Posted on 06/20/2005 11:23:42 PM PDT by soundandvision
Okay, so last Monday night I'm flipping through the channels and 9 O'Clock rolls around. I think to myself "why not give Tucker's show a chance...hell he sweated it out for years in the belly of the beast over at CNN -- I can give him 5 minutes of my time".
Five minutes went by..then ten...then thirty..then before I knew it I had watched the whole first show of "The Situation", MSNBC's news Primetime shot at catching FOX in the ratings.
Now, I know this is going to rub a lot of you the wrong way but I've had a growing resentment of Fox's Primetime lineup for some time now. Ever since last fall when the story about O'Reilly broke -- it was very hard to take the man seriously. Is he amusing to watch at times, yes. But... come on.
Sean Hannity. I started listening to Hannity's radio show via the web during the 2000 election campaign and was a minor fan at the time and enjoyed watching "Hannity and Colmes" from time to time. However, it's increasingly grown obvious to me (why it took 5 years to kick in, I have *no* idea) but watching "Hannity and Colmes" is tantamount to viewing the Harlem Globetrotters play the Washington Generals. The outcome is clear, everynight. Not to mention the fact that Sean seams to be stuck on talking points on both the radio show and the TV show -- in between Ruth's Chris plugs.
Greta. If I wanted wall to wall coverage of freak shows and local stories on steroids I would watch -- well, On the Record with Greta. Nevermind...
That brings me back to MSNBC and my disillusionment with Fox, in general. While I must say I occasionally find Keith Olberman amusing (am I allowed to say that here?) And also that as much as I think Joe Scarborough is a good guy, his show is as much fun to watch as, I imagine, Mario Quomo's radio show was to listen to. Get it, both former politicians trying to do commentary... eh.. no.
I say all this to circle back to Tucker Carlson. No one will ever accuse Carlson of aping William F. Buckley's astute conservative commentary from the days of "Firing Line". But, given the options..I would listen to the middleweight Carlson over the RNC talking points deliverer Hannity any day at this point.
I want honest thought and debate, not nondescript exposition.
Watching Carlson's show practically every night since its week old inception, I feel like I'm getting that. Carlson has had on the same two commentators with him the majority of each show: Rachel Maddow (from Air America Radio) and Jay Severin (Libertarian Talk Show Host). The discourse isn't really fiery but instead funny and at times coy. The great thing about the show is the lack of saturation of any one topic. Granted, that doesn't leave much room for in depth analysis; it's advertised as "fast paced" and it indeed is that.
So, fellow Freepers...I ask you...give Chatsworth Osborne, Jr a fighting chance.
Carlson's show is AWFUL!
Nice try Tucker. Shoo!
Haha...
"Pardon the Interruption" but with no sports?
No, I won't pardon that. Flush. Good-bye.
I also don't appreciate watching Hardball and having a stupid Tucker Carlson promo pop up graphically on the screen distracting me from the programming that is taking place. Far too many networks have decided to run ads over their own programming, as if frequent 4-minute commercial breaks aren't enough.
So far, I've channel-surfed by Tucker Carlson's new show a couple of times and have been very unimpressed.
I think it was tonight or last night when they were talking about the Spokane mayor who is in hot water over allegations of molestation from the past as well as current visits to gay chat rooms and offers of internships at City Hall. Carlson seemed to be saying that the Spokesman Review newspaper shouldn't have published the transcript of the on-line chat the mayor had with someone the mayor thought was a teenage boy. Hello? The mayor is a public official. It's my understanding he was using a city computer at least for some of the chat-room activity. He most certainly is fair game. Makes me wonder what chat rooms Tucker Carlson is visiting!
My prediction (and my hope): Tucker's show is off the air within two years.
Actually, I've got to tell you, I've watched him a few times too, not so much that his show is so great, but that it is a pleasant relief from Hannity and Colmes, both of whom have been getting on my nerves bigtime. At least now there is an option to H&C, and it's better than watching CNN.
I heard him say that too..I think Severin was like "huh?!". Hell, I remember the Fox News Watch panel two weeks ago discussing the sting operation surrounding this case (the news side of it) and I thought it was open and shut. The Mayor deserves all the scrutiny he gets, he's a freaking public official. I don't always agree with Carlson, to be clear.
