I've posted and reposted a couple of articles criticizing The Ranch Report as dull and uninformative here and here. I heard something today that changed my viewpoint.
Norm had The Musers' slot today and when Archer came on with TRR, he was sharp, engaged, full of opinions and information on The Cowboys. Even kept me in the car at Kroger until he finished up.
What was the difference?
The difference was that Norm was prepared and was himself interested in what Archer thought. The Hardline, bless them, sleepwalks through these segments as thought they were sponsor-driven diversions from their own showgram, which they probably are. Norm had questions ready to go, and they were specific and aimed at mining Archer's inside knowledge. The result was an interesting interview and a showcasing of Todd Archer to good effect.
Lesson: Segements, including segments with outsiders, and including repeating and scheduled segments, benefit greatly from -- this is probably going to get bleeped -- show prep. Today's show suggested that my focus on Archer's indifferent performances was too narrow -- a little help from the hosts might bring his bit to life.
Hope everyone has had a Ticket and safe Labor Day.
One thing to consider -- I noticed that Todd's reports grew more listless as training camp wore on, and his energetic delivery on Monday may have something to do with the fact that he finally got to spend some time with his family after chasing after Cowboy minutae in Oxnard, San Antonio, San Diego, Houston and Canton for nearly five weeks. As you also pointed out, it helps that Norm lives for the kind of tiny details that Todd (and Goose, and Jacques) are full of.
ReplyDeleteThis may not be an entirely earth-shattering observation, but I really prefer Todd over Mickey. I somehow find time to listen to Mick's 'Talking Cowboy's' radio show, and I find him to be too much of a contrarian for my liking. On the other hand, Todd will engage in a lively debate whenever Sturm is in the mood. Todd also plays along with bits -- it's evident that he listens to the Ticket and he'll even reference elements of the previous segment (Gordo's Corner) in some of his reports. I'm pretty sure Mickey didn't do that, and I've noticed that since he's left the Ticket, he's lumped them into the rest of the DFW "Talk Radio" medium.
My $0.02 - It'll likely change as the regular season drags on, of course.
I think you got it right with The Hardline not being prepared. I think Rhyner could care less and that shows on most shows that he's just along for the ride. That ride usually involves Danny and Corby being snobs on most everything talked about. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy listening most of the time to The Hardline, but I cringe quite a bit when listening. Sorry, this wasn't about The Hardline in general, but maybe that would keep TRR a little more interesting if any of them cared about it.
ReplyDeleteT4, you're right on topic. It's interesting that you raise this, because I've been thinking about this myself.
ReplyDeleteI don't remember if you were a reader when I did my gigantic 5-part series on The Hardline. Search for "modest proposal hardline" and it will bring up most of the posts, and you can read them in the correct order since I number each part. It's point was very much like yours, that The Hardline isn't exactly the most industrioius of the shows and needed a kick in the toches.
At the time I wrote those articles, I thought things had gotten somewhat better than they were even as recently as several months previously. Lately, however, I've wondered if they're backsliding some. You may be certain that Your Plainsman is listening carefully for evidence one way or the other.
Thanks again for checking in.
Today (Tuesday, September 7) provided a good example. Mike jumped right in with some specific questions and the segment took off from there. It was quite good, good energy and interest maintained throughtout.
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