Dr. Neil announces retirement

[brucesw]

He made it official last night. The station will run a 30 minute special at 7:30 on the 31st, preceded by a 30 minute hurricane special featuring the Channel 11 weather team.

Sometimes a little boring and pedantic he changed TV weathercasting in Houston and I will miss him.

Interesting that apparently Giff Nielsen was left out of the loop and had not been told the announcement was forthcoming.

[editor]

Interesting that apparently Giff Nielsen was left out of the loop and had not been told the announcement was forthcoming.

I didn't see that in the video you linked to. Was it mentioned in the Chronicle?

[Pumapayam]

I didn't see that in the video you linked to. Was it mentioned in the Chronicle?

I will miss his 1980's flat top. . . and seeing his mug on HEB hurricane charts.

[stan the man]

I will miss his 1980's flat top. . . and seeing his mug on HEB hurricane charts.

Dr. Neil was marketed on Randalls charts, not HEB ones. HEB gets theirs from Channel 2. And from what I recall, Albertsons did 11's in the mid to late 90s, and Kroger was doing them for Doc in the early 90s.

[Pumapayam]

Dr. Neil was marketed on Randalls charts, not HEB ones. HEB gets theirs from Channel 2. And from what I recall, Albertsons did 11's in the mid to late 90s, and Kroger was doing them for Doc in the early 90s.

Damn, you are good!

Seeing as his retirement is so close to hurricane season, maybe he will still be featured this year. . . could be a collector edition then!

[Native Montrosian]

I'm kind of nervous - what if he was our totem against our getting a hurricane? After all, he came here after Alicia as the hurricane expert, and we haven't gotten a direct hit since....

Maybe his impending retirement is why Randall's hasn't put up the Dr. Neil cutout with the hurricane maps & coupons this year. The one last year at the Wilcrest/Westheimer Randall's had the map holder set really low so it looked like you were taking them out of his pants.

[brucesw]

I didn't see that in the video you linked to. Was it mentioned in the Chronicle?

When they went to Giff for the sports segment - or maybe at the end of the sports segment, Giff said something about not knowing and ad libbed a line about being good to work with Doc all these years. Earlier Greg and Lucy didn't seem surprised by the announcement.

[pestofan]

I wish him well. The guy always had credibility in my eyes given his prior work at the Nat'l Hurricane Center. Wasn't perfect in his forecast (no one is) but I could tell that he knew what he was talking about. Personally I found his weather segment at times too drawn out (kudo's to Frank B. on Ch. 2 for doing an excellent job of packing lots of pertinent info into a quick segment) but appreciated his attempts to explain and go into detail.

Too bad that Ch. 11 is replacing him with a buffoon. Anyone who has to resort to ridiculous gimmicks like a meaningless "Norman's Number" is a failure.

A shame that local news around here is so pathetic these days. The passing of Ron Stone just highlights how far they have sunk. What an unintended contrast it was in the tribute segments between the genuine aura and professionalism of Stone and the overdone fake earnest style of Bill Balleza (though I certainly thank and commend them for attempting to memorialize Mr. Stone.) A calculated phony earnestness that Ch. 11 news has also adopted, an annoying schtik along with their inserting "We are learning/we have learned/we are watching/we are monitoring/we we we" at the start of every story, theatrical Sher Minh Chow, and the cut-n-paste folksy phrasing so many of their reporters attempt. Ch. 13's odious Ted Oberg is the worst about that, a bad attempt at Jimmy Stewart/Abe Lincoln down home style as forced as the bogus Whataburger cornpone guy. Yeah, yeah, we Texans surely all talk like that, have longhorns on our Cadillac's hood, and herd our cows with helicopters while checking on our Back 40 oil wells. Those consultants sure do know us... These reporters are just trying to stand out, but apparently can't fathom that most of us can tell the difference between a genuine innate style (Stone's) and phoniness. Speaking of sorry attempts to copy originals, Sweaty Wayne Doltchafino is no Zindler, just an embarrassment. He'd have a shot to actually do some good if he would simply drop the cheesy graphics and movie clips overkill. Not funny, just credibility killing. (There's nothing wrong with humor when done well. "OPEN THIS DOOR IN THE NAME OF EYEWITNESS NEWS!" was pure genius. Stale looping shots of rolling dice, cards and stripper music for half a corruption story is simply lame filler.) And why are Ch.13's chances of rain always 20% higher than any other station's and the weather service's? The silly finger point storm clouds and spinning temperatures don't help, either.

Then their is wheel of justice, weather dog, collagen-lipped, "How YOUR child could be in danger" KPRC, still wallowing down in a minor league of its own. My how far the mighty have fallen! All those prop-infatuated reporters, shameless coached to wave something in their hands at the camera like it is Second City TV's "3-D House of Beef." Operating under the assumption that their core audience is ADD-addled grown crackbabies and thus gimmicky props must be employed at all costs, most only tangentially relevant in a "6 degrees of Kevin Bacon" way.

Oh how I wish the tabloid trash running our local TV news would actually listen and learn from Ron Stone's farewell, when he said "I never lied to you or tried to mislead you." That is why he had well-earned credibility. He had a style, but it was genuine, and people could sense that and trusted him. The first station here that returns to common sense, simply honesty, and respecting its audience will dominate the ratings.

[rsb320]

The fact that he was retiring has been in print all over the place. I doubt Giff was serious.

He stated that he and his wife are staying in Houston; apparently, this is where their kids and grand kids are, etc. If we get a storm, I'll be you'll see him giving input on Ch. 11.