Poll and Discussion: What is AAR's "Weakest Link"?

Which Air America show should be canceled or overhauled?

I'm not including weekend shows.

Today I was listening to Franken's show, as he played "We Will BROCK You" as an intro for David Brock, and as the song dragged on about 20 seconds too long to be amusing, it occurred to me that I haven't laughed at Franken's schtick a fraction as much as I used to laugh at Mike Malloy's show. Malloy was just much better at taking political material and making it funny, and making it work on the radio. I never remember his gags falling flat as Franken's often do. I also agree with the other poster who suggested the show be re-named. Naming your show after another show is not good.

As for the other shows, I think Randi is the strongest, she has her thing pretty well-tuned from her time at WJNO, but there's a bit of a dry, dull "Pacifica" flavor to the other offerings.

I waited a while before offering criticism of AAR, and have consistently defended it against rightwingers who have been pronouncing it dead since its inception (and distorting reports of money troubles, etc) But I think it may now be the time for them to start fine-tuning the programming. Every DOA gag Franken does really makes me worry, because I can just hear people tuning out.

I think we should still campaign for Mike Malloy. He's INFINITELY better than any current AAR offering!

I want AAR to succeed, and I still think it can, but I'm curious about your suggestions...






Which Air America show should be canceled or overhauled?

....some of his improv comedy isn't all that funny but the content of his show is excellent.

the weakest link for AAR is their hard-to-remember phone number. didn't they have enough $$$ to buy a better phone number?

He was great that time he tore O'Reilly a new one in person, but his timing isn't working on the radio.


The "Oy oy oy" thing is not all that funny, even if you ARE Jewish, The "My Sharona" bit would be cute if they played 5 seconds of the song, but they play half the song, like we're too slow-wittted to get the connection between "Sharona" and "Cerota".

I like Franken, and I enjoy the good factual information he gives, but I'm not sure if I've laughed at his show even once.

Malloy had me ROFL more times than I can remember. All the righteous anger just made the outbursts of laughter that much more intense. I REALLY miss Malloy.

( I also like Malloy because he doesn't AUTOMATICALLY accept the corporate-news version of events as facts, as Franken does. Franken is convinced already that Al-Zacawi killed Berg. In fact, he seems blissfully unaware that there is any controversy about it.)

I worked out the alph relation to the 800 # we had at work and decided to try it for Air America. I don't know where their marketing team is, but they're sleeping...I think.

the last 4 digits of the phone # are 2270. Well, guess what! It spells AAR Zero!!!!

I tried the 303 part and you really can't because there are no letters associated with the zero, but the last 4 digits work just fine!

Hope they read their email!

and he has been tweaking the show as he goes.

..fall completely flat for me. Everything from Franken's assorted bits, to Randi's sound effects, to the morning guy doing the Morning Devotional or dream segment. I'm not saying it needs to be dour and serious all the time but the forced, pre-planned humore is just awful. Most of the people are just funny enough in their own, off the cuff commentary so there's no need to pad with these ridiculous pre-planned comedy bits.

. . . most of AAR's "comedy" bits are lame. But I enjoy the station overall.

Hate to say but Al isn't funny. He occaisionally comes up with something but his usual style is to beat a joke into the ground until someone laughs out of fear that he will keep on going. I blame Al for the death of SNL. When he was head writer it was one unending bad joke after another.

Sorry Al. I love your political insite and the fact that you are poking the right with your jokes. I just wish you were funnier.

usually there is some reaction or feedback from the audience.

In radio he has no feedback really so it is hard to adjust timing. He'll get better.

I am just seeing his sketch style humor being brought to radio. He has a distinctive sense of comedy and its not a good one. He has enough insite to see where there is an attack point but his sense of how to attack is truly distorted.

Of course this is just my opinion. He is the one making money doing his thing and I am just a humble little sys admin. But I just don't think he has an effective sense of humor.

Morning Sedition is okay.

Chuck D. & Co. don't go out of their way to try and be funny. They're just being themselves...

Just trying to prove me wrong, eh?!

