A Happy New Year With Stephanie Edwards
Three years ago I wrote a post about Stephanie Edwards being bumped from the KTLA Rose Parade broadcast booth. Stephanie appeared to be the victim of ageism and sexism when her older longtime broadcast colleague Bob Eubanks was given a much younger new female cohost. To add insult to injury, Stephanie's demotion left her standing literally out in the rain, doing "color commentary" from the sidewalk.
Little did I know that that post -- and other Edwards posts which followed -- would bring this blog some of its heaviest traffic. Nothing makes the Sitemeter spin like Stephanie Edwards. :) This post contains some of the Edwards coverage which has appeared here over the past three years.
Today all is right with the world as KTLA asked Stephanie to return to the broadcast booth. It's the most entertaining Rose Parade broadcast in years, as Stephanie reels off one wisecrack after another. Stephanie's erstwhile booth replacement, Michaela Pereira, is broadcasting from the sidewalk today, and Stephanie noted that Michaela "is having more fun than I did three years ago," and then one of the women cracked "But we're over that now..."
It took a few years, but I'm glad KTLA did the right thing. When the day finally comes for this broadcast team to leave the Rose Parade booth -- hopefully many years from now -- Stephanie and Bob should retire as a team.
In related news, the Los Angeles Times has an interesting opinion column evaluating the impact of TV coverage on the actual parade. (I attended the parade once as a teenager...former President Gerald Ford was the Grand Marshal.)
USC meets Penn State at the Rose Bowl later today. Fight on!
posted by Laura @ 8:32 AM
6 Comments:
That was a really interesting article in the Times. It was a tradition to watch the parade in my house ever since we got a TV back in the 50's. I too have been once - back when I was a teen. I was thinking the parade was shorter this morning when it ended at 10 AM. I was thinking, "didn't it use to go to 10:30?" I have never watched the network coverage. Hosts were lame and too many commercial interruptions. Also, I think these prefab openings are silly - especially today. Disney did a great one a couple of years ago to celebrate their 50th.
Regarding Stephanie and Bob - so great having them back together and she was her usual witty self. I wasn't too impressed with the actual coverage. Not sure if it was the person calling the shots at KTLA or the parade organizers or both. Just not up to their usual standards, especially sound wise. One float, City of Anaheim, just flew past the camera. And KTLA only briefly showed the final float from a distance!
Anyway, another year - another parade. Here's to keeping Stephanie and Bob around as long as THEY want to be there.
I agree the sound was really bad today, Stephanie. When the Marine Band was playing, they couldn't really be heard, but the mike was picking up music from somewhere else.
Best wishes,
Laura
The most noticeable thing today was how lousy the sound was. I flipped between ABC, NBC and KTLA and the KTLA broadcast was the only one that didn't have a clear audio of the bands — as though the sound was coming from the bleachers, not the street. And they spent very little time on the bands.
As for the ban(d)ter, I am utterly indifferent to Edwards (who I recall as the Food Basket spokesperson 20+ years ago). Eubanks is as old as dirt and knows everyone, but neither Edwards nor Pereira contributed much to the substance of the event. If anything, my hat is off to Pereira: it sounds like she rolled up her sleeves and was on the front lines, which is not something a demoted anchor usually is willing to do.
If you think it's important to have Edwards as a symbol, fine. but overall the show reminded me of one of those radio shows where there's too much time spent on DJs spouting off and not enough listening to the music.
I am so thrilled to have Stephanie Edwards back and to have her and Bob Eubanks as a team. Even though they didn't seem to speak as much and even though they were barely shown on camera, it was just comforting and nostalgic to have them there. I think Stephanie has a great personality and voice and I really enjoyed getting to experience a bit of her to start the new year. I'll take Stephanie Edwards slow creep into older age over a zillion interchangeable younger female newscasters. Good job KTLA for knowing a good thing when you see and hear it! Congrats Stephanie. You are worth every cent they paid you!
It was great seeing and hearing Stephanie Edwards on the KTLA coverage. I remember watching her co-host Ralph Story's AM in the 70's. Ralph was a terrific TV host and Stephanie is a deserving successor as a local TV icon. Her humor and personality bring an extra sparkle to this local event. Michaela will do just fine sitting with the Cal-Poly gang. They're a great bunch. My daughter has worked on the Cal-Poly float for three years. I've met some of the team and they are smart, talented and very hard working. They would make excellent story material for the
whole year.
I, too, was thrilled to see Stephanie and Bob back together as a team. But I would be almost as thrilled to get the name of the moisturizer she uses that appears to have miracle powers. She mentioned the name in an interview with KTLA. Anyone remember?
Linda
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