Pot Calling the Kettle Black.
Pardon my rant, but can someone tell me who told Geraldo and Bill'O they were real news people.
Okay, Bill O'Reilly used to work for ABC news among others and Geraldo Rivera used to turn stories for ABC's 20-20. He even visited West Tennessee to interview the sheriff of Dyer County who was found to have a sheep in a motel room in Southeast Missouri. I think the sheep was dead at the time. I don't recall the sheriff's name but they still chuckle about it in Dyersburg.
Now these two have their own programs on Fox News Channel and to his credit, Bill has a huge following for a cable network. My father used to watch him religously and made this rather telling remark when I asked him about it. He said, "I don't watch the news anymore, I watch Fox." I just shook my head.
I really didn't have a problem with Bill and Geraldo as they preach their brand of news. I get my news from other sources, including cable, the internet, Newsweek and the local paper.
( Just FYI, I always start out reading the comics of the newspaper as it helps prepare me for what I will read elsewhere. ) But then B & G came out with guns blazing at Jon Stewart of the Daily Show and Stephen Colbert of the Colbert Report on the Comedy Channel. Folks, (for those of you who have never watched them, you are missing a sure bet) these two take a look at the events and the newsmakers of the day and put their own spin on things. Kind of like what B & G do over on that other cable network. But it was when B & G blasted Stewart and Colbert I started getting a little POd.
I've copied this comment from Geraldo off the internet and when I paste it here, it might have some extraneous characters. I apologize in advance:
Geraldo on Colbert and Stewart:They make a living putting on video of old ladies slipping on ice and people laughing. That's their life. That's their life. They exist in a small little place where they count for nothing. The history will be made by those who have affirmative thoughts, who make, you know, innovative suggestions in life and are inclusive.
First, I've never seen little old ladies slipping on ice and I watch both shows on the Comedy Channel. Granted, many people including Stewart and Colbert take verbal pot shots at O'Reilly and IMHO, Geraldo is a caricature anyway so he's fair game, and I have no problem with a bit of Tit for Tat. I especially like Stephen Colbert's rant to Jon Stewart.
Stephen Colbert [on last Thursday's 2006-08-10 Daily Show]: What are you trying to imply, Jon? That O’Reilly and Geraldo are narcissists enthralled in their own overblown egos, projecting their own petty insecurities onto the world around them, inventing false enemies for the sole purpose of bolstering their sense of self-importance, itty-bitty Nixons minus the relevance or a hint of vision?
But I guess the problem I have is that somehow, someway B & G think what they're doing is somehow special or real news. Yah, Bill has the biggest numbers on the cable news networks. At least the guys on the Comedy Channel will tell you they know they're not actual news people and they're merely looking at the absurdity of things that are taking place in the world. At least they are not trying to pass off what they do as "actual" news. And if you have ever watched either Stewart or Colbert when they have a controversial guest on set, these guys can do some serious interviewing and throw out some great questions. It's none of this softball stuff you might see on other networks or cable news programs.
Maybe they haven't had a nose broken when someone throws a chair during a free-for-all in the midst of an afternoon tabloid show (Geraldo) or opened up a gangster's empty vault in Chicago (Geraldo again) or even had an afternoon tabloid show (O'Reilly). My dad used to say, "give O'Reilly a chance, he'll grow on you." I've watched a little of both B & G. I found I wanted to scrub myself clean afterwards.
Fortunately one of the things that makes America great is we have many choices of what to watch and wew don't have to watch anything. So, I'll stick with the Comedy Channel and some of those other news outlets for now.
Okay, my rant is over and I'm off my soapbox. Now back to our regular programming.
Okay, Bill O'Reilly used to work for ABC news among others and Geraldo Rivera used to turn stories for ABC's 20-20. He even visited West Tennessee to interview the sheriff of Dyer County who was found to have a sheep in a motel room in Southeast Missouri. I think the sheep was dead at the time. I don't recall the sheriff's name but they still chuckle about it in Dyersburg.
Now these two have their own programs on Fox News Channel and to his credit, Bill has a huge following for a cable network. My father used to watch him religously and made this rather telling remark when I asked him about it. He said, "I don't watch the news anymore, I watch Fox." I just shook my head.
I really didn't have a problem with Bill and Geraldo as they preach their brand of news. I get my news from other sources, including cable, the internet, Newsweek and the local paper.
( Just FYI, I always start out reading the comics of the newspaper as it helps prepare me for what I will read elsewhere. ) But then B & G came out with guns blazing at Jon Stewart of the Daily Show and Stephen Colbert of the Colbert Report on the Comedy Channel. Folks, (for those of you who have never watched them, you are missing a sure bet) these two take a look at the events and the newsmakers of the day and put their own spin on things. Kind of like what B & G do over on that other cable network. But it was when B & G blasted Stewart and Colbert I started getting a little POd.
I've copied this comment from Geraldo off the internet and when I paste it here, it might have some extraneous characters. I apologize in advance:
Geraldo on Colbert and Stewart:They make a living putting on video of old ladies slipping on ice and people laughing. That's their life. That's their life. They exist in a small little place where they count for nothing. The history will be made by those who have affirmative thoughts, who make, you know, innovative suggestions in life and are inclusive.