My prediction (and my hope): Tucker's show is off the air within two years.<.i>
I'll be honest with you -- I don't think it will make it to Labor Day. I am actually enjoying it though.. I hate that everyone feels the need to pile on him. Like last fall, I thought Jon Stewart made an ass of himself.
Most of my friends thought Stewart's antics were funny but I found them rather unflattering. The whole time I was thinking -- "where's the jokes"?
Those are pretty much my thoughts exactly.
You can thank the invention of the Tivo for that.
For what it's worth, I tend to be much more interested in what their guest have to say rather than the host's opinions. One thing about Hannity he gets good guests.
I know..everyone rips off everyone else. In this case though... I think it's more of a case of pastiche than plagiarism.
http://archive.salon.com/politics/war_room/2004/10/30/tucker/
Tucker Carlson calls it for Kerry
Here's yet another October surprise: the bow-tied wonderboy is calling the election for Kerry. That's right -- "Crossfire's" Tucker Carlson predicts in a "2004 Crystal Ball" roundup for the Opinion section of the Sunday Washington Post that the Democrat will win with 51.5 percent of the popular vote and 278 electoral votes. As a blogger over at Daily Kos uncharitably remarks, "Perhaps Jon Stewart slapped some sense into him after all."
You will be less bug-eyed to hear that Ann Coulter, that voice of dispassionate analysis, calls it for Bush (52 to 47, popular, 317 to 221, electoral) as does Fox News gabber Tony Snow and the Weekly Standard's heavily war-bunkered neocon Bill Kristol, by the same popular margin. The Wonkette and public radio host Kojo Nnamdi give it to Kerry.
-- David Talbot
I think I actually called it for Kerry, too. Based on the way John Zogby was leaning and the fact that he was so dead on in 2000.
Of course, I was happy to be completely wrong.
I watched a few snippets of it. Wasn't really all that impressed. The butch haired lady on there is not interesting at all. I'll probably give it a few more viewings before I make up my mind totally but so far I'm leaning toward thumbs down. The show is new so maybe they'll tweak it some and it will get better.
Am I the only one that is under the impression that this show was cancelled after its final episode on June 17? I happened to see the show for the first time on what appeared to be its last day. It was a year-end "best of" wrap, and during the closing credits they actually dismantled the set.
From what I saw of the wrap, I didn't miss a thing during my year of being totally oblivious to the show. Carlson is a lightweight whose "conservatism" runs very shallow, and is no loss at all.
I expect Carlson's show to at least make it through next year's mid-term elections, but I think it'll eventually bite the dust like so many other msNBC primetime shows have in the past because of lack of ratings.
I was kind of in your position for the last year or so with Dennis Miller's show on CNBC. I tried to watch it anytime I had the chance because I really like Miller's sense of humor. But it was only a matter of time before the plug got pulled on that show, again because of low ratings.
I don't have Tivo, but I understand what you mean about the networks trying to get around Tivo's editing out of commercial breaks.
However, I wouldn't say Tivo is solely to blame for all the on-screen promos we're seeing today. I'll still blame the networks. Why was there a need for Tivo in the first place? Because the networks don't care enough about their viewers' needs, that's why. The networks have gotten greedier and greedier over the years, increasing their commercial breaks and decreasing their content. And if you happen to miss a program, good luck trying to get a tape from one of the networks. Even if they offer a tape, it'll probably cost an arm and a leg. I've heard that some networks will try charging you over $100 just for a few minutes, and they'll even force you to sign an agreement that says you won't try to sell the tape yourself! It's ridiculous.
I'm not sure when Tivo became popular, but I think most networks began cluttering their screens at least some before I even heard of Tivo, which has only made things worse.
I was watching the Black Eyed Peas perform on a cable network the other night, and all of a sudden the network was covering up about 20 percent of their screen with a promo for the show that was coming up next. The graphic was covering up one or two of the band members. It's crazy! There was no way I was going to stick around to watch the next show after seeing that obnoxious and untimely promo. And, of course, if you're taping the performance, that promo is on the tape for good, forever marring it. An untrained monkey could run a network better than today's clowns are doing it.
Tucker may as well be a sockless goober if he's still sporting a bow tie.
Have you found the transcrpt yet? Ask kcvl.
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