Jon Friedman: Tavis Smiley Is

Jon Friedman: Tavis Smiley Is "A Populist Charlie Rose"

MarketWatch   |  Jon Friedman   |   March 24, 2008 08:17 AM

Read More: Charlie Rose, Pbs, Tavis Smiley, Breaking Media News
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One of the mysteries of television is why PBS' Tavis Smiley continues to fly below the radar. He has an easy charm and a keen curiosity, and deserves to be better known.

Smiley follows Charlie Rose's respected talk show, which has a much bigger reputation. But Smiley shouldn't be regarded as second-string to Rose.

In fact, you could say that Smiley has emerged on TV as a populist version of Rose. While Rose tends to attract ambassadors and Nobel Prize winners by the bushel, Smiley probes less formal -- though no less compelling -- subjects. And he does so every bit as thoughtfully as his more famous PBS colleague.


 
 

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- Aslanspal See Profile I'm a Fan of Aslanspal

Jon...Jon....Jon....to mention Tavis Smiley and that other guy just doesn't connect .

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 09:37 PM on 03/24/2008
- TheSecularist See Profile I'm a Fan of TheSecularist

I don't care for Smiley either. Never watched his show (not stimulating) and, after his prissy response to Obama's offer of Michelle's appearance on his show, I care even less for Tavis Smiley (Michelle is a great speaker in her own right). When his State of the Black Union conference was televised, I paused my channel surfing to see where it was headed. It was the same old "focus on what's wrong with the black community" pity party that many of us (blacks) are sick of hearing. If Tavis Smiley really wants to have a great show, he should profile successful blacks from various fields in depth and have them tell their inspiring stories of overcoming many obstacles, never giving up, maintaining optimism, etc. to get where they are today. This is why I support Obama: he's smart, optimistic, not a defeatist, and has demonstrated a willingness and ability to work with others whose viewpoints differ from his own.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 02:57 PM on 03/24/2008
- 6thVenom See Profile I'm a Fan of 6thVenom

I'm not going to get into the whole Obama/SOTBU dust up because to me, that's over and done with. Contrary to the writer's assertion that Tavis allows his guests to speak and go off tangent because he's a sensitive guy, Tavis lets his guests drone on and go off tangent because he's not a great interviewer. This has been the case since his days at BET.
Case in point, when he interviewed Terri MacMillan after her last book came out and during her divorce from her husband, She veered way off course and started attacking her ex and delving into some really personal stuff. She was angry , agitated, and out of control. Tavis looked shellshocked. Even though the details were rather juicy (I can appreciate a celebrity meltdown when I see one), I was disappointed because Tavis allowed Terri to completely take control of the interview and essentially the show. Good interviewers just don't let that happen.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 02:24 PM on 03/24/2008
- PTTY See Profile I'm a Fan of PTTY

Tavis is a shrill for Hillary Clinton and is one of those Black Man that is jealous of Barack Obama, because he dared to run for President.

Obama did not seek his opinion before he decided to seek the Presidency and a lot of the Black Men are very jealous.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 02:06 PM on 03/24/2008
- klondiker See Profile I'm a Fan of klondiker

Wow, the stupidity of your argument is stunning (not to mention, kind of racist). Are you insinuating that Tavis Smiley can have no intelligent reason for supporting Clinton (which, by the way, he hasn't done) other than the fact that he is jealous of Barack Obama?

By this measure, every white woman who is against Clinton is jealous of her.

Grow up. Intelligent, thoughtful people have all kinds of reasons for supporting different candidates.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 02:18 PM on 03/24/2008
- robXdion See Profile I'm a Fan of robXdion

How is that racist?? I'm a black man and I can vouch that there indeed are MANY prominent blacks that are very jealous of Obama. You need to go read a dictionary and learn the meaning of the word. They don't hate on Obama out of some racial presumption of superiority...they're black too. Or can you not see this? This is pure jealously. Blacks have a notion that there can only be one or two of them that popular and accepted at a time. So there is resentment for Obama because he replaces many others who have been on the scene longer. It is not "racist" to bring up a topic dealing with race. Please educate yourself.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 03:56 PM on 03/24/2008
- klondiker See Profile I'm a Fan of klondiker

Are you pulling my leg? Is this satire?

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 10:20 PM on 03/24/2008
- Wildcatdiva See Profile I'm a Fan of Wildcatdiva

OMG...you beat me to it! Amen Amen Amen

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 02:10 PM on 03/24/2008
- westreal See Profile I'm a Fan of westreal

Smiley is a shill for the Hillary Machine.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 12:47 PM on 03/24/2008
- desertdweller See Profile I'm a Fan of desertdweller

In my humble opinion, Tavis Smiley is a refreshing change from the moronic interviewers on NBC, CBS, and ABC.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 10:46 AM on 03/24/2008
- anghiari See Profile I'm a Fan of anghiari

In my humble opinion, Tavis Smiley is a self-indulgent, self-important wannabee. His recent partisan response to Senator Obama declining his invitation to appear at Tavis Smiley's black conference was a poor decision. I watched both the Senator Obama and Senator Clinton appearances on Mr. Smiley's show. He asked each of them good questions and right when I thought he had began to test Hilary with tough questions as he had done with Senator Obama, he turned fan and equivocator. His rant against Senator Obama for declining Smiley's
invitation was not lost on many people. Amd Smiley had a significant backlash because of his behavior. Sure Hillary was going to stop everything to be there, her husband had just alienated all the black folks in South Carolina... she needed Smiley's platform. She also knew little about this event and that while Tavis labeled it BLACK...few Blacks in this country knew about it or would have sanctioned it as part of anything they felt represented them. He is a self indulgent in his questions with some folks as is Charlie or any other interviewer. Thus he has as many misses as he has hits. He has gotten for lack of a better descriptive phrase"the big head". He reads too much of his fan mail and he has begun to believe it.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 12:27 PM on 03/24/2008
- Wildcatdiva See Profile I'm a Fan of Wildcatdiva

OMG...you as well, beat me to it! Amen! Amen! Amen!

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 02:12 PM on 03/24/2008
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