It Wasn't Broken

I've mentioned many times that I like to tune into New England Cable News in the morning while getting ready to leave the house. I got the information I needed, and I liked the format: pretty straightforward news and information, minimal fluff, occasional humor (especially during Scott Montminy's traffic reports).

So of course I was dismayed when I read last week that NECN was revamping its morning show to be more like the national shows. I think this is a terrible idea; I've never watched Today or Good Morning America or... whatever that perennial third-place show on CBS is called, precisely because I don't care for the chatty, pseudo-living-room atmosphere.

The new NECN morning show, oh-so-imaginatively titled The Morning Show (right there, a clear indication of forthcoming vapidity), debuted this past Monday. I was up at 8 that morning, but since it was a holiday I didn't bother turning on the TV, so I checked it out yesterday and today. Two new hosts have displaced the former morning anchors, and just like the big shows they've brought in a third person (a current NECN anchor) to run through the news stories before tossing back to the hosts for fluffy time.

Now, the thing about my morning routine is, I don't really have the time to sit around and watch TV, so I'm generally just listening to it, often from the adjacent room, while I go about getting ready. Even without having to look at it, I already hate this show, its hosts, and its format so much I won't bother to tune in anymore. Maybe, maybe if they'd kept Mike Nikitas and Karen Swensen around to ease viewers into the idea of the new format, it wouldn't be quite so bad. But the new hosts are just phony, synthetic talking heads, and even though the basic outline of the content is the same, the way it's presented makes it intolerable to me.

I'm disgusted, but more than that, I'm disappointed. I considered NECN the last bastion of real news around here, and I'm worried that the rest of the channel's programming is going to drift away from that foundation. This is pretty much how I felt when channel 7 took over the 10 pm news on channel 56 a few years back: thanks for nothing, NECN, you ruined something that didn't need meddling with.

I guess I'll just listen to the radio in the mornings.