I like The Rachel Maddow Show. A lot. But I always record it and wait about 20 minutes or so before I start watching – mainly so that I can fast-forward through her 10-15 minute opening history lesson which only has a tangential connection to the news story it’s leading to, usually one that (while interesting) shouldn’t necessarily be the lead story.
To be clear, I like that she gives history for perspective to the news. It’s not only often valuable, but can be important, as well. The problem is that I occasionally know the history, and also it can usually be told in a lot less time than she uses – which is important because an hour-long TV show only has about 44 minutes of content. (I also will fast-forward through her endless repetitions of a point. Mind you, as readers of these pages know, I like to use repetitions. They’re a very good thing. But generally not four or five of them. And when I do use that many, it’s for dramatic structure, building to a point, not to Make Sure You Got What I Just Said.) But mainly, it’s the history lessons at the start of the show, that for some reason she seems to think that if there’s a history tale behind it then that adds enough gravitas to make it the day’s lead story. Occasionally it should be the lead story – but not because of the history. Because of its meaning for the day, impacting people’s lives the most. And usually, it shouldn’t be the lead story. Just one for later in the show. And so, in today's world with democracy at risk – indeed the day after The Rachel Maddow Show spent two-thirds of its broadcast on that very subject, based on an in-depth article in The Atlantic -- I could only shake my head when The Rachel Maddow Show spent, no, not the first 10 or even 15 minutes to History, but -- the first 20 minutes of their 44 minutes doing a history story about…about removing a statue. It was a valuable story. The statue was of the first leader of the Ku Klux Klan. And it was interesting. (At least what I saw of it when I’d pause the fast-forwarding.) But it could have been done in six minutes. It should have been done in six minutes. And it should not have been done as the Lead Story of the Day. After all, yesterday was the day President Biden had a video meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, brought about by a build-up of Russian troops on the Ukraine border. Rachel Maddow did get to that, happily. Eventually. Well into the show. And by the way, yesterday was the 80th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. One would think that if you’re going to do a history lesson, that would be a really good one to delve into. Not necessarily as The Lead, though it could be since its historical impact on American and world society was profound. Alas, she didn’t even mention it. That's right, Rachel Maddow -- history maven -- did not mention the 80th anniversary of Pearl Harbor. Because – after using up 20 minutes on removing a statue – there wasn’t time. (Fun Fact: Even ESPN found time to mention the 80th anniversary of Pearl Harbor on their one-hour SportsCenter show of game highlights. And did a very good filmed piece on it, and the event's overlap with athletes involved.) Oh, and there also was zero mention on the Maddow show of the egregious far-right "election fraud investigation" in Wisconsin that finally issued its findings – and said that they found absolutely no widespread voter fraud. A major story for its impact on America today – a story, in fact, that the show has been covering. A lot. Just not the results. Because there wasn't time to talk about it. They were too busy dealing with the…y’know, the history over the removal of a statue. I like The Rachel Maddow Show. A lot. But I do record it so that I can fast-forward. The problem is that even though I’ve figured out a way to deal with the interminable history lessons, that’s not good enough. Rachel Maddow has a very important platform on MSNBC – indeed, in the world of news. And to waste so much of it on overly-detailed history lessons as The Lead Story when you have such limited time is, to me, irresponsible. And I love history. It was my minor in college, and it’s one of my favorite things to read. I’ve read the entire 11-volume set of Will and Ariel Durant’s Story of Civilization. And I like very much that Rachel Maddow gives history lessons. But not how she does it. That’s a waste of precious time, most especially in an era when there is not as much time to waste as one would wish.
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AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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