Windbag
by Scott Hardie on July 3, 2007
I don't know what Polaroids he has of whom, but somehow Tom Skilling has elevated himself to some kind of all-important weather-broadcasting god. When I grew up in Chicago, I watched him gradually get a bigger and bigger budget for his animated graphics, and gradually get a larger and larger timeframe to deliver his dull reports. By the time I left town, he had a whole 20 minutes of the hour-long midday newscast for the fucking weather, and boy did he find trivia to fill it: Average dew points across Cook County on this day in 1854, theta-e temperature predictions for every Cubs home game next season, you name it. Minutes would drag on while he blathered about a topic that is the very definition of "small talk," apparenty self-convinced of his critical importance to Chicagoans.
That said, imagine my reaction today while scanning the concise, no-nonsense, three-paragraph bios of the rest of the WGN news staff when I came upon Skilling's bio. Can you imagine being trapped in an elevator with this asshole?
Six Replies to Windbag
Aaron Shurtleff | July 3, 2007
I don't know nothin' about nothin' when it comes to this man, but I would not parade around that I had worked on a "special" which was called "Ten Inches of Partly Sunny".
That's not right!
But seriously, yeah, that's horrible!
Anna Gregoline | July 3, 2007
I couldn't even get through half of it without wanting to puke. Yeah. I turn to him to figure out the mysteries of freaking nature. What a blow-hard.
Scott Hardie | July 3, 2007
Hehe, well put.
Lori, forgive my hazy memory on this, but didn't you once meet Skilling and like him? I remember a female friend telling me about it, but that was many years ago and the details escape me now.
Anyway, to Lori or anyone else, sorry if I've caused offense. The guy gets on my nerves but I know he has a fan base across Chicagoland.
Anna Gregoline | July 4, 2007
My favorite news name? Dane Placko! That's a real name!!!!
I don't watch the news though, if I can possibly help it - I like to read the news.
Amy Austin | July 5, 2007
Ditto on what Aaron said, but *skimming* the bio gave me a chuckle on the phrase "weatherman's weatherman" -- ha!
Logical Operator
The creator of Funeratic, Scott Hardie, blogs about running this site, losing weight, and other passions including his wife Kelly, his friends, movies, gaming, and Florida. Read more »
Sarasota
Aaron Weiss likes taking pictures with his spiffy new camera – go figure – and yesterday he captured this beautiful panoramic shot of part of downtown Sarasota. This is why I live here. [I compressed his version for filesize, which caused the pixelization in the sky.] Go »Rethinking Forrest Gump
Inspired by a conversation this past weekend, I've been thinking about the once-popular movie Forrest Gump. It has fallen out of favor with people who prefer its contemporaries Pulp Fiction and The Shawshank Redemption and believe it robbed them of Oscars, but to me all three films are good. Gump succeeds because of a lot of factors, but consider its acting and its visual effects. Go »Blog Entry Post
Pet peeve: Why do people redundantly call it "tuna fish?" You never hear "parrot bird" or "Cocker spaniel dog." Go »Overheard
"Back when I sold real estate, I used to touch up the houses myself. It was a tough market, there wasn't money to pay for it. Anyway, this one house, I have the damnedest time getting the color in the living room right. Go »You Won't See This in the Goo Game
Jeopardy! history was made yesterday: (link) Go »
Scott Hardie | July 3, 2007
Footnote: Way to go, Robin Baumgarten. I got ready for school every morning listening to her brief traffic reports and thinking that this woman was way too charismatic and savvy to keep cooped up in a helicopter. Sure enough, today she anchors the entire morning broadcast.
And Paul Konrad is a very funny man.