Thursday, February 16, 2017

Just Joshin'

It's the wise person who learns lessons through the mistakes of others.

You know that Josh Elliott guy on TV.  I mean, you have to, if you watch, because he has now been given the gate from CBS, to go along with his unceremonious departures from ESPN, ABC, where he was on Good Morning America and found himself on the sidewalk with the rest of the viewers because he wanted a Robin Roberts-type salary, and NBC, where they thought he might replace Bob Costas, but found out that people would sooner just not watch the Olympics if he was part of the show.

He only went to work for CBS 11 months ago and was the main daytime anchor of their streaming service, CBSN, which is what people in offices with no cable TV service have to watch. Apparently, there were plans to move him up in stature, and that was to begin by having him go out and so some reporting.

So last Friday, like a guy who just found out he was getting promoted from being the guy at a used car lot who washes used cars all day, Josh made what the New York Times called a "rather gushy announcement that he would no longer be one of the streaming service’s main anchors."

His bosses, who are busy juggling all the other reporters and anchors, did not know he planned to spotlight his personal sendoff, and so they called him in on Monday morning to tell him to pack up his stuff and go home.  

That's a tough business, TV, where the dollars and egos and future and risks are very large. You have to figure that what Josh Elliott did, announcing with a certain pride that he was moving up from the junior varsity, is not a sin requiring him to be fired...unless they were already tired of him, and looking for a way to send him packing.

He's STILL getting paid by NBC, and now CBS has to pay off the rest of his contract too.  

Two paychecks still coming in for doing nothing! No wonder people line up to get jobs like that.


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