Jess Burkle
Today, President Obama defined homosexuals as "equals," and Republicans defined homosexuals as "a distraction." Which are you?
May 2012
3 posts
A Message to North Carolinians
- Homosexuals are not different from you.
- Marriage equality will in no way affect you beyond how you, personally, choose to feel about it. For others, it will bar them from obtaining legal rights.
- American constitutions are designed to preserve rights, not to prohibit them.
In sum, the “Hibbie-Gibbies” is not a valid reason for legislative action.
The Today Show Problem: It's Not Ann Curry.
This is no fan letter to Ms Curry. I find her to be a competent, passionate journalist who has worked hard for her place at the anchor desk alongside America’s High School Prom King Matt Lauer and his plaid jacket.. But with the recent fall of NBC’s Today from the top spot after sixteen years, this Curry has gone from green to red. (Only curry joke, I promise.)
Faster than you can say “Good Morning America seems five shades brighter than natural sunlight,” rumors started to fly about Ann Curry being replaced by Savannah Guthrie due to the dip. Nobody saw that coming… except for anyone watching NBC jam Guthrie and her endless series of trench coats down our throats for the past six months.
But I submit to you that Ann Curry is not the problem, NBC is the problem.
No “liberal bias” argument here, simply the fact that there is no journalism. Without the humor of Meredith Viera in the morning, the thin layer of veneer that concealed Today is gone. Devoid of a frothy spontaneous air,Today shines as a self-promotion machine for its sister network and network shows.
What are Today’s top “stories”:
- What’s Celebrity Apprentice star and general irrelevant figure Donald Trump have to say about an issue upon which he has no bearing?
- Who got kicked off The Voice last night?
- What Bravo-lebrity has created a scandal today?
- Tori Spelling is here to… uh…
- That Betty White show looks funny, right, RIGHT?!?!?
- The OctoMom is back… or did she ever leave the studio since 2009?
The empire has crumbled because NBC producers are obsessed with leading the conversation in lieu of reporting the news.
Their cold open - composed of one-part domestic news, one-part Nancy Grace porn, and one-part viral video - showcases everything wrong with the broadcast. The desperate attempt to talk about LapTop Dad, cross-promote The Biggest Loser cookbook, and pretend like Al Roker is a journalist has reached abort limits. Today no longer qualifies as any more informative than the NBC break room bulletin board.
The solution: CBS News.
Yes, that RC Cola of morning shows is the best news program on network television. You’d think that waking up with Charlie Rose would be like waking up and drinking straight bourbon; you’d think that waking up with Gayle King would be as irksome as Gayle King every other time you’ve seen her. But, it’s not! They’re charming and kind! They cover actual news! They don’t cross-promote CBS shows! They don’t conduct the broadcast from some antiseptic doll house that I’m supposed to believe the anchors hang out in like some celerity petting zoo. They ask questions of their guest that… are INTERESTING and SUBSTANTIVE.
It sounds crazy - I never thought I’d say it. But I wake up every morning and look forward to CBS This Morning. And the NBC cool kids club, struggling to write coherent sentences of copy (Michelle Kosinsky and Peter Alexander, I’m looking at you) and trying to convince me that Maria Menounos, Jenna Bush Hagar, or Sarah Palin are journalists… well they’re banned from my morning.
