As it prepares for the Winter Olympics and the February sweeps, WESH 2 News debuted a new set, music and graphics on Monday. All get the changes get a big thumbs up here.

The new set, still residing in the front of the WESH newsroom, has a large screen as its centerpiece. Located behind the new anchor desk, the screen shows images of a rotating globe and the state of Florida. The gawd-awful Hearst-Argyle graphics have been ditched for ones that are much easier to read and look much more professional and contemporary. (Not sure if this is the new H&A company look -- if it's not, it should be!)

The recently remodeled Weather Plus weather center is still the same, but sports anchor Pat Clarke now has his own area and own big screen to the other side of the set.

Yes, it all looks very cool -- and WESH proudly showed off the set from all different angles during its early evening newscasts. But viewers don't tune in night after night to be wowed by pretty new furniture and monitors -- it's a newscast's content, anchors and reporters that will keep the customers coming back. WESH has a great platform during the Winter Olympics to get some sampling from new viewers and maybe lure back some old ones.

The new look is a giant step in the right direction and a maybe good excuse to give WESH another look. Let's see what happens.

>> Click here to see video and screen shots of the WESH 2 News changes

This is a little out of our ordinary Orlando-related TV postings, but I thought it was noteworthy: Digital Spy reports that Orlando boy-band creator Lou Pearlman is close to signing a deal with the BBC for the rights to bring the hit British show Top of the Pops to the U.S. The website said Pearlman, whose corporate HQ is now at the old Church Street Station complex downtown, is already in talks with Fox about the show. Whether O-Town will factor into the show remains to be seen. Click here for the full story.

An update on the WB-UPN-CW situation in O-Town:

Heard from a WRDQ insider that the now-independent station plans to actively pursue affiliation with the new CW Network. So, it's not a slam dunk that CW programming will end up on WKCF-WB 18. I would think that with its Orlando duopoly with WFTV-Channel 9 and its strong Cox ownership, Channel 27 could have an edge over Emmis-owned WKCF in landing the new network. Plus, isn't WKCF still up for sale?

And, as predicted, Fox-owned WRBW dropped the UPN logo out of its on-air graphics on Friday (see above). The former "UPN 65" now refers to itself as "WRBW 65." This follows the lead of other Fox-owned UPN affiliates that are now distancing themselves from the network that is leaving them high and dry. Plus, Broadcasting and Cable reported that Fox-owned UPN stations are scrapping February sweeps radio buys that had been intended to promote UPN programming. The stations also are not promoting network shows during their programming.

WKMG sports anchor Lee Goldberg has a new gig -- co-hosting a weekly radio show with Orlando Magic player Keyon Dooling. On Point with Keyon Dooling can be heard today and every Thursday from 3-4 p.m. on ESPN 1080 AM in Orlando and 1060 AM in Brevard County.

On Point is an interactive, question-and-answer format hosted by the Magic guard. He has hosted On Point throughout the Magic season.

The ramifications of the new CW Network continue. As you know the Fox-owned UPN stations in major markets like New York, Los Angeles and Chicago are being frozen out of the new TV network that will replace UPN and the WB. You didn't think Fox would just take this, did you?

Just a day after the news of the CW Network broke, Fox is already removing UPN branding from its owned stations. WWOR-UPN 9 in New York has dropped its UPN logo on-air, but still has it on its website. KCOP-UPN 13 in Los Angeles has removed the UPN icon from its logo on-air and on the web and now refers to itself as KCOP 13. (You can see the old and new KCOP logos up there on the right.)

So, it's likely just a matter of days -- perhaps hours -- before Orlando's Fox-owned WRBW-UPN 65 becomes just plain ol' Channel 65.

I must admit I never thought of this until I saw someone post about in on the RogerSimmons.com TV Talk Forum: What about WRDQ-Channel 27 becoming the new CW affiliate in Orlando?

I just assumed that the two former WB and UPN affiliates would be the ones to negotiate, but I must admit that if Cox wanted to make a bid for the new network's business, it could make things interesting with its independent station.

I still don't think WRDQ will get involved, but you never know!

Now that more information has been released about the new CW Network, we can nail down the changes in some of Florida's TV markets.

What happens in Orlando hasn't been announced, but it seems obvious to me that WKCF-WB18 becomes CW-18 and Fox-owned WRBW-UPN 65 becomes an independent (or maybe part of a Fox start-up network, hmm?).

