All Episodes Talk: TRMS 2021 Season

[freddi]

Rachel was very diplomatic not to mention the name of the general manager of the disastrous "Microsoft Bob" program -- Melinda French, who is now Melinda Gates.   It did not even last as long as "Clippie", another really irritating feature that was intended to be helpful.    https://t.co/hphHKHU8aF 

Edited April 30, 2021 by freddi

[meowmommy]

I'm carefully controlling my anger, as a Maricopa County voter, that these BSC Q-crazies have been allowed to put their hands on my ballot and potentially invalidate it.  I feel violated.

And yes, there are folds in my ballot.  That's how it arrived in the envelope and that's how it fit back in the envelope.

16 minutes ago, freddi said:

Rachel was very diplomatic not to mention the name of the general manager of the disastrous "Microsoft Bob" program

I bought my first PC, a P1 with a whopping 1.6 GB hard drive, in 1995.  It came with MS Bob.  I was more offended that, as a cat person, I had to go through this dog than anything else about it.

[tessaray]

You just never know what past idiocy Rachel is going to bring up. The world has been so grim for so long, it's nice to get fluffier stuff, if only for a moment. 

There was a funny redneck version of MS Bob that you could load onto your computer.  We were always a Windows version or two behind, as we could only afford used or homebuilt computers - we never experienced Bob ourselves. 🙂

Eta: hackers did some fun things with the Cue Cat. I might even still have one in a box somewhere. 

 

 

[Morrigan2575]

Is Chris Hayes running seriously late the last 2 nights? It's 9:03 and we haven't even gotten to the handover yet.

[Medicine Crow]

3 hours ago, Morrigan2575 said:

Is Chris Hayes running seriously late the last 2 nights? It's 9:03 and we haven't even gotten to the handover yet.

Rachel said they were having "technical difficulties".

[ScoobieDoobs]

Was anyone else expecting Rach to say -- OK, it's Friday nite, have yourself a smart cocktail (if you're of age, of course), close your eyes & wait for the Chinese rocket to hit earth! 😀

[freddi]

In the handoff from Chris to Rachel, she asked him if they could discuss the fact that Lawrence O'D got the first presidential interview.  Chris:  "you want to talk about that HERE?"  Rachel:  "Oh, I don't know -- but LAWRENCE?" (with incredulity in her voice).  Ouch.  I am sure she will smooth it over when she hands off to Lawrence, but that was quite an uncharacteristic show of envy from Rachel!  

[ScoobieDoobs]

When I heard LOD was getting this interview, I was really puzzled.  But in tonite's signoff, it was explained this will be a townhall with a COVID-related theme.  Ron Klain was on with LOD recently, so I wouldn't be surprised if LOD's producers pitched this to him. 

The bigger question is -- why isn't Biden doing an interview with Rach, particularly since her ratings are now among the highest in cable?  I suspect Biden's people (such as Klain) have zero interest in establishing Rachel in the same way Trump did with Hannity.  Rachel's producers should take this as a hint that if they want to get an interview with him they'd better come up some kind of "hook" to get him.

[possibilities]

It seemed like Klain and LOD knew each other from when LOD worked for Moynihan. Maybe that personal connection does explain it. 

[meowmommy]

7 hours ago, ScoobieDoobs said:

The bigger question is -- why isn't Biden doing an interview with Rach, particularly since her ratings are now among the highest in cable? 

Isn't it the same question, why did Biden skip out on visiting Rachel's show during the entire godawful unending campaign, when every other Democratic candidate visited at least once, and some were on multiple times? 

As for LOD, didn't he also get Biden during the campaign?  So they're familiar with him and are comfortable with his interviewing style.

[ahisma]

1 hour ago, meowmommy said:

Isn't it the same question, why did Biden skip out on visiting Rachel's show during the entire godawful unending campaign, when every other Democratic candidate visited at least once, and some were on multiple times?

Biden didn’t even go on the Pod Save America podcast during the campaign, and he knew those guys from the White House. Most of the other candidates needed more exposure but he was VP so people knew him already. 
 

(I don’t know how to move this, though I’m sure it needs to go to a different topic.)

[ScoobieDoobs]

I didn’t see the exchange with Hayes, which sounds a bit nasty & totally out of character for Rach, who has only ever shown great respect & an honest liking for LOD in her sign-off exchanges with him.

Keep in mind, Rach has had Ron Klain on her show many times & she must know him well too.  At this point, it seems downright odd that she hasn’t had the chance to interview Biden.  Still trying to figure out what gives with this . . .

[tessaray]

Rachel didn't come off as nasty last night. She loves a scoop and she was mostly kidding about how jealous she was over the interview.  Yes, she was playing it up some and both Chris and Lawrence went along. 

