has been identified as Frank Treese, a CBS 21 IT employee.

It was funny, but don't expect WHTM News Director Dave Jones to laugh about the incident.

"We prefer to focus on the story that we were there to cover," Jones said. "We don't want to take away from that content. It was unfortunate. But we are moving forward."

Oh come on Dave....it was funny.

Sit down and have a drink, someone pass the flower vase to Dave.