Fox News

Uncle Howard died last week.  Mom and my sisters went to the funeral yesterday.  I stayed with Dad.

Dad decided he was not up to the trip.  It was a couple of hours travel each way.  Between gabbing with extended family members, the funeral and the travel (plus traffic) it was 11 hours between when Mom and the girls left and when they came back through the door.  It was a good call on Dad's part.

He was able to sit in his favorite recliner for most of the day.  He walked about a half mile (exaggeration).  He had to get up to let the dog out.  And in.  And out....

We watch Fox News.  He filled me in about the various commentators.

Blonde # One:  Sharp, human.  Actually reported from "the field" by visiting Jamestown, Virginia.
Gretchen: Prickly
Shep: Perfect hair.  Fox must use backlighting to create the halo effect.
Dana: Cool, detached, intellectual
Greg: Non-linear thinker
Bret: A little bit stiff in front of the camera but delivers the news "straight up"
Carl: Very comfortable in front of a camera
Neil: Avuncular, sounds like nodes on his vocal cords


Geraldo: Born lawyer, disagrees with everybody about everything on principal
Charles: Sharp as a tack

Dad contends that these various hosts are rejects from other networks and he delights that they found a place at free-wheeling Fox.  I have to pay $0.58 for a cup of coffee every day to have the privilege of interacting with folks like Dad sees on Fox.

Live broadcast is entertaining.  Guests use big words to sound smart.  They used "consecutively" when they meant concurrently.  They used "extrapolate data" (repeatedly) when meant extract data.  Catching those errors is part of the fun of watching.

Watching the commercials is a good way to get a sense of the audience.  The ads were for expensive, prescription drugs with a brazillion side effects, laxatives, precious metals, 401-k accounts and political ads.  That suggests an older audience with a higher-than-average net worth.  It also suggests that Fox News viewers are likely to vote in Republican Primaries.

One of the things I noticed is that Dad was most drawn to the hosts who were least likely to interrupt. He seemed to like Neil, Dana and Blonde #1 the best. 

Civility still counts for something around here.