RICK BELL AND MIKE MCCOURT'S ENTRY INTO THE 'VAST WASTELAND'

I received an Email from a friend of mine the other day introducing me to a new (at least to me) political exchange shouting match show on Rogers' Citytv. The program only lasts - mercifully - for a couple of minutes.

It is in the style of CNBC's Hardball or CNN's Crossfire. Hardball of course, still contaminates the airwaves. Its host, Chris Matthews is a political junkie from way back. He worked inside the White House for President Jimmy Carter more than thirty years ago. For the past several years his histrionic, bully boy, decible shattering cross examinations of politicos continues to annoy his mostly American viewing audience. Happily, the viewing public no longer has to endure Crossfire, with the snivelling Tucker Carlson, the serpentine Robert Novak, and other equally repulsive and revolting talking heads.

Not to be outdone in tastelessness, the Rogers organization has now introduced to its Calgary area viewers a Hardball or Crossfire ripoff called Get Over it. It is produced weekly and features a two minute shouting match on a current issue between two very minor celebrities of the local media. One is Rick Bell, the sometimes trenchant but often misguided, and mean and manic columnist for the Calgary Sun. The other is Mike McCourt, whose career in broadcasting goes back at least to the days of Sir Wilfrid Laurier.

The show that introduced me to this grisly twosome was entitled: Get Over It: Mammoths, Dinosaurs, and the Alberta Liberals. The sequence was shot in front of the Calgary headquarters of the Alberta Liberal Party caucus. Straining to glean some information over the nattering cacophony of these geniuses, I discerned that Bell (who through most of his ink-stained career has been a Tory apologist and spear carrier) thought that the Alberta Liberals were elitist and arrogant, a flawed and untrue view that he has harped upon ad nauseum in his minor oeuvre contained in the Sun's yellow pages. McCourt thought that the Grits should unite with the NDP to have any chance in the future. You can view the video here:
http://www.citytv.com/calgary/yourcity_57014.aspx

I don't expect anyone will be soon starting up any fan clubs for this new entry in the vast wasteland of TV land.