Most ridiculous local news story [Archive]

jbomber

Jul 25, 2003, 05:23 PM

Ever get the impression that your local news has the WORST/MOST RIDICULOUS stories?

I'm sitting at home watching Fox 5 News NY and all of a sudden there's dramatic music and a voice over comes on:

"Who will win..."

more dramatic music

"One on one..."

Dum da daaa

"Jif or Skippy... find out later tonight on Fox 5 News..."

WTF??? Peanut butter??? You'd think there weren't a thousand other things going on in the world.

MrMacMan

Jul 25, 2003, 06:00 PM

Originally posted by jbomber
Ever get the impression that your local news has the WORST/MOST RIDICULOUS stories?

I'm sitting at home watching Fox 5 News NY and all of a sudden there's dramatic music and a voice over comes on:

"Who will win..."

more dramatic music

"One on one..."

Dum da daaa

"Jif or Skippy... find out later tonight on Fox 5 News..."

WTF??? Peanut butter??? You'd think there weren't a thousand other things going on in the world.

haha, my school district has its own public TV station and we put the most dramatic sounds on, just to get attention.

We had a show on called 'The Most important things you will ever need to know about life'

We had an episode about making craft easy mac. :cool: :D

It was a total parody, the show got the can after we did a sex parody show.

We added sound effects to that show to make it even greater, just imagine old skool batman (live action the one with the 'POW' and 'WHAM') combined with asking the most absurd things.

'Hey baby, we are doing a report about sex, want to comment?'
'Your kidding right?'
'No, how about a personal interview'
':SLAP!!:' (add overly dramatic sound effects like echoing the slap, you get the show)

Note: I didn't take part in that episode, I was sick... (Lucky for me, the cast was never to put on an episode again)

But yeah there are alot of more ridicious stories, like the ones that lie.

Abstract

Jul 25, 2003, 06:40 PM

Originally posted by jbomber

I'm sitting at home watching Fox 5 News NY and all of a sudden there's dramatic music and a voice over comes on:

"Who will win..."

more dramatic music

"One on one..."

Dum da daaa

"Jif or Skippy... find out later tonight on Fox 5 News..."

Jif......JIF will win!!!

*puts a 5'ver on Jif*

Capt Underpants

Jul 25, 2003, 08:50 PM

I guess they just want you to stay tuned. I also say jif, but the crunchy kind or the smooth and creamy kind? I say that creamy kind. Moms like you choose jif. ;)

Flowbee

Jul 25, 2003, 09:35 PM

My head says Jif, but my heart says Skippy. :)

voicegy

Jul 25, 2003, 09:44 PM

News in general, especially local news, long ago switched from being "news" oriented to "entertainment" oriented, especially when they all copied each other to give hour long broadcasts instead of 1/2 hour ones. They need filler, and instead of just informing us of what really matters, they fill the hour with fluff, puff, repeats, teasers, rubbish and "cat up a tree" crap that has just kept me away from local broadcasts altogether.

And what's with this competition about who is more "Honest" "Fair" "Balanced"? It's almost as if they THEMSELVES know how rotten their own broadcasts are and have to advertise that they're something that they're not. When I watched Walter Cronkite or Huntley/Brinkley as a kid, it WAS honest, fair and balanced, as good journalism should be, and certainly didn't need to be "advertised" as such.

"1984" is more relevant today than its ever been.:rolleyes:

MrMacMan

Jul 25, 2003, 10:21 PM

SKIPPY WON!

haha, it did, since I saw this thread I said 'why not' and watched it, all they did was go to people on times square and stuff...

voicegy

Jul 25, 2003, 10:26 PM

Probably because it got out that Bush prefers Jif.

Phil Of Mac

Jul 25, 2003, 10:33 PM

Does anyone else frequently see "breaking news" stories that aren't really that urgent or even interesting?

Also, do I even care if someone I don't know has been arrested for murdering someone else I don't know? Most news is crap anyway. If it doesn't affect who I vote for or what I do in my daily life, why do I care?

voicegy

Jul 26, 2003, 01:11 AM

Originally posted by Phil Of Mac
Does anyone else frequently see "breaking news" stories that aren't really that urgent or even interesting?

Like most things, sadly, the original intent of "Breaking News" has lost all meaning, because the broadcasters understand that it fosters interest and use it inappropriately all the time to keep viewers' attention. Keeping viewers' attention is the HOLY GRAIL of all of broadcasting, because doing so "sells soap."