 

[ScoobieDoobs]

Great commentary from Rach tonite — so why’d she have to muck it up by showing a looooong Fox clip of the Turtle?  OK, so this is the latest shtick of pretty much every fool on CNN & MSNBC to kill time — showing these insanely long Fox clips.  Why?  Cuz they have no Trump clips anymore?  

If I wanted to watch Fox (I DO NOT!!!) then I would (BUT I WON’T).  Why show Fox clips to an audience clearly NOT interested in seeing them?  Rach resisted (er, mostly anyway) showing Trump clips, so why ruin your show, Rach, with long & awful clips from Fox?  Please resist pressure (if there is any) to do this, Rach, cuz all it does is motivate me to turn you off.

And what was with getting all dramatic over an interview with Chris Krebbs?  He’s on CNN so much I’m expecting him to take over for Cuomo or Lemon — and he’s practically a sidekick for Nicole, she has him on that much. Insecurity showing about LOD  getting the Biden interview?  Relax, Rach, it’s not that big a deal — I’m sure you’ll eventually get your turn with Biden — just keep up with your usual spot-on commentary & ditch those unbearably long Fox clips.  Please?

[shok]

OMG, the stories Rachel told tonight about the Secret Service!!!!  Scary as hell that they're in charge of guarding the President and VP. Carol Leonnig's book sounds like a must-read.

[M. Darcy]

Rachel should have played the song! 🎵Czolgosz, working man, born in the middle of Michigan, woke with a thought and away he ran, to the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo🎵

[bosawks]

Big Bill!

[freddi]

OMG, Rachel, you squirted lighter fluid into the engine of Susan's can while she was trying to start it?  Multiple occasions?  Is this a thing I have never heard of before?  

As she was raving about the Ford F-150 pickup, I was trying to recall the times she had mentioned having a pickup, like a Hallowe'en parade this past year, if I remember correctly?  

I loved that she then switched to the story and interview of Linda Zhang, the chief engineer of the new all-electric Ford F-150.  HOW GREAT IS IT TO HAVE AN OPENING GUEST THAT IS NOT RELATED TO AN INDICTMENT OR CORRUPTION OR IMPEACHMENT?  Ahhhhhhhhhhhh. 

[Medicine Crow]

Guess you've never lived on a farm with a tractor that needed a blast of ether to start!!!  LOL.

[Quilt Fairy]

5 hours ago, freddi said:

HOW GREAT IS IT TO HAVE AN OPENING GUEST THAT IS NOT RELATED TO AN INDICTMENT OR CORRUPTION OR IMPEACHMENT?  Ahhhhhhhhhhhh. 

Or the pandemic.

[Xena]

So now we have the TRUE story of why Rach fell for Susan - it was Susan's name in gold leaf on the side of her CJ7.

🤭

[ahisma]

12 hours ago, freddi said:

HOW GREAT IS IT TO HAVE AN OPENING GUEST THAT IS NOT RELATED TO AN INDICTMENT OR CORRUPTION OR IMPEACHMENT?  Ahhhhhhhhhhhh. 

I haven’t felt happier after the news in forever! The Ford F-150 is going electric, the ridiculous audit in Arizona is starting to fall apart, and the former guy is closer to indictment. What a day!

[Moose135]

On 5/18/2021 at 5:40 AM, shok said:

OMG, the stories Rachel told tonight about the Secret Service!!!!  Scary as hell that they're in charge of guarding the President and VP. Carol Leonnig's book sounds like a must-read.

I caught Carol Leonning on with Rachel and again last night with Brian Williams. I've always been interested in the USSS and how they work - I've read a couple of the books written by agents on JFK's detail, so I bought her book (e-book version) yesterday from Amazon. Two chapters in, and it is eye opening!

On topic - I love Rachel, been a fan of her since she used to fill in for Keith Olbermann. But she made me crazy when she had Leonning on. It's something she seems to do often, she spent 15 or 20 minutes (or so it seemed) talking about the book, relating stories from it, before bringing the author on. I was talking to the TV, saying "Enough! let the author talk about her book and tell the stories..."

[freddi]

I continue not to find it charming that Rachel thinks it is a jovial moment when she cannot pronounce a foreign name correctly.  Last night, it was the newly elected President of Samoa, "I'm probably not getting this right," said Rachel.  Yet, on NPR this morning, they said the name crisply with no hint of giggle.  

She has degrees from Stanford and Oxford, a staff who can get almost any expert on the phone, and there is no excuse for not getting the name right for the *subject* of a story she is reporting on.  

It is a sign of respect to acknowledge the correct name even when the language is unfamiliar, and exclusionary to draw attention to the "foreign" pronunciation.  

Some brave person on staff should volunteer to vet the names Rachel has to say on-air.  Generally, you need to say a name a few times to get it right.  