Anyway, here's how the network moves shake down in the Sunshine State, with those switches that are confirmed and those that are my predictions:

Tampa - Market #12
WB Station: WTTA-WB 38, owned by Sinclair
UPN Station: WTOG-UPN44, owned by CBS
CW Station: WTOG (confirmed)

Miami-Fort Lauderdale - Market #17
WB Station: WBZL-WB 39, owned by Tribune Co.
UPN Station: WBFS-UPN 33, owned by CBS.
CW Station: WBZL (confirmed)

Orlando-Daytona Beach-Melbourne - Market #20
WB Station: WKCF-WB 18, owned by Emmis
UPN Station: WRBW-UPN 65, owned By Fox
CW Station: WKCF (my prediction)

West Palm Beach-Fort Pierce - Market #38
WB Station: WTCN-WB15, owned by CBS
UPN Station: WTVX-UPN 34, owned by CBS
CW Station: WTVX (confirmed)

Jacksonville-Brunswick - Market #52
WB Station: WJWB-WB 17, owned by Media General
UPN Station: None, airs part-time on WAWS-Fox 30, owned by Clear Channel
CW Station: WJXT (my prediction). Betcha didn't see that one coming?! Well, think about it. OK, if not WJXT, then WJWB.

Pensacola-Mobile - Market # 62
WB Station: WBPG-WB 55, owned by Lin
UPN Station: WJTC-UPN 44, owned by Clear Channel
CW Station: WJTC (my prediction). A make-up to CC for moving CW to WJXT in Jax.

Fort Meyers-Naples - Market #66
WB Station: WTVK-WB 6, owned by Acme
UPN Station: WEVU-UPN 8, owned by Caloosa
CW Station: WTVK (my prediction). Acme and former WB are still tight.

Tallahassee-Thomasville - Market #109
WB Station: WTLH-Fox 49 (broadcasts WB on digital sub-channel), owned by Pegasus
UPN Station: WCTV-CBS 6 (broadcasts UPN on digital sub-channel), owned by Gray
CW Station: None (my prediction)

Panama City -- Market #157
WB Station: WBIF-WB 51, owned by Equity Broadcasting
UPN Station: WBIF-UPN 51, owned by Equity Broadcasting
CW Station: WBIF (my prediction)

Gainesville -- Market #162
WB Station: WGFL-CBS 53 (WB on cable 10), owned by Pegasus
UPN Station: WGFL-CBS 53 (UPN on cable 11), owned by Peagsus
CW Station: WGFL (my prediction)

Just breaking on Wall Street ....
CBS Corp. and Time Warner have agreed to cease operations of their UPN and WB Networks, and they will create a new network called The CW.

What does this mean for Orlando, where UPN airs on Fox-owned WRBW-Channel 65 and the WB airs on Emmis-owned WKCF-Channel 18? It appears that CBS and Time Warner are freezing out Fox in this new deal (Tribune Co. affiliates in New York, L.A. and Chicago get the new network, leaving Fox-owned UPN stations out in the cold in those cities.) So, I'm guessing the new network will be on WKCF, leaving WRBW to become an independent.

More to come ...

Could it be that O-Town viewers are about to fall behind in Doppler technology? Holy Vipir, say it ain't so!

VARTV.com reports that Belo Broadcasting's WVEC-ABC 13 in Hampton Roads-Newport News-Norfolk, Va -- in market No. 42, for crying out loud! -- is about to debut its "high-definition" radar soon, possibly in time for the Super Bowl. VARTV says, "The high definition is referring to the WeatherLab's PC video card being able to output 1280 lines of resolution (downrezzed to 525 lines for analog/NTSC). The new real-time NEXRAD is 8-bit, with 256 levels of intensity. Their current radar is 4-bit with 16 levels of intensity (light green, medium green, dark green, yellow, etc); the same as the NEXRAD images on the National Weather Service website."

KSN in Wichita, Kan., has high definition radar -- and disses its competitors for having inferior equipment. I'm sure weather is as important there as it is here. Don't we deserve high definition Doppler?

And speaking of weather ...

• Not sure if you noticed, but WFTV tweaked its weather graphics late last week. It's most noticeable on the daily and 5-day forecasts. Overall, thumbs-up -- very clean looking, and it displays information very well.
• A couple of former O-Town weather guys are getting new gigs. Brad Nitz, formerly of WESH and most recently at WJXT in Jacksonville and MSNBC, is reportedly heading to Atlanta's WSB. And another former WESH guy, Jim Clarke, who was the chief met at the NBC affiliate in Fort Meyers, is now freelancing for WINK, the CBS affiliate in southwest Florida.