P-Worm

Jul 26, 2003, 02:02 AM

It seems like every night here on FOX 13, we get the latest update on "Utah Idol" our cheap rip off of American Idol. You're lucky to have breaking news about peanut butter.

P-Worm

jbomber

Jul 26, 2003, 03:54 AM

Originally posted by P-Worm
It seems like every night here on FOX 13, we get the latest update on "Utah Idol" our cheap rip off of American Idol. You're lucky to have breaking news about peanut butter.

P-Worm

LOL. that's terrible. I thought that the Pittsburgh News was the worst til i got to NY. One summer in P-town, every other story was about dog attacks or bee stings. It got to the point where you'd swear there were packs of wild dogs running around, barking and shooting bees out of their mouths.

Roger1

Jul 26, 2003, 08:24 AM

Originally posted by jbomber
LOL. that's terrible. I thought that the Pittsburgh News was the worst til i got to NY. One summer in P-town, every other story was about dog attacks or bee stings. It got to the point where you'd swear there were packs of wild dogs running around, barking and shooting bees out of their mouths.

HaHa, that's great. Remember last summer when every station was reporting about shark attacks? It got to the point that people were afraid to go into the water until people found out it was a slow summer for good news? I believe it was also a year of statistically less shark attacks, than normal. Jeez, I don't even watch the news unless my wife turns it on.

BTW I alway liked that one anchors "in depth" portion of reporting. I watched it one time, and it was something like a minute long. :rolleyes: It was Dan Rather or somebody. Ah, well. I'll just keep getting the news off the 'net.

edit: spelling, clarification

Capt Underpants

Jul 26, 2003, 10:30 AM

Every summer down here (in Texas), it's all about the West Nile virus. Mosquitoes are attacking!!! I hear the same thing over and over. Wear bug spray, Don't keep any standing water where mosquitoes can breed, etc. etc. It gets pretty old. Anyways.... No one answered my question earlier... Creamy or Crunchy? (peanut butter)

voicegy

Jul 26, 2003, 10:53 AM

Originally posted by Capt Underpants
Anyways.... No one answered my question earlier... Creamy or Crunchy? (peanut butter)

Creamy. It eases spreading on the Wonder Bread.:p

Independence

Jul 26, 2003, 11:08 AM

Originally posted by jbomber
"Jif or Skippy... find out later tonight on Fox 5 News...
skippy blows. jif for ever! :D

wdlove

Jul 26, 2003, 11:15 AM

I prefer chunky, no particular brand just whatever is on sale. Chunky spreads easy on a substantial whole wheat grain bread!

Les Kern

Jul 26, 2003, 11:40 AM

The 10 o'clock news is a joke nation-wide. It's designed not to tell news in any detail, but rather to sell air-time. They did a huge story a few years ago here in Chicago called "Garage Doors of Death". It spanned several nights, and scared folks into getting new garage doors. Know how many people died from those doors of death that year? One. Tragic true, but 9000 people died from food poisoning last year, 8500 from falling off their roof, 30,000 died from the flu. They make us afraid of the wrong things, bait you with "coming up..." idiotic stories designed to interest the addle-brained, and do it in a forum where they describe themselves as jounalists. It's crap.

vniow

Jul 26, 2003, 12:35 PM

Low-fat creamy Skippy owns you all! Bwahahaha..ha...ha..ah screw it.

jbomber

Jul 26, 2003, 01:38 PM

It's gotten to the point where i much rather watch the Daily show for my news. At least they give you some actual news before throwing in the punchline.

wdlove

Jul 26, 2003, 03:38 PM

You point to an interesting fact of todays news gathering. The viewship of the major networks have declined along with newspapers. Americans under the age of 30 get a lot of there news from late night talk!

Roger1

Jul 26, 2003, 07:42 PM

We've been getting a lot of "West Nile" stories in Michigan, also . We can't forget the annual stories about firecracker safety. You know, the one where they show the mannquin holding an M-80, and then gets its hand blown off?

Anyway, the only important stories I've seen in my limited TV news watching has been about the emerald ash borer, and a couple of local drug bust stories.

jbomber

Jul 26, 2003, 09:26 PM

Originally posted by wdlove
You point to an interesting fact of todays news gathering. The viewship of the major networks have declined along with newspapers. Americans under the age of 30 get a lot of there news from late night talk!

Yeah. somehow i doubt this oversensationalizing of incredibly TRIVIAL tidbits of pseudo-news is the answer...

