I respectfully disagreed
This is taken from version 2.0 of an Outside the Beltway post:
Tonight I watched ABC's coverage of the ball dropping in Times Square, and I have to say that Dick Clark's agent needs to be fired. Whoever let him appear on camera is more concerned with Dick Clark™ than they are about this man as a human being. I have no idea about the state of his health, but he spoke slowly and sounded like a deaf person, and it was really embarrassing....
But perhaps it was Clark's decision to go on tonight, in which case his appearance is even more pathetic, and a perfect example of the infantile narcissism that drives far too many Americans.
Here was my reply - for once, I was actually thoughtful (although I'm sure the Ontario Vineyard Village Association will propose a maximum age for Wal Mart workers at some point):
Actually, most television people believe that people who have had a stroke should be banned from the airwaves. With my myopia and deviated septum, I have no chance for a future in TV. Meanwhile, some TV exec is sending Mariah to Mary-Kate Olsen for diet tips. Argh.
In my view, Clark did well. He chose to appear, and it wasn’t courageous, and it wasn’t pathetic – it just WAS. As long as he doesn’t try to rap, he’ll do fine.
Joe Bello had a similar comment (actually, it was more thorough):
Please believe me when I say that while there is a smothering tide of infantile narcissism all over the U.S., Dick Clark’s appearance on New Year’s Rockin’ Eve is not an example of that at all.
The man is no saint…and no one should doubt he doesn’t possess some of the bottom-line businessman and egocentric traits characteristic of all producers and broadcasters.
But he really does love the Times Square experience and wanted to be there....
One person wrote somewhere something like he was fulfilling his “contractual obligation” to appear. Nonsense. If anything, ABC might prefer to attract the Ryan Seacrest demographic, to sustain its ratings dominance…and wouldn’t mind Dick exiting gracefully. And frankly, if it was narcissism, don’t you think he’d prefer to remain in hiding…and not be seen, on a live broadcast, no less? There are no ‘do-overs’ on a live show.
Courage, heroic, maybe not, but I was quite satisfied to see him hang in there for the entire 90 minute duration of the show. So were a majority of others....
Conservative Musings said:
I found it both encouraging and sad to watch this with Dick Clark's return to the show. For many years, Dick was the guy who never aged. He seemed to blend in with all the teen-agers on Bandstand. The sad side was to witness the effects of age on an American icon.
What was encouraging to me was to actually see him brave an appearance on public TV. Many a lesser man would have not even made a try. I personally took pride in his "nothing gonna stop me" attitude.
I see Leopold Stotch over at Outside the Beltway disagrees with me. His opinion is just that - opinion....
[OE 1/6/2006: Did God strike Dick Clark down for promoting dancing? Perhaps.]
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