As any regular reader (?) knows, I've been concerned about the Hardline for awhile. I always issue two preliminary thoughts: (1) I favored Hammer's departure, and (2) Corby does not suck. However, I have come to think over the months, now years, that have followed, that the show has lacked balance. Love Corby, Love Danny, but they're overwhelming Mike, whose show it more or less is. The problem is balance – the show has lost it.
Oh yeah, there's a third thing I usually try to remind myself – why would anyone think that something as wildly successful as the Hardline is – still is – needs to be fixed? Well, good question. But it's My Ticket Confession – I love the damned thing, but I sometimes I wish it were better.
I've been thinking about a solution I've been meaning to post for awhile, but it would be a multi-parter and needs a little context. In the meantime, let me throw this out:
The Hardline has gotten a lot more vulgar in the last few months. I'm not a prude and past levels of profanity and misogyny seemed to me acceptable for afternoon drive radio. Let me put it this way: Used to be, when my wife was in the car, she could enjoy the Hardline with me. Now, I have to quickly turn to something on satellite before the next clinical reference to female genitalia. In general, the references to women have gotten pretty difficult to listen to. The profanity is also out of control -- effective in small doses, it's now Stern Lite.
Yeah, it's successful, but it's starting to sound cheap and lazy. I listen every day, I love it a lot, but I worry about the Hardline. I really do.
Plainsman, I agree TOTALLY with you. Someone using profanity for the sake of shock value is just not funny. It has nothing to do with whether or not I'm a prude (which I am not), but as I said, it is just not funny when people spew profane and inappropriate language, and then think they are being "funny" just because they think they are shocking people. This "shock jock" brand of humor may have been funny to some degree years ago when it first began, but now it is done SO much in radio and TV that it is just not funny anymore.
ReplyDeleteFor example, there was a time when the late night talk shows used to be funny ... until they began to regularly incorporate vulgar jokes into their "act". And the same goes with comedians and network TV programs.
Is this what humans have evovled into? Have all the funny jokes and ideas been used, and all that is left is to try to "out-shock" the next guy?? So sad.