I was watching Larry King Live last night (oh, come on, like you didn't tune in to see what the hell's going on with Elizabeth Taylor), and Larry calls Liz's priceless jewelry "costume," and she's stunned. Larry tries to laugh it off that he was just needling her, that he can't tell the difference between real and costume, and then he goes to a break and throws it to Anderson Cooper to see what's coming up at the top of the hour on 360, and he says something like "Anderson, get me out of this will you?" as Larry and Liz laugh, and since he has put him on the spot, Anderson has to muster up a semi-joking "I can't tell the difference either Larry ...coming up, more violence and bloodshed in Iraq."Why do they always do this, joke about something and then throw it to the news to get some witty, light comment when there's serious news to report? The worse is the local news, when they'll come out of the weather forecast, laughing about "oh, where did summer go? It's so cool out!", and they're all laughing and shaking their heads, and then they'll put on their frowns suddenly and say something like, "we'll be right back with that update on the child who died in the car accident today."
Mixing the serious and the humorous is a very tricky thing. People like Olbermann and Stewart can do it, but their shows are built like that and since they're just one anchor controlling the show, they can make the segues easier. But on most news shows ...ugh, it's horrible.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
5-31-2006 @ 10:33AM
Chaim said...
I caught that also last night. That was embarrassing. Thaat whole interview creeped me out.
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5-31-2006 @ 10:50AM
Erosia said...
That reminds me of a Casey Kasem radio outtake that is online somewhere where he throws a tantrum complaining that they always make him do death dedications after coming off of an upbeat song.
Here it is, the second one: http://www.fadetoblack.com/outtakes/index1.html
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5-31-2006 @ 11:29AM
Chris W said...
I think there was an "aside" on Family Guy where they make fun of TV promos where they start all upbeat for a sitcom, and then the same announcer's voice drops several octaves to announce the dark cop drama.
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5-31-2006 @ 12:04PM
Batton Lash said...
This has been SOP for TV news since the early seventies; I believe it was originally called "happy talk". The forced frivolity between anchors is irritating, cringe-worthy and always comes across as insincere! And it is at its most annoying with the local newscasters. Isn't it time for a different approach?
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5-31-2006 @ 1:36PM
Cyberphin said...
"And Now for something completely different..." Monty Python put it best when riddiculing newscasters transitions
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5-31-2006 @ 9:22PM
Daniel Solis said...
In my area KNBC LA the news anchors occasionally throw each other an innocent and sometimes harsh insult right before a break. It usually refers to the last news segement. For example Colleen Williams will call Paul Moyer old in a clever way. I just love it.
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6-01-2006 @ 2:20PM
Etana said...
Maybe thats why people turn to shows like the "The Daily Show" for their news. The serious news is given in a manner that, while humorous, does not induce vomiting.
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6-14-2006 @ 9:22AM
Nicole Ambrose said...
I was just thinking this the other day when the Jolie-Pitt child was unveiled~ our news was rattling on about how wonderful it was that the world gets a glimpse and how lucky we are and isn't is just exciting and can you hardly even wait to buy People magazine and then with the smiles barely off thier faces the news anchor said "stay tuned, another soldier dies today in Irag, details after the break"..
Gee,could he have been any less sensitive? That just aggravates me!
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