John Sears, the former news director at WOFL-Fox 35, has been hired as the chief for CNN's new Gulf Coast bureau in New Orleans, CNN announced.

"John offers a breadth of leadership and management skills geared specifically for the day-to-day grind of a bureau such as CNN Gulf Coast," said CNN VP Jack Womack. "In addition, John, having managed CNN affiliates in the past, already boasts a solid knowledge of the daily and long-term newsgathering and production needs of CNN."

Said Sears: "My new role enables me to plan and execute editorial strategies at the top level of broadcast journalism. I am especially excited about the chance to serve as the Gulf Coast bureau's first chief and the opportunity to shape CNN's coverage in the area, particularly in the wake of Hurricane Katrina."

After he left Fox 35, Sears was spotted in the WESH-2 newsroom, reportedly helping New Orleans sister station WDSU with its Hurricane Katrina coverage when that station was running its news department of of O-Town.

Former WOFL reporter Anne Craig, who spent five years in O-Town before heading off Fox New York City flagship WNYW, needs to pay more attention to those Seinfeld reruns. She had an on-air run-in with the Big Apple's legendary Soup Nazi.

According to New York's Daily News, Craig while broadcasting live from a new soup shop owned by Al Yeganeh, who inspired Seinfeld's Soup Nazi character. She dared to go behind the soup counter, which set off Yeganeh. "Did someone wake up on the wrong side of the soup bowl this morning?" she asked him.

Later, she uttered the words "Soup Nazi," which brought "the already simmering soup man to a full boil," the paper reported. He then tore into Craig, calling her a bitch on-air and using the F-word, which apparently didn't get on air.

"No soup for you!" he didn't yell, but that would have made a great close for the story.

WOFL isn't the only station in the Fox family that has problems with satellite trucks. Just take a look at this photo. It was taken last week during the bank robbery attempt/hostage standoff in Osceola County.

A website visitor sent it along, explaining that Tampa Fox O&O WTVT dispatched its satellite truck over to cover the story, but it broke down two blocks from the media site. So, a tow truck was called in. The Fox truck spent the night covering the story while hooked up to the tow truck, then was hauled back to Tampa for repairs.

You may remember the Fox 35 satellite truck previously has been involved in a head-on collision with a large bird on the Bee Line (now Beachline), then later its mast was still up when it left a news scene in Brevard -- pulling down power lines and severely damaging the truck.

As for the WTVT satellite truck/tow truck team coverage, our e-mailer noted maybe Fox needs a new slogan: "Fair and Precariously Balanced."

In what surely would be his most difficult mission, can 24's Jack Bauer save Fox 35? The WOFL folks think so, deciding to mimic the start of the drama in the start of their 10 p.m. news on Monday night. Complete with the split screens, the digital clock counting down and the accompanying sound effects, Fox 35 tried to piggy-back on the hype of the show by changing the traditional start of its newscast. (Watch the opening here.)

Of course, 24 is a fictional drama -- and Fox's late newscast is just drama, albeit cheesy. The 24 takeoff previewed these stories on Fox 35's News at 10:

• "Fake firepower for very real heists. Why are crooks making the change from real guns?"
• "Liftoff for Pluto tomorrow. Should you worry about radiation on board?"
• "What does it feel like to be attacked by a great white and live?"
• "Plus, a vampire for governor?"

Stations have tried to carry over themes from movies, miniseries and TV shows to their newscasts before, but I must say that Fox 35's presentation on Monday took this concept to a new level.

Fox's late newscast has been very fluffy lately. The station is taking a very soft approach to the news, as you can see from the lineup above. On one hand, I think it's good that WOFL is trying to do something different. On the other, I cringe when I think that if these are the stories Fox 35 is doing now, what will they be covering for sweeps?

Maybe the newscast will start with Cale, Shelly and Glenn singing ala American Idol. Too bad Simon wouldn't be nearby to tell them what he thinks of their newscasts' direction.

A couple of local events involving local news anchors:

On Saturday, local tennis legend Bob Opsahl of WFTV is set to defend his title against two media challengers at the Star Island Tennis Classic in Kissimmee. The Orlando Sentinel's Scott Maxwell reports that Opsahl will take on WKMG chief meteorologist Tom Sorrells and WESH I-Team reporter Greg Fox. For information on the tournament or Saturday's matches involving the media, call 407-997-5155.

