The Deterioration of TV Standards

For years, I watched Good Morning America.  I stopped when Diane Sawyer left.  I watched the CBS Morning Show until they changed to their current and very boring co-hosts.  When The Today Show dropped Ann Curry, I stopped watching because I was angry.  Occasionally, I watch one or the other but I am always displeased with either the show hosts or their celebrity-focused content. 

In the past, I liked Matt Lauer, but in recent years he has become weasel-like, and I have this gut feeling about his relationships with his co-hosts that I just can't get past.  When Ann Curry was co-hosting, I watched because she could be counted upon to present professional and generally unbiased stories. No one will ever convince me Lauer didn't have anything to do with Curry's firing.

Lately, I've been watching Good Morning America, but I am not liking what is happening there, either.  George Stephanopoulis seems like the fatherly figure who sits there watching his offspring with amazement.  Robin Roberts is much the same as she was when she co-hosted with Diane Sawyer.  The problem I am having is watching what appears to be a rivalry between Lara Spencer and Josh Elliot.  The latter increasingly seems to be trying to steal the spotlight from the others, possibly with the goal of taking over for George.  Lara Spencer, delightful as she can be, appears to be in competition with Josh for that coveted limelight.  When all the younger people are placed around the table with the co-hosts, they all talk at the same time.  Believe me, show producers, viewers can not hear anything that is being said when you permit this kind of behavior.  It isn't a party we are attending.  It's a tv show and only one person should be speaking at a time. 

The morning shows can't take all the guilt for the "everyone talk at once" syndrome.  Political programs are worse when they have opposing opinions presented by guests.  Fox News is guilty of that, with Bob Beckel and Juan Williams talking over everyone else on all the shows upon which they appear.  Many of us change the channel when this happens, and rightly so.

Maybe talk radio is the answer.  TV is, pardon the pun, going down the tubes.  Apparently, TV is following the US education goals - reaching the lowest common denominator.  Anyone with any sense realizes where that kind of pandering to the uneducated and intellectually lazy leads - nowhere.  It could have been so much better.