KXVO 10:00 News Says Goodbye Tonight

"KXVO 15 10:00 News" host Matt Geiler says the demise of the program (which airs its final live episode tonight on Cox Channel 11) did not come as a surprise to him - or anyone else who has worked on the show.

"The cancellation of the program was something that had been mentioned in some capacity - either as a possibility or as a corporate desire - since I arrived at the station," Geiler said. "So, we just made up our minds to do the kind of show we'd like to see every day, whether that lasted for a week or a year."

Meeting or exceeding ratings expectations would have been difficult, he said, because the show's target demographic of people between the ages of 12 and 35 aren't known to fill out ratings diaries.

"So, to that end, the viewership doesn't have a strong correlation with the numbers," he said. "We've just been grateful and pretty stoked about the people who watched the show and joined in the laughter with us."

The unconventional "newscast" debuted in December of 2005 with Calvert Collins as host. She eventually moved to a reporting role (and later back to KPTM) and former MTV VJ Brian McFayden was hired on. But his tenure was short-lived and within three months the Ralston native was gone. Geiler, a standup comedian and Second City alumnus, came on board last fall and grew the format of comedy sketches and pieces written and produced by fellow cast members Taylor Stein (producer), Kyle Benecke (photographer) and Jeff Van Roy (director).

Some of the more memorable recurring characters include "Lando Calrissian: Galactic Pimp," The Weirdums, Mr. Retaliation and Bram Niapost.

"We started out with an idea that we wanted to do something concretely anti-news ... and our explorations led us into an almost absurdist arena of sketches, characters, songs, and pranks," Geiler said. "Every day was markedly different from the last because of the sheer variety of things we attempted. We gave ourselves absolute creative freedom - freedom to fail, dream, and do. That's a rare opportunity for four people of different sensibilities and I'm very fortunate to have been a part of it."

Geiler said he is well aware of the negative comments against Pappas Telecasting and KXVO management (many of them posted on The City's Weekly's Media Watch column site). But, as he points out, it was those same people who are being criticized who took the chance and created the program in the first place.

"I think that some form of commendation needs to be delivered to all the people at Pappas and Fox42/CW15 who helped us do this - both the people at corporate and in management who hired me and, thus, took a creative risk," he said. "Plus, the people who helped us realize our vision - news techs, producers, directors, graphic artists, engineers, and talent."

Geiler said Stein, Benecke and Van Roy have been offered other jobs at KXVO's sister station, KPTM (Cox Channel 10). But at the present time, none have plans to stay on.

"The kind of creative control and freedom we had on KXVO is inspiring, to say nothing of intoxicating," Geiler said. "And I imagine it would be difficult for them to go back into an environment where our sort of unbridled creativity was not key to the production."

The concept of the program might continue in some fashion on another channel or in another medium, he said, as it is being shopped around to cable and network producers.

As for his own future, Geiler said he will soon be acting in a film being produced by Avant/Chicago and Mas Menos Film in Chicago.

"Most of the shooting will take place in May and June," he said. "Between that, doing gigs and live shows, finishing a new music album with my brother Mike, and picking up commercials and voice-overs, I should be able to keep busy."