I've been doing a lot of year-in-review radio segments and in them, I've been getting asked what my best and worst TV moments of 2008 were. Bests, I can do reasonably well ... but as regular readers of TVB know by now, I don't really do worsts.
But since I kept getting asked the question, and since I thought "Paris Hilton Is My New BFF" was kind of a lame answer -- you tune in to that show sort of expecting it to be intolerable -- I thought about it some more. And after consulting a half-year's worth of "What's Working For Me ... And What's Not," a clear loser emerged.
As I wrote on October 13th:
Jim Cramer. In 2006 he yelled: Sell Apple! In 2007 he shouted: Bear Stearns is fine! A few weeks ago: Buy Wachovia! Last week on "Today," he ordered viewers to panic-sell their stocks. Even a stopped clock is right twice a day -- problem is, Cramer never stops.
Yes, I too wondered how a Harvard-educated financial journalist with a deft writing touch could, on television, turn into a screaming ninny expelling nonsense like a cow on a methane jag. But then I read a fascinating piece by Cramer himself in New York magazine where he basically confesses that it's all an act.
And really, isn't that behind the success of a lot of people in media -- the ability to convince people you're someone you're not? Do you really think that all of those god-bless-America radio personalities really hate liberals with the fervor that they summon up every day on the air? Do you think that, if a market for liberal radio actually started to open up in this country, Glenn Beck wouldn't be jumping on that train faster than you could say "transformational figure"?
But none of those blowhards did as much damage in 2008 as Cramer. While responsible pundits like Allan Sloan were telling older investors to plow their money into T-bills for safety, Cramer was telling them to keep their money in the market, including (especially) financial services, just because the hairless Pollyanna could. (Meanwhile, CNN's Ali Velshi was taking crap from Jon Stewart for hitting the panic button. I hope Velshi's book
Rounding out the awards stand of losers, Keith Olbermann-style:
Worse: E.D. Hill for her "A terrorist FIST JAB?" teaser -- four words that almost surely got her fired from Fox News after 10 years of vilifiying people with impunity.
Worser: Kevin Martin for his mismanagement of the FCC as it reached new lows, with fellow commissioners complaining he operates in utter secrecy and Martin wasting our time with nutty schemes like a nationwide porn-free broadband service.
But Martin, like Hill, will soon be out of a job. Not so Jim Cramer. You can't stop him ... you can only hope to ignore him.
I put all my money into pork belly futures. Don't miss out. It's the opportunity of a lifetime!
Posted by: Eric | January 07, 2009 at 07:11 AM