And registration is under way for Wendy Chioji's Run Around the Universe 5K run at Universal Orlando on Feb. 4. The WESH anchor, who is a running machine, has her name attached to the event, which benefits the Universal Orlando Foundation. Click here for more info.

In response to our posting earlier this week about Mark McEwen, a WKMG insider says the morning anchor likely will not return to work until March at the earliest. The source said McEwen is still undergoing rehabilitation from his November stroke.

We wish McEwen a speedy recovery and hope he returns soon. But his extended absence, we're told, has WKMG pondering options -- especially for the upcoming February sweeps. With WESH overhauling its morning show, Channel 6 had a good opportunity to try to grab some of Channel 2's audience. But Local 6's morning anchor team of McEwen and Jacquie Sosa hasn't been together on the air in months -- first due to Sosa's maternity leave, then McEwen's stroke. Hard to build an audience when your anchors aren't in front of the cameras.

Gerald Reznick, who has anchored the weekend news on WKMG for more than five years, is leaving the desk. Reznick told the Orlando Sentinel's Scott Maxwell that he has been diagnosed with Stargardt's disease, a form of macular degeneration which has made it very difficult to read scripts and the promtper. He has even tried to just memorize his script, but that didn't work too well. Reznick, who could eventually go blind, will become a weekday reporter at the station.

Fox 35 morning meteorologist Jim Van Fleet's second career is really taking off. He's already established himself as one on the top morning TV guys in Orlando, and now he's taking on the music world.

Van Fleet and his band, the Reign, have been playing local venues and in the past year have opened for national country music stars such as Gretchen Wilson, Chris Cagle, Joe Nichols, Darryl Worley, Mark Chesnutt, Aaron Tippin, Andy Griggs, and Emerson Drive. The band is also the 2005 Central Florida "Country Battle of the Bands" Champion.

And during the past week, Jim Van Fleet and the Reign (great name for a weather guy's band, huh?) were tearing up the competition during the daily "showdown" between artists on K92FM. But if you haven't caught Van Fleet's band in person or on the radio, you can own their CD. They have a site on CD Baby where you can order.

Was switching channels this evening and noticed on WESH that Jim, Wendy and Co. were not in their usual environment. Looks like Channel 2 has moved them to a temporary set. Why? Maybe there's something new being built -- to be unveiled when NBC's Winter Olympic coverage from Italy starts in February. I'll keep you posted on what I hear.

The Golf Channel, the Orlando-based cable outlet devoted to badly dressed guys chasing around little white balls with clubs, scored a hole in one Wednesday.

The PGA's new TV deal was announced, and FOR THE NEXT 15 YEARS all Thursday-Friday tournament coverage outside the majors will air on The Golf Channel. That's right -- the channel's deal with the PGA runs from 2007 to 2022. The channel also gets rights to full four-round coverage of the first three PGA events of the season.

The Golf Channel was started in 1995 and now reaches 70 million homes. (Uh, that number is likely to grow now, I would think.)

A 10-hour standoff between police and two would-be bank robbers with hostages in Kissimmee was big news on Orlando's TV stations Tuesday. Although I didn't catch all of the coverage, what I did see was WESH jumping in and staking claim to the story.

WESH looked to have the best and most thorough coverage, including pre-empting Fear Factor in prime time to wait for a sheriff's department news conference to confirm that one of the would-be robbers had been killed, the other had been taken into custody and the remaining hostage had been freed.

In addition to its live break-ins, WESH ran a crawl at the bottom of the screen during its coverage updating those just tuning in on the latest developments. I found that very helpful. It also did a good job of labeling its video to let viewers know what was live and what was taped.

I didn't see it, but one poster on the Orlando TV Talk Forum board says WFTV appeared to show the body of one of the robbers who was shot and killed by a sniper.

Former WFTV reporter Ryan Serber has died after a long battle with brain cancer. He was 37.

Serber, who left Channel 9 in 2000 to be an anchor at WUPW (Fox) in Toledo, had a seizure in 2003 that led to the discovery of a brain tumor. He spent most of 2003 undergoing treatment, but he was able to return to work in 2004.

WUPW President and General Manager Ray Maselli said in a statement, "Ryan was not only a great guy, but he was also a very hard working anchorman who never wanted to settle for anything but the best. Our condolences go out to his wife and family."

A memorial service will be held for Serber on Wednesday in Toledo. WUPW has invited those who wish to express a tribute to Serber to do so by e-mailing memories@foxtoledo.com for posting on the FOX Toledo website. Serber's brother in-law has created a website for the Ryan Serber Fund that you can post to as well.

