The NYT's David Carr shills for failed Disney chief and soon-to-be-failed CNBC talk show host Michael Eisner's cable news debut in a piece of almost-unreadable butt-kissery:
There is something so naked, so vulnerable, about Mr. Eisner's willingness to become a talking head in a kingdom he once lorded over, that it is worth a look...
...his enthusiasm is apparent from the get-go. If it is a lark, it is a well-considered one; if it doesn't work out, no matter — Mr. Eisner will simply join the growing list of failed CNBC talk show hosts, a list that includes John McEnroe, Tina Brown and Dennis Miller....
....What we get in the first of six shows scheduled for this season are interviews with Martha Stewart, Sir Howard Stringer of Sony and Bran Ferren, an industrial designer and special-effects guru who used to be a Disney Imagineer. The premiere is not an embarrassment — which won't please Mr. Eisner's enemies — and it is not without its diversions.
Mr. Eisner has the basic blocking and tackling of television down, having come a long way from his widely panned outing as host of "The Wonderful World of Disney" during the 80's. There is a gestural elegance to his meaty paws that makes for good television, and his angular visage, a sort of animated version of those sculptures on Easter Island, is its own show...
Ms. Stewart and Mr. Eisner are particularly riveting. Here sit two of the most successful media executives of the age, having fallen in a way that speaks to their self-involvement absent self-awareness, chatting about how misunderstood they both are. It's like a money shot on a nature show: two lions, licking each other's wounds....
Uh, yeah. Ick. Anyway, the show starts tomorrow night at 8pm on CNBC. In the meantime, I've taken the liberty of jumping a week ahead and posting a picture, above, of Mister Easter Island himself gazing out at his audience.
