This Friday is the final episode and deals with the person that I am least interested in (Ross Perot),so I thought this would be a good time to look back on the programs and write a little bit about some of the candidates involved.
C-SPAN always does such terrific work and this time was no exception as the network sent hosts to each of the sites that have a home base of some sort of the candidate,except for last weeks episode that centered on 1972 Democratic candidate George McGovern,in which I would bet that host Greta Brawner stayed in Washington because McGovern was perhaps going to be in studio,but suffered injuries in a fall earlier that day.
That was unfortunate as I was looking forward to McGovern's thoughts on Richard Nixon and the 1972 election.
There are a few different hosts that used during the series,but Brawner and Susan Swain are the two best in my opinion.
Swain is the second in command in the organization (I believe) to head man Brian Lamb and dates back to the original groundbreaking series back in either 1999 or 2000-the American Presidents,which I would love to see re-done,as two hours for 12 years has tons more to talk about.
The worst part of the show is usually the callers.
C-SPAN lives off open communication,so I understand why they do this,but it seems like far too many 85 year old types get through to talk about things that have only the vaguest connection to the subject or someone calls in to say "I have an Avon decanter of George McGovern from 1972 and was wondering what its value was"
Sidebar-I am still pissed to this day that I don't have the item linked above-story to come in the future....
Although,there are the occasional funny crank calls as during the William Jennings Bryan episode where the caller calls in to say the host is a "Douchebag" and you can hear one of the guests snickering in the background.
These types of things can be mildly amusing on live television,although I wouldn't want to hear more of them..
The shows were mostly interesting ranging from people that I had read books about and was very knowledgeable about- George McGovern,George Wallace,Hubert Humphrey and Eugene Debs to people that I knew a better than average amount about William Jennings Bryan,Barry Goldwater,Thomas Dewey and Adlai Stevenson to people that I didn't know as much about-James G.Blaine,Al Smith and Wendell Wilkie.
The show that surprised me in how much I enjoyed was the Charles Evans Hughes episode,which was held on the steps of the Supreme Court and was tremendously interesting to me.
I enjoyed the series so much that I am trying to find books to read on Hughes,Dewey and Debs,who I have read books on before,but I am attempting to find the book written by the guest on the Debs program.
Although the subject is always enjoyable,often times the host and the guest are the difference between the quality of the show.
The aforementioned Swain and Brawner are excellent as is Steven Scully,but Peter Slen does not come off as well in the format and seems almost irritated to be there.
I wish the network had tossed one of the episodes to Libby Casey ,who does a terrific job on Washington Journal is her occasional appearances there,but otherwise few complaints.
The guests can range from super interesting -Scott Farris (McGovern),Dan Carter (Wallace) and Mick Caouette (Humphrey) to hilarious-Thomas E.Dewey Jr-who seemed just angry as hell to be on the program and snapped at callers,the host and the author of a Dewey book,Richard Norton Smith in an unintentionally funny hour of the program.
These are more for the hard core history/political junkie than the casual person,although anyone might come away with more interest in the topic,but I just love stuff like this and have loved the last eleven weeks watching the show every Friday night.
Give it a try or just try the last hour of the Dewey episode just for the crankiness of Dewey Jr,you just might learn something from these legendary "losers" of the past....
Photo Credit-unknown
No comments:
Post a Comment