Turn Off, Tune Out, Drop Off

I'm watching less and less news on TV these days.

Attentive readers of this blog will know that I stopped watching the PBS NewsHour broadcast because its news reports were getting too dry and staid and because its stories on arts and culture were getting too politically correct with far too many stories on hip-hop - and because Amna Nawaz can't stop acting like an anchorwoman on the local news in Eau Claire, Wisconsin or some place like that.  So I started watching public television broadcast of the BBC's World News America half-hour report.

As with the PBS NewsHour, I started out watching the BBC program every weekday.  Then Hamas attacked Israel.   Now all the program does is report extensively and exclusively on the war in Gaza at the expense of practically everything else.   Now I only watch it once in  a blue moon.  Ironically, I stopped watching it every weekday to make time for programs on MNSBC - Chris Hayes's, Alex Wagner's, et. al. - to find out about the progress of getting Trump held accountable for his various crimes.  (Everything I watch on TV I watch on DVR to skip through the commercials.)  Now I'm starting to skip over even that.  Because the news about Trump is getting too depressing - i.e., he's going to delay his criminal trials, he's going to win back the White House next year, he's going to be a dictator, and when the authorities find my blog, I will be arrested and subsequently executed for calling Trump a moron.  (Labor camps in North Dakota are more likely to be used for lesser crimes, such as murder, assault, or women wearing pantsuits.  I'm not joking about the last one - women in Chile under Pinochet could be punished for wearing clothes that downplayed their femininity, like trousers.) 

I pretty much stopped watching CNN, for various reasons (*cough cough*, Tia Mitchell, *cough cough*, CNN contributor, *cough cough*), and if I watch any news program regularly at all these days, it's Jen Psaki's on MSNBC - and she's only on twice a week.  Or Ian Bremmer's PBS foreign-policy talk show "GZero World," which is on only once a week.  Or CBS's "60 Minutes," on only once a week.  If I catch anything else on TV news, it's because my mother has the TV on and I happen to be in the room at the time.

So what else do I watch on TV?  Not much.  Maybe a movie, if I can find one I want to see.  In fact, I saw an old movie on YouTube this past weekend by renting it.  The only current sitcom I watched on broadcast TV was "American Auto," and NBC had to go and cancel it.

Besides, most of the interesting stuff on TV these days is on channels I don't have access to.   That means I get to spend more time mouthing off here.  And uploading content on Flickr and YouTube.

Ahh, who cares?  If television was a vast wasteland in Newton Minow's day, it's not much better now.  But the most wasteful of this vast wasteland remains the news broadcast, not necessarily for the glibness of the anchors and commentators or the packaging of op-ed programs as entertainment, but for the whole narrative-based approach to reporting, the idea that every ongoing news story is a tale which has a simple progression and a neat outcome that allows the media to go on to something else afterwards.  Good thing I preferred being a print, not a broadcast, reporter, and it's easy to see why a one-time broadcast reporter I am connected to on Facebook gave up that job for a career in something more meaningful - real estate.

Downhill

The Beijing Winter Olympics are quickly becoming a wet blanket.

Not only are these Games turning out to be incredibly boring, Team USA's performance is underwhelming, the team being so far down in the medal count it's comparable to our country's place in quality-of-life rankings.

And what I just said may be the wittiest comment I can make about these Winter Games. 

I tried watching last night but I found myself restless and easily distracted.  The women's cross-country skiing barely held my attention, though the women's snowboarding half-pipe competition was slightly more engaging.  Then came the women's slalom . . . and the return of Mikaela Shiffrin, ready to redeem herself after  skiing out of the giant slalom.

Then she skied out a second time.

On live television.  Even when NBC went to a commercial break, a sidebar screen continued to show Shiffrin just sitting there in the snow contemplating her terrible loss.

I couldn't watch after that.  Ahh, there are too many commercials anyway. 

As for what happened to Shiffrin - twice now -  I blame the fake snow. 😠  

Maybe the Winter Games will get better . . . 

