Cable Envy

Watching Anderson Cooper and the rest of the CNN crew chew on the Tony Snow appointment as presidential press secretary last night reminded me of several Hollywood occasions when I’ve listened to friends gossip about an acquaintance’s Oscar nomination – envy was pouring out of their eyes like some green slime from The Exorcist. Only those occasions were usually (relatively) private. Suzanne Malveaux, etc. were on TV. ABC puts it this way:

There’s just something about Fox News.

Not only does the cable giant have more than twice as many primetime viewers as the closest competition, but it’s often the network of choice for the White House administration in terms of big-name interviews.

Well, why wouldn’t it be? I’m no unremitting fan of Fox – far from it. I find Hannity & Colmes bombastic and dopey, O’Reilly a tedious narcissist (duh) and Greta… well, if I never hear the word “Aruba” again as long as I live I’ll be happy. But the Brit Hume Show is actually for grownups with serious discussion not tilted completely to the conservative side and the Neil Cavuto Show is fun if you don’t take the stock tips too seriously. What’s to watch on CNN? Not much for me. No wonder they’re jealous.