Over the past two years, since my own political talk show bit the dust after a twenty year run, I have watched a lot of television news and talk shows. Obviously, the age of the impartial host is gone and replaced by ideologues ranting their positions, answering their own questions, denigrating anyone who disagrees, and using their guests as bobble-heads. The cable talk shows have interrogators rather than interviewers plus the talking over one another drives me crazy. But then, what do they expect to happen when they book twelve guests for a three-minute segment, none of whom are in the same room? So here are some random jottings of my take on some TV talk hosts:
Larry King seems to have some problem with his dentures or maybe it’s acid reflux. He contorts his lower jaw into a most gruesome growl-like expression during the few seconds the camera stays on him after he cues a commercial break.
Speaking of King, this once ad libbing, off the cuff, play it from the vest, intuitive interviewer now reads all his questions or takes them from his producer in his earpiece. Has he stayed too long at the fair?
Have you noticed how many reporters and newscasters say “the governor of Illinois” rather than try to say Blagojevich? It’s the silent j that trips them up.
Why does Keith Olbermann think crumpling his script and throwing it at the camera is funny? I never thought it was funny when Steve Allen did it back on the old Tonight Show.
At first I thought Olbermann’s nightly personal criticism of Bill O’Reilly was contrived but not for real. I was wrong. Olbermann really hates O’Reilly. Maybe it’s a German-Irish thing, or maybe its ratings envy, but I find Olbermann’s denigration of O’Reilly backfire and diminish Olbermann rather than tarnish O’Reilly.
Why do I have the feeling that one night Bill O’Reilly will either go too far and get fired or quit because he was chastised for going too far? Whatever, I feel like O’Reilly is a train wreck about to happen…a manifestation of pride before the fall.
When Pat Buchanan appears with Chris Matthews they sound like the two tenors. Their voices could shatter crystal.
Is there anyone more knowledgeable about the Middle East than Wolf Blitzer?
Why hasn’t CNN or another news organization made Jack Cafferty an anchor? He’s got a sardonic wit and ruffled, gruff bearing that connects as opposed to the Armani suited universe of today’s network anchors. Cafferty’s the guy you meet Saturday morning at the hardware store. The network anchors are people you will never meet.
What is that term that Lou Dobbs keep using…something like socioethniccentrist? Every time he says it, people in the room go, “What did he say?”
Nora O’Donnell, afternoons on MSNBC, is a pure package of talent. And I love her laugh.
Does commentator, Mark Shields, who appears with Jim Lehrer on the PBS News hour each Friday, miss playing the Penguin on the old Batman series?
The definition of chutzpah is Fox News calling itself “Fair and Balanced.” Who was it that said the bigger the lie, the more it will be believed.
