NBC is out to mold impressionable minds

Classroom TV network Channel One is partnering with NBC News. Most of the coverage refers to the ad-supported service as “controversial.” Why? Have today’s kids never seen advertising or a newscast? I was raised on commercials and sound bytes, and look how I turned out. (Yeah, yeah. Save it for the comments section.) NBC will help produce the 10-minute segments and also provide some of its own video clips. One assumes these won’t feature Amy Poehler and Seth Meyers, the latest hosts of Weekend Update on Saturday Night Live. NBC’s real anchor, Brian Williams, is actually funnier, if only because he works so hard at being serious. This guy’s wound tight—I expect him to pull a Network one night and run off camera screaming, “I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it anymore!” Has Katie Couric tried that? I have no idea. Like most people these days, I get almost all my news from Stephen Colbert and the Internet. Which reminds me, to update our top story: Farfur the Martyr Mouse is STILL dead!

—Posted by David Gianatasio

July 10, 2007 | Permalink