Thursday, June 24, 2010

A perfect example of why this business can make you pull your hair out

Apparently the new recipe for getting a network anchor job is this:

1. Run for Governor

2. Cheat on your wife with a call girl

3. Leave office in disgrace

In case you hadn't heard, Eliot Spitzer, former governor of New York best known for his escapades while off the clock, has been hired by a network to co-host a political opinion program.

Was John Edwards unavailable? Does Mark Sanford not have cell service in Argentina?

Then you've gotta wonder about whoever gets the co-anchor job. "Yeah, honey, I'm gonna co-host a network show! My co-anchor? It's...uh...well... Eliot Spitzer."

Back in the day when I was mailing out tapes by the bushel, news like this drove me crazy. You work your tail off only to see someone with no television experience land a gig you'd love to have... in this case, because the guy cheated on his wife. But the same feeling applied to beauty queens, former sports stars, celebrities who decided to "try out" the news business. I'd go home furious, wondering why hard work and experience didn't trump celebrity or superficiality.

But these are simply "life is not fair" moments, and you'll have many of them as you go through your career. Yes, you're entitled to roll your eyes when they hire the drop dead gorgeous ditz who thinks you need a passport to visit Hawaii, or the Ken-doll who thinks he's buying great baseball tickets because they're right behind second base.

But all you can do is focus on your own career and hope the right people notice. And by "right people" I mean those who don't go the gimmick route when choosing new members of a staff. Thankfully, there are still plenty of them out there.

4 comments:

Forward said...

Nice post, Grape. Been out of work for over a year and am sitting here nervous as Hades because the Senate voted not to pass the Unemployment Extension Bill. That's it. I'm officially without income, possibly immediately. I'll find out next week when my form letter arrives.

I'm not young. I've gotten fat. The interviews are few and far between. No jobs have been offered.

Solution? Well, continue losing weight, go back to school, keep applying for jobs and get whatever kind of work I can find. Haven't had insurance in over a year, either; so that will wait for now, too.

Still, all is not so bad. I should be able to keep a roof over our heads and will apply for food stamps. go to pantries and find other forms of aid. I haven't used any services except Unemployment because I considered myself to be one of the lucky ones. It's survival time, and life is not fair; so a woman's got to do what a woman's got to do.

Thanks for writing. Have been enjoying your blog for quite some time, now.

Randy Tatano said...

Yikes. That letter makes me want to invite you over for dinner.

Hang in there.

Anonymous said...

I must say I really want to pull my hair out when I see Jenna Bush Hager on the Today show. I like her just fine as a person, but hearing the executive producer say they put her on the show because she has a natural presence on tv... please.
I just can't imagine what they think they'll gain. Will she really win any viewers?
They certainly can't trust her with a serious story that she actually does some reporting for. At least I hope not.
' can't blame her though. It seems like a great gig if you can get it.

turdpolisher said...

Hey Forward, sounds like how we lived when we first started in this business. Ahh, the bad old days.

Hang in there.