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It’s time for a debate.
Can anyone think of a dumber idea than the one Channel 2 had Monday night when it had local Tea Party activist Rus Thompson and FM radio co-host Tom Ragan debate the controversial decision by Republican State Sen. Mark Grisanti to vote for same-sex marriage on Friday?
OK, maybe Channel 7’s decision to drop the Eyewitness News format and logo years ago qualifies.
Or Channel 4’s decision to go with a Kiddie Corps on weekends.
Channel 2 News has made many smart innovations in recent years, most of which have been copied by Channel 4.
My personal favorite is Channel 2’s decision to take the ESPN rundown of stories and tell viewers what news stories are coming up on the right side of the screen.
I wasn’t so keen on its Hot Zone feature in which it had newsmakers answer so-called “tough” questions for a few minutes. The questions never seem so tough.
Its decision to have area sports “experts” from local radio and alternative media give opinions on sports also misses more than it hits.
In an attempt to do things differently Channel 2 swings for the fences and sometimes strikes out.
The Thompson-Ragan debate was one of those times.
Now I’m not exactly as sharp a dresser as Sen. Grisanti. You may recall that the Buffalo News did a feature on my attempted makeover years ago when the reality show “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy”’ was popular.
But if I were called by Channel 2, I’d find a suit coat and a tie in my closet somewhere.
Thompson and Ragan dressed like they were going to have a couple of brews and then engaged in a repetitive debate that belonged at a bar instead of on TV.
It was as if the newscast was hijacked by a 3 minute, 45 second debate that added nothing that a couple of on-the-street interviews with area residents couldn’t have done in 30 seconds. I tuned in a few seconds late and never saw a graphic identifying the debaters. I later did catch the first minute on Channel 2’s website before it froze on my computer.
To borrow a phrase from Thompson that will be explained later, I became “very irritated” at the number of times my computer froze before I got a minute into the video. But maybe my computer was trying to tell me something.
Thompson, a Republican who is best known for fighting the Grand Island tolls, said he felt “very irritated” that Grisanti changed his pre-election stance and “people in his district feel the same way.” He added “politicians do what they want to do.”
Somehow, I don’t think that Thomposn speaks for an entire district or Grisanti did what he wanted to do in this case.
Thompson seemed to suggest that Grisanti should have asked for more input from his constituents and delayed his vote until he heard from them. That impractical idea would mean the already slow pace of government would practically slow to a standstill.
Ragan, who is liberal-minded on his radio show, said he talked to Grisanti on the air on his 103.3 program. He defended the Republican by saying politicians aren’t “robots” and added that Grisanti listened to his constituents, legitimately changed his mind on what he decided was a legal issue, acted courageously in deciding to vote yes and would be rewarded by his constituents in his next election.
As the so-called debate raged on, Channel 2 anchor Scott Levin stood to the right of the two guys seated at a desk on a Spartan set acting as a referee. Or was it a mannequin? Or a robot?
This is not exactly what Channel 2 has in mind in its “Standing Up for You” promotional campaign. Other than summarizing a few things, Levin had less to do than a toll collector in this age of automation. It made you wonder: Why does Channel 2 keep putting Levin in such awkward situations?
Levin eventually stepped in and mercifully ended a debate that lasted about three minutes too long.
I’d score it a clear-cut win for Ragan, who wasn’t a robot. He played the counterpuncher, sounded less frantic and more logical than the self-proclaimed “irritated” Thompson.
But it wasn’t a battle worth winning even on a relatively slow news day in the summer.
Alan Pergament was the television critic for The Buffalo News for 28 years. He currently is an adjunct professor at Buffalo State College and Medaille College, teaching courses in communications. He also writes a monthly column on the media for Buffalo Spree magazine.
God, I would have loved to have seen how these guys dressed like hobos for the show with Levin in the corner.