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How not to interview Holly HunterThis is about the best argument against on-the-job training I’ve ever seen. If you’ve wondered what would happen if you put an Academy Award–winning actress and an inexperienced reporter together and let the cameras roll, this is the clip for you.
Last week, video surfaced of ABCNewsNow reporter Merry Miller (no, I did not make that name up) interviewing Holly Hunter. The live segment was supposed to promote Holly’s new TNT series Saving Grace. Instead, the result was more like a Christopher Guest mockumentary. Please witness four minutes of awkward. Just try to sit through it without wincing: Listen, I know the prospect of interviewing Holly must be a daunting one. I mean, she’s fantastic. Plus has the hardware to prove it. And then there is that endearing way she talks out of the side of her mouth. Very distracting. But for the love of Edward R. Murrow, that was painful. Seriously, I wonder if Holly thought for a second that she might be getting Punk’d.
Unsurprisingly, ABC has a cleaned-up version of the interview posted on its website. Among the fixes were the dead air at the beginning and the incorrect premiere date (July 23, not June) and station identification (ABC, not NBC) at the end. Sadly, no amount of editing could cover up terrible teleprompter reading, poor question delivery and irritating chair rocking. To quote Merry, “True, true, true.”
I do feel a little sorry for Merry. She had technical difficulties at the start. And apparently she isn’t even a journalist (I know, quelle shock). Instead, she is a booker/producer who worked for the late film critic Joel Siegel. He thought she would be great on camera and convinced ABC to give her a shot. Too bad she took it and promptly shot herself in the foot. Submitted by on August 1, 2007 - 1:34pm. |
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News, Reviews & Commentary on Lesbian and Bisexual women in Entertainment and the Media
Oh wow
Merry Merry Merry
Well all I gotta say is she will certainly do better the next time (if there is one) because she surely couldn't do any worse than that.
That was bad. Poor Holly!!!
right there with you
This is seriously
...just too, too special.
It reminds me of the Seinfeld epi with Mary Hart’s voice – I was SURE listening to Merry was gonna give me a seizure, but I pushed past that fear, trooper that I am. And it was all SO very Merry. I laughed and laughed. Then I laughed some more.
4 totally ‘tardtastic minutes, which I thought the FCC had regs against - I mean, this is the kinda stuff that could scar a child for life. Way more than Janet Jackson’s nipple.
Oh, if there’s a God, Faux News will give Merry her own show. Please, please, pleeease?!
Hehe. That was both, awful
Hehe. That was both, awful and funny. Oh gosh. Thankfully, Holly did a lot of talking and came across as very patient and competent given the way the interview was conducted. *g*
I had to stop watching
Can I buy that t-shirt somewhere ?
The magazine I work for had
Just sad and comical
I felt really bad for Merry. Maybe if she was interviewing a lower than D-list star like Gary Coleman instead of and A lister she would of done better. You don't let an amateur interview a pro.
Oh Poor Merry...
on a side-note
... this has nothing to do with the blog, but while I was reading it there was an abreva ad on the side. the guy had a cold sore, but then he used abreva and "got back in the game" and there was another man standing behind him.
it made me wonder: do advertisers make different ads to cater to gay websites?
,
someone posted this comment on youtube which make it even more hilari-sad:
"She can't and won't be fired. Are you watching all the media? It's breaking EVERYWHERE! This isn't what aired and ABC legal has a MAJOR internal problem on their hands. She never wanted to be famous or in front of the camera but filled in as a favor then someone STOLE this footage from ABC and leaked it. But obviously someone at ABC knew she had what people wanted to SEE looks wise or it wouldn't be a phenomena!"
ouch...
Painful indeed! It felt to me like a fan interview, with all the compliments and all? Still, it must be hard,interviewing, and especially someone so famous. Still, it was painful!
Who you gonna be if you can't be yourself,
you can't get it from t.v., you can't force it on
anybody else.-- Ani Difranco
It's been faaaar too long
This is sooo, so sad. I feel
This is sooo, so sad. I feel really bad for Merry. :(
I still have my first interview on tape (audio only, thank God). It is painful and sounds sadly reminiscent of poor ole Merry. The urge to fill dead air, thinking about your next question instead of using the interviewee's answer to segue somewhere... ah, the memories.
Poor Merry (and am I the only one who thinks she's cute, btw?).
True happiness, we are told, consists in getting out of one's self, but the point is not only to get out, you must stay out; and to stay out you must have some absorbing errand. -Henry James