96.9FM TALK - JAY SEVERIN ON MSNBC

Joining host Tucker Carlson and fellow panelist Rachel Maddow was WTKK's Boston Talk Host Jay Severin. Jay's appearance came on Monday's edition of Carlson's new show, The Situation.
What is it about a show on MSNBC that tells you within the first ten minutes that its cable news deja vu?
It's a strange yet familiar feeling. The show is new, yet you get the feeling that its just another beast with the same DNA as Hard Ball, Olbermann and Scarborough. And, like Scarborough's show, you get the feeling that even though it's supposed to be an attempt to be a little like Fox News, that there's an Air America Radio mole behind the curtain making sure that the show never drifts any further right than just left of center.
So, it was the same old feeling watching The Situation, and we fearlessly predict a quick demise for this latest MSNBC bomb.
That being said, let's concentrate on the only bright side. And the bright side was all Severin. Limited as he was to about three sentences at a time, you kept thinking to yourself that if Severin could have suddenly switched chairs with Carlson, and Carlson and Maddow had gone home, MSNBC would have its first hit news show in ages. But, as is usual with dreams, this dream did not come true.
And so it was that we had to savor the savvy and the wit and the brilliance in things logical of Saverin in frustratingly tiny verbal fragments, while host Carlson ran endlessly at the mouth. And, as for Ms. Maddow, yes, her quips were as short as Severin's, but nobody except maybe Barney Frank was hanging on her every word.
Apparently Carlson was supposed to be the conservative type Fox News guy, while Maddow was the fair and balanced liberal. That put Severin into an enviable position as the only authentic member of the trio. And, if you listened carefully, Severin outdistanced everything else on the show.
To be fair, the show had the misfortune to coincide with a Michael Jackson acquittal, so much of its content dealt with that subject. Maybe future shows will be less unfortunate and deal with real news. And maybe this or other panelists will take The Situation to a higher level. But, until then, there is no hope for this MSNBC entry, that is unless Jay Severin is hired immediately to do the show by himself.