As demonstrated by Vulture , by Vanity Fair , by very fine work in the paper of record , by your vituperative correspondent himself , NBC Entertainment has transformed itself into a marvelous object of derision. (Tune in tonight for the debut of The Listener ! It’s Bringing Out the Dead meets Medium meets general anesthesia!) This week, NBC News, feeling left out of the fun, got in on the act of degrading the airwaves. Congrats to Steve Capus and his team for reminding viewers just how awful television news can be.
It was one thing on Monday, when, on local late-night news shows, NBC affiliates devoted perhaps twice the time to the launch of Conan’s
Tonight Show
that they did to the end of GM as we know it. But Monday was followed, as according to custom, by Tuesday and Wednesday, when the network ran a two-part special hosted by Brian Williams and titled
Inside the Obama White House
. Many have compared BHO with JFK, and the precedents for this program do, indeed, date to the “new frontier”
—
A Tour of the White House with Mrs. John F. Kennedy
and
a hand shandy by Judith C. Exner
.