O.K., now I feel guilty about my Pete Delkus rant yesterday. I have reconsidered my feelings about yesterday's weather, and I see now that my issues are not really with Delkus but with God. That's an old beef.
I must confess, I actually think Delkus, as an on-air personality, is quite engaging. Within the tiny universe of mediatoids, he has a bit of a hill to climb as the heir apparent to Troy Dungan. Among metiatoids of color, in particular, there is an unhappy suspicion that Greg Fields is getting passed over in favor of a white face.
I don't know Fields at all, have never spoken with him and have never heard a syllable of this from him. But in the press scrum at City Hall, yeah, that's what they say.
I wouldn't be surprised if both Delkus and Fields hit really high numbers when they measure audience appeal. They both have that young, handsome, boyish, smart-seeming thing going — you know, kind of like me — so I would think they both do well for ratings. And I like that McCauley fellow for the same reasons.
But who will be Troy? That is the question. Who will be Troy?
The Morning News has a big long story this morning about how Delkus didn't do anything wrong by blowing the forecast. The story goes into huge length about how hard it is to predict the weather.
Sure. But tomorrow I'd like to see a story about how hard it is these days to do a valve job on an eight cylinder engine and maybe another story about how hard it is to be the wait-person for a party of 16 people who are drinking heavily and are all foreigners from that country where they haven't invented tipping yet.
The real problem with weather shows is not is not the talent. It's the executives who make the decision to hype hype hype a weather story before the weather gets here. I'm sure they think they're piling up big audience that way, but I wonder if they ever think about the credibility they lose when the weather fails to perform as scripted?
I was at City Hall yesterday listening to two Dallas cops tell each other hilarious stories about laughing at the remote shots all week where some poor devil had to drive to Oklahoma to find an icicle he could show on camera.
As for God. He's not at all like what Bible Girl has been telling you. Man, have I got stories I could tell. Some day, some day. About one more nasty little surprise like this with the weather, and the story's comin' out. I'm goin' for it. I'm just going to have to take charge. You're going to go to church one day and find my picture up there where the altar used to be. --Jim Schutze