;)

...and I just can't do it. I think I have a decent attention span but this show just doesn't grab me. Someone said in an earlier post that the "Unfiltered" guys aren't trying to be funny but just being themselves. I sense that that is true. I just don't find them terribly interesting. I usually don't start listening until noon when Franken comes on.

lead in to Franken. Fire that Marty Kaplan guy and move Garofalo up an hour, and add Chuck D to her show.

I love that show. Marty Kaplan is smart and sharp, keeps a great pace and has a wide range of guests. It's not a talk show and he doesn't bring on dumb freepers like Al, throw temper-tamtrum rants like Sam or bellow at his callers like Randi, so - what? He deserves to be cancelled? :shrug:

Edit to add that I voted for Morning Sedition. Even with their flaws I like the other shows I mentioned, but MS puts me to sleep.

I like how it's broken out into small segments. Short and to the point.

listen to Al and Katherine, turn off that Marty guy, sometimes
forget to come back for the Majority Report.

I try to schedule my work around it. That said, he should've had someone else sing "We Will Brock You!"

I try never to miss them.

Franken's wit and satirical humor just cracks me up.

It's my FAVORITE of the entire day.

is tough to listen to because his mouth and his mind aren't in sync.

He can't speak at a pace that makes for comfortable listening.

I can see him in my minds eye in the studio searching his mind in vain for every word.

It hurts to hear hims speak. To me his pitch, volume, tone, and pace are like nails on a chalkboard.

But I don't have that problem with Marty.

When Sam tries to rev up into a rant, he blusters, fumbles and stutters, his pitch rising and his voice thinning till I think he might break into tears or pound his fists on the desk. Whether or not I agree with the rant becomes moot - I'm too embarrassed by him to care.

But I don't have that problem with Marty.

When Sam tries to rev up into a rant, he blusters, fumbles and stutters, his pitch rising and his voice thinning till I think he might break into tears or pound his fists on the desk. Whether or not I agree with the rant becomes moot - I'm too embarrassed by him to care.

I am so happy you think "AAR can succede" - I for one think it already did.
What happened to "what's your favorite show?" Randi Rhodes - thanks for asking. Morning Sedition comes next, then laura Flanders, Majority Report, Unfiltered, Ring of Fire and What Else is News.
I am so happy someone like you is in no position to "retool" anything - you don't even know the shows.

Whatever. AAR is not at all the disaster the right would have us believe (their meme of it's "failure" is already pretty rooted in popular opinion, IMO) but it is stumbling in some ways.

You are free to take this as a "negative" thread. It's not intended as such.


PS -I don't even know who "Bower" is.

Betty Bowers. The worlds best Christian.

Thought he meant some politician!

I was never famous for being quick on the uptake...

Don't want to get confused again!

They have a lot of leeway as to where they can take the shows, so they do share some responsibility.

I'm sorry, but I was very spoiled by Mike Malloy. I expect a bit better than this.

AAR is not bad, but it could be better. I'd like it to be so peerless and ass-kicking that every repuke naysayer will have to STFU.

Maybe Tina Fey would volunteer as a writer?

Again, I like Randi's show, and I like Unfiltered. Franken would be a lot better without the overworked "jokes"...

For that alone, he deserves extra credit.

However, it's all pretty rough right now. Even the experienced talkers have a little trouble keeping it focused at times. I agree with you, AAR NEEDS MIKE MALLOY!

and less frequently Al Franken. It's all good. I haven't really listened to any others.

Absolutely unlistenable. A "morning zoo" show with a college degree.

No one there has any grasp of current events, the "insight" is more along the lines of "yep, Bush does suck" and even when they manage to get a guest of consequence their interviewing skills are pathetic.

And the logic of a comedian (term used very loosely) leading the show is what?

Please, put someone in that time slot who can converse/discuss issues. Morning drive time is invaluable - don't waste it on these folks.

reason ;-)

Are we talking a little "inside baseball" here?

(and what's not to love about Wes, anyway) :)

leave the shrill egomaniacs to the rightwingers and get the so-called 'godess' off an otherwise great network

Why? I always thought she was great, and I've been listening to her since 2000 on WJNO.

