And quite frankly, enduring SUNDAY NIGHT WITH MEGYN KELLY once was more than enough for us.
We will not be watching it tonight on NBC.
However, we're not boycotting -- or, if we are, we're just boycotting out of boredom.
Some NBC affiliates will not be airing the program.
They feel that Megyn's crossing a line of good taste and decorum.
This from the network that brought the world PINK LADY AND JEFF?
The cause for the clamor is Megyn's interview with radio host Alex Jones who hosts THE ALEX JONES SHOW?
He believes in alternate theories.
Did you realize this was such a crime?
That we were that far back in the Eishenhower 50s?
And it wasn't all that long ago that THE VIEW had a co-host who believed the world was flat -- and who was comfortable saying so on network TV.
As far as accepted beliefs, we kind of thought the flat earth ship sunk long ago.
But there it was in 2007.
And guess what?
ABC lived.
THE VIEW lived.
Even Sherri Shepherd lived.
The (round) world kept on turning.
Alex Jones is dubbed a 'conspiracy theorist' by some.
Maybe he is.
Maybe he isn't.
We don't listen to him.
We don't mean that as an insult.
There's a lot on the radio we don't listen to and our focus here is TV.
Is it our job to go stream various audio programs to write about this?
No.
In fact, if we did that, we'd be guilty of what those condemning Megyn insist will happen.
They've fallen for this cause-and-effect scenario: Megyn airs an interview with Alex Jones and everyone wants to go listen to Alex Jones.
Some will.
Some won't.
We're not thrilled with her program, or its loose connection to news reporting, but she's doing interviews and we don't have a problem with her interviewing people.
We especially don't have a problem with her interviewing someone who is not going to say what every other talking head on TV is already saying.
Is Alex Jones a 'kook'?
He may be.
He may not be.
But we trust that adults can make up their own minds -- can and should.
We support Megyn Kelly's right to interview anyone she wants.
From the press last week, it appears she's planned a hit job on Alex Jones and misled him.
That doesn't especially thrill us.
That reeks more of daytime ambush theatrics than an actual interview but it doesn't have us calling for the segment not to be aired.
Megyn's going to present a person with alternate views.
Maybe that will be her niche?
We don't think that would be so bad.
Katie Couric, when she anchored THE CBS EVENING NEWS, had a segment called "free Speech" which got killed.
Why?
Whiners.
Whiney little babies -- in the bodies of adults -- who wouldn't tolerate people being on TV.
Now it wasn't a one program segment.
It was a regular feature and was supposed to serve up diverse views.
The point was to clue everyone in on the fact that, across the country, different people were focused on different things and saw things differently.
It was a 2006 attempt to go beyond the bubble.
And we all need to do that, it causes us to stretch intellectually and it raises our awareness of the world we live in.
Megyn's interview may contribute to that (ideally it would).
It may not.
But the notion that she needs to be shunned or run off the airwaves because of who she interviewed contributes nothing to the conversation.
Still a group hisses, "Megyn! Megyn! Megyn!"
As though they're the Jan Brady of media critics.
And insists that people -- grown adults viewing a public affairs program -- can't handle an exchange.
You get the idea these pearl clutchers might pass out if they ever visited, say, DATA LOUNGE and witnessed a heated debate over whether Karen Carpenter or Bette Midler was the better singer.
Grow up, we'll all survive.
