I remember the first time my niece talked to me. I asked her if she needed her diaper changed and she said, "Yes." What the hell? Who knew she could talk?

I've had a similar response to the bizarre hieghts of competence and complexity shoved into the local TV news ever since the strike talks started. New York local news is usually nothing but consumer advice/the baby that fell out the window last night/ambush interviews. Local TV news reporters usually give you little reason to believe they were hired for any reason other than their attractiveness/personality or their willingness to shove a mic in someone's face.

But for the past weeks, reporters have offered exhaustive, incisive analysis for minutes at a time. It is bizarro.

In contrast, The Today Show spent the morning doing half a dozen man on the street interviews with Manhattan commuters. It was quite boring, and I live here.