Kent Shocknek Retires: Here's What He Should Do Next

Local TV news won't be the same. Especially coverage of the next earthquake and car chase. KCBS/KCAL announced Monday that Kent Shocknek, who now anchors KCAL's primetime news, is retiring:

Longtime KCBS (Channel 2) and KCAL-TV (Channel 9) news anchor Kent Shocknek today announced his plans to retire at the end of September 2014.

A veteran of more than 36 years in television news, Shocknek has been a fixture in Los Angeles for 31 years and is believed to have anchored more hours of news on local television than anyone else in the history of the market.

The first and longest-serving morning TV news anchor in Los Angeles, Shocknek was the original anchor of “Today in L.A.,” which debuted in 1986. He joined CBS 2 in 2001 and anchored morning and evening newscasts for the station until November 2013, when he became co-anchor of sister station KCAL 9’s top-rated 8 and 10 p.m. newscasts.

Earlier this year, the Los Angeles City Council honored Shocknek for his decades of service by proclaiming January 10 “Kent Shocknek Day.”

“For years at CBS 2 and KCAL 9, I’ve had the pleasure and privilege of working with the best producers in morning TV; and more recently, the best prime-time anchor team anywhere,” Shocknek said. “Now it’s time to catch up with the people I love, and check out some places I’ve always wanted to go.”

“From Leslie Moonves on down, I thank everyone at CBS for their friendship and support. Southern Californians are the best neighbors in the world, and I will be forever grateful to them for inviting me into their homes for so long.”

“Kent Shocknek is a Los Angeles TV news institution,” said Steve Mauldin, President and General Manager, CBS 2 and KCAL 9. “He’s a consummate professional who has distinguished himself as an outstanding breaking news anchor with an encyclopedic knowledge of the history of Southern California.”

As I mentioned to CBS' Kelly Kahl yesterday, I do hope someone now hires Kent to anchor the Car Chase Channel, an idea I think we all agree is too obvious not to happen.

Now... classic Kent, the infamous time he jumped under his anchor desk, as immortalized by David Letterman:

Local TV News: KCAL Primetime and KCBS Morning Shows Swap Anchors

In an unusual swap, KCAL/9's 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. primetime news anchors Sharon Tay and Rick Garcia, as well as meteorologist Evelyn Taft,are now heading to sister station KCBS/2 to anchor that station’s weekday 4:30-7:00 a.m. and 11-11:30 a.m. newscasts. The move starts right in the middle of sweeps -- beginning Monday, November 18. It's a return to the morning shift for Tay, who spent many years in Southern California anchoring KTLA's early morning newscasts.

On the flip side, KCBS morning anchors Kent Shocknek and Suzie Suh will take over the KCAL 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. news slots now vacated by Tay and Garcia. Meterologist Rich Fields will join them on those newscasts.

So essentially Tay and Garcia are swapping nights for mornings, while Shocknek and Suh are moving from early to late duty.

KCBS/KCAL president and general manager Steve Mauldin made the announcement today. The move appears to be part of a plan to strengthen KCBS' morning news performance -- a daypart the station has struggled in forever. (KCBS isn't helped by the fact that CBS has never had a strong national morning show.)

"Sharon, Rick and Evelyn are a proven winning combination," Mauldin said. “They bring a tremendous mix of experience, insight and personality to every newscast and they know what it takes to achieve success in morning news. We are confident in their ability to help us grow our audience during the morning news daypart in the same way they’ve given us a big lift during primetime."

According to KCAL, "since Tay, Garcia and Taft began working together in August 2010, KCAL 9 ranks first in viewers among newscasts in the highly competitive 10 p.m. hour and has been No. 1 during seven of the last nine major sweep periods. And since the beginning of the new television season on September 23, the weeknight edition of KCAL 9 NEWS at 10 P.M. continues to rank first among local newscasts in the time period with an average of 160,000 viewers – up 28 percent versus comparable dates last year."

KCBS morning traffic reporter Stephanie Simmons will continue in the daypart. As for moving the KCBS morning crew to KCAL, Mauldin said: "Kent Shocknek is second to none when it comes to anchoring breaking news events. Suzie Suh has been a rising star for us and successfully handled every assignment we have given her. And Rich Fields is among the most respected and charismatic meteorologists in Southern California. We feel great about having such an accomplished, well-rounded and likable trio joining our 9 p.m. anchors Sylvia Lopez and Leyna Nguyen to give us a primetime anchor team that will continue to uphold KCAL’s tremendous primetime news legacy."

In other KCBS/KCAL news, KCBS weeknight 5 p.m. and 11 p.m. news anchors Pat Harvey and Paul Magers will also now anchor the station's 6 p.m. newscasts, currently anchored by Garcia, beginning November 18.

Los Angeles Plays Itself, "FlashForward" Edition

Now THAT'S what I call a Sig Alert on the 110.

As many have noted through the years, Hollywood loves to destroy Los Angeles. TV is getting into the act this season, starting with ABC's new sci-fi adventure "FlashForward," which launched last week.

"FlashForward" begins with the entire world blacking out for a little more than 2 minutes. When they awake, the world is in chaos: Planes have crashed, accidents are everywhere and fires have been started. Because the show takes place in Los Angeles, we get a close-up look at the aftermath in downtown, where the show's main characters had been staking out a suspected terrorist.

I'm excited to see how they use Los Angeles as a character in future episodes. For now, here are a few shots from the show's first episode. Above, here's the view looking south, down the 110.


Glancing north, above 110, with downtown on fire. Even a plume of smoke wafts out of City Hall.


FBI agent Mark Benford (Joseph Fiennes) attends an AA meeting held inside the old Fred Harvey restaurant at Union Station. And yes, for those of you playing at home, THIS is where Maria and I had our wedding reception in 2002!


Our heroes on a stakeout, right underneath the Gold Line tracks in Chinatown. And yes, that's a billboard for Oceanic Airlines -- the fictional airliner from "Lost" -- in the background.


Their location, from the other side. That's the stairs to the Gold Line's Chinatown station behind them.


Kent Shocknek?!?! This is bizarre for two reasons: (1) Kent is the morning anchor on CBS' KCBS-Channel 2. "FlashForward" is an ABC show. And (2) It's Kent Shocknek!! (BTW, check out Kent's IMDB page here -- the man has made quite a lucrative career out of moonlighting as a fake news anchor for TV and film.)


Things aren't looking good on Broadway, in front of the Orpheum and the Broadway Bar.


Yep, that's the Disney Hall on fire back there (and it looks like the Dorothy Chandler isn't faring much better, further to the right). For all you jury junkies out there, that's the parking garage, in front of the Disney, where you store your car before reporting for duty.
But what's the deal with the fake skyscraper behind Disney Hall? Some set designer decide the view wasn't exciting enough?


The City of Los Angeles' Department of Water and Power gets a logo makeover for the purpose of "FlashForward." Here's the real logo below:



MEANWHILE, you say you enjoyed watching Los Angeles get destroyed on "FlashForward," but you want more? Here's a promo shot from ABC's upcoming "V," in which massive alien ships hover over the world's biggest cities -- including L.A. (And if that's still not enough, NBC's upcoming post-apocalyptic "Day One" also takes place in L.A.)