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Thursday, July 21, 2011

Going from Really Bad to Worse

Quick, tell me who Cenk Uygur is! If you are one of the three people in the country who knows the answer, then you may have a big disappointment heading your way. Uygur is the loud mouth host of the MSNBC show on at 6 pm Eastern Time each weekday. If you do not know that, then you are part of the 99.8% of the public that does not watch that show. Indeed, I have seen the show in part on multiple occassions, but I never knew who the dark-haired, chubby guy was until news came that he had been fired. Uygur claims that he left due to creative differences. The MSNBC management has its own story. Who cares? I just realize that Uygur's leaving will have about as much impact in America as if someone in Ohio has squashed a bug.

Sadly, the MSNBC management has actually made things worse. In an amazing move, MSNBC is going to give the 6pm hour to a show headed by the Rev. Al Sharpton. While it is hard to imagine that MSNBC could have less viewers for a show than it had with Uygur as the host, Sharpton is one of the few personalities who could achieve what ought to be the unachievable. First of all, Shartpon is very hard to understand due to a combination fo the way he speaks and his accent. That is not a very auspicious start for a TV host. Second, there are the wacky views that Sharpton holds. After the Tawana Brawley scandal, we know all that we need to know about Sharpton.

It seems strange to me that Comcast does not close down MSNBC and re-open it with some other theme. Certainly, cable television could do with more reality tv. Maybe Cablevision could start the first the first channel to give hints on how to wash clothing. At least viewership would go up from the current levels at MSNBC.

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