MSNBC: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (Vaulted)

[Jaded]

A thread to discuss the good, bad and ugly when it comes to MSNBC with the NBC part currently standing for (Nepotism By Corporation). 

A special thanks goes out to stafford at our previous home for the last part...

[maraleia]

I love it Jaded

 

(Nepotism By Corporation).

I guess my favorite daytime anchors are Tamron Hall, Andrea Mitchell, Joy Reid and Alex Wagner. The rest I could do without except for Thomas Roberts.

[Wax Lion]

Disrupt with Karen Finney has been cancelled. I liked it when I watched, but it was like a weekday show. After the Up/MHP combo, I'm in the mood for something with more depth on the weekend.

[MyAimIsTrue]

And because it cannot be emphasized enough:  Craig Melvin is a fine, fine man.  More Craig please. 

 

Oh hell yes.  I thought I was the only one who recognized Craig Melvin as super fine other than his lovely ESPN anchor wife, that is.

[Wax Lion]

I'm trying to figure out what about Josh Barro looks a little different. Just a little.

[TheEditrixHasSpoken]

So it's safe to post about my secret love for "Lockdown" here? And it's lovechild, "Lockdown: RAW"? Hmm?

[Haute-n-Cold]

On other fronts, I am pretty sure that Chris Mathews has finally lost it.  I used to really like him but his complete obsession with all things Hillary is bordering on stalking.  And lately he is taking some pretty strong stances on things and then simply browbeating his guests into agreeing with him or else. 

I know it's Chris' schtick to be the human version of Phil Spector's "Wall of Sound" - his end piece, "Let Me Finish" a tongue-in-cheek acknowledgement - but I think it's a lot more effective to let your adversaries talk and hang themselves with their own words rather than bulldoze right over them to prove them wrong. Let THEM prove themselves wrong - if they're jerks, I want to hear them being jerks, not have Chris drown them out with his objections. 

 

Oh, and @Andyourlittledog2 - brilliant!

Edited June 17, 2014 by Haute-n-Cold

[Wax Lion]

I don't love Lockdown but it's pretty watchable. I usually have to run to turn off the TV if its on because once I catch 30 seconds, Ive lost several hours.

[stormy]

MSNBC you suck!

You give wonderful Karen Finney the timeslot from hell then you cancel the show.

Karen, I hope you get a job on another network.  You're better then these idiots.

[BabyVegas]

So it's safe to post about my secret love for "Lockdown" here? And it's lovechild, "Lockdown: RAW"? Hmm?

No lie, this is how my roommate and I bonded. 

 

I think Rachel is probably my favorite of the hosts. Sometimes her delivery gets a little repetitive, but at least she doesn't play the whole BS all-sides-have-a-legitimate-opinion game.

[arejay]

" but at least she doesn't play the whole BS all-sides-have-a-legitimate-opinion game."

So, then all sides don't? That's interesting.

[Wax Lion]

Nope. There's no reason to listen to the people who think the moon is made of green cheese or other things that are factually not true.

 

Also not having a legitimate opinion: Politifact.

 

This week, if my cable guide is correct (there's always the chance it's terribly wrong, I haven't tuned in to check) MSNBC has dropped the second repeat of All In and TRMS for a late night airing of Lockup and Caught on Camera.

[BabyVegas]

So, then all sides don't? That's interesting.

No, all sides do not. There is no reason we need to give a voice to people who are just making shit up as they go. If you are willingly misinformed or misinforming about how the law/science/reality works, giving you a platform doesn't make you any more correct, it just make you more visible. Edited July 16, 2014 by BabyVegas

[jjj]

If I was not going to watch "Meet the Press" with David Gregory (and I did not), replacing him with Chuck Todd is *not* going to help -- will make me less inclined to watch!  At least they did not (yet!!!) turn to the sentimental favorite Dauphin.  Completely agree with your assessment, Andyourlittledog2!

 

I cannot listen to that little shit smirk through a topic and act like he's the best and the brightest. And MSNBC will not change my mind about that.

 

[Dagny]

How fast will David Gregory show up on Fox News? I hate-watched Fox a week ago and they expressed solidarity for Gregory. Just a matter of time.

[ktwo]

So will Peter Alexander (is he ever in the same room as Thomas Roberts?) get the Daily Rundown permanently? And what do we think of Jose Diaz Balart so far?

[HyeChaps]

I saw Peter Alexander sitting beside Thomas Roberts on Morning Joe once.  My head nearly exploded from all the handsomeness.

[stormy]

Is Luke now Chuck Todd's replacement on TDR?

If so I now have no reason to watch MNSBC till Chris Hayes comes on.

