TV News

"The Sound of Music Live!" turned out to be a big hit for NBC, gaining the once-proud Peacock Network its biggest Thursday night audience since the April 2009 finale of "ER."  Carrie Underwood's performance was Maria von Trapp had a divided effect on critics.  They couldn't decide whether she was undistinguished or awful.  One critic said she was merely adequate.  Well, "adequate" is good!  These days, even mediocrity is good enough to deserve high praise!

The ratings were so good that NBC is hoping to do something like this again.  Count on it.  After all, there's not much reason to watch NBC for anything else - though, if "Parenthood" gets canceled, as far as I'm concerned, they'll be no reason to watch it!  

Meanwhile, over at NBC's sister cable news network MSNBC, Martin Bashir has resigned, which he chose to do when it became apparent that his disgusting comment about Sarah Palin is not something you can just apologize for and move on from (which must have been right after he apologized).  He's likely going to move on to nothing, what with his employment prospects in tatters . . . at least in America.  Expect him to return to Britain in due time.  

MSNBC is planning to find a permanent replacement for Bashir soon, likely right after the holidays.  (As of now, MSNBC contributor Joy Reid has been anchoring the 4 PM Eastern hour.)  I would suggest that MSNBC get another Brit.  After all, CNN has Piers Morgan and Fox News has Stuart Varney.  I would vote for the BBC's Andrew Neil, who had the misfortune of interviewing American right-wing moron Alex Jones on his Sunday BBC show (as did Morgan on CNN).  Neil called Jones "the worst person I have ever interviewed," and also said of him, "We have an idiot on the program." 

However, I would try to avoid MSNBC during the 4 PM Eastern hour at all costs if it were to give that slot to Michael Eric Dyson, who's nothing but an annoying loudmouth.  Even worse, he sees everything in a hip-hop perspective and tries to explain things accordingly.  As someone who thinks America would be better off if we Yanks didn't accept at face value the idea that talking menacingly over a drum machine beat is "music," I have enough trouble stomaching Dyson as a TV commentator.  But as a TV host?  Ugh.

I don't really care who gets that time slot.  Because if there's one thing I've learned, it's that watching MSNBC and being more informed than your average Fox News viewer is not going to make you feel better about America.  Especially when Fox News is America's most popular cable news channel.

Andrew Neil would be surprised to learn just how many Alex Joneses there are in These States.