The Loose Screw

Over subsequent months, many of these issues were addressed: Peterson began dressing like a TV newsman, not David McCallum in The Man From U.N.C.L.E., and he stopped trying to out-zany Daru; Freeze and Thornquist were encouraged to focus on their specialties and leave the hilarity to others; and the amorphous structure was tightened up considerably so that stabs at substance wouldn't seem so out of place.

"We've gone back to a lot of fundamentals -- watching the clock, hitting the necessary elements that morning viewers need," notes Grund. "We're more disciplined in what we do." Adds Peterson, "When we first went on the air, our show was entertainment first and news second. But we've refocused, and now we're news first and entertainment second." That's a relief to Thornquist, who says, "The way the show has evolved, we've become more serious than we were -- and that's what I'm comfortable with."

Susan Goldstein

Truth or Daru: Dan Daru is WB2day's wild card.

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• Dan Daru
• Laura Thornquist
• Jeff Peterson
• TV News Shows
• Television

The new mix is hardly a ratings blockbuster: "We're in last place -- and that's where we expected to be," Grund says. Still, he insists that the numbers are growing steadily, if slowly, and he pronounces himself every bit as pleased with WB2day's progress as he is with the accomplishments of Brockman's 9 p.m. evening newscast, which is more than holding its own against the heavily hyped Ron Zappolo-Libby Weaver program that debuted on Channel 31 in July.

Grund touts the Brockman-Bjorkman newscast as a paragon of journalistic integrity compared with Fox's flashier, gaudier model, and if he recognizes the irony of doing so while in the same breath praising Daru -- "He's got a lot of talent; he's our wild card" -- he doesn't let on. But he remains solidly behind Big Dan, whom Channel 2 is marketing as WB2day's chief attraction. On billboards all over the city, Peterson, Thornquist and Freeze are seen in the usual buttoned-down news pose while Daru leers over them, a mad glint in his eye.

As this image suggests, Daru seems unfazed by the chidings he's received from Denver TV critics. "They say there's no such thing as bad press as long as you spell my name right," he allows before conceding, "but that probably wouldn't be true if I was caught in an East Colfax motel with five Boy Scouts and a donkey. That might be bad press." Likewise, he admits that he's occasionally gone too far on the air -- such as the time when he was milking a cow and sprayed a teatful of liquid at the camera lens: "When I saw it later on the tape, it looked like a money shot in a porno film," he says. But thus far, he insists that his bosses have never ordered him to be less spunky.

"None of this was planned," he declares. "No one said, 'Let's make Daru the nutty one.' They just told me to be myself, and that's what I do every day. Scary, huh?"