[HyeChaps]

My source at NBC News says Luke is not the permanent replacement for Chuck on TDR.

[ktwo]

Peter Alexander had TDR today - perhaps these are auditions?

[pivot]

Luke Russert and Joe Scarborough are being added to Meet the Press as part of the re-boot. Wow, does NBC and MSNBC not understand their audience at all.

[shok]

Good lord. Could they have made two worse choices?

[HyeChaps]

If I was Chuck Todd, I'd be insulted.

[jjj]

Luke Russert and Joe Scarborough are being added to Meet the Press as part of the re-boot.

Ugh, count me out.  I turned on MSNBC to watch coverage of the McDonnell verdicts, and there was li'l Luke anchoring for Alex Wagner.  I thought my interest in the case would outweigh my aversion to him, but in the first minute, he said to the on-site female (older than him) reporter had "sprinted to the camera, Bless your heart!".  And I was out.  And on to CNN. 

Edited September 5, 2014 by jjj

[Ladyrain]

I'm begging you to go to Salon.com and read the scathing piece on Scarborough joining Meet The Press, with a dollop of crap thrown at lil' Luke. It is a work of art. Joe must be apoplectic at the (very apt ) description of him and his highly questionable political skills and insights. I can't stop smiling.

[jjj]

Thanks for the hint, Ladyrain -- here is the link to the salon.com story -- although I don't think the headline writer knows the meaning of "meritocracy" (probably meant "nepotism").  Plus, the salon.com article had a link to a more scathing article about Li'l Luke at Gawker.  The comments in the Gawker story made me very happy:

 

http://www.salon.com/2014/09/05/stop_promoting_idiot_pundits_nbc_revamps_meet_the_press_with_always_wrong_joe_scarborough_and_luke_meritocracy_russert/

 

http://gawker.com/meet-the-press-to-be-reimagined-as-garbage-dump-1630469450/+hamilton_Nolan

Edited September 6, 2014 by jjj

[Ladyrain]

And thank you, jjj, for the gawker link.  As I've stated elsewhere on these boards, I have the tech skills of my cats, which means basically nil.  I don't have the faintest clue as to how one posts a link, or how to bold letters, or.....anything.  It's always somewhat of a miracle to me when I'm even able to access these forums.  So I am truly grateful to all the rest of you for the links, pictures, etc.  As to MTP, my joy at DG's departure was short-lived after reading the news about JS and lil' Luke.  I wonder what the scuttlebutt in the hallways of MSNBC is concerning all this. There have to be plenty of disgruntled senior reporters wondering how the the hell this all happened.  I loved the show on Tim Russert's watch, and was even a teeny bit hopeful with the switch to Chuck Todd, but now.....not so much.

[BungalowSummer]

Oh, my. Thank you for that Gawker link. It was delightful, but even better were the comments. A sample:

 

 

Chuck Todd, Joe Scarborough, and Luke Russert is the whitest trio of whiteness ever assembled.
 

It's like a sentient mayonnaise and egg white sandwich on Wonderbread.

 

I make it a rule to switch stations whenever Li'l Luke shows up. As soon as his dull face appears, I change to CNN in the hope that the numbers crunchers at NBC see a drop in viewership from the moment Russert comes on camera. Lately, I've also added Chuck Todd to my list of "avoid at all costs" talking heads.

[Guest]

I read this nauseating story and could not believe that a writer, even at the Post, could write this sentence with a straight face: 

 

We’re told the move is part of a plan to bring a right-leaning voice to the program to appeal to viewers turned off by the show’s famously left-leaning former hosts including the ousted David Gregory.

David Gregory? Left leaning? David "Dances With Karl Rove" Gregory?" Oh. My. God.

 

 Even the lede in the story is priceless:

 

NBC is bringing in Luke Russert, son of the late beloved “Meet the Press” host Tim Russert, as a regular panelist on the Sunday morning show in a bid to turn around its catastrophic ratings slide

Because somehow, Luke the Lesser is going to bring in viewers? Who is that going to be? People who don't know his dad died and think he was on an extended vacation and came back with excellent plastic surgery and a new diet? 

 

This is the sorry, sorry state of what passes for journalism in this country. 

[BungalowSummer]

It's interesting that the networks news executives don't get what seems fairly obvious to me.

 

Every opinion poll shows Americans don't like Congress, Beltway politicians, lobbyists or Washington culture in general. By large margins that keep getting larger, we disapprove of our political establishment and think all branches of the government are doing a bad job.

