The Case

Sometimes my job as a Consumer Advocate spills over into being a Media Critic.

One of my favorite speeches in that regard was made back in 1961, by then FCC chairman Newton Minow, when he famously derided television executives for turning the medium into a "vast wasteland". (Incidentally, if you're interested in listening to that famous speech, point your browser to http://www.historychannel.com/speeches/archive/speech_194.html but only after you've perused the entirety of this swell site NewsWorthy Online).

I was stuck watching the latest addition to this "vast wasteland" while waiting to get my car inspected this past week ... a program called Good Day Live, featuring supposedly the City of Angels' highest-rated morning team from KTTV FOX 11. They've now done us the favor of syndicating their morning show across the country, for us all to loathe, and our hometown Boston O&O FOX 25 made the mistake of picking this dreadful show up. I can only hope they get to their senses soon, and throw on in its place a Ron Popeil infomercial for spray-on hair before it's too late.

Read on for my scathing review of this program that I sent by e-mail to their feedback column ...

Date: Tue, 18 Jun 2002 03:23:32 -0400
To: talk@gooddaylive.com
From: "Michael W. Consumer Advocate" <TheConsumerAdvocate@attbi.com>
Subject: Some Thoughts on Your Show

To Whom It May Concern:

I had the unfortunate happenstance of being stuck in a car repair shop's waiting room this past week for an extended period of time. I say unfortunate because the sole television in the room was tuned to your show.

I can easily say that your program is quite possibly one of the worst productions I have ever watched. I am befuddled as to how you would find any self-respect or purpose in coming in to work to make such a worthless contribution to our society. Your show carried no point ... no flow ... no fresh information ... no guests ... no nothing. I am amazed that *anyone* who considers themselves a television producer thinks that a good idea for a segment is having some dumb blonde read me the headlines from the latest supermarket tabloids ... great television you're putting together out there.

I've worked in the television industry for the better part of a decade, and I'm familiar with the lackluster ratings your show produces. You might take that as a hint to call it quits before too many people discover you and witness this carnage. I have a feeling that, if you did a survey of your current "viewership", you would find most of them are watching against their free will, as I was stuck doing in a waiting room with one TV and a broken remote control.

Your anchors, if they even deserve that title, are abominable. I might find the gray-haired has-been Steve Edwards a little more believable if he had ever learned, in his many years in television, to look into the camera while speaking, rather than staring blankly off-camera at his omnipresent cue cards. The other two bimbos are obviously there just for a feeble attempt at eye candy because I hardly found anything they blabbered enlightening ... tell them to get a job at the nearest Hooters so they can at least fetch me some food and make themselves useful.

In conclusion, I want to thank you for unloading your cable access crap on us and adding to the "vast wasteland" of television. Do us all a favor and end this pathetic program before all of your reputations are irreparably tarnished. If you must keep your show going in some form, I'd recommend pointing your camera at the wall; watching paint dry in silence would make for much more interesting television than what you're throwing together now.

Begging you to end this idiocy,

Michael W.
The Consumer Advocate