I’ve never liked going over there, anyway. And now that the Sherman-Minton Bridge won’t be carrying the 80,000 cars a day it usually takes back and forth, I won’t be going anywhere near the remaining bridges that take you to Indiana. From the looks of things, it would be faster to swim across.
Buzz on the Bridge closing — 1. It will increase the urgency for new bridge(s), with some claiming the whole thing a conspiracy foisted upon us by the Bridge forces to make the idea of paying a toll to get across the Ohio a little more palatable. I swear I heard Mandy Connell on WHAS this morning rationalizing about how it will be OK to pay a toll.
2. Best Excuse for Not Working Since Derby Week: Employees will be showing up late to work, and using traffic as an excuse. This will happen even with employees not affected by traffic.
3. Telecommuting: A two-hour commute to get 10 miles? We’re about to see if telecommuting is an option.
4. Businesses Hurt: There were a lot of empty restaurants in southern Indiana over the weekend.
But it sure gave local TV news stations materials for all this expanded coverage. WHAS-TV, which starts its 4 p.m. newscast today, did indeed come on the air at 4 a.m. this morning to get a head start on traffic, which I assume was pretty light at that hour.
And it’s a big day in local TV, but things don’t always go as planned. WLKY’s debut of Anderson Cooper was pushed back by U.S. Open tennis, so they’re airing Cooper’s debut on MeTV, WLKY’s digital channel. Which may upset some fans of ’80s TV. Check out Cindy Lamb’s piece on that.
For those who can’t get enough weather: WAVE-TV is ending its 24-hour weather channel, despite addings its fifth weather personality this weekend (Lauren Jones starts Saturday) and is airing Bounce TV, a new network targeting African-Americans, at that spot on the dial. Bounce is airing on Raycom stations with extra capacity. The station owner also launches American Now today (WAVE at 3) with stories from Raycom stations’ news departments.
Five New Shows on WDRB: Rego & Kelly at 9; Millionaire at 10; Dr. Phil at 3; and on Sept. 19 — Big Bang Theory at 7:30 and 30 Rock at 11:30. Quite an investment for Bill Lamb. Let’s see if it pays off.
Obviously, we must learn to say Mr. Friendly C: Ray Barker, best known for appearing in those lawyer ads on TV as Sir Friendly C, is the one who filed the original complaint against Judy Green and is going to seek her office. He’ll be entertaining. And Green’s supporters, who are praying for her and threatening her critics that God will get ’em. Actually, Rev. Charles Elliott warned that her case will be appealed to a “supreme power.” Give me a break. No one’s tipping their hand from the prosecution side, which may dismiss the case or carry on without the defendent.
Entourage-y: If you didn’t see it, you’ll be glad to know that in the Entourage season finale, Vince and E both got the girls, and Ari got back with his wife. And Turtle became a millionaire and Johnny Drama’s career took off.
