For months now, we’ve been bothered by some injudicious changes that are being made to some of local TV’s “early-early” morning shows.
We’ve gotten up as early as 5:30 a.m. to chronicle these “for the worse” changes—and hope that our focus on them today will make TV producers reconsider some of their questionable gambits:
First off, local morning show hosts appear to have been injudiciously instructed to start their programs “with a bang,” shouting their greetings and spiels as cheerfully and loudly as all get-out.
The idea seems to be that viewers like being roused from their sleep, so they can start the working or studying day on an energetic high, hence the amped-up volume and giddy cheerfulness!
However, we would like to speak up for viewers who don’t like being stridently shaken, rocked and rolled out of their beds—and would much prefer a more normal and lower volume of cheerful hosting, please.
Our second “nega” note is also related to this: Some shows have added cohosts who are comedians, probably to make their features more “fun” to listen to and watch.
Alas, some of the new cohosts are “B” comics who are notorious for their sour and scathing way of making people “laugh,” and thus end up as liabilities, instead of plus viewing factors.
The nasty segment hosts are so off-putting that we sometimes have to keep our TV set’s volume level at its absolute lowest to avoid getting negatively affected by their unfunny sourness—but we still get shattered, not stirred, by these unwelcome and pesky intruders who unmake our day.
As for other cohosts, a number of the “oldies but goodies” are no longer around—and they’ve been replaced by much lesser talents who don’t have the “K” to cohost a morning show.
The now-lower level of hosting competence or even basic proficiency has adversely affected some shows’ ability to delight and inspire, so better replacement hosts are clearly in order.
Other hosting turn-offs include some senior talents who try to still sound and look as chirpy, pert and youthful as before—but now come on too loud, chatty and trying-hard to be warmly welcomed by discomfited and discombobulated viewers.
In addition, some cohosts are eyesores, not sights for sore eyes, because they fancy themselves to be lovely fashion trend-setters, and love to “prove” the questionable point by astounding and assaulting viewers’ orbs with the livid and rabid “fashion creations” they wear.
Most questionable of all are some morning show cohosts’ efforts to pass themselves off, not just as program hosts, but as news and public affairs commentators, as well.
Alas, many of their “opinions” are actually just “motherhood” platitudes, or mere paraphrasing of news reports in the morning papers.
Truly credible and “actionable” opinions need much more time and real analysis to arrive at, so the “host-commentators’” knee-jerk “insights” quickly betray their lack of thought, originality and convincing analytical acuity.