July 9, 2012
October 30, 2008
August 21, 2008
The Tattlesnake – Rachel in TV Lady Clothes Edition
Wit and Intelligence Increasingly Crawling Its Way Onto the Cable TV News Schedule as Maddow Nails Down Her Own MSNBC Hour
As mentioned by Your Tattlesnake months ago, Rachel Maddow has finally sealed a deal with MSNBC, getting everything she wanted – choice of guests, choice of topics, no ‘funny’ comedian co-host, and the coveted spot following the cable news network’s most successful entry, Countdown with Keith Olbermann. Her as-yet-untitled show debuts on Sept. 8, 2008 at 9:00pmET, just in time to dissect the presidential election with Maddow’s arched-eyebrow irony, unpretentious delivery and solid grasp of the issues. Rachel’s naturally attractive TV presence, fetching both men and women viewers, should put her in good shape to make a serious run at CNN’s Larry King Live and that unwatchable bag of flaming dog poop hosted by Sean Hannity over at Fox. (Sorry, Colmes.) Word is The Verdict with Dan Abrams will move to the slot following Rachel’s show and that NBC execs are seeking a political comic in the mold of Bill Maher to fill out the late-night hour at eleven ET, with VH1′s Paul F. Tompkins and The Daily Show’s John Oliver said to be leading the list of candidates. All four shows would then be rebroadcast starting at midnight, mercifully ending the present low-rated ‘doc bloc’ programming. MSNBC will also cause regressive heads to spontaneously combust as the network embraces the liberal/progressive label with more gusto since they found out – guess what? – in the current horrid economy, L/P’s have more disposable income than the poor wretches still watching Fox, a strong selling point to advertisers.
Prediction: Rachel will dominate the time slot by November.
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The Tattlesnake – Obama Infomercial Seals the Deal Edition
While the Tattler doesn’t usually like the kind of wan-music-in-the-background soft emotional porn of the ‘Oprah-ized’ infomercial, Obama’s half-hour spot Wednesday night avoided most of the worst aggravations of this TV cliché, especially the forlorn solo piano music sound track with flourishes of swelling strings redolent of tacky video matchmaking and cancer treatment center ads.
It featured battleground-state stereotypes – a laid-off white male Ford Motors worker, a Latina woman trying to make ends meet, an elderly black couple hampered by chronic illness and worried about the future, et al — struggling with life in Bush’s downsized economy, but at least the people were real and their stories didn’t sink into cheesy Lifetime-channel melodrama; Obama’s interspersions in office surroundings reminiscent of Camp David were obviously intended to make the Low-and-Slow-Information-Voters of Middle America, awaiting the ballgame, feel comfortable with him as president, which was the main point of this smart $4 million investment.
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