Are the stores open Friday?
Seriously, if there wasn't so much shit about you-know-what, would anyone care? Yeah, I know it's that day when every live shot is the formula MOS outside the Walnut Creek Target where 1200 morons stood in line to buy a $3 lawn mower. Really, shocking. (I thought WC was part of 1% central).
Then you have the requisite shots of same morons piling out of same Target--at least those that weren't shot, pepper-sprayed, harassed, at least they made it through the fortress. Then again, they have no life's because who the hell does that? Maybe if dumb reporter from station A weren't on hand to encourage these mutts, then they'd get sleep and start retailing at normal hours like the majority of the 99%.
See, call me stupid but I think the gluttons that braved the cold and 86ed their family and friends to commence Dumb Friday--see I think they're the exceptions. I think most people are rationale. I think what we see and hear are just media actors--it can't be real can it? Yes, I'm ranting again.
I committed the Volvo card--I switched to KQED and PBS. I glanced at BBC on my cable. I skimmed the locals because I knew they'd go heavy on Lenny and his overweight family from Martinez buying 17 refrigerators at $14 each. I'm sick sick of seeing Lenny and his other goobers.
The comedian, David Feldman, had a great line: "I love America--I hate Americans." Stupid Friday is indicative of that America. And we wonder why the world hates us? Not that we give a damn, but Cairo is in ruins, (again); Syria is embroiled in turmoil, Europe is teetering, the stock market is going down again, unemployment is 16%, (the real figure), and we have live shots of Shirley at Walmart shoving aside dwarfs to buy 27 IPhones. Wonderful.
Oh, Rich, get over it!
Wouldn't it be great if we got some real news every now and then? Sure, go with Moron Friday and Buffoon Monday--after all, it's in the TV news handbook, but there's other things going on in the world. They, those assholes, those dorks up above the newsroom feed you this shit--ram it down your throats. They can't help themselves. They dare do something original and something the others don't do, but they have virtually no creative molecule in their body.
And to those who say that's what the viewers want? Really. Half the fucking country is just trying to make ends meet. They live paycheck to paycheck. They barely make enough just to get the kids a tonka truck if they're lucky. They had to borrow a buck to get one of those Butterball turkeys, yeah, fucking Happy Holidays to you too.
"We begin with TEAM COVERAGE with reporter, Betsey Glupberg out at the Kohls where its Black Friday and Betsey, what's the mood out there? Well, Tom, there's 15,000 people in line to shop till they drop, blah, blah, blah...."
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ReplyDeleteNon Black Friday question - any idea what went down with Peter Finch pulling the ripcord and getting outta KFOG? Obviously some sort of Cumulitus thing. But was it money? KFOG cutting morning news updates? Had also heard a rumor that the new PD had cut him once before long ago in Boulder. Just more of Cumulus destroying local radio.
ReplyDeleteBetsy Glupberg gets tossed aside by Laura Anthony who rushes up to the Walmart manager and asks "Who runs this store? The manager or the customers? Tell us!" Afterwards, Laura makes her pouty face.
ReplyDeleteMorons at Target. Morons at Occupy Oakland. Here I am stuck in the middle with you.
ReplyDeleteIf they were selling holographic TV's? I would be camping a week in line. Imagine watching the KRON4 girls on tv from a high ladder looking down..or on the floor looking up..
ReplyDeleteI'm so naughty. But-it would be me and every man in town doing it...
Rich, get your meds increased.
ReplyDeleteIf you hate Americans you hate America.
And who watches TV news anyway?
Rich, I get it that you do not like the incessant coverage of the Black Friday madness. And I get it that there are real serious things going on in the world and you want the news to focus on that. I am not a fan of the over the top coverage of what is going on at the local shopping malls.
ReplyDeleteYou really lost it here though. This rant was over the top even for you. Consider stepping back and calming down before posting again.
Peter Finch is moving to KGO - according to sources inside the building.
ReplyDeleteI've lived nearly 3 decades in this country and it never ceases to amaze me how local news goes into 24-7 Thanksgiving and Black Friday mode. As though world events suddenly stopped ocurring. Same fucking news clips over and over again. 1981 could be 1991 as well as 2011. Thank you for your rant Rich, you speak for a lot of us.
ReplyDeleteHey Rich, we've had wall-to-wall coverage of occupy protests for 2 months without one complaint from you!! News reporter to anchor: "We're live here at the occupy protest-the unwashed masses are waiting to provoke the police and trample on other people's rights so that a confrontation happens and we get great footage to run over and over"....
ReplyDeleteIf you think we aren't desperately looking for something, anything else to cover than the damn Black Friday stuff you're mistaken. Much of daily local news is driven by new reports coming out of government or agencies, local political doings and of course crime and disasters.
ReplyDeleteNote how much coverage was given to the water main break in South San Francisco.
If you think we want to cover the Black Friday crap you sir are mistaken. Unfortunately it is the only local event in town. We spend a lot of time before the holiday's looking for other stories to cover, we do "hold for release packages" to give us something else to report on.
The one area I do think we fail to take advantage of is in doing more international news. Unfortunately the consultants tell the powers that be that people don't want international news, so we don't do international news, so viewers don't understand the importance of internationals news, so they are then bored by international news because we never show them international news.
However, tell that to the consultants and they just glare at you and management effectively tells you to shut-up because the consultants know what they're talking about because after all we're paying them a lot more than we're paying you the people who actually work in this market.
The consultants that TV and radio rely upon are usually men and women who have never worked on-air, and if they have, they usually washed out of the profession as announcers.
ReplyDelete"The Sports Leader" used to (and may still) take advice from a man who got fired from two different radio stations in another market because he was an incompetent Program Director.
Then this guy got tired of being given the boot, so he came up with the bright idea of starting his own consulting business. Voila! Clueless stations immediately began relying on his 'expertise.' One of the first things he did was to recommend that sports stations use ESPN radio announcers to do their sports updates, instead of a staff announcer. That makes a lot of sense, having a guy on the other side of the country who knows nothing about what's going on in your region doing sports updates on your station! But I guess it saves money, and that's what's important, right!?
TV news operations are also beholden to other nit-wits and non-entities who think that they have all the answers. This is just one of the many reasons why much of TV news and local radio is not worth watching or listening to. Let the news directors and the program directors, not some outside 'consultants' run the show. Stations are throwing away money at these buffoons instead of taking better care of their own businesses. Relying on information and advice from 'consultants' who are for the most part, worthless and fraudulent is the the epitome of absurdity! But then, no one has ever accused broadcast management of being the most enlightened people in the world. Many of them are former salesmen who are good at the gift of gab, but not so competent at running radio or TV stations.