Sunday, August 13, 2017

Media: Truth is hard in thoughtless times

We live in thoughtless times.

That was clear over the weekend most infamously in Charlottesville.

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Why the counter-protest going on as a group of White racists demonstrated their hate for everyone else?

We're not questioning their right to protest.

We're just questioning the how?

By protesting alongside the racist demonstration, they guaranteed that the media would be there.

Much smarter?

Letting the racists march and get a tiny bit of publicity -- no conflict, no news.

Letting the small coverage establish how many were present and then turning out more than that the following weekend for an inclusion demonstration.

The inclusion demonstration, having far more attendees, would then be news and be covered much more prominently than the racist demonstration had been.

Again, people can protest however they like.

But when a protest is scheduled to take place and you plan a counter-protest at the same time, grasp that you are feeding into the 'conflict' that the media loves and serving to amplify the event you are attempting to protest.

We live in thoughtless times.

WEEKEND UPDATE airs one of their prime time specials on Thursday.  After waiting to make sure the reviews are kind, a writer leaks that she is back.

The Water Cooler Set proceed to act as though they've unearthed something of import but as usual they couldn't see beyond the dog bowl they'd buried their snout in.


No, the news was not that Katie Rich had returned.  After a Tweet that offended some at the start of the year, the writer was on leave.

But that she was finally back was not the news.

This was the news:


Megan Callahan
Michael Che
Mikey Day
Steve Higgins
Colin Jost
Dennis McNicholas
Josh Patten
Katie Rich
Pete Schultz
Streeter Seidell
Kent Sublette
Brian Tucker


That's the list of writers for the half-hour broadcast.

See a problem?

We did.

Two women.

Twelve writers and only two are women.

This is SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE, the show NBC honcho Robert Greenblatt declares "is having its best season in a quarter of a century!"

For those who are impressed by that claim, do the math.

SNL is having its best season . . . since Kevin Nealon anchored WEEKEND UPDATE.

Nealon being one of the few former WEEKEND UPDATE anchors not noted by NBC in last week's press release ("Chevy Chase, Dan Aykroyd, Jane Curtin, Dennis Miller, Norm Macdonald, Jimmy Fallon, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler and Seth Meyers").

The so-called rebirth is based on the fact that SNL has rediscovered how to stick out its tongue.

For 8 long years, they refused to mock or challenge the White House.

Barack is gone and yet again they can take on the president of the United States.

If only they could do it better.

If you're not getting how bad the show is, this past season had a cast of 13 plus 3 featured players.

But to play the sitting president, they had to turn to Alec Baldwin, a non-cast member -- they had to turn to him 15 times.  And to play a White House spokesperson, they had to turn to Melissa McCarthy, a non-cast member.


How sad.

They pay 16 actors to be part of the regular cast but not one of them could do the president or the spokesperson?

That doesn't sound like a cast that's "having its best season."

It sounds like a show on its last legs.

This is the season that has had how many new breakout characters?

Yes, zero.

Zero breakout characters.

The show famous for Roseanne Roseannadanna, Enid Loopner and Lisa and Todd, Emily Litella, Gumby, Buckwheat, the Sweeney Sisters, Mr. Subliminal, Hans and Franz, Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer, Dieter, Wayne and Garth, Pat Stevens, Denise Venetti, Master Thespian, Matt Foley, Opera Guy, Nat X, The Copy Guy, Mary Katherine Gallagher, DELICIOUS DISH's Margaret Jo and Teri, Pat Riley, the Spartan Cheerleaders, the Roxbury Guys, BRONX BEAT's Jodi and Betty, Debbie Downer, Brian Fellow, Jacob the Bar Mitzvah Boy, Megan and Sheldon, Stefon,  "We aren't porn stars anymore," etc.

What about this past season?


Zero breakout characters.

This is something to be proud of?

You pay a regular cast but spend episode after episode with Alec Baldwin and Melissa McCarthy stealing the roles?

That's something to be proud of?

WEEKEND UPDATE continued the tradition of shame on Thursday.

You had twelve writers and only two were women.

You had two anchors -- both men.

Bonus points: Whose drug addiction is so out of control it's obvious if you watch?


It was cute to watch the near robotic Michael Che come to life when he decided to impersonate a woman -- the Statue of Liberty, "'I just need a man, ya'll.'  Now she's on Tinder, 'Lord, he's got to be rich and smart and light-skinned . . ."

We also got jokes about "the tip" of a penis, self-sucking, and many more limp ha-has.

We got four men playing Eric Trump, Donald Trump, Anthony Scaramucci and LaVar Ball.

Finally, in the last minutes, Leslie Jones showed up.

So that was two male anchors, four male actors and one female.

6 men and one woman.

If you're not paying attention, you might not grasp that's the same as the writing -- one woman for every six men.


This is an example of an outstanding season?

SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE has been in the toilet for a year now.

It's unable to debut interesting new characters and apparently the cast is so poor that outside actors have to be brought in to play the president and Sean Spicer.


What The Water Cooler Set has mistaken for a renaissance appears to have been the death rattle.








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