Hot Newscaster Was On Little House On The Prairie?

I just found out that CNBC's Melissa Francis was on Little House On The Prairie. You remember that show right? Ma & Pa Ingalls, Mellisa "Half-Pint" Gilbert, and mean old Nelly Olsen. I just found out on Twitter, Sara Gilbert (The Big Bang Theory) and her sister Melissa (the afore-mentioned "half-pint") are on Twitter and I somehow staggered onto this little bit of info. Melissa Francis (yes, that's her in the pictures, now and then) is one of the resident "news-babes" appearing usually around 11am-noon on CNBC. Sometimes I think I must be living under a rock. Francis was the cute little Missy Francis who played Cassandra Cooper-Ingalls during the last part (1981-82) of Little House On The Prairie. I just started on Twitter a few days ago myself and I'm into a whole new world. There are lots of famous and infamous people using Twitter and posting humorous (and sometimes not so humorous) tidbits about the world around them.

Twitter has been growing by leaps and bounds. It is being helped along in it's growing period with such celebs as Ashton Kutcher (he's "aplusk" on Twitter and surprisingly funny, and posts frequently), Demi Moore is there too. But don't just try to link to the famous. There are thousands of others on the site with sometimes brilliant and witty things to say in their 140 character limit. Me, I'm simply, "Hey_Bradshaw" so link to me too if you want. My little band of followers cannot compete with Kutcher's army (1,600,000-plus and growing), but it is fun, informative and costs only some of your time. But it is addictive! And Melissa Francis is there too (she's "MelissaCNBC"), so maybe you can follow her Tweets as well.

Cramer vs Stewart: No Love Lost On Brawl Street

Did you get a chance to catch Jon Stewart tearing CNBC's Jim Cramer apart when Cramer put in a guest appearance on The Daily Show? He's a link to the YouTube clip. Poor old Jim was made to look like a corporate shill for the guys taking all the money. I loved it, but winced at times as Jon Stewart really wasn't too kind. Funny, but a little more strident than he usually is when he skewers these guys.

The last week saw Stewart pointedly slinging barbs at Cramer's network, CNBC, for being irresponsible and leading people to believe that the network should have shown better and more balanced coverage prior to the recent financial stock market meltdown. "I understand you want to make finance entertaining, but it's not a [expletive] game," Stewart said during the recorded interview. "When I watch that, I can't tell you how angry that makes me." That's sort of like what I was saying in my post about CNBC called Enough With CNBC's Bickering Banshees. As Jon Stewart concludes, the stock market is not a game, reporting on the stock market shouldn't be "jazzed up" for better entertainment value. I think it should be about imparting good, valuable information in a timely manner and not doing whatever is needed to goose the network's ratings.

Unfortunately Jim Cramer became the face in this dispute and tried to made some points, but Stewart was having no part of it. I'm not defending Cramer's "BU-Ya!" style of trying to LOUDLY convince people to buy, buy, buy, but Stewart should also be targeting the fatcats at AIG for their bloated bonus structure.

Enough Already With CNBC's Bickering Banshees

I used to love watching CNBC's various shows as they discussed the latest moves of the big money people and trials and tribulations of the stock market. I even have grown able to listen to Jim Cramer as he screams at the camera (buy!BUY!BUY!!!) or (sell! SELL! SELL!!). What I do not like is when they have two or three of their so-called "commentators" discussing the latest twists and turns and policy decisions and they leap at the chance to interrupt and talk over each other ALL THE TIME. There is nothing so off-putting as trying to listen to someone make a point and then someone else snap at the first words out of the other person's mouth and trying to dominate the conversation. People - Just Shut Up And Let The Other Guy Make His Or Her Point. There's no need to jump all over someone all day long and every time they open their mouth.

One guy really gets on my nerves is Charlie Gasparino. I love his stuff. He can go from intelligent commentary to arrogant SOB in seconds flat when he spars with various CNBC regulars and seems to take a lot of glee in trying to shout down Dennis Kneale (Gasparino displays an almost venomous dislike for the guy) as well as Steve Liesman. Charlie needs to chill. He can make points without trying to destroy the other people who disagree with his opinion. That's right, OPINION. That's what commentary is. They are there to provide commentary, not a verbal brawl. It's supposed to be a talk show about money - that's it.

And get rid of Larry Kudlow. He is even more annoying than Jim Cramer. Kudlow is so much the creaky voice of the republican party and basic right wing viewpoints that it gets in the way of the actual story when he is on. I don't give a crap if he was a member of Ronald Reagan's government, Kudlow is another one who just needs to shut up and listen. His conservative viewpoint was soundly beaten in the last election and if he is doing a show that's supposed to provide NEWS, then he needs to tone down his rhetoric and stop harping about "bailout nation" and how Barack Obama's election foretells the end of the world. Well maybe ol' Larry needs to realize that a news program is about the news. His old show got cancelled because no one wanted to watch him spout off and rant about the dangers of the democratics taking power. All he does is yell his commentary and try to push a conservative agenda as he introduces people and talk over others when they make an opposing viewpoint. If he couldn't cut it as the lead on a show devoted to conservative views, he shouldn't be doing it on a financial news show.

Basically, I want to watch CNBC to see what's going on in the markets and what companies are making news. I have absolutely NO interest in watching a cage match with 5-10 participants all trying to out-shout each other. It seems CNBC loves this type of format, sort of if it "makes for good TV", but it makes for lousy reporting and a poor quality news show.