When's the news media going to start taking itself seriously again? We need a little more Cronkite and a lot less Springer.

MrMacMan

Jul 26, 2003, 10:42 PM

Originally posted by vniow
Low-fat creamy Skippy owns you all! Bwahahaha..ha...ha..ah screw it.

haha, we get what you mean.

I prefer Skippy Creamy or Reeses Peanut Butter.

Phil Of Mac

Jul 26, 2003, 11:59 PM

I eat Jif Creamy, and get my news off the Internet.

MacFan25

Jul 27, 2003, 02:45 PM

Must not have been much going on that day, to talk about peanut butter.

As for me, I like creamy. :)

wdlove

Jul 27, 2003, 05:52 PM

Peanut Butter happens to be a good source of protein. I remember that the dieticians in the hospital would add that to the diets of patients that needed to gain weight!

Phil Of Mac

Jul 27, 2003, 11:04 PM

The high protein content of peanut butter makes it a favorite food for survivalists :)

MrMacMan

Jul 28, 2003, 01:05 AM

Originally posted by Phil Of Mac
The high protein content of peanut butter makes it a favorite food for survivalists :)

And Peanut Butter Is Recommended by 4/5 PAIDED OFF DOCTORS!
:D

You may be asking 'why the hell isn't it 5/5?
Because.... we always find people saying that we were paying off the doctors when we said '5/5 reccomended', so with 4/5 people don't say we pay off our doctors.'

(If you know that skit win $100)

kiwi_the_iwik

Jul 28, 2003, 02:33 AM

Sometimes news stories bite bigtime.

I was working on the late shift one night, sitting with the overnight cameraman (we have an overlap, in case of emergencies). Rather than give the job to me, the news editor handed the jobsheet to the overnight cameraman, because it would go over my hours.

The job was unbelievable...

A really fat man had to go to hospital - so a crane was hired in order for him to be winched out of a first-story window, and into a waiting ambulance/flat bed truck.

I was really pleased when the overnight cameraman stood his ground, and refused to film the job on principle. Not only would it have been an invasion of privacy, but also a gross violation of the man's human rights.

The editor looked at me to do the job - the defiant look on my face told her that the story obviously wouldn't go to air by morning...

;)

Phil Of Mac

Jul 28, 2003, 03:32 AM

Originally posted by kiwi_the_iwik
A really fat man had to go to hospital - so a crane was hired in order for him to be winched out of a first-story window, and into a waiting ambulance/flat bed truck.

I was really pleased when the overnight cameraman stood his ground, and refused to film the job on principle. Not only would it have been an invasion of privacy, but also a gross violation of the man's human rights.

Yeesh. Some things ought to just be left to the imagination too.

judith

Jul 29, 2003, 03:20 AM

Peanut butter: creamy.
News: I have more exciting things going on in my house than the majority of what is covered on the national news, seriously. For instance, just yesterday my kitty ate wasabi from my chopstick, no rice with that, just a little dab of straight wasabi - and came back for more, he liked it! Now that's something!:D

voicegy

Jul 29, 2003, 10:04 PM

Originally posted by judith
[...] ...my kitty ate wasabi from my chopstick, no rice with that, just a little dab of straight wasabi - and came back for more, he liked it! Now that's something!:D

Awwwwww!:)

jbomber

Aug 5, 2003, 04:47 AM

Wow. I just sat thru an entire broadcast of Inside Edition.

I feel significantly dumber-er after having seen their version of the 'news'.

Les Kern

Aug 5, 2003, 06:59 AM

Here's a sad tale.
Last year in Chicago they tried to re-make the 10 o'clock news in a form closer to NPR, where stories were covered in depth, and there were no sensationalized stories. The anchor was the respected Carol Marin, who really believed folks would abandon the crap for something more intelligent.
The folks STAYED AWAY in droves.
The dumbing-down of Americans is complete. We get our news in sound-bytes, which are easy for the stupid to latch onto as gospel, while the media has more power than ever to mold public opinion and hence "suggest" a course for public policy.

I guess if you can't beat 'em, join 'em, a-heel, a-heel:
Simply Jiff.

