Dear The Weather Channel,
I'm writing to express my extreme displeasure at TWC's hiring of Al Roker to host a morning weather show. Al Roker is not a meteorologist and is nothing more than a weather presenter. This is the equivalent of CNBC hiring on air people with no education, training or background in the finance industry. And it's an insult all the true weather professionals who work at TWC.
Seriously? Al Roker? The Weather Channel isn't an entertainment network. It's a serious network where the very serious issue of the weather and how it will affect our daily lives is discussed by people who are trained and educated scientists. What's next at TWC? The Next Weather Channel Star? Hosted by Al and having Willard Scott, Kathy Lee Gifford and Jay Leno as the judges.
I can see it now. You’ll put the contestants out there on the beach or on top a levy in New Orleans and crank up a wind machine and turn the fire hose on them to make it look like there is a hurricane going on. Every once in a while somebody can toss a garbage can or stop sign at them or whatever.
Shit. I probably shouldn't have told you about that. God Dammit if you guys create that show I want royalties! I'm not kidding!
Anyway, as I was saying, this move away from informed weather presentation to goofy, unqualified hosts will simply make TWC the Fox News of the weather world. You will lose all credibility with the weather watching world. Everyone will simply turn to AccuWeather for their information. And if you knew how much I hated those smarmy, weather geeks over there at AccuWeather you would realize just how crushed I am at your new show with Al Roker.
I can see where maybe you want to jazz up the weather, but I don't think you understand that weather watchers don't want it jazzed up. Most of them are old, and they aren't into Al Roker type shenanigans anyway. They just want the weather presented in a straight forward way that they can understand. Then they want to watch Matlock and take their naps.
And, these people are serious about their weather. A couple of years ago a local station decided to stop giving the barometric pressure during their little weather at a glance capsule during the 10 pm newscast. They got flooded with phone calls, emails and letters from a bunch of blue hairs using some language that isn't acceptable in mixed company. These people don't mess around Melissa! I don't want you to have to deal with their emails cause they won't be anywhere near as nice as I am. Old people are mean!
I understand that TWC is looking to expand your audience a bit, but I don't see how you do that with Al Roker. Maybe taking a page out of the Spanish language channels like Telemundo or Univision and going with a smoking hot Latina would work? It's just a suggestion. I mean, if you're going to have someone who doesn't actually know anything about the weather, it might as well be someone hot as hell like Jackie Guerrido, amirite?
And, if it really has to be someone from one of NBC's shows, so you can do a little cross-promoting then you can always go with Sarah Shahi from Life. Who wouldn’t want to wake up to her?
I really can't believe how little imagination you guys have shown with this Al Roker show. I mean, there are sooooo many more options for expanding TWC's fan base. Not that I like any of it. Okay, I like the Sarah Shahi idea. But, my point is, if you are going to destroy the scientific and professional credibility of TWC, and make a mockery of the very serious business of the weather, then you might as well go all out.
Here’s the real one I sent to the person Matt-Man said was in charge of this whole debacle.
Melissa Medori,
I’m writing today to express my extreme displeasure over The Weather Channel’s decision to give Al Roker a morning show on your network. It simply makes no sense to me. Mr. Roker is not a meteorologist or scientist and I believe that hiring him is an insult to the educated and experienced weather professionals you have at TWC.
Did you happen to see Mr. Roker during the U.S. Open, televised by NBC? He was brought in to give the forecast for the afternoon on Saturday when it was raining so much. NBC golf analyst Johnny Miller looked at the radar and came to a different conclusion about how heavy the rain was going to be during the afternoon. Needless to say Al was incredulous that someone would dare to question is weather expertise. But, you know what? It was Miller who was right.
So, if a total weather amateur like Johnny Miller can embarrass Al Roker on national TV like that, doesn’t that bring into question Roker’s weather predicting skills? And his overall understanding of the weather itself? I think it does.
Anyway, thank you for taking the time to read my email. I will be boycotting The Weather Channel now because I do believe that TWC has lost much of it’s credibility with the hiring of Roker. I will also be replacing my TWC widget on my iGoogle homepage and replacing it with the widget from AccuWeather.
Good day.
Jay
I don’t know, maybe I should have sent the first one?
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