Slate on Bowtie Boy's new show.

[crispini]

Tucker Carlson
The Man. The Pundit. The Weenie.
By Dana Stevens
Posted Friday, June 17, 2005, at 11:25 AM PT


In the omnipresent commercials for MSNBC's new talk show The Situation with Tucker Carlson (weeknights at 9 p.m. ET), we see Carlson seated on a stool in a studio as he listens to an announcer sing his praise in voiceover: "The man. The legend. The bow tie." "You think that's gonna make people want to watch the show?" Carlson twits the unseen narrator. "Why don't you just tell them what the show's about?"

Ignoring for a moment the unseemliness of this promo campaign (a new hire kicks off his tenure by biting the hand of his boss?), let me just venture an answer to Carlson's second question. I have no idea whether the bow-tie angle will draw in viewers or not (in fact, I'm neutral on the bow-tie issue, though according to my anonymous tipster on the finer points of male fashion, "A bow tie says, 'I have no penis.' It says, 'When I was in parochial school, the sisters thought I was fresh.' It says, 'I shower more than is really normal or healthy.' ") I do know, though, that it would be tough to "just tell" audiences what The Situation is about, because, based on the first week's worth of installments, it doesn't seem to be about much of anything at all.

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http://www.slate.com/id/2121101/

[gkhouston]

1. hmm. Well, I'll agree with the "shallow" part, but I'm not sure how

I feel about "far from unwatchable". I don't make an OMG, get-it-off-the-screen dive for the remote the way I would if Scarborough unexpectedly popped up after Countdown, but I don't watch it, either. Tucker's a dead loss and the show's completely lacking in substance or style.

[crispini]

2. Ah, but Rachel Maddow doesn't suck.

Now, give HER the damn show and I'll actually pay attention to it instead of using it as video wallpaper...

[gkhouston]

3. If Rachel were the host, I'd make an active attempt to watch

regularly. I might even get a small TV for the kitchen. With Tucker hosting, I turn off the set and boot the computer or attack the evening chores without a backwards glance.

[Sydnie]

4. I agree with you crispi

She stands up to the tag team that he presents every night. He is so lame, yet it took him a full week to get in full challenge mode. Now he thinks he has his sea legs. She could still swab the deck with him with his tag team buddy holding her other hand behind her back.

Now, what the hell is up with the untied tie dor the last segment of the show? That's just gross Tucker. As if you ever worked a hard day in your life. Leave it tied, dude. We aren't falling for it.

[gkhouston]

5. maybe we're supposed to be impressed that it's not a clip-on?

:shrug: Beats me. I haven't been watching, so I haven't witnessed this new "feature".

[crispini]

6. LOL.

Ya know, I also noticed the deliberate disheveledness, and I just basically thought, "Hm, how stagey," and went on.

There is very little you can do in TV these days to convince me that you're "real." Somehow, Keith pulls it off.