What the hell is Lockup? (And nope - no way am I going to pay for cable TV)

Keith is the only thing MSNBC has going for it. Very disappointing for a 'news' station, indeed.

Everyone I know is sick of these prison shows and such on MSNBC. They must get good ratings.

abarts @ 3:

Keith is the only thing MSNBC has going for it. Very disappointing for a 'news' station, indeed.

Hey, David Shuster ain't half-bad either!

But Tweety, the Scar and, to a slightly lesser extent, Abrams...ugggh.

dmhlt @ 1:

What the hell is Lockup? (And nope - no way am I going to pay for cable TV)

It focuses upon people serving time in prison, as if America, which has the highest incarceration rate of any country in the world, needs to throw more people in its jails, especially those people who are in jail for drug possession. An archaic system which belies the claim that the U.S. has the "best' democracy in the world.

"Lock-up" is MSNBC's way of covering the Republican Party!

Keith is gone much too much and is replaced by taped "Oddball" stuff that bores the shit out of me.
Does he expect us to be amused by an hour of this crap? Around holidays the MSNBC lineup just disappears. I don't get it.

What is with MSNBC and Lockup? Who is interested in that stuff? What a waste of TV time.

MSNBC is in a position to take on every cable news channel and it does this crap. They need a programmer and a general manager with some brains and balls and they could take over the cable news segment. But noooooooooooooooo. They put this shit on.
They need to put some SMART blond babes (have you seen the FAUX news camera down low trying to look up the skirts of their girly “news women”?) who spew the progressive message in the Olberamnn/Shuster way (then the old farts who watch Faux will switch for the eye candy and get the progressive message as an extra added attraction).

I think this is a good thing. We have been hearing about Iowa for 2+ months now - 24/7. There are 49 other states. MSNBC is giving to the coverage it warrants.

bluegal @ 16:

Hey, Alabama is proud of its prisons! It's how they keep the unemployment rate down. (I am not making that up. I currently live here.) Don't forget it's illegal to buy a vibrator here, too. I'm moving north in May.

When vibrators are outlawed, only outlaws will have vibrators.

ruffmama @ 20:

I am sooooooo sick of those shows and the whole Chris Hansen predator shows. I think Chris Hansen is a perv too, he seems to get off on the show. All of those shows must get good ratings because they play them constantly. I could do without them.

All that shit is extremely cheap to produce.

Because of the vibrator thing, the theocracy gubment, the fact that there are STILL a "W" sticker on the car in front of me, at least once a day. Lots of things. I don't want my children to grow up here.

MSNBC is owned by two of the richest companies in the USA, General Electric and Microsoft.

You're just now noticing the emphasis on America's Gulag system they have on that network?

Wake up, they've been running this crap for the last decade, and what you're seeing is The Future that Corporate America has planned for us all.

Why else would this programming be the bulk of what they've been showing people?

Orwell was right about the boot in the face, forever and ever, and we have arrived.

~Nyc

Dustin de Wynde @ 27:

MSNBC is owned by two of the richest companies in the USA, General Electric and Microsoft.

I think Microsoft bailed out a few years ago.

Here is what I don't get....they could have run TONS of Political Coverage- KEITH episodes and Special Comments, even Hardball ( grind my teeth) and Dan Abrams Shows ( on things like Gonzo and the CIA issues), and Even Russert.....and People would have watched .....and they would have pulled better numbers...at this rate I am sure cspan beat them out...or cooking shows...So here is my question WHO the Hell watches LOCKUP ????.....[cue crickets.....]

ashton @ 6:

This is not unusual for MSNBC. For a station that wants to be considered as a news station, they tend to really not have much news. Tune in after 11 PM and you will see Lock Up or some other bizarre show virtually any day of the week. I have never understood how they expect to compete with CNN or FOX when they have such odd programming.

Maybe because MicroSoft has a hand in it after all, it is MicroSoftNBC

Captain Kangaroo @ 29:

Dustin de Wynde @ 27:

MSNBC is owned by two of the richest companies in the USA, General Electric and Microsoft.

