Hacker News Reader

Comment by babelthuap | Hacker News Reader

I would love to see a show with him and Maddow. They sit right next to each other and tell the same exact news story. No arguing, just telling the same exact story from their angle. Like 2 ft apart from each other. If they have to make any retractions for lying the retractions must be repeated 10 times throughout the show. End of the week the retractions are tallied up and a winner is declared.

View on HN

For those unaware: Rachel Maddow got her start in television as a regular panelist on the MSNBC show Tucker, hosted by Tucker Carlson.

Do "Point/Counterpoint"-style shows still exist? I haven't watched cable news for a long time, but my understanding is that all the debate-style shows are gone because people don't really want the opposing view, people just want the echo chamber.

After the famous Jon Stewart Crossfire takedown, CNN sprinkled paid analysts into all of their programming, where the qualification is generally that they are a partisan with some name recognition.

They still did last I watched any of their programming.

Yes the Stewart encounter marked the end of the left/right debate format on CNN. Crossfire soon ended and Tucker ventured out on his own.

>I would love to see a show with him and Maddow.

To the person who proposed a Maddow/Carlson "tell the same story from different perspectives" show -- that kind of thing doesn't work when both hosts lack a significant amount of intellectual honesty.

It works a little better with Sagar and Crystal on Breaking Points because they are at least trying to be honest with themselves and their viewers. (I am not saying I always agree with them or they are always right)

My biggest problem with Tucker and Maddow is that television shows criticizing the government make the 2nd most boring "entertainment" in existence.

[Television shows praising the government are the most boring.]

He talked about this style of discourse a couple of days ago and said he doesn't think it applies in today's world. He thinks its more similar to good vs evil and that both parties seem to not want a good outcome anymore. Without that underlying principle, debate can't really occur.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com