THE TIMES, THEY'RE A-CHANGIN' AT...


Well, well, well...in this life, jobs are lost. Every day there are massive layoffs at various big corporations all over the country. All you have to do is open whatever daily noozpaper you read to the business section. So, Mr./Mrs./Ms. Bluecollar, don't feel bad if you've been laid-off, for it happens to everyone, sooner or later. Even the high and mighty among us aren't secure. May I introduce two people, one of whom will be waitin' in the welfare line, and one who already is...



The guy on the left is JOHN SEIGENTHALER, erstwhile multi-purpose person at MSNBC; he does (or rather, did) news on the weekends for NBC, and on MSNBC you could see him as he provided the intros and extros for various crime-oriented programs such as "Dark Heart/Iron Hand", a program about crime, or "Lockup", a show about life behind bars; I think everyone who's thinking about being a criminal should watch "Lockup" and make an informed decision about whether they want to screw up their lives or not. I see John as one of the faithful, relatively unsung personalities at MSNBC, a sort of "everyman" who did everything that was asked of him, all the while never achieving any kind of network stardom. He was laid off recently. That's what he gets for being a dutiful employee who never once said "nappy headed ho". To me, Seigenthaler had sort of a "regular guy" image; not flashy, not glitzy; rather, he was a guy who was doing his job to the best of his ability. Like any of the zillions of others out there in the workforce.

The guy on the right is STONE PHILLIPS, whom y'all might know a little bit better; he's been one of the constant presences on "Dateline NBC", as well as also doing similar things on MSNBC; introducing/extroducing programs (extroducing?) as well as actually hosting programs on both NBC and MSNBC. Stone was quite high-profile, actually, and he's one of the relatively few people who had smoothness, looks, smarts, and style to pull off the high-profile things he was asked to do. And it's all for naught, because he's going to be laid off soon. (I got this info from the website of 'Northwest Cable News', by the way.) Evidently MSNBC wants more 'flexible' employees who can be utilized in a number of areas. Hey, I HAVE AN IDEA!!! Why not have them host the 3-hour slot in the early mornings formerly occupied by Don Imus? Oh, wait...NBC/MSNBC has tons of people they can heap extra duties on, at a cheaper rate than Mr. Seigenthaler and Mr. Phillips would command. That's gotta be it. It's always about the money. I always thot Phillips had a certain star quality, and I think he'd make a terrific network news anchor. Maybe, Stone, you oughta apply for KATIE COURIC'S job at CBS!

Meantime, Jim Cramer, the wacky guy from CNBC's "MAD MONEY" investment program, is hosting the former Imus slot. Cramer won't sit down, he's so hyper. And lately, he's been bringing his board of sound effects to early-mornings; honks, beeps, explosions, screams and more...quite funny, actually. Maybe I'm gonna hafta start watching "Mad Money" after all. Earlier, I said Cramer wasn't 'early morning' material, but I like him the more I see him. Maybe he appeals to the "wacko" in me. He'll go down in the broadcasting annals as the first totally bald guy to anchor an early-morning-news program. I suppose the people in makeup had to make sure Cramer's head didn't shine too much; the reflection would've burned out the TV cameras.
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No, I don't really think Mr.'s Phillips and Seigenthaler will be waitin' in the welfare line anytime soon. Gosh, if nothing else they could be game show hosts, since Bob Barker is retiring this year! One more thing; MSNBC re-runs the same old shows over and over and over, so you can still catch John Seigenthaler there, and I'm sure MSNBC won't be deleting any of the many NBC programs featuring Stone Phillips anytime soon, either. Old programs don't cost as much as live programming, you see. Follow the money!