Critics Call For NASA TV To "Liven Up"

An article in the LA Times calls NASA out for failing to make broadcasts on their dedicated television network as entertaining as they can be. The author, David Ferrell, complains that fascinating subject matter is often fraught with boring commentary and frequent, extended silences, making most people quickly lose interest. Quoting: "Witness one recent segment about the recovery of a Soyuz capsule upon its return to Earth. The dark, bullet-like object landed in the featureless steppes of Kazakhstan, about 50 miles outside the unheard-of town of Arkalyk. Coverage consisted of video shot from an all-terrain vehicle approaching it — mostly soundless footage of tall grass going by — with an occasional word by an unnamed commentator. 'You can see the antenna that deployed shortly after landing,' the commentator said in that deadpan tone shared by scientists and golf announcers. The camera chronicled the tedious extraction of three crew members weakened by spending six months in orbit; they were loaded one by one onto stretchers. 'Again, a rather methodical process,' the commentator noted, as if grasping for something — anything — to say. Later: 'The official landing time has been revised to 1:15 and 34 seconds a.m., Central Time. The official time was recorded at the Russian Mission Control Center . . . by the Russian flight-control team.' ... Where is Carl Sagan when you need him?"

Comments

Re:If you want to know what's wrong with "lively".

[rantingkitten]

In SoCal, we

Stop. Just stop. If you must bastardise the language like that, at least go find "Brangelina" or "Tomkat" and tell them about it first. In return maybe they'll tell you about what hot new "romcom" they're going to star in next. They may be on "vaca" though, so you might want to call their "rents" to see when they're expected back.

If all that's too much trouble, you could just stop talking like a thirteen year old girl.

That said, I agree. In Atlanta, the merest hint that a light dusting of snow might be in the forecast is greeted with panic-stricken weathermen beating the HOLY EMERGENCY! drum for three days in advance, advising everyone not to drive, and to stock up on essentials. As a result the idiot masses hit the stores and buy enormous quantities of the two most perishable items they can find -- bread and milk, because god forbid you get snowed in for a day or two and don't have those. Of course, in my thirty years here, I've seen actual crippling snow exactly once, and crippling ice exactly once. Otherwise, every year we get maybe one snowfall annually, which amounts to barely an inch and is usually melted by noon the next day. Insanity.