CNN suckage
 

Jesus. I just wanted to document this 60 seconds of complete non-news stupidity of morning anchors covering this really difficult story, "It's warm". As some of you know I often watch cable news as background as I work by myself. This bold dialogue took place on Friday morning and I'm sure it will mark a high point in the channel's history. From their official transcript.

A year ago they said that American Morning was directed at an IQ level of 120, higher than any other morning TV news show. It's possible. If you watch any other morning TV news show, you find happy grinning morons giving you happy grinning morning news with entertaining guests and hardly any news content whatsoever. I can't watch those shows in the morning, because I experience the side effect of nausea and vomiting.

I just about lost it as I watched the above 60 seconds. It's not the sort of thing that should make one lose it, but I've been so annoyed for so long that by the time she repeated that final question, "what is going on here?" I could only yell back at the TV "You're the goddamn news, you find out and you tell us! That's your fucking job!!"

At this point I turned to Fox News, which is my practice when CNN is being moronic, and they were talking about Iran's nuclear program. So yeah, the highest IQ morning show these days is the typically-shallow, sensational and righty Fox.

I was grinding my teeth just reading that.

you sure Matt Lauer and Katie Couric didn't somehow end up on CNN???

CNN's redundance is what pisses me off. It seems like an endless loop of.... the same fu@#ing thing every ...what.... 90 seconds? While I have my coffee and prepare to brave the business world each morning (usually for about 1-11/2 hrs) I find myself pre-quoting the O'briens. By the time I turn it off to go vomit, I have their dialogue memorized to a tee. Hell I could have their jobs and I'm a dumbass Marine. :eyebrow:

I watched that show once for about 10 minutes, and went back to Fox and Freinds before I puked.

Christ, people still get their news from the television?? That's what the computer is for.

Hm--clod's message is listed as posted at 6:26 and my computer clock says it's 6:21--wtf?

The time is based on whatever UT's server says the time is, not what your computer says. It doesn't care what your computer says because you could be in any number of timezones...

But if it makes you feel better, Cellar times are about 4 minutes ahead of where I think they are as well. :)

This is fixed

About a week ago, it warm and pleasant in Philly, as it had been for awhile. The local morning weather comes on and to be honest there wasn't much to say....same, same.
But nooooooo, they spent 8 minutes ranting and raving about an ice storm and a blizzard we had a dozen years ago just to hear themselves rant and rave in good weather(wo)man fashion. :rolleyes:

Unlike UT's punctuation. :)

Sounds like it was well to miss this. I watch a fair bit of Fox, having been turned on to it through the outraged bellowings and raucous heehaws about FNC by the more leftist people I've seen online. They actually tried telling people Fox was no good, if you can believe it.

Now, in general, I don't trust the Left to put the cap back on a bottle of Four Roses without crossing the threads (twenty Texas points to anyone who catches the literary reference), so I consequently gave Fox a good look. Now I don't bother watching much else for the news.

Well, I guess that's your punishment.

This is *not* news to any of us, I assure you.

Punishment, HM? You have extremely strange notions of pain. I want you to know that. :p

BigV, I'm in the business of quality products. Let it be understood I know them when I see them.

The only time I watch CNN or CNNLite (Headline) is when I'm checking to see if they have a better camera angle at press conferences or congressional hearings that everybody is covering.

(although for the hearings I tend to prefer C-SPAN because they don't talk over the testimony with pointless color commentary)

"How do you get your 'tip,' as you call it?" asked Ravenel, losing a little spontaneity from his smile.

"Roses," said Sammy, briefly. Four of 'em today. Means four o'clock at the corner of Broadway and Twenty-third."

"But the geranium?" persisted Ravenel, clutching at the end of flying Romance's trailing robe.

"Means half-past 5," shouted Sammy from the hall. "See you to-morrow."
- O Henry

Only UG would drink Old Joe's which was bought out by the Japs and now sold mostly overseas as "Four Roses."

I drink bourbon from Lynchberg and get my news from NPR. I know good whiskey when I taste it, good commentary when I hear it, and good writing when I read it. If I want to catch up on the world via the tube, I watch "The Simpsons." Foxes make nice coats, though. Keep a girl warm where ever she goes except California which is cold and its damp. :cool:

I've come to respect television exactly for what it is: entertainment. Anything produced for television has to keep the viewer's interest, has to hold it, has to maintain it, and has to do it every second to keep the person from hitting the button and going elsewhere. The result is 24 hours news that jumps the gun on stories, adds in a lot of fabricated drama, and reports incorrect information without taking the time to check it.

But you just keep on watching it and, because of that, there is no incentive to correct any of that. In fact, I promise you'll simply continue to see more of it.

Did you notice the 9/11 "breaking news" ticker hasn't left any of the screens even after the emergency is over? Do you remember what CNN/Fox/MSN/whatever was like before they had that?

The worst is when very little is going on during any given hour. That is when you get stupid reports about how warm it is, etc.

I cannot stand it that televisions in bars, break rooms, restaurants, airports, waiting rooms, lobbies, and even on the street are now tuned, perpetually, to a 24 hours news channel. I'd like, for just once, to be able to eat dinner out in peace and not be constantly reminded that the terror alert is currently "yellow", the market is down a couple points, and fifty cent has released a new album that is sure to take the youth market by storm.

They put TVs in our elevators at work a few months ago. They actually call it the "Captivate" network, which, I might note, is derived form the word "captive." The screen is split, with a commercial on the right side (often a Hummer) and some CNN Headline News style factoid on the left side. Most people watch the TV, because it's bright and shiny and has pretty colors. Captive is right. I have the urge to smash these TVs that are pumping commercials out at me as I am at work. I wonder if my employer gets a cut of the advertising revenue, or if it's just the building owners who do.

How tall is your building?

What, seriously, is the point of TV in a freaking elevator??

This is getting out of hand.

It's 11 stories. A long elevator ride that stops on every floor (I'm on 11) might let you catch a full minute of TV, if you like that sort of thing.

Wait until you get new gas pumps at your local station. Filling up at a new Shell in Tifton, Georgia, I was confused when I heard an advertisement for Dell computers come out of the blue the moment I squeezed the pump handle. I turned around and there it was on the pump display, in full color video with sound. After the commercial ended, can you guess what it did? Yep -- began showing highlight clips from that day's CNN coverage.

Having Blitzer try to get my attention to talk to me over my shoulder about the Iraq war while I filled my car up was a bit strange, to say the least.

There's TV on one of the ATMs I use. While you wait for cash, you can watch commercials. No CNN yet, though I'm sure it's coming.

Nonsense as usual, Mari, which is why I win so routinely when we argue. You didn't pick up on that I said a bottle and not my bottle -- an important distinction, I do think.

I don't mind blend Scotches but my usual spiritous tipple is the single malts.

Yeah, and you probably think "O Henry" is a candy bar, too. :crazy: