TV Alert: Grover and Telly on Fox and Friends May 31

[Drtooth]

I'm going to tackle these both at once...

I get ya. It is intriguing due to the Jacobson's Piggy performance earlier this year. I am now sure the morning team was clueless about that. LOL! It's good to see that Sesame's making the rounds on all markets including Fox News even though the Muppets, Sesame Street and PBS have all been targets of the network. I find most morning news crews from all networks to be heavier on tabloid journalism than anything resembling actual news.

This bit of recent news outlining some disturbing yellow journalism on Fox & Friends just came to my attention. I bring this up because I would not want any of Jim Henson's beloved creations appearing adjacent to such unethical content on any network. It's a good thing that this occurred yesterday and not this morning...

Of course I intend none of this to pick a fight. I just don't want to see Grover and the Sesame gang associated with political advertisements.

I give SW the biggest credit I can for having Telly and Grover appear on a network that on any other given day of the week would say they're brainwashing kids to be gay treehugging communists. That makes SW look like the bigger man. But on the other hand, I agree. I don't want to see Jim Henson to any extent related so the most derisive, bullying, hateful yellow journalism in the free world. If Dinosaurs was still on the air, you know there would be a Weesayso News channel headed up by B.P. Richfield. Heck, I actually lost respect for Henson for Puppet Up being on Trump's Apprentice show. It has nothing to do with his braindead birther crap... such nasty, disgusting forms of deviousness come out of reality TV... I hated that they were associated with the Bachellorette too. At least we can blame Disney and product integration for that.

Still, the fact they didn't even bother to fact check character names and even the show does NOTHING but prove how they deliberately go out of their way to avoid facts unless they can agree with their findings. Not to mention the fact that they clearly didn't want them to be there.

 

[Pinkflower7783]

Yeah because when I think Sesame Street, Mahna, Mahna, and The Muppet Show theme immedately come to mind. I knew there was a reason I made sure I wasn't up this morning when they were on now I know why.

 

[Hubert]

It was during one of their going to commercial breaks and just telling us that they were going to appear on their show. The guy that was going to talk to them was kind of play strangling Telly. The anchor woman was calling Telly, Grover. It wasn't during the interview though.

Ah. I see. I didn't catch that, but I'm not one bit surprised.

I think we can all pretty much agree on "yes it was nice seeing Grover and Telly" however the rest of it "EPIC FAIL!"

Yeah. I like the idea of Grover and Telly appearing on something and not just Elmo or Cookie Monster. I'd like to see more of them maybe show up around somehow instead of the main ones.

The interview itself, was it just me, or did it seem pretty pointless? Like, it doesn't really seem like they had much time or really said anything of much importance. Something I liked and I give great credit to Marty Robinson for this, that when they asked Telly and Grover if they liked kids, Telly responded something to the effect of, were on Sesame Street, how can we not like kids. The thing I liked about that was that I believe Jim had Kermit on some appearance one time and Kermit was asked that same question and Kermit gave that same answer.

 

[Drtooth]

Yeah. I like the idea of Grover and Telly appearing on something and not just Elmo or Cookie Monster. I'd like to see more of them maybe show up around somehow instead of the main ones.

I'm glad Telly's getting his due. Telly is a great character, he's on at least 1/3 of a season, and no one seems to notice the character. I treasure the Sesame Street pal figure of Telly I have. SW needs to give him some more outside exposure. There's only so much Elmo and Abby the outside world can take.

 

[Oscarfan]

You're fine, Jamie. The only problem I have is if this discussion turns more into attacking Fox News (which I've seen happen before) and not the topic. I'm not going to attack your viewpoints because I disagree with you. My only issue is if people didn't like this appearance only because it was on Fox. I just wish people would enjoy a Sesame appearance anywhere.

If the discussion is about a FOX appearance, the network itself is bound to come up in the conversation. That's what a discussion is. There's no strict guideline for what we should talk about. If the conversation starts to go one way, it does.

 

[Drtooth]

If the discussion is about a FOX appearance, the network itself is bound to come up in the conversation. That's what a discussion is. There's no strict guideline for what we should talk about. If the conversation starts to go one way, it does.

Quoted for truth.

Seriously, if someone doesn't like the conversation or where it's headed, then said person is free to leave said conversation. That's also what a conversation is.

 

[jvcarroll]

I don't see the deterrence at all. It's still basically "Anti-Romney" or in Fox's case, "Anti-Obama." I just don't see how you see a difference.