 

But the news execs somehow believe that viewers will watch blow-dried airheads like Chuck Todd or Li'l Luke because they have access! They're cozy with the very Beltway characters Americans say they despise. Reporters who should be shrewd adversaries become fawning stenographers dispensing editorial air kisses to tired hack pols like John McCain, Steny Hoyer, and the rest of the usual suspects.

 

It's all scripted to let everybody vomit up their talking points. No one is discomfited. No one is questioned hard. Every guest is allowed to lie and evade.

 

And then the execs watch their ratings tank and wonder why.

[shok]

MSNBC: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly...and the Boring. Jeebus. Do any of the hosts discuss their lineup of topics for their show with the other shows hosts and/or producers? Every single one of the shows on the lineup today (that I happened to tune in on) all covered the same thing - the football player hitting his wife and then President Obama's comments on Iraq. Granted, both are important topics but there was a lot more going on in the world than just those two issues. The football/NFL story got waaaaaay too much coverage IMO. I understand that domestic violence in the country is a huge problem but there are thousands of other women being abused everyday but because it was a famous football player it deserves wall-to-wall coverage?

[jjj]

It was the video that made it the top story for everyone -- because everyone had his/her own viewpoint to air on the specific situation as well as the larger issues of culturally-sanctioned (NFL) violence against women, and the issue of domestic violence generally.  Without the video, it would not have been the top story in all those programs. 

[Wax Lion]

Sometimes it feels like it's a no-win situation with planning news stories. On TWoP, I remember someone complaining because they tuned in to the second hour of Up with Steve Kornacki and didn't find coverage of a story that already took up a full half of the first hour. On the other hand, if each show covers a big story as if a good number of their viewers didn't already tune in for Ronan Farrow's take, people complain about the repetitiveness.

[captain1]

I would like to thank MSNBC for continuing to rebroadcast the "live as it happened" events of 9/11.  It is always just incredible to watch and I notice something new every year.  Please keep doing this MSNBC!

[jjj]

In the morning "as it happened," did they interrupt every seven minutes with commercials?  Because they are doing that this evening, and providing teasers heading into commercials that make the program sound like "To Catch a Predator."  "COMING UP NEXT..."  Good heavens, MSNBC, we all know what is coming up next, after the Porsche commercial.  I had to turn it off, it was so disrespectful.  Plus, they added some odd ongoing twirling smoke ribbon graphic constantly in the left side of the screen. 

 

In past years, this program has aired without interruption, "as it happened". 

[DXD526]

The overnight showing was interrupted constantly by commercials, and the airing was never completed, because in the early-morning hours, MSNBC switched to live coverage of the Pistorious verdict, so we could listen to the judge drone on endlessly and not really say anything. 

 

The smoke effects on the side of the screen were really cheesy and totally unnecessary. I wonder whose brilliant decision that was. It cheapened the entire production a bit, IMO.

 

It's interesting, all these years later, to watch the progression of events. After the first tower was hit, the anchors weren't taking it very seriously, conversing in an almost light tone, even as the live picture on the screen showed black smoke pouring from the tower. Then when the second tower was hit, their demeanor changed and just kept getting graver. But at the start, it was like they weren't even considering that this could be anything serious and that it wasn't just another day.

[jjj]

Yes, I also woke up to that endless Pistorius courtroom reading by the judge.  Even five years ago, a network would not have interrupted a 9.11 commemoration program for something like that.

 

If they can't bother to show it straight through, they should just drop it.  Using that footage to sell that much advertising time is sacrilegious.  I'd be find with supporting sponsors at the start and end, or having a different commemorative program with commercials.  But that was not "as it happened".  And the cheesy permanent smoke-ribbon effect was terrible. 

[captain1]

The morning one was truly "as it happened" with no commercials or cheesy special effects. It really brings it back for me as I am still in the same office, dong the same job. It amazes me that by about 11:10 eastern time they were already saying Osama Bin Laden was likely responsible.

[Wax Lion]

I was wondering if anyone else is having trouble with MSNBC. Lately my All In/TRMS combo goes to commercial in the middle of the second segment and goes back after a minute, with the segment in progress. A few times, they were local ads, so I was wondering if it was Comcast in my area or if more people were experiencing that.

[sugarbaker design]

Did Up with Steve Kornacki get new producers?  He was wearing a jack and a tie on Saturday and Sunday.

[stafford]

This afternoon I was watching the wall to wall coverage of the tragic school shooting in Washington State just north of Seattle. I had a couple of issues including that they were repeating video of the school being evacuated without identifying that it was previously filmed trying, I assume, to catch new viewers as if it was happening right then. Not cool MSNBC.

