Editor's Letter - September 2007

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Innovation vs. Tradition
This month I’ve been thinking a lot about succession. The natural order of things, how the young, fresh and new replace the old, wise and entrenched in most fields. Via a circuitous journey, that idea took me to Bette Davis.
    Yes, the great actress. She starred in a film that made a great impression on me when I first saw it many years ago in film school. Called “All About Eve,” it’s a backstage story about ambition and succession in Manhattan’s theater world of the 1930s. Davis plays Margo Channing, an aging and ruthless actress who supplants the reigning Broadway star with the help of a Svengali of a press agent, unctuously played by George Sanders … only in turn to be confronted by her biggest “fan,” Eve, played by Anne Baxter, who is secretly out to take Channing’s career and personal life. Ultimately, the film concludes with Marilyn Monroe, in one of her first roles, as Sanders’ newest, younger actress coming to replace Eve.
    I was reminded of this plot by our lead story this month, which addresses the future of local TV news. One morning not long ago I was groggily flipping through the morning news shows and came upon Chris Burrous at KOVR 13. He was riffing and calling up different “routers” and playing messages left on voicemail minutes before or reading email or calling up the morning’s viral YouTube video with cameras that bore in over his shoulder onto his browser screen as he poked his finger at the ’net. This was not the TV news of my youth. I was fascinated and am now hooked if I turn on the box between 5 a.m. and 7 a.m.
    On the other hand, when I turn on traditional nightly news looking to vegetate for a few minutes of mindless entertainment, the unpredictability of news wrapped in a show that is utterly predictable — there’s one station I turn to consistently: Dave Walker and Lois Hart on KCRA 3. They are the perennial ratings leaders. There’s simply something very comforting about them.
    It’s the classic confrontation between the Old Guard and the New Kid. It happens with gunfighters, and actresses, and home run champs and TV anchors. There’s an addicting energy to KOVR’s
remake, but the KCRA traditionalists are formidable competitors. Meanwhile, Burrous says his role models are … Dave and Lois.
    See for yourself. Go to our website and take a look at a video about Chris and Dave and Lois and their different styles. And for another view of a classic old guard, be sure to check out the exclusive portrait portfolio of local WWII vets inspired by Ken Burns’ upcoming documentary series, “The War.”

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