$TORMY WEATHER (The Weather Channel sued by Former Anchor who Claims She was Fired for Age)

New York Post ^ | January 7, 2005 | TODD VENEZIA

[nickcarraway]

A storm of controversy has engulfed The Weather Channel, after a 40-something former anchor accused network brass of washing her out of a high-ranking job to make way for a hot front of sexy young weatherwomen.

Marny Stanier Midkiff, 42, this week filed a lawsuit claiming she was booted in the fall of 2003 as part of a reputed "reorganization" of the storm channel, which she believes was really an excuse to get more young female weathercasters on the air.

[BobS]

I used to watch Kristina Abernathy prance around! Does she still have her southern dialect?

[dead]

Stiff wind moving in from the north...

[BenLurkin]

[NormsRevenge]

Heather Tesch

[Dog Gone]

It's all about ratings, and I haven't seen any elderly female weathermen on any station that I can recall. Maybe they end up at a Hugoton, Kansas affiliate, but in major markets, the weatherbabes are about looks as much as ability to tell us about the weather.

[untrained skeptic]

The weather channel is a business that sells advertisements and that provides a product to the public to sell those advertisements.

While the product is information about the weather, those presenting it don't really need to be that skilled of meteorologists. They're in the entertainment business. The need to present the information in an appealing way, and part of that appealing presentation is their appearance.

She may very well be an extremely talented meteorologist. That doesn't make her more qualified for the job than some young lass with a winning smile, that is knowledgeable enough to present the information well, and does so in a pleasing manner.

Television is a visual entertainment business. Appearance is an important part of the job. Even if what she says is true, I don't think the Weather Channel did anything wrong.

[goldstategop]

Your Weatherinfobabe has to be young and hot-looking. (pun intended)

[Gondring]

Now selling real estate? It's in GA.

Jenny Pruitt & Associates REALTORS

What was the site with the weatherbabes on it--the one where as soon as it was profiled in the national media, The Weather Channel raised the camera so there were no more gam shots?

[Dog Gone]

Yowzer.

[UseYourHead]

Ok, Weather Channel Quiz:

How many times has Sharon Resultan been hugely pregnant and how far apart ARE her eyes?

[T.Smith]

Yeppers. She's Georgia, born and bred. The Weather Channel is right here in good 'ol Atlanta (Vinings, I believe).

[BobS]

"Your Weatherinfobabe has to be young and hot-looking. (pun intended)"

To make you forget about the weather and go to work? [:-)..]

[Mike Bates]

Midkiff says that, in the months before she was let go, her boss allegedly spoke of female staffers as "matronly," "dowdy". . .

It could have been much, much worse.

Michael M. Bates: My Side of the Swamp

[Dan Cooper]

But the young one's are always preggers!

I've noticed this too. What's going on over there, some kind of meteorologist breeding program?

[Conservative Canuck]

Lila Feng's pretty cute...

<img src=http://home.planet.nl/~wolf0620/image/feng.jpg

[LasVegasMac]

But I wouldn't, thankfully, call any of them pin-up material.

I did not know there was another Weather Channel.

There has to be.

And that has to be the one that you watch.

The one I watch has several "pin-up" candidates.

They do bounce them around a bit but not too long ago the early morning show had Marshall Seese in the middle - Heather Tesch to his right and Alexandra Steel to his left.

No wonder Marshall was all smiles - all the time!

LVM

[F.J. Mitchell]

Thanks for posting the picture martin_fierro. ( I thought about just referring to you by your initials-but thought better of it, real fast.)

I remember her well, and I think she is one of the better looking of many very lovely weather gals. She may be 42 but she looks closer to 22, in my opinion.

Hey Weather channel! If you don't put that lady back to work, we will go back to getting our weather predictions from woolie worms, bear grease, how the fire in the stove sounds and our old reliable standby-that rumatism pain in our joints.

[zygoat]

I'd say her eyes are 3 1/2 inches apart, but I don't know how many times she's been pregnant. It just seems like one of em's always pregnant. Kinda like Eddie Hill.

[BobS]

I think I'll turn it on. It's raining like crazy in CA for the next few days. Note: you may get some snow in a couple of days. 3 storms heading east!

[dead]

Pics dangit, we need pics!