[Today at The Daily Vent we welcome the first of hopefully many "Guest Vent-ers". Wadrick certainly lets it rip in his debut vent and I look forward to many more of his tirade's to come. If YOU would like to vent on the site, contact me and I can make it happen. Enjoy Wadrick's blast!]
What’s with TV journalists these days? They all seem to be duplicates with only the clothes and hair to distinguish one from the other. They all employ the annoying act of superfluous hand gestures. They tilt and twist their heads to emphasise words that do not seem to warrant emphasis. And they all deliver their monologues with the fake sincerity of a street vendor, as though they are trying to sell the news instead of report it. It’s become so that the people featured on television deter me from actually watching.
About a year and a half ago I had Foxtel connected for the first time. During those last eighteen months I have been subjected to endless re-runs of worthless movies, dodgy History Channel documentaries, 80’s sitcoms, the abhorrent Fox News channel and moronic entertainment ‘reporters’ and homegrown news men and women. It’s amusing and sad to see the forgotten faces of yesteryear who, out of a job with the free-to-air networks, sprinted over to Fox when the cable phenomenon began in this country. Men like Leigh Hatcher, Garry Wilkinson, Terry Willesee and John Gatfield on the Sky News channel. Men that seem totally out of place with news in the modern age, as the programs increasingly become yet another piece of entertainment.
Hatcher, former Network Seven field reporter, seems overjoyed at being behind a desk as an anchorman. But that doesn’t mean he belongs there. The majority of people in TV news are there precisely because they lack the personality to entertain. They can read well enough and tell us what the hell is supposedly going on in the world, but that is where their so-called talents end.
Gatfield is perhaps the worst of a bad bunch. He reminds one of that high school science teacher – the one that always seemed two decades behind the times. He’d always wear shorts and socks pulled up to just below the knee, with the only addition to the outfit in the winter months being an ill-fitting parka. When Gatfield attempts the obligatory banter with his cronies, he borders on the ridiculous. Don’t get me started when he tries to ‘interview’ an outside personality or celebrity.
Willesee always struggled beneath the shadow of his brother Mike, and that darkness still lingers. He seems to have forgotten anything his brother may have taught him. Only Wilkinson fares relatively well. An old hand behind the desk, Wilko draws on his experience to rise above a stinking pile. The ladies that are paired with these guys are a mixed bunch of the new breed of journalist. Most smile politely at their older male counterparts and attempt to provide the kindling for their useless asides. The end result however leaves the viewer feeling just a tad uncomfortable.
The ‘entertainment reporters’ on Foxtel need a good dose of Sarin gas. We encounter more infiltrators here from the free-to-air networks. Remember James Valentine? No? Well, I’m sure most people have forgotten this guy too, probably leading the majority of viewers to believe that he is a new face on TV. This guy was out of a job long before cable was even an itch in Rupert Murdoch’s pants. Now his spectacled mug is back on the tube, waxing philosophical about the entertainment industry and films in general with all the originality of a loaf of sliced bread.
Then there is Sophie Falkiner. Former bra model, one time Wheel Of Fortune letter spinner/eye candy and now Foxtel entertainment reporter. Is she given free reign to write her own questions for her interviews? It sure seems that way and I’ve got to address the Foxtel execs here and say ‘Fellas, that’s one bad idea.’ Her questions are as mind shattering as “You looked great in that movie….was it fun to wear those clothes?”
Is this what viewers really want to hear about?
Another grand mistake on the part of the Foxtel executives was to even give Andrew Warne a job interview, let alone a job! This guy must know someone on the Foxtel board. Maybe he undertook some nefarious task on behalf of Murdoch and a position on Foxtel was his reward. Maybe he just sucked someone’s cock, because there is no way the guy was employed based on anything resembling talent. The man demonstrates all the classic modern TV journalism traits discussed briefly above. The hand gestures, the unnecessary word emphasis, the pseudo sincerity – all proof the guy has been ‘schooled’ in new age journalism. But put him in a chair across from a Hollywood actor, and the guy turns into a bumbling, giggling fool. He projects the image of a starstruck fan, and his questions make Falkiner’s seem Pulitzer-worthy. Often, his questions are merely statements that the interviewee must then convert into an answer of sorts. They might as well interview themselves.
Maybe the ‘starstruck fan’ deal is endearing to some viewers. I can barely understand that. But there is no denying the visible contempt that many actors display towards Warne. Orlando Bloom, interviewed in short clips during the credits of Elizabethtown on the Showtime channel, was amusingly abrupt with Warney and made no effort whatsoever to hide his obvious contempt for his so-called questions. I would like to see more of that. Many actors and directors are far too polite with Warne, and that is often more uncomfortable for a viewer when one can tell the courtesies are false. In fact, I’d like to see Murdoch himself walk on set and stop the interview, berate Warne for his lack of talent, shoot him in the kneecap and then turn the gun on himself.
Now that would be worth watching!
-Wadrick
1 Comment
June 29, 2008 at 12:48 pm
Although I haven’t seen Valentine on Foxtel, I have appreciated him as a presenter on 702 AM and in various MC gigs. He’s an up-beat sort of guy that seems to speak with some authority – I can’t help thinking that he works best when chatting with the general public (ie, call-back, interviews etc).