First, I've never seen little old ladies slipping on ice and I watch both shows on the Comedy Channel. Granted, many people including Stewart and Colbert take verbal pot shots at O'Reilly and IMHO, Geraldo is a caricature anyway so he's fair game, and I have no problem with a bit of Tit for Tat. I especially like Stephen Colbert's rant to Jon Stewart.
Stephen Colbert [on last Thursday's 2006-08-10 Daily Show]: What are you trying to imply, Jon? That O’Reilly and Geraldo are narcissists enthralled in their own overblown egos, projecting their own petty insecurities onto the world around them, inventing false enemies for the sole purpose of bolstering their sense of self-importance, itty-bitty Nixons minus the relevance or a hint of vision?
But I guess the problem I have is that somehow, someway B & G think what they're doing is somehow special or real news. Yah, Bill has the biggest numbers on the cable news networks. At least the guys on the Comedy Channel will tell you they know they're not actual news people and they're merely looking at the absurdity of things that are taking place in the world. At least they are not trying to pass off what they do as "actual" news. And if you have ever watched either Stewart or Colbert when they have a controversial guest on set, these guys can do some serious interviewing and throw out some great questions. It's none of this softball stuff you might see on other networks or cable news programs.
Maybe they haven't had a nose broken when someone throws a chair during a free-for-all in the midst of an afternoon tabloid show (Geraldo) or opened up a gangster's empty vault in Chicago (Geraldo again) or even had an afternoon tabloid show (O'Reilly). My dad used to say, "give O'Reilly a chance, he'll grow on you." I've watched a little of both B & G. I found I wanted to scrub myself clean afterwards.
Fortunately one of the things that makes America great is we have many choices of what to watch and wew don't have to watch anything. So, I'll stick with the Comedy Channel and some of those other news outlets for now.
Okay, my rant is over and I'm off my soapbox. Now back to our regular programming.
posted by Joe Larkins at 4:52 PM
10 Comments:
Bill O'Reilly is all smoke and mirrors. He spent six years doing tabloid journalism on Inside Edition. Now he is a hard news man? Give me a break.
I couldn't agree more, Joe. At least Stewart and Colbert don't claim to be anything other than comedians who make fun of the news biz. Bill O'Reilly and Geraldo seem to think they are real journalists, when they're just as much hucksters and entertainers as they guys on Comedy Central. Geraldo in particular is a joke, except he's not funny.
Surprisingly, Jon Stewart's interviews of politicians are often more revealing than those of "serious journalists" because he's not afraid to ask the questions you and I are really wondering about. And he never lets politicians just stick to their talking points; he likes to put them on the spot. On the other hand, his interviews of actors and celebrities are much more solicitous and BORING. He seems reluctant to ask them tough questions for fear of offending them. But I would prefer to watch a boring Jon Stewart interview than ANYTHING on Fox News channel any day of the week. O'Reilly and Geraldo are probably just jealous because Stewart and Colbert are gaining in popularity and ratings.
Tommy Cribbs was the sheriff. He had stolen the sheep and was butchering it in the motel. Wound up going to jail, but not sure if it was for the sheep theft or something related to being sheriff.
Geraldo, and O'Riley are simply the result of over two decades of Rush Limbaugh.
Limbaugh created the opinionated newsman concept.
Network news programming used to be about reporting the news. Fox demonstrated it could make great strides in the ratings by TALKING about the news. Sadly, the other networks have followed Fox in trying to establish personalities and not content. In the end, it's all a mess. As a mentor of mine once said, "You're talking about the shape of the bottle, not the tase of the wine." And is anyone else concerned that the majority of the younger audience today prefers to gets its news from John Stewart, who is quick to point out that he does a "fake news show?" What about the "Foxification" of news writing where verbs are purposely left out of the copy? Too many reporters, anchors, and television executives are more worried about being pretty, flashy, appreciated and opinionated. In the end, it also helps if you're smart.
Jerry Rivers is exactly what Morrow was talking about...."lights and wires in a little box". They ran poor Tim Green off along with "A Current Affair" to replace it with Jerry "the shill" Rivers. That's his real name.
By the way....have you ever seen Mike Matthews and Andy Wise in the same room together for longer than 10 minutes?
........JD
I have a friend who works for Bill, and really, the picture he paints of Bill isn't that bad, at least, not on camera. It makes me wonder what the hell happens to him when the little red light goes on.
Forgive me for being crass, but you don't have to be an a'hole to opinionated.
I have a friend who works for Bill, and really, the picture he paints of Bill isn't that bad, at least, not on camera. It makes me wonder what the hell happens to him when the little red light goes on.
Forgive me for being crass, but you don't have to be an a'hole to be opinionated.
Joe:
In light of Tommy Cribbs and his sheep debacle I offer the following with apologies but, I couldn't help it:
Q:"Where do sheep get a haircut?"
A:"At the Baa-Baa Shop!"
And a shout out to Tommy Stafford! I used to really enjoy the stories he came up with from the surrounding counties. He let you know Memphis wasn't the only inhabited area of West Tennessee. Fine work.
.........JD
I think that Tommy Cribbs was just caught doing the wrong thing at the wrong time. Nobody can say that they haven't been caught doing something wrong or imitaure that resulted in any type of punishment. It could be a broken window or steeling a sheep,not that it wasn't wrong, it was, but anyone could be capeable of any type of wrong doing. So, don't be so quick to judge someone when you are just as much capeable of doing the same thing.
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