Bad news: "Entertainment Tonight" is moving to an earlier time on KARE 11. The good news: Weekend anchor Rena Sarigianopoulos and reporter/anchor fill-in Jana Shortal are co-anchoring a new broadcast at 6:30 p.m. on KARE 11.
"It's going to be great. I'm very, very excited," Sarigianopoulos said Monday. "Julie [Nelson] and Randy [Shaver] will do from 6 to 6:30, and Jana and I will do from 6:30 to 7 p.m."
This means that KARE 11 is going after some of those hungry newshounds now enjoying the extended 6 p.m. news on KSTP-TV, the only local station providing news from 6:30 to 7 p.m. (That KSTP news is so annoyingly alluring I sometimes forget to switch over to "ET"on KARE. How long before WCCO-TV joins the 6:30 p.m. spot, and moves "Wheel of Fortune" into outer space?) Sarigianopoulos said the new show will "be slightly different but still news. We're not going be doing 'Entertainment Tonight' or anything."
Bup, bup, bup. I told Sarigianopoulos she and Shortal were going to have to put a different twist on their news broadcast.
"I know, people will miss 'Entertainment Tonight,' " said Sarigianopoulos, "but I promise, Jana is very entertaining."
That's true! She is much less laconic than she once was on air. I hope Shortal does the sports segment at 6:30 because filling in as sports anchor is what helped people understand her style.
Wohlenhaus Part II
There simply aren't enough Wohlenhauses in the world for Dylan not to be related to KARE 11's former meteorologist Steve.
You may not remember Steve Wohlenhaus from the late '80s because station bosses forced him to use the stage name Sunny Haus.