After Dan Rather melted down and Tom Brokaw retired television nightly news stood at a crossroads. Today it has become quite clear network executives did not know which road to take. So, they continue to improvise and parade the same tired newscast every 6:30pm.
Problem is many, if not all of us, have received every bit of captain of ship abandoning, Newt momentum gaining, and Beyonce baby having minutia long before we make it home for dinner. If you take a mere 10 minutes during lunch to surf your favorite websites everything is at your disposal.
Which brings me to Brian Williams. He took over for Brokaw several years back and since then he has taken a once dignified show to new lows.
He appeared as HOST of Saturday Night Live. He makes cameos on 30 Rock and shows a lighter side on Letterman. On New Year's Eve with Carson Daly he gave his assessment of the year in music (showing his penchant for alt rock- which should have seemed cool, but he made it sound creepy and arrogant.) Now, an email has leaked where Williams bemoans Lana Del Rey's recent SNL gig as "one of the worst ever." For that story check here: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/television/nbc-anchor-brian-williams-email-criticism-lana-del-rey-snl-performance-posted-online-article-1.1007509
This does not even take into account his vanity project Rock Center, which is a cross between 60 Minutes and MTV News. His attitude and heir of superiority litter that show like BP pollutes the Gulf. Check the ego my friend. We get it. You have confidence and swagger. Just read the darn prompter and make sure your hair is perfectly still.
I want my newsman to have zero personality. He should be a chain smoking drunk who belittles his staff on a daily basis. Apologies to Katie Couric and Diane Sawyer... they are just fine, but no one watches(ed) them.
Better yet. Let's do away with the whole charade of nightly news altogether. This way Williams, and his peers, can go do their fancy shows and host SNL all they want.
There was a bit of an uproar yesterday when Wikipedia went dark in protest of the US Stop Online Piracy Act (Sopa) and Protect Intellectual Property Act (Pipa) being debated by Congress. Imagine too had TMZ, or Facebook done the same? Or what if the internet blocked all news sites for a day, two, forever?
That would indeed cause issues, and a massive panic.
Can the same be said of the 6:30 news? Let this dinosaur fade away already.
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