Man Cat Watches Anderson Cooper 360

Man Cat Watches Anderson Cooper 360
Photo by:Dennis

I used to like CNN. How could one not like a news organization who employs someone named Wolf Blitzer? And Anderson Cooper seemed like a fair and good news anchor. That said, I'd never really watched CNN then, so I just assumed I'd like it. I've been watching CNN as of late and I've got to say: I'm not impressed.

For the last ninety-something days, Anderson Cooper has covered almost nothing but the Oil Spill. I get it, it's a horrible horrible travesty that should have been avoided. Unfortunately, I don't understand why he needed to give the same exact report for ninety straight days.

Then there's the problem of Anderson's wardrobe. I noticed it on one of his marathon We're going to show clips of me asking BP to talk on air for the last 40 days straight. And what I saw befuddled me: Anderson only appears to own 3 shirts (he's especially fond of a certain black v-neck).

Any time I've watched any other CNN show they seem to have this unorthodox obsession with Twitter, reading from their blogs online, and their touchscreen TVs. Really, reading what people say on Twitter doesn't much contribute to the news, nor does constantly scrawling on your touchscreens simply because you can. I can certainly appreciate their embracing technology, but they're acting like a kid who's just discovered markers and a white wall.

Speaking of crazy, obsessive, and Twitter, let's talk about CNN's sister network Head Line News (HLN). I'll start with Showbiz Tonight, "TV's most provocative entertainment news show." I'd like to know how they came up with that tagline. Provocative? How? All they talk about is Lindsay Lohan. In fact, that's all most of HLN's shows talk about. This show is utterly pointless, not remotely entertaining, and the furthest thing from provocative; I'll take E! News over this any day (and that's not to say that Giuliana and Ryan's show is much better).

Next up is Joy Behar. I like the View, it's an interesting show that educates me on how 4 different women feel about current issues. You've got Conservative blowhard Elisabeth Hasselbeck, Whoopi Goldberg (who is the most sane person on the show), Joy Behar who tends to make pretty good sense, and Sherri Shepherd who I can't say is all that memorable, but seems okay. Then, I tune to Joy Behar on HLN and she has managed to create a show that is somehow always 3 days behind on the news. Not only that, it's kind of painful to watch, she says some of the most idiotic things. The only recent show I enjoyed was Leonard Nimoy's show about his photography exhibit which I'd already read about on NPR

Finally, there is the batshit crazy Nancy Grace. I don't know where to begin, but I'll summarize the show for you. Nancy will mention a topic, which she will then rant on about for awhile. She will then invite a guest on to talk, and she will yell at them (and thus the audience) until she takes calls and e-mails. These e-mails are all seemingly from bible-belt stay-at-home-mom's. For about a month and a half straight all she talked about was Joran Van der Sloot. Then she talked about Lindsay Lohan for a month. Most of the time, however, Nancy talks about cases of child abductions and murderers, but mostly missing and dead children. Oh and Mel Gibson; they all seem to love hating on Mel Gibson.

Man Cat does not approve. Not of black V-necks (unprofessional); repetitive news mongering; taking calls from lonely, angry women; repeatedly yelling about celebrities and how out of control they are; and missing/dead children and murderers. Why can't HLN talk about something a little happier? News doesn't have to be so depressing all of the time. Why so hard over Mel Gibson and his wife? I understand ratings are all that matters, but frankly I'd rather sit back with a nice cup of tea and listen to my NPR than be berated by HLN all day which is precisely why HLN goes on when everything else worth watching has gone to commercial.