Posted on 02/07/2005 9:54:57 PM PST by withteeth
I don't know why I care about his show, except it's unusual and I happen to be up at that ungodly hour, switching my remote back and forth between Imus' and C-Span's Washington Journal.
Imus in the morning is for those who are into the news/political media. He's realized there are a few of us who pay attention to the shout shows, as if they were sports events, and that can be entertaining especially when there are great political controversies or debates developing.
His cronies are ridiculously demuring, at times. I sense a lot of the impromtue humor is partly planned or scripted, but not always, and it doesn't bother me so much anymore. Charles McCord is a very pleasent fellow, reasonable except when he is being a syncophant. Bernie is beady-eyed evil, but occasionally a truth-teller. The engineer (I don't know his name) is hilarious: his humor is spontaneous and I can see why he is a part of the program, although no one seems to acknowlege he is a part of the program. Sid fits in, the resident sports jerk. He was hilarious this morning after the superbowl, obviously hungover from too many parties.
I remember Imus best for his great comic monologue, back in 94, when he was master of ceremonies at the annual press club meeting with the president (Clinton, then). You all remember that.
There is a lot mysterious about this MSNBC/Radio show, and Imus himself. I wonder how much is actually spontaneous, when even Joe Lieberman appears witty, but if the writers are feeding lines, it doesn't matter much.
I've always wondered if shows like this, and Crossfire, say, aren't second cousins to pro-wrestling. Imus' mercurial views and unpredictable temper tantrums have always struck me as phony. But then he's almost candid about that sometimes.
The "Ranch" will always strike people as a confidence game, and those who ponied up might one day regret it. But since his best pals/guests are the titans of the MSMedia, it isn't likely there will be a huge scandal soon.
I do idly wonder about this new format, since he's moved out of his radio station to the MSNBC studios. Rather a small issue, I admit, not nearly as controversial as his recent, impressive interviews with both Cheney and Kerry.
But what is going on?
It struck me as unfortunate,this morning, with the new digs. No more do you have the unusual radio-station-like mole's burrow, with the dark and rather sinister atmosphere that should be his trademark (yes, even though he's a total patsy to the Howard Fineman/Chris Matthews/Tim Russert MSM).
Bernard was at the old station, still, with the engineer.
Meanwhile, the MSNBC cameras would not stop floating around, which was very distracting. I used to suppose those were little robot cams, but obviously he's surrounded by the traditional giant cams now. How can he stand it?
This seems like an unfortunate move. There was that great interview with Kerry this morning, where Imus pressured him about the military records, but it was hard to pay attention. Of course, I could just not watch, and listen instead. Imus is radio, after all.
The low-tech, King of New York City in the Basement Studio setting worked better for his personality.
bttt
I don't listen to Imus and I avoid the television but thanks for the insight.
Imus: "I got a call around 2:30 in the afternoon Election Day from -- well, I can't say from who -- about the exit polls, and they told me that you were way ahead in Ohio, way ahead in Pennsylvania, way ahead in Florida. So like a fool, I started calling everybody. And then I was watching television that night and Mike McCurry was being interviewed -- it was around 7 o'clock in the evening in Boston -- and somebody asked him what you were doing, and he said you were thinking about what you wanted to say to the country. And the implication was that he thought you had won. And my question is, did you think you'd won?"
Sen. Kerry: "No. No, I thought we had -- I thought we were going to win. I was hopeful. But I never invested -- I never suggested -- I never really said, "We've won. Wow, this is great." I was very hopeful. I thought the afternoon indicators were great. But I've been through this before, and I just wasn't going to get into that."
Imus: "Why do you think you lost the election?"
Sen. Kerry: "I think 9/11 was the predominant overriding element. And I think that in the end, an awful lot of people were unwilling to switch commander in chief in midstream. And it just came down to, sort of, that perception."
Imus: "What was all this talk after the election about it being the moral issue? Did you buy into any of that?"
Sen. Kerry: "You know what? Did it figure in some people's minds? Sure. Was that decisive? No. There's no question that 9/11 was decisive and that the war was decisive. And, I think -- you know, going up in the last week, as I mentioned in an interview over the weekend, you know, we were going up, up, up in the last week, and I think everybody will tell you that feelings on the Bush plane and in the Bush camp were not particularly encouraged. And then the Osama bin Laden tape came out on Friday and we flatlined -- literally flatlined, that day and the next two days, went down on Monday. So, you know, you have to, kind of, look at this stuff. I'm not going to worry about it...." TO READ MORE OF IMUS' INTERVIEW WITH SENATOR JOHN KERRY, CLICK HERE.
does anyone know if there is an imus ping list?
Lou . . .?
Lou! that's right. He's the funniest guy there, i think. You can tell he's the most spontaneous, and everyone else lets him go.
IMO, that's the key with Imus - he knows talent. Plus he'll say just about anything.
_________________
IMUS: Did she drive you nuts?
KERRY: No. Let me tell you something. My wife, I got to tell you, and I called Evan Thomas and sat down with him because I really—I only read the Newsweek article itself; I haven’t read the book.
IMUS: Right.
KERRY: But I was really upset about that on a personal level.
that kerry interview was great except for the cringe factor, which I wanted to enjoy but couldn't. And Imus pressed, but he should have pointed out how often Kerry has already promised to sign that military release document...
In his own way I think he does press. Recently, Imus has learned to be more prepared forsome of the bigger interviews. He did a great job with the Veep and Mrs. Cheney on Inauguration Day.
_______________________
IMUS: You also told Tim that you would sign this Form 180 releasing all of your military records. Have you done that?
KERRY: Yes, we’re going do that. Absolutely, I will do that.
Listen, I also think...
IMUS: When are you going do it?
KERRY: As soon as soon as I get clarified with the military.
IMUS: Why don’t do you it today?
KERRY: Because I have a stack of different materials they’ve sent me every time they’ve sent me something, and I want to know exactly what they’re sending.
I’ll get it done.
But you know what I want? I think the guys who are making these accusations ought to release their records also, and I’ve said that. And I think fair is fair. Let’s all put them out there for everybody to judge.
IMUS: So will you not release yours...
KERRY: No, I’ll sign it anyway. I’ll sign it anyway.
IMUS: OK.
Like by noon today?
KERRY: Uh, no.
"The low-tech, King of New York City in the Basement Studio setting worked better for his personality."
He just doesn't belong on that hi-tech modern staging. The Basement does indeed suit the ole Curmudgeon.
I prefer Imus to Fox and Friends. I just get so tired of the Sycophant mentality there...not to mention the loud mayhem first thing in the morning.
Of course, Imus can grate. He's actually a registered Republican, but is more of an Independent with Left or Libertarian leanings imho. At least he's not constantly kissing butt like F&F and often covers issues the others ignore.
Then why bother clicking on this thread and even replying?
This is the same formula used so successfully at parent NBC television with the Tonite Show and especially with the Today Show. Imus has at least enough shame to play at insulting his guests with NBC affiliations so as not to make the game too obvious and embarrassing. But at the end of the day, Imus and the NBC family are essentially like a fan magazine merely publishing articles and pics provided by a movie studio. It works for both sides.
That said, I find Imus more entertaining than the mindless pap on Fox and certainly more tolerable than Pretty, Perky Katie. I too use the clicker to jump to Brian Lamb when he has something intersting.
I take the bona fides of his ranch at face value. What happened to the salsa business?
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