I would never force bad journalism upon you, but this article by Gregg Easterbrook is so atrocious, I had to get it out to the public. This is from ESPN.com of all places.
If you're looking for more terrible pieces of writing, just look through Easterbrook's archive.
I had previously thought that a random beat reporter's piece about Tim Wakefield ruining baseball because he throws a knuckleball was the worst article I ever read, but Easterbrook was able to top it.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Monday, October 15, 2007
The Price is Right - Drew Carey Era
Today was the long-anticipated premiere of the 36th season of "The Price is Right". The show has finally moved on to its second host ever, Drew Carey.
Before anything I must address that this was a rare PERFECT SHOW, where each contestant in all six pricing games wins the prize. Even more than that, someone hit a dollar on the wheel in BOTH showcase showdowns, making it what I have dubbed an "uber-perfect show". The way it was going I expected someone in the final showcase showdown to be within 250 dollars and win both showcases, which would have created the probably the first of its kind "mega-uber show". Alas, this did not occur.
But the main story remains - Drew Carey's first show. How did he seem to fit in?
I thought he was terrible.
Now don't get me wrong, I'm not calling for Drew Carey's firing on this one. I'm going to have infinite patience - I'd rather people just be happy and have the show continue on then have some hosting controversy. But the show's brain trust could not have chosen someone more different than Bob Barker.
First it starts with the speech pattern. In addition to their voices being completely different, Barker had a long, slow delivery that he honed into a flare for the dramatic. Carey speaks super fast and has a shill voice and squirrely laugh. A lot of what Barker did best was fill space, he seemed to be always talking - but not really saying much. Like when someone would get called down to contestant's row, Barker was always narrating their run, something I never really thought of much until I watched today and heard nothing from Carey. I wanted to go out there with him and coach him how to speak like Barker.
Carey's sense of humor doesn't really work for the show either. He made a few sarcastic quibs here and there, but they don't really play well on the show. He is certainly aware of the overall ridiculousness of the show and had no problem mentioning it occasionally, but that's not what people want to hear from the host, even though in reality it is funny.
Carey also came off (at least to me) as extremely nervous. It seemed every time he said something or was with a guest on stage, he would talk and then awkwardly finger his jacket pocket like he wanted to put his hand in his pocket and then decided not to. He stumbled on his words a lot, had trouble explaining the games, and just in general looked like he was hosting his first show. His timing was also wayyyy off - on the "One Away" game for a chance to win a car, he did the last two numbers so quickly the camera wasn't even showing them when they were revealed that the contestant had won. I guess the crew is used to Barker, too.
Carey comes off as completely genuine - he's friendly with the contestants, the ladies, even disembodied voice Rich Fields. He smiles a lot and unfortunately laughs a lot too. But with the exception of being creepy with beautiful women, there is no comparison between the two. Now it would be impossible for anyone to be like Bob Barker (although I think Dan Patrick would have been great), but Carey needs to do a little something to emulate him. Although he did end the show with "help control the pet population, have your pets spayed or neutered".
Before anything I must address that this was a rare PERFECT SHOW, where each contestant in all six pricing games wins the prize. Even more than that, someone hit a dollar on the wheel in BOTH showcase showdowns, making it what I have dubbed an "uber-perfect show". The way it was going I expected someone in the final showcase showdown to be within 250 dollars and win both showcases, which would have created the probably the first of its kind "mega-uber show". Alas, this did not occur.
But the main story remains - Drew Carey's first show. How did he seem to fit in?
I thought he was terrible.
Now don't get me wrong, I'm not calling for Drew Carey's firing on this one. I'm going to have infinite patience - I'd rather people just be happy and have the show continue on then have some hosting controversy. But the show's brain trust could not have chosen someone more different than Bob Barker.
First it starts with the speech pattern. In addition to their voices being completely different, Barker had a long, slow delivery that he honed into a flare for the dramatic. Carey speaks super fast and has a shill voice and squirrely laugh. A lot of what Barker did best was fill space, he seemed to be always talking - but not really saying much. Like when someone would get called down to contestant's row, Barker was always narrating their run, something I never really thought of much until I watched today and heard nothing from Carey. I wanted to go out there with him and coach him how to speak like Barker.
Carey's sense of humor doesn't really work for the show either. He made a few sarcastic quibs here and there, but they don't really play well on the show. He is certainly aware of the overall ridiculousness of the show and had no problem mentioning it occasionally, but that's not what people want to hear from the host, even though in reality it is funny.
Carey also came off (at least to me) as extremely nervous. It seemed every time he said something or was with a guest on stage, he would talk and then awkwardly finger his jacket pocket like he wanted to put his hand in his pocket and then decided not to. He stumbled on his words a lot, had trouble explaining the games, and just in general looked like he was hosting his first show. His timing was also wayyyy off - on the "One Away" game for a chance to win a car, he did the last two numbers so quickly the camera wasn't even showing them when they were revealed that the contestant had won. I guess the crew is used to Barker, too.
Carey comes off as completely genuine - he's friendly with the contestants, the ladies, even disembodied voice Rich Fields. He smiles a lot and unfortunately laughs a lot too. But with the exception of being creepy with beautiful women, there is no comparison between the two. Now it would be impossible for anyone to be like Bob Barker (although I think Dan Patrick would have been great), but Carey needs to do a little something to emulate him. Although he did end the show with "help control the pet population, have your pets spayed or neutered".
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