Lies, Damned Lies, and Promos

All winter long, MSNBC -- home of a quarter million regular viewers nationwide -- ran elaborately produced promos that said "America's watching MSNBC." America was so not watching MSNBC that Osama Bin Laden was rumored to be hiding out on the set of "Scarborough Country." Yesterday, the channel was awash with promos for Chris Matthews' "Hardball," whereon Russell Crowe was supposed to be "breaking his silence" on the (cough) incident in New York. Might that be the same silence he broke on Letterman the night before?
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I know advertising lies like a mother. I know you can't believe movie trailers. But wouldn't cable news channels think twice about tainting their (cough) credibility with promotional announcements that are demonstrably false? No, they wouldn't.

All winter long, MSNBC--home of a quarter million regular viewers nationwide--ran elaborately produced promos that said "America's watching MSNBC." America was so not watching MSNBC that Osama Bin Laden was rumored to be hiding out on the set of "Scarborough Country". Yesterday, the channel was awash with promos for Chris Matthews' "Hardball", whereon Russell Crowe was supposed to be "breaking his silence" on the (cough) incident in New York. Might that be the same silence he broke on Letterman the night before? Might indeed.

Finally, not lying, just depressing: MSNBC's promos for Tucker Carlson's new program, "The Situation" (wasn't that what Fagin was reviewing in "Oliver"?), in which Carlson critiques his own promo for focusing on his bow tie--ironic self-awareness there--but remains mute at the real sales pitch: "So fast, it's changing the pace of news". Yes, a good analysis there, the problem with television news is that it's too damn in depth. You go, Tuck.

Sorry, no time for full name. Pace changed already.

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