This is not a
joke. I wake up this morning and suddenly I’m alert to “Live NBC News Special
Report: Former First Lady Barbara Bush is laid to rest in Houston”.
Now it is
Saturday so I’ll miss all the cartoons and cooking shoes to watch a live
play-by-play of a funeral?
No disrespect
to Barbara Bush. I never met her. I know she looked like a nice white haired
granny. I know she married one president who couldn’t get rid of Saddam and had
a son who could but boy did he get us into a mess with them weapons of mass
destruction.
Still this is
Saturday and it is sunny outside and it is springtime and the last thing I
would want to do is sit down and watch people in dark clothing silently weep
over a box.
No disclaimer
is needed to know I’m not big on funerals but this is a bit overboard. I
understood the three days of all the networks closing down to televise JFK’s
funeral. Shoot, it got me out of school. Then there was MLK and Bobby Kennedy
and suddenly one wonders who will be next.
How far up do
you have to be to lose the advertising dollars of corn flakes for a solemn
event? Do they take commercial breaks?
Someone at the
network decided that live coverage of a funeral was more important that
whatever was previously scheduled programming. The cost of announcers and satellite
trucks and camera and wiring and….
I think I
understand the fascination of watching celebrities joke and laugh and act silly
at award shows but this is a dignified occasion. The star of this show doesn’t
have any lines.
Where is the
loud music? Where are the pyrotechnics? Where are the dancers in their skimpy
outfits?
I’m sure the
Queen will get the same respect with better pomp and circumstance but what about
Jimmy Carter? Or Rosylinn?
This just
better not cut into my sports television or I’ll be writing a letter to the
peacock. If this becomes a trend maybe a new “Funeral” cable channel can start?
Do they need instant replay?
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