I think Microsoft bailed out a few years ago.

MSOFT still holds an 18% financial stake in MSNBC.

As far as Chris Hansen's Predator shows go, I'd like to know why, instead of luring a bunch of disorganized and poor idiots into a Mcmansion, why hasn't he and his crew set-up a sexual predator sting at any local Catholic Church in the United States?

Multi-billion dollar sexual abuse settlements not withstanding, surely they haven't cleaned out all their child-raping priests yet, and wouldn't that make for some really great television?

Think of the ratings, and all the ad revenue that that would garner.

And if you ran them during the Pope's Christmas Message of Peace, wow, just wow, viewer ship would probably go through the roof.

If anybody on here has a direct channel to Dan Abrams, feel free to pass this idea on along to him.

:-)

~Nyc

Never underestimate the thirst for vengeance against wrongdoers.

What is happening over there at MSNBC!? Bravo to them for Keith Olberman. But what's up with these sensational crime shows? Didn't they have a pedofile marathon for Christmas? And did you get a gander at Dan Abrams' production piece when he was about to interview Miss Puerto Rico? He ought to keep his dick in his pants and concentrate on the news. MSNBC is up-and coming, I don't want Abrams to jeopardize what is developing there. I recall a feud between Abrams and Olberman-make Olberman CEO! Guess that's what happens when you put a boy in charge of the network.

I don't know what the fuss is about, the entire process of selecting a US President is completely broken to begin with, and MSNBC is just as much a participant in that as is Fox News.

For starters, the method we use to select our President has been co-opted and gamed by the Republicans.

It's a given that in every election that 30% of all voters will always, always, always vote for the most Authoritarian cndidate, be it a George Busch, Willard "Joe Isuzu" Romney or Rudy Ghouliani.

Doesn't matter who they are, they will always get 30% of the vote.

So the election then hinges on getting the next 21% to "win" the election.

What is going to be the deciding factor is not the issues, the economy, personal character, ability to do the job, none of that matters.

Where most of the 21% that will decide the election is going to come from is the 30 second, issue and substance, free negative attack ads that are going to take over every single TV set in the USA from Labor Day to Election Day.

Over $1 billion dollars are going to be spent on those ads in less than 3 months, (for a 4 year job that nets $1 million after taxes), and the prime beneficiaries of those ads are not going to be The Next President of The United States of America, but MSNBC, Time-Warner, Fox News, CNN, ABC, Walt Disney and Viacom.

Our political system is irrevocably kaput, so boo-hoo on MSNBC not running their political stuff today, (to include Chris Mathews, Tucker Carlson and Pat Buchanan), of all days, with the Iowa caucuses, caucuses, caucuses only days away, as if any of it really matters.

Wake up and smell Father Ted's methamphetamines, American politics is about as pure, honest, and unrigged as the NBA, and Major League Football and Baseball are.

~Nyc

I agree with all that MSNBC has a problem with identity about being a serious news channel. If it wasn't for Keith I wouldn't be there.

it's a holiday and most people like me were watching football today. well i did catch a little CNN before the rose bowl.i can see where olbermann has the week of Christmas and new years off , they do replays of his show because nothing is going on in the world. he did do a show last week when bhutto died and at least he didn't phone it in.

the lock up got me by surprise.. but I"m glad they're not covering all the stuff... is campaigning really 'news'? though I'll admit i mostly watch count down.. and sometimes the shows afterward.

MSNBC needs to figure out if they actually want to compete with Fixed Noise and CNN or not even bother..

they had no new years coverage, they have no weekend coverage, no 10pm show, 2 hardballs a night (7pm is exact repeat of 5pm), etc.

they have good talent, they need to use them.