Ambrose Chapel

Aug 5, 2003, 07:30 AM

Les Kern,

That is really sad...I guess Fox News is the new model for TV news. I gave up on TV news years ago. The whole, "if it bleeds it leads" mentality is not what I want at all. Plus the lack of depth in any important story, the reporting of the weekend movie box office totals as an important story, the tie-ins with whatever reality program the network is pushing...I want news! If i want entertainment I'll watch the Simpsons.

bennetsaysargh

Aug 5, 2003, 08:28 AM

oh come on. do you people have any taste buds? creamy skippy!! woo hoo!

on another note, i think thsat the news s annoying because they spend 5 minutes saying the headlines, yet they have most of those just a quick 5 second clip and a line or 2.
stupid just stupid.

scem0

Aug 5, 2003, 04:21 PM

I envy you all talking about peanut butter.

My mom goes and buys peanuts and then crushes them and then adds oil.... :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

That's my mom for you... :o

scem0

Ambrose Chapel

Aug 5, 2003, 04:39 PM

there was a supermarket near where i went to college that had fresh peanut butter - you'd pull a lever and it'd crush the peanuts and serve it like a frozen yogurt machine. that was the best peanut butter i ever had.

but for day to day stuff it's skippy super chunk
:)

wdlove

Aug 5, 2003, 04:39 PM

Have you sampled both types of peanutbutter scem0? Which do you think tastes better?

Durandal7

Aug 5, 2003, 05:18 PM

Originally posted by P-Worm
It seems like every night here on FOX 13, we get the latest update on "Utah Idol" our cheap rip off of American Idol. You're lucky to have breaking news about peanut butter.

What a coincidence, my Fox affiliate has "Southern Colorado Idol" :rolleyes:

Welcome to American news. After finding out what peanut butter is better you can switch over to watch Tom Brokaw or Peter Jennings tell us about how Americans have high blood pressure and some excersize.

MrMacMan

Aug 5, 2003, 07:15 PM

Originally posted by Durandal7
What a coincidence, my Fox affiliate has "Southern Colorado Idol" :rolleyes:

Welcome to American news. After finding out what peanut butter is better you can switch over to watch Tom Brokaw or Peter Jennings tell us about how Americans have high blood pressure and some excersize.
Hey, atleast I listened to that report while on my treadmill!

pwned.

Originally posted by scem0
I envy you all talking about peanut butter.

My mom goes and buys peanuts and then crushes them and then adds oil.... :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

That's my mom for you... :o

scem0

Homemade Peanut Butter... that a 'new' one... I bet it doesn't last for long... or tastes great, it is probably like 100x more super chunky PB... :(

scem0

Aug 6, 2003, 12:04 AM

Originally posted by wdlove
Have you sampled both types of peanutbutter scem0? Which do you think tastes better?

I'm afraid I haven't. I haven't had commercial peanut butter in years.

Homemade Peanut Butter... that a 'new' one... I bet it doesn't last for long... or tastes great, it is probably like 100x more super chunky PB...

Personally, I think it tastes like **** compared to commercialized peanut butter.

But you always want what you can't have - and in this case its commercial peanut butter. If I wasn't allowed to eat home made peanut-butter I would probably want it.

scem0

mactastic

Aug 6, 2003, 10:44 AM

My college's newspaper published an ad from the horticulture group on campus that was giving away potted plants for some kind of promotion to get you to come to their event. It was supposed to read "Free Potted Plants". Unfortunately when the ad was published in the paper (and no one ever found out if this was a mistake or someone messing with the ad) it said in big letters at the top **FREE POT PLANTS** Boy was their booth busy that day.

bennetsaysargh

Aug 6, 2003, 10:56 AM

lol!
i bet it was full:p
how come nothing like that ever happens in boring monroe:(

jbomber

Aug 6, 2003, 07:00 PM

Originally posted by scem0
I'm afraid I haven't. I haven't had commercial peanut butter in years.

Personally, I think it tastes like **** compared to commercialized peanut butter.

But you always want what you can't have - and in this case its commercial peanut butter. If I wasn't allowed to eat home made peanut-butter I would probably want it.

scem0

Sweet Creamy Christ! I thought you were kidding!

Homemade? wow.... impressive i guess...

(BTW I've been waiting forever to work 'Sweet Creamy Christ' into a conversation):D

ibookin'

Aug 7, 2003, 08:50 PM

Originally posted by scem0
I envy you all talking about peanut butter.

My mom goes and buys peanuts and then crushes them and then adds oil.... :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

That's my mom for you... :o

scem0

We used to go to a grocery chain (don't know if they still exist, maybe they became Whole Foods) where you could grind your own peanut butter there. Now that they don't have that anymore we buy some brand (not sure on the name, I think Laura something) that's not widely known. I've never actually had Jif or Skippy.