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Fox 11 is flubbing its golden opportunity at 5 p.m. by going with an even dumber form of TV news than celebrities, animals and car chases: pre-planned "outrage" by the journalists reporting stories and faked-up controversies. They're trying to recreate blogs and social networks on the air, but stripped of their authenticity or intelligence. It came up here at LA Observed a few days ago over the insipid handling of the Kinde Durkee political story. Now L.A. Times media columnist Jim Rainey is weighing in after watching the show:
Here's what I have learned in the first two weeks of its existence: With its gee-whizzery and abiding self-absorption, "Studio 11" serves one useful purpose. It's the perfect lead-in to what follows at 6 p.m., gossip power TMZ.
Rainey calls them out as well for the "inane banter," "stilted newsroom vérité" and "strident opinion-making." It's all too bad. The journalistic talent on the show is good, but Fox 11's bosses adopted the Lee Abrams definition of innovation in their desperation to do something to stave off the end.