In addition the local affiliate interviewed three or four eye witnesses. These were 14 or 15 year old kids. One kid described the shooter as a happy kid, on the football team and he went on to say that when they skipped school a couple of days ago the shooter seemed "fine". So MSNBC uses this information to ask the FBI profiler if those qualities were normal for a mass shooter? I mean come on. How desperate is MSNBC to use the statement of a kid to report that the shooter was a happy kid and on the football team to boot. Why can't they wait for the police to do their job? Clearly these two kids skipped school which doesn't necessarily fit into the happy kid place.

Even worse the NBC Affiliate was on the phone with another young kid who witnessed the shooting and he calmly described what he saw. The news anchor started to cry and said something to the effect that she couldn't believe how calmly he was recounting the events and that he better seek out a counselor. The kid was fumbling a bit and said he said he guessed that's how he handles things. How dare the news anchor one, question these kids and two, make an immediate assessment that there was something emotionally wrong with the kid on the phone. She told him he better talk to his parents and he said my Mom is sitting right here. MSNBC cut away at that point.

I wish there was a law that would prohibit reporters from interviewing these kids that have been traumatized. This madness needs to stop.

[stormy]

CNN and HLN had a phone interview with a freshman (15 yrs old, mostly likely) classmate as well

[Kemper]

Lately there has been a lot of talk about MSNBC's declining ratings and the reasons why. My favorite show back in the day, and the main reason I began watching the network was Keith Olberman...he was a voice in the wilderness during the Bush days. Now any show I watch seems like a carbon copy of Fox; most of the shows now have at least one rabid, smug Republican who trashes the President and all of his policies. I have tuned out for this reason and am sure many others have also.

[shok]

 

Now any show I watch seems like a carbon copy of Fox; most of the shows now have at least one rabid, smug Republican who trashes the President and all of his policies.

 

It definitely isn't a carbon copy of Fox but I agree, there's entirely too much Republican garbage on all the time. Yes we know that the Republicans are astounding in their stupidity and their Obama hate but MSNBC doesn't have to sell that to their Democratic viewers. For every second they spend on talking about the latest Republican nonsense, they should spend two on getting the Democratic voices and policies out there.

 

Yes, the Republican primaries are a zoo but please, spend some time on potential Democratic candidates. It's no bloody wonder Hillary Clinton wins every poll. She's the only one who has any name recognition because the others are being totally ignored. I'm not at all convinced that Hillary would be a good nominee for the Democrats and the idea that the Repugs might get the House and the Senate AND the presidency in 2016 honestly makes me nauseous.

[stormy]

I miss Keith too and he has tried to reinvent his show with the same format on ESPN and it basically sucks.

Besides ESPN has downsized it to 30 minutes at 4:00pm from original 60 minutes at 10 pm.

Wondering if it's not going to be around much longer.

I still love Rachel and sometimes tune into Chris Hayes but I'm surprised the whole ship hasn't sunk by now.

[Kemper]

There must have been a change in upper management and the decision was made to "lean right" and forget their core audience. I don't know how else to explain the favored son status of Joe Scarborough.

I tried to watch Ed Schultz yesterday. He had on Crystal Ball, a doctor (who barely got a word in) and a shrieking harpy from Blaze, which I think may be Glen Beck's network. She smirked, condescended, and over-talked everyone, plus constantly interrupted. I don't understand why he couldn't just cut her mike off. I was so mad I tuned the channel and figured out how to vent here.

Now I am hesitant about turning Big Ed on again. Gosh, this felt good...I have never posted on anything before.

[jackiecat]

Wherever Rachel goes I will follow.  I'm not sure I like the way the new Exec Producer is going though.  The Friday quiz is boring and dumb!

[ktwo]

It looks like the winner of Chuck Todd's old job is Jose Diaz-Balart. His show has been expanded to two hours and renamed The Daily Rundown. I'm not a big fan but this is great news if it means Luke didn't get the job.

[pivot]

I think Jose is the only one on the network actually adding any value at this point. All the rest of them are pretty much just repeating the same beltway talking points over and over again. The network has become a massive disappointment and lost its way since 2010.

[heebiejeebie]

Over time I've found Jose to be a wind sock.  Sort of like Nicole Wallace has proven as she jumps from Morning Joe to the View on the same day.  Both blow in the direction they think gets and keeps them on tv and the audience that venue addresses.  I suspect if Jose is still on MSNBC in 2016 and a Republican is leading in the polls for the White House he will slip back to following his brother's ideiology.

 

Right now he is busy selling himself as moderate Hispanic.  Which is highly marketable going into 2016.  Hence the two hour slot I suspect. 

 

But I remember some of his commentary prior to his new position and all I can say is he is a slick salesman and I remain in "Buyer beware" mode.