After suffering a stoke in November, Local 6 morning and noon anchor Mark McEwen continues to improve but no date has been set for his return to the air, the station says.

McEwen, who spent 16 years in morning TV with CBS before coming to Orlando, had the stroke in mid-November. At the time, the station said he would not be back until at least January.

WKMG said McEwen's doctors still expect a full and complete recovery. McEwen's spirits are said to be good and have been bolstered by the nearly 1,000 e-mails, cards and letters he has received from Local 6 viewers. You can send him an e-mail at mmcewen@local6.com

TVSpy.com and NewsBlues.com report that former WOFL helicopter reporter Chris Cristi is joining Fox flagship WNYW in New York City as the evening chopper reporter. He began his reporting career in Orlando at Fox 35 and later was at Fox Miami affiliate WSVN as a morning helicopter reporter. In the Big Apple, Christi will fly Fox 5's new SkyFox HD aircraft.

Yeah, you're not seeing things. The site does look different. I'm in the process of rolling out a redesign of the site and an update of content. It's kind of like the 408 right now -- construction is making things a bit messy but you're still able to navigate it. I hope you'll like the new look and new content to come.

If you have Dish Network, there's a chance -- just a chance, mind you -- that you could lose WESH programming. Dish is already in a dispute with Channel 2's parent company over Lifetime and the Lifetime Movie Network. The satellite provider dropped those two Hearst channels on Jan. 1 because it said the two sides couldn't agree on a price.

Now comes word from the excellent DBSTalk.com site that Dish has taken initial steps to throw up a slate in the place of 31 Hearst-Argyle stations if the dispute escalates. Just guessing here when this might come to a head, but aren't there a couple of big programming events on a lot of H-A stations in February? Yeah, the Super Bowl (ABC) and Olympics (NBC). Right now it's just all speculation -- and let's hope it stays that way. Here's link to the thread.

With the Winter Olympics coming to NBC, WESH-Channel 2 has announced plans for a nightly 30-minute show during the Games. The Olympic Zone will be broadcast from Universal Orlando -- a bit of NBC-Universal synergy for the local peacock affiliate. Wendy Chioji and Pat Clarke will host the nightly show, while anchor Jim Payne provides stories on location in Torino, Italy.

This sort of nightly Olympics show was pioneered at WESH's Hearst-Argyle sister station, KCRA-Channel 3, in Sacramento during the Athens Games. It earned such good response (i.e. ratings and ad dollars) that other NBC affiliates are emulating the Olympic strategy this time around.

WESH has also launched an Olympics section on its website.

One of the few remaining Fox 35 "originals" who helped launch the station's news 8 years ago has left the building. Reporter Beth Sherman is the latest person to leave WOFL. We hear she's headed to Tampa for freelance work and to sit out a 60-day non-compete clause. But, who knows, she might end up back in O-Town in the future. I think the only on-air folks left at Fox 35 who helped start the news ops are David Martin and Eric Clinkscales.

Sherman's departure creates yet another vacancy at the station, which earlier had 16 positions open in news. One of those may have belonged to reporter Marissa Teiada, who we're told also left the station within the past month.

WESH has found an interesting way to reach some new viewers -- it's called a Lynxcast. The station now has a deal with Lynx, metro Orlando's bus system, to provide 5-minute WESH 2 News minicasts that will be broadcast around the clock on the buses. Pretty cool idea.

Ask anyone who covers news in the Sunshine State -- it's something that becomes clear rather quickly. Florida is like no place else. Palm Beach Post reporter Eliot Kleinberg has already written two books, "Weird Florida" and "Weird Florida II," about how bizarre things are here -- and he has a a third version already in the works.

He has plenty of material to include from 2005, as the Associated Press recapped in its year-end story (picked up by CNN) about our slightly off-center state. Among the unusual occurrences noted by AP was the "I love you" interview WFTV's Josh Wilson had with state Sen. Gary Siplin. Noted AP: "Love, not rage, was on the mind of state Sen. Gary Siplin when a television news reporter asked the Orlando Democrat about a questionable transfer in his campaign account. A smiling Siplin hugged the reporter and said 'I love you' three dozen times."

Wilson's name didn't make it into the story, but heck, he deserves credit anyway. Here's the full AP story that will take you down a very bizarre memory lane for 2005. And here's a link to the lovefest video.