November 30, 2016--You Be the Judge
They broke into Morning Joe yesterday to announce that their parent network, NBC, had just summarily fired longtime Today Show host Matt Lauer for "inappropriate sexual behavior in the workplace."
Joe Scarborough, Mike Barnicle, and frequent Today host Willie Geist were visibly shaken. I suspect in Joe's case in part because he feared he could easily be the next to fall. There's a lot of sexual static in his past.
We watched for awhile and then switched to NBC where co-host Savannah Guthrie and last-minute substitute host Hoda Kotb were sharing their feelings of upset.
After ten minutes we surfed around to see how the other networks were was dealing with the news.
First to CNN, where morning co-host Alisyn Camerota had been sexually harassed by her past employer, Fox News head Roger Ailes who had been summarily fired six months ago; then to Fox itself where the hosts, conveniently forgetting their own network's history with sexual harassment, were a version of gleeful; next to CBS where senior-host Charlie Rose had been summarily fired a week and a half ago for sexual malfeasance. Then finally to Today's main rival, ABC's Good Morning America.
We lingered there because mega-businessman Daymond John of Shark Tank fame was being interviewed about his latest book, The Power of Broke. We stopped to watch as Shark Tank is one of the two or three shows we enjoy watching. OK, one of two.
At the end of the interview, the person interviewing him thanked him profusely (Shark Tank is also an ABC show) and reached over to touch him. On the upper thigh!
In the context of all the inappropriate touching this was shocking and the only thing of interest in this otherwise innocuous program.
"Can they get away with that?" Rona asked.
"I guess we'll find out later today or tomorrow when ABC human resources and/or executives of the network may have to deal with it."
"Did it make any difference that Daymond, the touchee," Rona wondered, "is a man?"
"Good question."
"Or that the interviewer, Robin Roberts is a woman?"
"And," I said, "an openly gay woman at that."
"This is all so complicated," Rona said. "In addition, I wonder if NBC rushed to fire Lauer, one of the networks Trump claims deals mainly in fake news, before he could get his hands on the story and gleefully scoop and excoriate them."
"He's on quite a roll with that," I said, "Shortly after the Matt Lauer story broke he was tweeting about 'low-ratings' Joe Scarborough and alluding to the scandal that befell him back when he was a congressman--when a female intern died of unclear causes in his Florida office."
"No wonder I don't want to watch TV," Rona sighed.
"But don't forget Shark Tank."
Joe Scarborough, Mike Barnicle, and frequent Today host Willie Geist were visibly shaken. I suspect in Joe's case in part because he feared he could easily be the next to fall. There's a lot of sexual static in his past.
We watched for awhile and then switched to NBC where co-host Savannah Guthrie and last-minute substitute host Hoda Kotb were sharing their feelings of upset.
After ten minutes we surfed around to see how the other networks were was dealing with the news.
First to CNN, where morning co-host Alisyn Camerota had been sexually harassed by her past employer, Fox News head Roger Ailes who had been summarily fired six months ago; then to Fox itself where the hosts, conveniently forgetting their own network's history with sexual harassment, were a version of gleeful; next to CBS where senior-host Charlie Rose had been summarily fired a week and a half ago for sexual malfeasance. Then finally to Today's main rival, ABC's Good Morning America.
We lingered there because mega-businessman Daymond John of Shark Tank fame was being interviewed about his latest book, The Power of Broke. We stopped to watch as Shark Tank is one of the two or three shows we enjoy watching. OK, one of two.
At the end of the interview, the person interviewing him thanked him profusely (Shark Tank is also an ABC show) and reached over to touch him. On the upper thigh!
In the context of all the inappropriate touching this was shocking and the only thing of interest in this otherwise innocuous program.
"Can they get away with that?" Rona asked.
"I guess we'll find out later today or tomorrow when ABC human resources and/or executives of the network may have to deal with it."
"Did it make any difference that Daymond, the touchee," Rona wondered, "is a man?"
"Good question."
"Or that the interviewer, Robin Roberts is a woman?"
"And," I said, "an openly gay woman at that."
"This is all so complicated," Rona said. "In addition, I wonder if NBC rushed to fire Lauer, one of the networks Trump claims deals mainly in fake news, before he could get his hands on the story and gleefully scoop and excoriate them."
"He's on quite a roll with that," I said, "Shortly after the Matt Lauer story broke he was tweeting about 'low-ratings' Joe Scarborough and alluding to the scandal that befell him back when he was a congressman--when a female intern died of unclear causes in his Florida office."
"No wonder I don't want to watch TV," Rona sighed.
"But don't forget Shark Tank."
Labels: "Good Morning America", "Morning Joe", "Shark Tank", "Today Show", Alisyn Camerota, Charlie Rose, Daymond Jones, Joe Scarborough, Matt Lauer, Mike Barnicle, Robin Roberts, Savannah Guthrie, Willie Geist
posted by Steven Zwerling at
4:23 AM
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