I've seen a lot of negative stuff against Randi lately. Has she said something horrible I don't know about?

I still think she's great.

There's a small, LOUD, VOCAL minority on DU that hates her. Pay them no heed.

there is a strong anti-woman streak here. haven't done the homework, i admit, but i have a sneaking suspicion that the randi haters are the same people who keep the threads about choice and other women's issues going forever.
i think randi rules.

I've seen it :/

:grr:

I like guests on talk radio. I don't understand this concept of talk gods and goddesses spewing opinions for three hours.

out of what, 45K DU members, lol. I think it might be different if the poll were phrased in a more positive way (like "BEST" AAR show). I think Randi rubs some people the wrong way and the people that don't like her, REALLY don't like her so they would jump at a chance to vote in a poll phrased this way. I also think that people that love Randi REALLY love her and they would probably have her out in front in a poll on "favorite" AAR shows. :-) I could be wrong but I don't think so. I have to run or I'd start a poll to find out. Maybe someone else wants to :shrug: . Maybe someone already has? :shrug:

I love the guy, but his show is terrible. His sidekick, Lambert, is good though. He lets that ditto head walk all over him. Franken epitomizes what's wrong with some Liberals. He keeps looking for acceptance from the Limbaugh crowd.

It's actually a means of exposing Limbaugh's gas; having someone who buys the gas explain the appeal of it is a by-product. I was out sick for three days and was able to listen to Franken and I was very impressed with the whole show. I thought Franken demolished the freeper guy without the freeper guy even knowing it. I think that show deserves to be thought of as one of the stronger links, mainly because he can attract strong guests.

I find myself listening to that one first priority and the others if I have time. Some of the bits are kinda repetitive but his Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld impressions have me cracking up all the time.

There are a few weak shows. But Not in Air America I listen to Tom Hartman the most.

He's got his weaknesses, but I'm rooting for him to get better...

forgot the Limbaugh. It is dead on.

:D

beat the conservative talk shows head to head. Can't believe people would consider her the weakest link. Unbelievable.

Morning Sedition is both funny and has substance - I get all my news from them now. I don't know who this malloy is (except I heard details here that didn't endear him to me). But AAR rocks.

we need more strong voices like randi.

(Japanese for "kick")

Their weakest link is not having Mike Malloy. I emailed them to ask to consider hiring Mike. But I didn't get a reply, and I guess that he's a little bit too far left and/or his style is too abrasive.

And Randi definitely rocks. She brings solid content and (maybe a little contrary to Mike) a positive fighting attitude.
Even if she dissed the french, what I didn't like one bit, I still tune in every day. We all have our small sides.

then sure, Randi's great.

But I'm not sure what separates her from the right wing nationalists who support Bush's foreign policy.

Her criticisms of Bush seem to be more about tactic than overall goal.

Her French bashing is just pathetic and shows her narrow-minded provincialism.

But I guess that's the kind of thing lots of Americans enjoy, even democrats.

what a pile-a-crap they are.

Randi's show is not so much news as it is, an educated person voicing her opinion and getting people(hopefully)analyzing/thinking in the process. However, Randi is not a journalist. She's not investigating stories or conducting interviews. There is plenty of room for the different formats, and they are all needed.

for me. If wanted to see profiles of an rock band, or backgrounders on an obsure indivdual, I would've turned it to "All Things Considered".

I like the Pacifica radio quality of the other shows. I like the fact that they have guests. A little Randi Rhodes goes a very, very long way. A little more than that is much of a muchness for me.

rarely funny. rarely informative. i've caught many factual errors & hosts just simply missing the point.


Randi is a goddess & I'm REALLY starting to enjoy Marty Kaplan

So, there.

I agree her show is not that entertaining, I would replace her show with Bernie Ward if he was available. I also would retool Franken's show, get a better co-host who is funnier.

Overall, I have not made a habit of listening to Air America, it just doesn't grab me. Some changes are definitely needed.

less votes - minus the freepers I guess.
If you don'y listen, don't shit in our coffe, OK? Lay off already!