[ScoobieDoobs]

Glad to see Rachel is covering the Postal Service mess again.  Sorry, but she has a very real tendency to cover a story exhaustively & then just completely forget about it.  Well, she’s back on that stinkin’ creep DeJoy full on — YAY!!

Edited May 27, 2021 by ScoobieDoobs

[freddi]

"Rachel has a well-earned night off" (and I would guess a long weekend off, well-earned)

But hey, 1993: How old am I?  That film clip of the 1993 "Ice cream party on Capitol Hill" looked like a colorized newsreel from World War II.  I remember 1993.  It was not as grainy and out of focus as that film would have you believe.  

[DanaK]

Good interview with Dr. Fauci last night or the other night. I knew he led the AIDS research back in the day, but I didn’t know how much he became an ally of Act Up folks. I guess if he learned to handle their screaming at him, no wonder he’s so relatively calm about the Republicans screaming at him now

[ahisma]

4 hours ago, DanaK said:

I guess if he learned to handle their screaming at him, no wonder he’s so relatively calm about the Republicans screaming at him now

At least back the, when he listened, he realized they were right and he could work to fix it. Now when he listens, the screamers are just wrong. So there’s nothing he can take personally, but there’s also nothing he can do to fix it.

[DanaK]

20 minutes ago, ahisma said:

At least back the, when he listened, he realized they were right and he could work to fix it. Now when he listens, the screamers are just wrong. So there’s nothing he can take personally, but there’s also nothing he can do to fix it.

At least he's in a different administration now that will back him up (I was actually initially thinking of Biden vs. Trump now, but the Reagan Administration wasn't exactly friendly then now that I think of it)

Edited June 5, 2021 by DanaK

[possibilities]

It really annoyed me that Rachel didn't even try to find out how to pronounce Pedn Olva. If you're going to do an entire set up based on a name, for Godsake, don't advertise how little effort you are putting into getting it right. It's disrespectful. Get someone on staff to make a phone call and ask them. It's not hard to do basic research.

[ahisma]

I laughed out loud at Rachel’s reaction to the Putin interview. “I don’t go in for that macho thing. My shirt just happens to fall off. A lot.” That’s exactly what I was thinking!

[ScoobieDoobs]

So, er, is Rach being too tough on Merrick Garland?  Hell, no!  I hope she keeps it up every damn nite!

[Hanahope]

Rachel’s story about Gong was awful.  These gqp script readers ( because no way do 99% of voters even know who oversees elections) harassing a good government worker out of his job.  

[freddi]

Why would they have Rachel's show's first episode back in the studio without Rachel?  Did I miss something?  Was she back in the studio a night or two ago?  It is amazing to see Katie Benner sitting at the table.  Less amazing to have it as an interview by Ali Velshi.  

(Is she over at the Colbert Show??!!) 

[ScoobieDoobs]

Rachel totally lost me last nite with her opening!  Yeah, she was making some point about stupid conspiracy theories.  But man, it took her 20 minutes to get to that point.  And she was going on & on about some woman I never heard of & couldn’t care less about.

I couldn’t figure out where Rach was going with this & was so annoyed & uninterested, I switched over to AC, who must have covered at least 3 or 4 topics of current concern, in the time Rachel was babbling on endlessly.  Was this a producer choice or hers?  Sheesh, what a fail!

[BuckeyeLou]

3 hours ago, ScoobieDoobs said:

Rachel totally lost me last nite with her opening!  Yeah, she was making some point about stupid conspiracy theories.  But man, it took her 20 minutes to get to that point.  And she was going on & on about some woman I never heard of & couldn’t care less about.

I couldn’t figure out where Rach was going with this & was so annoyed & uninterested, I switched over to AC, who must have covered at least 3 or 4 topics of current concern, in the time Rachel was babbling on endlessly.  Was this a producer choice or hers?  Sheesh, what a fail!

I too was really confused with where Rachel was going with the story about the crazy lady who kept changing her name, but I hung in there because I was amused with Rachel's story-telling & funny faces....turns out the lady was a top-notch Con Artist & involved in all the QAnon stuff, all these 'crazy" people are connected in some way...

[possibilities]

Rachel often has a long set up with a big punch at the end. I've found it usually worthwhile to hang in to see where it's going. But I agree it's a risky move in the current media landscape, where there is so much happening and when you spend half the show setting up one revelation, you won't get to cover a lot of what else is out there.

I waver between appreciating the long, detailed, contextualized essays she gives us, and also wishing for a more efficient way to get more info out there. I think ultimately both formats are needed. 

 

I looooove when she showcases activists, like Indivisible, and what they all are up to. Hardly anyone else ever does that even a  little bit. This country would be nothing without the grassroots, and most of the media only acknowledges the people in high places.