Oh, there's BIG difference between partisan headlining shows and news programs. Here's the skinny:

Fox & Friends is a morning news magazine program that brings viewers the news, weather and entertainment of the day. They are not permitted to show one side of a partisan argument without giving equal time to the other.

The O'Reilly Factor, Hannity, Chris Matthews, Joe Scarborough etc are considered headlining shows with known partisan commentators. It is made clear for legal reasons that their thoughts and commentary are not considered that of their network. Of course they are gonna bash whatever candidate goes against their politics much more than the one from their party. Still, none are supposed to create, produce and air campaign ads for candidates. From what I read that's not what Chris Matthews did. He compiled a short series of Romney outtakes and aired them before he was the designated Republican nominee. I won't defend it, but that is legal and it's something that all headlining shows from all partisans air everyday.

What Fox & Friends did yesterday is different. They could seriously be fined by the FCC. This wasn't just a blooper reel. They produced a 4 minute long piece of anti-Obama propaganda. They used moody music and filtered footage to make it look grainy and sinister. They aired it twice on during their NEWS programming portion and only discussed Obama's record without allowing his campaign the equal opportunity for rebuttal. They used Fox News funds to pay for an ad. It might seem like splitting hairs to you, but that is illegal. It's not like they're paying for a slick 4 minute spot vilifying Romney's record with lighting, mood music and dynamic text.

There's really no sense debating it further if you don't grasp the discrepancy from what I outlined. This is not a matter of partisanship or my opinion. It's fact. They'll likely get away with it. I think Fox gets a free pass because they're so clumsy with the rules that people are entertained and because of that everybody gets to enjoy the wealth. That's the ugly truth. If that ever stopped being the case then Fox News would end as a legitimate news network and the other networks would have to clean house too!

 

[Drtooth]

There's really no sense debating it further if you don't grasp the discrepancy from what I outlined.

TCCH! What did I just tell you, dude?

 

[jvcarroll]

TCCH! What did I just tell you, dude?

Well, in all honesty it is confusing in an age with so much infotainment invading the airwaves of cable news channels. I'd say that 80% of MSNBC and FOX NEWS programing is technically entertainment programing masquerading as news shows. I wonder if both networks will eventually just surrender their press credentials and do what they want without facing legal adherence to the rules. Mark my words, some organization will eventually do that and more news-like shows will be produced like the syndicated CBN.

 

[Bannanasketch]

Oh, there's BIG difference between partisan headlining shows and news programs. Here's the skinny:

Fox & Friends is a morning news magazine program that brings viewers the news, weather and entertainment of the day. They are not permitted to show one side of a partisan argument without giving equal time to the other.

The O'Reilly Factor, Hannity, Chris Matthews, Joe Scarborough etc are considered headlining shows with known partisan commentators. It is made clear for legal reasons that their thoughts and commentary are not considered that of their network. Of course they are gonna bash whatever candidate goes against their politics much more than the one from their party. Still, none are supposed to create, produce and air campaign ads for candidates. From what I read that's not what Chris Matthews did. He compiled a short series of Romney outtakes and aired them before he was the designated Republican nominee. I won't defend it, but that is legal and it's something that all headlining shows from all partisans air everyday.

What Fox & Friends did yesterday is different. They could seriously be fined by the FCC. This wasn't just a blooper reel. They produced a 4 minute long piece of anti-Obama propaganda. They used moody music and filtered footage to make it look grainy and sinister. They aired it twice on during their NEWS programming portion and only discussed Obama's record without allowing his campaign the equal opportunity for rebuttal. They used Fox News funds to pay for an ad. It might seem like splitting hairs to you, but that is illegal. It's not like they're paying for a slick 4 minute spot vilifying Romney's record with lighting, mood music and dynamic text.

There's really no sense debating it further if you don't grasp the discrepancy from what I outlined. This is not a matter of partisanship or my opinion. It's fact. They'll likely get away with it. I think Fox gets a free pass because they're so clumsy with the rules that people are entertained and because of that everybody gets to enjoy the wealth. That's the ugly truth. If that ever stopped being the case then Fox News would end as a legitimate news network and the other networks would have to clean house too!

I don't think we're getting anywhere with this so I'm just gonna stop now. But, personally, I don't see that segment as a campaign ad as it wasn't directly advocating for a certain candidate. So, I don't know. I just disagree with you. I guess this discussion is over.

And somebody please tell Drtooth that I can still read his posts even though he can't read mine. He's just getting annoying with his attitude towards me.