Wanna Smile?
Here’s some nice news.
The cable network, which media observers often portray as the liberal counterpart to the conservative Fox News, also finished ahead of its two main competitors in prime time for the fourth consecutive week.
And it boasted the most-watched program on cable news last week, “The Rachel Maddow Show,” which drew an average of 3.21 million viewers.
I love Rachel. I do. I started listening to her when she was on Air America radio. I love her but Stephen Colbert’s imitation of Rachel is totally spot on.
We have a saying in the south and it goes like this. In speaking about a woman with too many words, one says, “I just love her, but, Honey, she do carry on.” There’s a compulsory small eye roll at the end.
To be honest I also like Brian Williams at 11:00 Texas time. I’m not a big fan of Chris Matthews because he makes me yell at the screen, “Shuddup and let the guest answer, Mr. I’m So Full Of Myself.”
And I just renewed my subscription to the Failing New York Times.
The NYT has it for a dollar a week right now for a full year. It goes up after that but you can cancel.
So there, Trump. Ponder on that at Mara Lago.
I like Rachel, too. I like that she gives context – but it can go to an extreme, which she frequently does.
1I had not seen this before, but it is spot on. I love Rachel too. She is brilliant and funny, but at times maddening to watch.
2Rachel is great, but she was better before the producers elongated her opening pitch. Ari Melber is good; his rap references are pretty cool, especially for a lawyer. Velshi and Ruhle are really good on matters economic; worth recording because their time slot blows. Lawrence O’Donnell, Joy Reid … but Brian Williams, he goes from bad to worse when Nicolle Wallace is on set. Moon Doggie or what, Brian?
Fux Not the News? Is that still on? Hamster bait for the Trumpanzees.
3Rachel’s presentation seems focused more on informing people who don’t have access to the news all day and/or the people who are not savvy to how government works. Bottom line: she has a PhD in political science from Oxford….she’s not trained in talking head news reader presentation.
To news junkies, her academic approach and the show’s pace can feel redundant or sluggish before getting to point.
4She do go on, and I am sometimes not in the mood to be talked down to. I don’t need to have Adlai Stevenson or Everett Dirksen identified and explained to me; I try to remember there are plenty of viewers who never heard of them. And sometimes she’ll string you along over four or five commercial breaks, like with the partial Trump tax return that turned out to be less than earth-shaking. It’s just cheesy. But that’s show business, and Rachel and Chris Hayes are still the best at what they do.
5Reminds me of going to conferences where there are 12-14 minute “short presentations” and 50-minute “featured talks.” She has the 50-minute spot, and she makes sure everyone follows every point in the talk. I really appreciate her thoroughness and her insistence on accuracy, and corrections if she got something wrong. I’m ok with that! (maybe too much time sitting in those talks myself.) One suspects the Oxford training played a part in that. Occasionally, though, I do want to say, “Just get on with it, dear Rachel!”
6But the other thing she does extremely well is interviewing. She is always prepared, always polite, and always capable of following up. Not easily deflected! No doubt Oxford professors, again, set an example of the skillful verbal examination.
She doth carry on…..but refreshing to hear someone speak English well…..
7Jimmy Jesus I had for sure forgotten about Air America. Which when reminded, reminded me of Jim Hightower. Which then reminded me that Jim lost the Ag race in 1990 to Dem-turned-Republican Rick Perry and a scandal concerning campaign contributions.
8I appreciate every civics lesson Rachael does. And all the minutia background.
DH have been political junkies since high school. But, we also know our friends and neighbors do not know where their water comes from. And we have experienced over the last 40 years that you have to keep telling the story over and over and over. Every time a person wants to know or needs information on becoming a citizen instead of a consumer.
9As a former academic, I like her presentation style: You want facts with your facts? Parsed finely? (Bad graphics and humor included)
But as a former resident of the region near Northampton, MA, I love her as an important part of my staying sane!!!
10We don’t have cable, but I appreciate what sounds like an outbreak of sanity in the US. Long overdue.
11That was great! Maddow is the most trustworthy of any news person. And Colbert is the funniest late night guy, but Samantha Bee is the sharpest.
12Rhea, you can find several clips per day on youtube MSNBC. Also, you can stream rockinrooster.com and get the whole show.
13I’ll never forget seeing a clip from a program awhile back where Rachel sat across from Dick Armey on a panel. She would politely call him out on everything he said, and he was beside himself. The look of hatred in his eyes at being schooled “by a girl” was classic.
14The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell is also pretty good but what I hate about MSNBC is how the various hosts rehash the same scandal of the day. There needs to be better coordination of topics if they want to broaden their viewership.
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