[ScoobieDoobs]

I like that Indivisible guy — and clearly so does Rach cuz she has him on fairly often.  As usual, Rachel is a stand-alone amongst ALL the chucklehead hosts on MSNBC & CNN (except maybe Joy Reid or LOD) who are so damned hopeless & pessimistic about voting rights.  At least Rachel is trying to be positive & show there might be some possibilities.

[ahisma]

3 hours ago, possibilities said:

I looooove when she showcases activists, like Indivisible, and what they all are up to. Hardly anyone else ever does that even a  little bit. This country would be nothing without the grassroots, and most of the media only acknowledges the people in high places.

Yes! Last night’s show was the first place I heard that a big voting rights vote was coming the next day. And then her guest did SUCH a helpful breakdown on how it wouldn’t go anywhere yet, so what’s really needed is for everyone to spend 4th of July weekend contacting Senators. If he hadn’t been on with that info in advance, I would have just felt dispirited and flail-y about Congress. 

Edited June 23, 2021 by ahisma

[catlover79]

I am very grateful that Rachel keeps bringing up the KC man who has been in jail for over 40 years for a crime he didn't commit, and the governor won't do anything. A couple of weeks ago, she had a reporter from the KC Star on as a guest. Both he and Rachel were so sad as they discussed the situation. I really appreciate not only her journalistic gravitas, but her humanity. 

[M. Darcy]

Heh, when Rachel showed the clip from The Manchurian Candidate and said someone would look familiar, I immediately thought of James Gregory (Deputy Inspector Luger from Barney Miller). But I guess Frank Sinatra is a bit more famous :-) 

[catlover79]

39 minutes ago, M. Darcy said:

Heh, when Rachel showed the clip from The Manchurian Candidate and said someone would look familiar, I immediately thought of James Gregory (Deputy Inspector Luger from Barney Miller). But I guess Frank Sinatra is a bit more famous :-) 

Why am I not surprised that this is one of Rachel's favorite movies? 😉😊

[possibilities]

5 hours ago, M. Darcy said:

Heh, when Rachel showed the clip from The Manchurian Candidate and said someone would look familiar, I immediately thought of James Gregory (Deputy Inspector Luger from Barney Miller). But I guess Frank Sinatra is a bit more famous :-) 

I also thought it was Inspector Lugar. I guess watching Barney Miller over and over again is having an impact on my internal camera files.

[catlover79]

James Gregory was indeed in The Manchurian Candidate. He played Angela Lansbury's husband.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Manchurian_Candidate_(1962_film)

[possibilities]

29 minutes ago, catlover79 said:

James Gregory was indeed in The Manchurian Candidate. He played Angela Lansbury's husband.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Manchurian_Candidate_(1962_film)

So we were right and Rachel was wrong?

[freddi]

I was thinking that I would happily watch The Manchurian Candidate with commentary by Rachel, even if the commentary is about her favorite moments in the film.  

Rachel telling Lawrence a Dad Joke was a moment of relief in a serious, serious week.  

[M. Darcy]

On 6/25/2021 at 6:55 PM, possibilities said:

So we were right and Rachel was wrong?

No, Frank Sinatra was also in the clip.   She was just pointing out the guy who most people would think looked familiar.  Heh, I just think more about the guy from Barney Miller. 

Edited June 27, 2021 by M. Darcy

[shok]

Rachel seemed astonished that the temperature in Canada had gotten up to 118C. That's definitely hot, but I have to laugh at Americans who think it's always cold in Canada. It's not. There are regions here that are consistently warmer than some areas of the US. The Okanagan Valley in BC (where I live, and which is close to Lytton, BC) is a desert and it gets very hot at times in the summer. 40C (105F) is not unusual but having a whole week of this heat wave of over 40 is. Supposed to go down to 35-36C (95-97F) next week, thank goodness.  🙂

[Medicine Crow]

54 minutes ago, shok said:

Rachel seemed astonished that the temperature in Canada had gotten up to 118C. That's definitely hot, but I have to laugh at Americans who think it's always cold in Canada. It's not. There are regions here that are consistently warmer than some areas of the US. The Okanagan Valley in BC (where I live, and which is close to Lytton, BC) is a desert and it gets very hot at times in the summer. 40C (105F) is not unusual but having a whole week of this heat wave of over 40 is. Supposed to go down to 35-36C (95-97F) next week, thank goodness.  🙂

... &  may I add, this area comes complete with other desert critters ... rattlesnakes.  Been there, seen that.  Although their rattlers can't compare with those in Muskoka ... Geez!!!

[shok]

Well, Lytton set another record the next day getting to 49.6C, rounded up to 50 degrees!!!  Unfortunately, Lytton and much of BC has also set a record for driest spring and despite all the dire warnings about forest fires, late this afternoon one started near Lytton and the whole village burned to the ground within 15 minutes!  Probably won't know for a few days if everyone got out or if there were casualties. Climate change - it's going to get us all!!!