To much fanfare, Channel 3 unveiled its new high-definition newscast and set on Monday night.
"This is an extraordinary day for Sacramento-area television," KCRA President Elliott Troshinsky said in a statement.
The station, of course, went into full branding mode, repeating the initials "HD" almost as many times as it does "Live Triple Doppler." The station even had one of its best reporters, Lynsey Paulo, hyping the technology like an infomercial huckster.
Hype aside, this is, in fact, an innovation for the Sacramento market. If News10, Channel 13 or Fox40 had unveiled it first, those stations certainly would've hyped it, too. Then again, if you don't own an HD set - and have an HD hookup - you won't notice anything different.
But that didn't stop main anchors Dave Walker and Lois Hart from touting the innovation between real news stories. Walker kept talking about how the anchors now have "belly button" marks on their desk to show them where to sit. If they were to move into the wrong position, apparently, the HD camera angles would explode or something. (Frankly, I stopped paying attention when Dave mentioned his belly button - TMI, folks.)
Now, about the new set: it's nice and all. Sleek. A mix of blue background and wood paneling. But when they go to a shot of Dave and Lois, the all-blue background with the swirling "whooshes" gives me flashbacks to Channel 13's too-blue fishbowl background, which Channel 13 eventually altered by adding some red.
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