If it's happening in Savannah, it's news to WJCL

By Barry Garron

When the TV Guide channel began its series "Making News," I never thought there would be a second season.

The show, a reality-style documentary series, exposed the workings of a dysfunctional TV newsroom, and it was a sorry sight for anyone who's ever been within 50 miles of a school of journalism. In its first season, "Making News" traveled to the tiny market of Midland-Odessa, Texas, where a beauty queen untrained in news and news gathering was about to be installed as a news anchor.

You could hear the desperation in the voice of the general manager. Unable to attract an audience the conventional way, he was ready to try anything. So he sacrificed what little credibility the station still had and invited the TV Guide channel to film the newsroom implosion.

But where oh where would TV Guide find another station willing to turn its newsroom into a carnival and its news operation into light-hearted entertainment? Justified or not, TV news people, and particularly news directors, have their pride. Who's going to want the nation to know that their news operation is good for little more than laughs?

Michael Sullivan, that's who. I met Sullivan nearly 25 years ago when I was the TV critic at The Kansas City Star and he was the news director at the ABC affiliate. He relished his image as a nonconformist and it showed in everything from staff memos with literary references to arbitrary news decisions. It was only after he left and the turmoil subsided that the station rose to the top of the ratings charts and stayed there.

That was a long time ago and, according to Sullivan's bio, he moved on to bigger and better jobs since then. For most of the last 10 years, though, he's been a news director in Savannah, Ga. In tonight's premiere, he practically boasts that his station, WJCL, in the nation's 97th biggest market, has the weakest news ratings of any ABC affiliate. Same ol' Sully.

According to TV Guide, there was no need to persuade Sullivan to let them film his ratings-starved operation. In fact, he reportedly pushed hard to be selected from about 100 stations under consideration.

In tonight's premiere of "Making News, Savannah Style" -- and probably throughout the series -- you're not going to see anything truly weird and embarrassing. Still, the on-camera comment of a producer that she had to learn how to deal with Sullivan tells you, even after all this time, not much has changed.