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| A shot of Brian Williams speaking to Harry Smith (right) during the inaugural episode. (Photo “courtesy” of Hollywood Reporter) |
Call me impatient, or just call it the end of November (both are true), but I am still expecting more of Rock Center, which has just finished the airing of its fifth episode.
Brian Williams‘ new show was billed as the newsmagazine to save all newsmagazines, and the promos had it looking half-Murrow, half-Carson (as contradictory as that is). It was set to be a glorious, one-hour Monday night bastion for the intellectual good fight, and it would save the state of journalism in the United States and this country, Canada (Vancouver counts, right?)
And yet, we’re left wanting. The Jerry Sandusky story has riveting, disgusting and – most importantly, perhaps – the kind of content that a newsmagazine should focus on. There is nobody better on a given night than Bob Costas, and Brian Williams is too talented as an anchorman and, apparently, a host.
There have been other bright spots:
- Harry Smith’s profile and portrait of Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel, a man who once mailed a dead fish to a political opponent
Oh, that was it…
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| He’s the Ed Murrow of the 21st Century, and he’s got some sick flow, but Brian Williams is having trouble guiding torn sails through stormy seas. |
The show has the talent, the funding, and the primetime hour.
But, unless the talent can find a way to display what the talent can do (with me?), Rock Center is in danger of fading fast. Most episodes, the show takes on a human quality, but only because it appears confused as to whether it’s supposed to be showing us comedy, entertainment, or news. 80% of its content is a mirror image of what you’ve already seen an hour earlier on the Nightly News. The rest is cute and cuddly, but neutered in comparison with other talk shows. Most of the time, the confusion and the broadness of Rock Center‘s content is its downfall. Whatever you see on Rock Center, you can probably find it somewhere else. NBC seems content to just throw its endless array of familiar faces at us (Matt Lauer, Meredith Vieira, Smith, Williams, and Costas all appear as floating heads when the show returns from its commercial breaks), and it’s clear that the high-paid anchormen and women are all having fun. They believe in what they’re doing, and they’re certainly double-dipping the carrots.
But, if the audience can’t enjoy it as much as they can, if the crowd can’t partake and feel like its part of the show – the Oprah-ness that all television needs nowadays – then NBC will have to fill the Monday slot once again.
Then again, this is the network that kept Joey around for two years…
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White Cover Staff
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