Channel 8 gives gov most coverage love

Who works where?

Care to hear Bulldog Ralston (aka, Jon) grill the gov, live? Catch the KSNV-TV, Channel 3 reporter/analyst/inquisitor on ... KLAS-TV, Channel 8. Such was an odd byproduct of Channel 8's superior post-"State of the State" coverage Monday night.

Longer, varied and better produced, it far outdistanced competitors. (Ralston's two-station trick? On his "Face to Face," he interviewed Gov. Brian Sandoval's chief of staff, but was heard several times quizzing the gov himself on Channel 8, the only station to broadcast Sandoval's post-speech news conference.)

Pre-empting a string of syndicated and network programming -- "Inside Edition," "The Insider" and CBS' "How I Met Your Mother" while salvaging a portion of "Entertainment Tonight" -- Channel 8's presentation was impeccably anchored by Paula Francis and Dave Courvoisier. (When are they less than consummately composed?)

Covering the gubernatorial waterfront, it bounced from Steve Sebelius' detailed, in-studio analysis to Jonathan Humbert's informed perspective at the Capitol annex to Aaron Drawhorn interviewing focus-group voters at Vegas PBS to Garry Waddell chatting up reps of the Nevada Economic Forum and the Nevada Taxpayers Association and a local economics professor, to Jamie Guirola at the Nevada State Education Association gathering, soliciting comments from exec director Gary Peck.

As with November's election night efforts, Channel 8 pulls off this sort of blanket political coverage with journalistic savvy and visual aplomb -- informational, seamless and flat-out good-looking TV.

Relying on Big Kahuna Ralston, News-3 obviously benefits from the keenest and fiercest political analyst in the state -- you've gotta love his confrontational brand of interrogation when he characterizes the gov's "budget gimmicks" and "spend and not tax administration" right to the face of Chief of Staff Heidi Gansert -- yet as potentially inviting TV, his special edition of "Face to Face" was flat-out flat.

Bristling Ralston persona aside, the program was housebound and static, never leaving the spare, badly lit room at the Legislative Building in Carson City, the entire broadcast looking like it was shot through a coffee filter. Interviewing Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford, Assembly Speaker John Oceguera and a couple of Sun reporters (unnecessarily, beyond promotional purposes, since Ralston's expertise trumps both), the host was typically on top of his game but in a production that undercut him.

Over at an "Action News Special Edition," KTNV-TV, Channel 13 played also-ran in an hourlong program with only a few minutes of analysis from Elizabeth Crum up top before segueing into a standard-issue newscast. Most noticeable about Channel 13 Monday night (and every night since Darcy Spears' recent investigation into a local homeowners association) is its increasingly bombastic and boastful ads for itself, which are approaching self-deification. Maybe you'd like to be alone with yourselves, guys?

(Post-speech, KVVU-TV, Channel 5 returned to its regular "Extra" and "TMZ.")

Give the night to the crew that did it right at Channel 8. Perhaps they can even toss a bonus at Ralston until they straighten out who works where.

Contact reporter Steve Bornfeld at sbornfeld@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0256.