Beijing Blues

So far, I've watched women's ski jumping, men's relay biathlon, long-track speed skating, women's 500-meter short-track speed skating, and men's 1000-meter short-track speed skating at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, and even though it's early and there are more events to come, so far the Winter Games have been bore-ing.

Of course, if I want some real excitement. there's always curling!

Though, somehow I don't think Christopher Plys (pictured above) will be drawing a lot of fans.

Let's face it.  The planet is still dealing with COVID.  China's zero-COVID policy is so strict that everyone has to wear face coverings even when they're outside and socially distanced (except for athletes in competition).  Obviously, there are no cheering fans in the stands.  Olympic organizers walking around in Hazmat suits remind me of a nuclear holocaust.  I'm so disinterested in these Games so far that I didn't even want to watch the opening ceremony Friday night.  Instead, I chatted on Facebook with one of my newest friends, a cousin I haven't seen in over thirty years.   Hey, family first!

And based on the brief clips of the opening ceremony that I have seen, I'm quite happy to have missed it.  I'm just glad that the reason I missed it had nothing to do with a power outage (we really didn't get a lot of ice).

One interesting tidbit I did find: Francesca Lollobrigida, who won the silver medal in the women's 3000-meter speed skating race and thus won the first medal for any Italian woman in speed skating, is actress Gina Lollobrigida's great-niece.   

I suppose that if something happens at the Winter Olympics that is so spectacular it will be impossible for anyone to ignore it, I'll comment on that. But it's hard for me to have much interest in these Games, given the controversy and restrictions.  Maybe later during these Winter Games, I'll be in more of a mood to offer my usual biting, satirical comments on them.  

But as with the end of the pandemic, I'm not there yet.

Wake Me When It's Over

Last week I reported on Lawrence O'Donnell's new MSNBC show "The Last Word," and I guessed what sort of an identity he would cultivate as the host of his own program. Having finally had the opportunity to watch it, I know exactly what his identity is going to be.

He's going to be MSNBC's resident bore.

Listen, I'm not one of those conservative pundits attacking liberals for being boring and wonkish, and now I'm accusing Lawrence O'Donnell of being just that, so you can take my appraisal to the bank. I had MSNBC on during the 10 PM Eastern Time hour, and O'Donnell was just . . . not . . . interesting. Bear in mind that I was watching him while on my PC. I don't normally have the TV on while online, but when I have Keith Olbermann, or maybe Chris Matthews, on while online, I sometimes find myself paying more attention to their ramblings than whatever blog I'm writing, whatever Facebook post I'm looking at, or whatever Flickr photos I'm uploading. O'Donnell doesn't distract me like that. For from being animated like Olbermann, Matthews or the wonderful Ed Schultz - or even being bitingly witty like Rachel Maddow - he's incredibly dull, a sleeping pill in a two-piece suit. Whatever appeal he had as a fill-in host has been lost as a host of his own show. Maybe, given time, O'Donnell will find his voice. But it's worth remembering that MSNBC shows that don't catch on right away (Phil Donahue, anyone?) don't get much of a chance to catch on at all.

Maybe it's that Boston intellectual thing O'Donnell has going with him. Matthews is also a Washington insider like O'Donnell, but he's a Philadelphia street kid who knows how to play hardball, hence the name of his show. O'Donnell is more cerebral, perhaps too so for television. Maybe that's why "Mister Sterling," the NBC congressional drama he produced, only lasted half a season - as a spring replacement series.

Meanwhile today is the first Monday of October, and for the first time since "Chicago" - not the revival that's been running since 1996, the original production - opened on Broadway, John Paul Stevens is not on the Supreme Court. Sadly, neither is his replacement, Justice Elena Kagan - at least not as much as someone else would be. See, Kagan has to recuse herself from nearly half of the cases coming up before the Court this term because she was instrumental in several cases reaching the Court as Solicitor General. And all that jazz. It now looks like several cases might be deadlocked in tie votes, letting lower court rulings stand.

Let me know how much of an impact Justice Kagan will have on the Court's direction. I'll be taking a nap. Most likely with the television on.

Say, on MSNBC, at around ten or so.