jztherapist Reviews

Deadline: White House (2017 Podcast Series)

The Three Stars Are For the Guests

[3/10 · 22 September 2023]

Nicolle Wallace spends a good part of the show reading to her audience. She must think either that her viewers are too dumb to read for themselves or that it's impressive to demonstrate her own ability to read. Today she read a good portion of Jeffrey Goldberg's Atlantic article on General Mark Milley, occasionally asking her guests, (including a U. S. General) to comment on what she's read.

It wouldn't be so bad if she were able to read with expression. As Dorothy Parker famously said, "Her emotions ran the gamut from A to B." Which pretty much characterizes Wallace's reading of the teleprompter as well. Instead of reading long excerpts of newspaper and magazine articles, Wallace might try trusting her viewers to read for themselves and concentating more on preparing better to have more spontaneous discussions with her guests.

The Rachel Maddow Show (2008– )

Too Much Time Off

[6/10 · 4 August 2018]

The Rachel Maddow show is excellent. When she's there! Which isn't very often I honestly don't think a week goes by that she's nowhere to be found for at least part of that week. As of this writing, she's been gone for an entire week and that's in addition to multiple days she's been MIA during the last several months.

Hopefully, her health is good and that's not the reason that she now works part-time. What's ironic is that her mentor and benefactor, Keith Olbermann (whom she promptly forgot she knew once she had her own show and he was let go by NBC) pulled the same nonsense. There one day, gone two...there a full week, gone the next week.

What is it about Phil Griffin that he allows such liberties to be taken by these multi-million dollar part-timers? Maybe he's not there either and doesn't know that he's got hosts who consider it a right and not a privilege to be handsomely paid for so very little air time!

CNBC Squawk Box (1995– )

Becky Quick Needs To Stop Fawning Over Warren Buffett.

[4/10 · 1 August 2018]

Ok, we get it. Quick and Buffett have a mutual admiration society. However, Becky Quick needs to stop genuflecting in the presence of the Great One and start asking some tough questions.

For instance, when is Mr. Buffett going to release his death grip on the billions he has accumulated, thanks to the Bull Market and the Trump tax cuts, and start sharing his profits in the form of dividends with his loyal shareholders? A buyback may raise the share price (and further enrich Mr. Buffett), but if the higher priced shares are sold they are gone. Period!! A dividend would enable shareholders to see their holdings accumulate through additional shares,further increasing the value of their holdings.

Those of us who have been loyal to Mr. Buffett and to Berkshire Hathaway are not children. His lame explanations about why he has been reluctant to declare a dividend are condescending and insulting. And, yes, one could always get rid of the holding if Mr. Buffett persists in guarding his billions with pit bull tenacity...however, how nice it would be as he gets ever closer to retirement, if he were to start paying dividends to those of us who have displayed loyalty to Mr. Buffett and to the stock.

So, Ms. Quick, perhaps Mr. Buffett might be taken aback if you stopped playing softball and confronted him on this issue. It would certainly make the show more interesting than watching the two of you making moon eyes at one another over treacly interviews.

And, by the way, I agree with those viewers who question what her co-anchor, Joe, brings to the table except incoherent rambling. There have to be more competent and knowledgeable moderators somewhere out there.

Succession (2018–2023)

OMG

[1/10 · 30 June 2018]

I really looked forward to this series. Good cast, interesting story, Frank Rich on the job. I tried, really tried to get through the first episode. I didn't realize that Donald Trump, Jr. had landed a leading role in this series, as the incompetent, sniveling wannabe heir to the throne. Then, I realized I hated every one of the children, as well as their significant others. As well as everybody else in the series. Actually, the only members of the cast I kind of liked were Logan and his wife, although not even them so much.

The acting was as inept as anything I've ever seen, the plot was predictable (for the limited time that I subjected myself to the first episode), and I found myself hoping that Logan Roy would levitate out of his hospital bed and disinherit every one of these parasites plotting for his/her eventual takeover of the company.

Since I've always admired Frank Rich for his biting and incisive analyses of political figures and events, I had high hopes for his positive influence on this series; however, I don't know how much he was involved in the scripting, but I noticed that (along with Veep, which I eventually could no longer stomach) that replacing smart dialogue with filthy epithets and peppering each line with profanity, seemingly for profanity's sake, cheapened and coarsened the integrity of this series. Believe me, I have no problem with profanity if it's contextual, but this was simply laziness where smart dialogue should have been in place.

In short, if you want to see the Trump family''s casual cruelty and banality transferred to HBO, this is the show for you. If you'd hoped for the usual intelligence and integrity of an HBO series, switch to one of the other premium channels.

Morning Joe (2007– )

WHO'S PILOTING THE MSNBC TITANIC?

[1/10 · 26 June 2018]

Update: July 4, 2023 As I write this review, Joe was MIA Monday through Thursday of last week ("On assignment"), according to Mika. On assignment where? If he couldn't get out of his bed, she could merely have said that he was "under the weather." Last Friday, Joe was there (Mika MIA) , had trouble containing hmself and was clearly off the rails. Totally unwatchable so I stopped watching. Because I've been boycotting CNN since the Trump Town Hall fiasco, I instead watched recorded episodes of House Hunters and the Law and Order franchises. Far preferable to the train wreck last Friday. Yesterday (July 3) they were both MIA, perhaps stressed out by their hard work last week. And, now, as we approach the end of July, not only have Joe and Mika been MIA for most of the month, but now Willie seems to be joining the no-show gala, making three out of the three moderators off somewhere while Jonathan Lamire was yanked from Way to Early to moderate today's show.

MSNBC seems to love rewarding its anchors for not showing up. Mika earns a $10 million annual salary +bonus, Joe $6 million +$4 million bonus. Rachel Maddow scored a $20 million annual contract + $5 million bonus for working one day a week. Posters have taken to asking if she's retired. She doesn't need to! She can collect a paycheck for staying away from the network.

Whatever the MSNBC executives are getting paid, it's 99% too much for the time and trouble they seem to expend reining in the free-loading slackers and laggards who grace its airwaves only when they have nothing better to do. Give the Morning Joe over to Willie, Katty Kay, Mike Barnicle and the others who keep this sinking ship afloat and without whom there would only be a rudderless ship heading straight for the iceberg.