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Saturday night, Daily Show frontman Jon Stewart and Fox News host Bill O’Reilly took the stage before an audience of 1,500 at George Washington University and went toe-to-toe on domestic and foreign policy. The two celebs traded barbs and jokes but they also delved into serious political issues, from budgets and deficits to health care and social security.
The response to #Rumble2012 on Twitter was overwhelmingly positive. The passion and depth of discussion put the “real” debates to shame, according to many who watched the show.
Roku screwed up big time. Its subscribers who bought & paid for the show (like myself) could not log on & view. Gave up about 20 mins. in. Pirated for me!
The spoof is the proof that pure entertainment and the quest to please the audience (and raise money) trumps trying to show your best face and get elected or reelected.
I didn’t realize there was any problem with the feed until after the debate,since I was able to stream the whole thing in high quality with nary a glitch.
One thing that really stood out for me was the fact that Stewart had no notes, and Bill-O (apart from his stunt cards) didn’t appear to, either. Contrast this with the “real” debates, where both sides spend more time reading off of and taking notes than actually communicating with each other.
That’s the other thing…these two weren’t talking past each other in carefully crafted talking points. They were actually taking TO each other! Sure, there were laugh lines and zingers delivered by both for the benefit of the audience, but most of the time they were focused on each other…listening, even.
I’d pay at least $4.95 to see Obama and Romney speak extemporaneously for a change.
My dream dduck is to become a Presidential Campaign Manager. You haven’t seen nothing yet. I fully realize it’s all about entertainment. So I’m bringing in:
1. CGI
2. Robots
3. Soundtracks to stump speeches with live bands (perhaps an orchestra for effect)
4. Bigger pyrotechnics
5. Cool dances/steps/leans/etc
6. Big set pieces
Wanna help dduck? We can do this. Let’s show ‘em a show. To heck with elected/re-elected jazz. Presidential Campaign meets The Avengers.
I’d pay at least $4.95 to see Obama and Romney speak extemporaneously for a change.
dduck – I would not call this event pure entertainment. In fact I noted that it was more than that in the headline.
cjjack – you were lucky – but you weren’t alone. lots of people were able to watch it in real time – but a lot weren’t. no one is taking numbers, at least not that I’ve seen. I can tell you that my two downloads – medium quality and very high quality – are both pixelated. The VHQ is **1.6GB** and it’s pixelated. :-/
I watched the Rumble, and also thought it was very good and substantive and more of a debate than the other one. I wonder what our TMV pundits thought of it.
I watched it again last night with Mike — on our HD TV. I was *most* disappointed with the quality. Audio out of sync in large part due to the horrible frame rate. Something that was passable on the iPad was a travesty on a bigger screen.
Roku screwed up big time. Its subscribers who bought & paid for the show (like myself) could not log on & view. Gave up about 20 mins. in. Pirated for me!
The spoof is the proof that pure entertainment and the quest to please the audience (and raise money) trumps trying to show your best face and get elected or reelected.
I didn’t realize there was any problem with the feed until after the debate,since I was able to stream the whole thing in high quality with nary a glitch.
One thing that really stood out for me was the fact that Stewart had no notes, and Bill-O (apart from his stunt cards) didn’t appear to, either. Contrast this with the “real” debates, where both sides spend more time reading off of and taking notes than actually communicating with each other.
That’s the other thing…these two weren’t talking past each other in carefully crafted talking points. They were actually taking TO each other! Sure, there were laugh lines and zingers delivered by both for the benefit of the audience, but most of the time they were focused on each other…listening, even.
I’d pay at least $4.95 to see Obama and Romney speak extemporaneously for a change.
My dream dduck is to become a Presidential Campaign Manager. You haven’t seen nothing yet. I fully realize it’s all about entertainment. So I’m bringing in:
1. CGI
2. Robots
3. Soundtracks to stump speeches with live bands (perhaps an orchestra for effect)
4. Bigger pyrotechnics
5. Cool dances/steps/leans/etc
6. Big set pieces
Wanna help dduck? We can do this. Let’s show ‘em a show. To heck with elected/re-elected jazz. Presidential Campaign meets The Avengers.
Oh I would as well cjjack!
HI, Barky – I don’t think it was Roku’s fault. I think it was NOX SOLUTIONS (NOT): http://www.noxsolutions.com/
dduck – I would not call this event pure entertainment. In fact I noted that it was more than that in the headline.
cjjack – you were lucky – but you weren’t alone. lots of people were able to watch it in real time – but a lot weren’t. no one is taking numbers, at least not that I’ve seen. I can tell you that my two downloads – medium quality and very high quality – are both pixelated. The VHQ is **1.6GB** and it’s pixelated. :-/
tyrone – you know election events (debates) used to be all about entertainment. and booze.
http://history1800s.about.com/od/timelines/tp/electionhub.htm
T, I guess I’m old fashioned (and a male chauvinist pig), but I would include cheerleaders like Dallas has.
I watched the Rumble, and also thought it was very good and substantive and more of a debate than the other one. I wonder what our TMV pundits thought of it.
Hi, dduck — thanks for that update!
I watched it again last night with Mike — on our HD TV. I was *most* disappointed with the quality. Audio out of sync in large part due to the horrible frame rate. Something that was passable on the iPad was a travesty on a bigger screen.