Got fed up. Wrote to NBC's Phil Griffin and Andy Lack about MSNBC grotesqueries

[calimary]

42. Welcome to DU dogandturtlemom!

You remind me of the "Eloise" books I LOVED as a kid. Eloise had a dog (Weenie) and a turtle (Skipperdee)!

Joy Reid is a particular favorite of mine. One of many reasons is her suffer-no-fools interview style, AND her vigilance Another thing I really love about her is her refusal to let some CON get away with calling us the "Democrat party." Or mention "Democrat Congress," or "Democrat bill," or "Democrat voters," or whatever. Poor souls just don't seem to understand the difference between a noun and an adjective, I guess. I've heard her correct offenders right there, on the air, on the spot, gently admonishing them with "you know we don't do that on this show!"

I often play a game with myself - "what would I do if I were in charge of MSNBC?

I'd make that a directive. NOBODY calls it a "Democrat Party". The proper term is "Democratic Party." WE DEMS decide what the party's name is. The opposition doesn't get that privilege.

I'd direct everyone to study how Joy Reid handles filibusterers and Gish Gallopers and nonstop blabbermouths like Boris Epshteyn and friends. Be nice, but STOP THEM COLD. If they do it again, STOP THEM AGAIN, only more firmly. If they do it yet again a third time, their mic gets cut. And they would not be invited back as guests. And I would make sure all guests know that, going in. Be nice, or LEAVE. ZERO tolerance for rudeness and talking over and not shutting up when it's not your damn turn!

I'd find Joy Reid a Monday-through-Friday slot. Her talents and insights are wasted on the weekends. Especially for us on the West Coast, she's on at 7am. I'm seldom up that early on weekends.

I'd ease Andrea Mitchell out. Maybe Joy gets her slot. Give Mitchell some sort of highfalutin' title, like senior correspondent, and send her out on the road nagging at Tillerson or some such. I personally had enough of her constant Hillary hatred during the campaign.

I would lobby to curtail Megyn Kelly's tenure at NBC, and she would NOT be allowed on MSNBC. Under ANY circumstances.

I might give Keith Olbermann a weekend slot. Hmmmm... "Meet the Press" maybe? That'd stir shit up! I know he's got a reputation for being difficult to work with. So a weekend assignment might be easier on the staff.

One little quibble that also bothers me rather severely, that would be for the control room folks. When the panelist or guest is introduced, make sure their name and title is up - IMMEDIATELY. AS SOON AS you see their face on camera. And leave it there for more than three seconds. And each time they're back on, up comes their name and affiliation - AGAIN. EVERY TIME you see their face, they're identified. So far, it's been - there they are, a few beats into what they're saying, finally their name comes up. Then it disappears rather abruptly, and almost never is used again.

Along with that - no more lose-the-name so we can bring up the "Breaking News" verbiage again! Hell, sometimes they stay stuck on the "Breaking News" banner when it's 12-hours old. It's not breaking news anymore if it's been sifted and shaken and stirred for hours on end, already.

NO MORE Hugh Hewitt. PERIOD. Not EVER. No Mark Halperin, either. We do not do smug. Same thing for Amy Holmes.

Donnie Deutsch I'd bring back on. I saw an item where he was supposedly banned for tearing into trump and calling him a pig and various things after those shitty tweets about Mika B. If that's true and he's been banned, I'd un-ban him.

Friday nights? A two-hour block of John Fugelsang. Comedy, guests, topical discussion and humor and laugh your way into the weekend. I'd give him a Saturday evening block, too. And repeat both the following midday.

I might work Stephanie Miller and company into weekday mornings somewhere. I saw her doing a week of that, years ago, before Morning Joe started. She had her regulars and her routines and basically it was her radio show done in a TV studio. She was freakin' HILARIOUS!!!

I'd ask Jon Stewart if he wanted some special recurring feature during the week.

I might add a revolving roundtable of topical comedians - whose job it would be to laugh at trump & comp. Guests and regulars. It would take investigating contracts and exclusivities, but my dream panel of changing luminaries would include such names as Louis Black, Samantha Bee, Larry Wilborn, Louis C.K., Conan, Sarah Silverman, Chelsea Handler, special guest visits from folks like Bill Maher, Trevor Noah, John Oliver, Seth Meyers, Alec Baldwin, Chris Rock, maybe coax David Letterman to drop in occasionally, and yes, Kathy Griffin. With a SNL escapee or two. After all, we're all NBC, 'eh? Plus an added bonus of Charlie Pierce from Esquire magazine, who's scathingly witty. And Michael Moore. I know I'm leaving some good ones out. And what about a surprise appearance by The Rude Pundit, as long as he watches his language, that is? (Is that even possible?) And every now and then, add in a political cartoonist. Thanks to our own n2doc, we have an embarrassment of riches in terms of absolutely bloodthirsty trump cartoons. Maybe have 'em be drawing a new one WHILE on the air, live. Then it's the bumper image when we cut to commercial. We could even have "Sacrificial Lamb of the Week" - the odd-man/woman-out guest political person brave enough to join the comedy panel for one-time-only. Part of the fun, if it's a GOPer, would be to watch how skillfully the comedy folks would slice 'n' dice our visiting human lunch meat.

Just some idle ideas... but it's a fun game to play. What would YOU do, if they handed you the keys to MSNBC?