I’ve written angry letters to MSNBC about this for a long time. And I’m really not the angry letter writing kinda guy. It’s absolutely ridiculous that MSNBC would claim to be a news station and then show that LOCK-UP crap on a regular basis. When I grew up, I remember watching baseball games and when a crazy fan would run on the field I always remember the announcer saying: “We have a policy. We’re not going to show you this idiot because that would reward him and we don’t want to sensationalize his actions” Well now MSNBC is interviewing these thugs and these idiots are getting prime time recognition. It’s sickening. I encourage everyone to write to MSNBC and tell them how you feel! The Catch-A-Predator shows are salacious and disingenuous, too. When they show that followed by sex slave shows you start to see a pattern.

It's a holiday. Heaven forbid you stop watching TV for a day and spend it with family and friends. What was there to cover? More campaign stops where they say the exact same thing? Yawn. I am really amazed at what this site chooses to focus on sometimes. Besides, unless you live in Iowa, your opinion of the caucus doesn't mean squat anyway.

"CNN and FOX Noise are delivering a ton of politics today even though it’s a holiday because the Iowa caucus is in overdrive mode. I flipped on to see who MSNBC had working the network today and guess what I saw? Repeats of Lockup, Lockup, Lockup, Lockup…Holman—Alabama…"

Look at it this way: at least it's not repeats of To Catch a Predator To Catch a Predator To Catch a Predator. The one shows men -- mostly African-Americans -- being locked up; the other shows men -- mostly young whites -- being arrested for would-be pedophilia. I was somewhat neutral on the Cops-like pedo-sting program until I read two exposés on its methodology in Esquire and Rolling Stone. While I am fairly sure there may be plenty of people reading this who think, "What the hell, these guys are child molesters, right? They deserve what they get," the Rolling Stone piece, in particular, makes a strong argument against broadcasting the Dateline program, especially since the smug, self-righteous Chris Hansen sometimes baits his hook for innocuous persons who end up taking their lives rather than face the certain humiliation and ruin that the exposure brings, as in the case of a locally-prominent Texas man. In that case, the program overplayed their hand, becoming Thought Police.

Hansen is a fraud. He tries to come off as morally superior to his victims while, in actuality, he's a leering, mean-spirited sort, more interested in destroying lives than preventing child abuse. (It's a known fact that nine out of ten child molestations are by "insiders" such as step-dads, rather than the internet strangers we see here, yet you'd never know that form the program.) In his righteous indignation, Hansen reminds me of a saying of the late Marshall McLuhan, who observed that moral indignation is the technique "used to endow the idiot with dignity."

Many observers have denounced the methodology of the show and suggested that MSNBC should drop it. And if you've read anything in depth about Cops, you'll know why. For one example of the kind of fudging that goes on, for every minute of footage that airs, a couple of hours ends on the cutting room floor. In many cases, it is this footage that either exonerates the perp or provides him with some degree of exculpatory evidence.

Give me reruns of Lockup any day.

MSNBC overpays for torture apologist Joe Scar and they can't afford to run weekends and holidays

Mel @ 40:

When vibrators are outlawed, only outlaws will have vibrators.

Well, Alabama law says you can have them for medical, legal, or educational purposes.

Too bad you're leaving Blue Gal. My family's experience must be better than yours. Every ethnic and gay kid in Hoover has been to my house. And my car's the one with the blue dot on the back. ;-)

Dear God... what exactly, does the legal profession need with vibrators? Is there a terrifying new Taser that we just haven't heard about yet?!

I like the "educational" aspect though... "Folks, this here is a vibrator. This, is how you use it. And no, you can't have one." LOL! Fucking Americans and sex. When WILL we grow up?

Anyway... it kind of makes me uncomfortable that now the "first lady" (or laddy in Bill's case) is somehow expected to run for political office too. They aren't on the ticket, we don't elect them -- why are they campaigning. This is dangerous. We don't need and damn dynasties here -- we should promote on merit, not marriage or nepotism.

I'm glad we get to know them and their character, but honestly... they should NOT hold any political office or responsibility. Yes, that means you too Bill. They can always run later, if they want, like Hillary, where we have the actual choice to vote yes or no. Otherwise they are the most powerful unelected official in the world.

Dan Abrams is the boss and he comes from Court T.V. type of television...and he thinks this is good t.v.

I too would like to see MSNBC feature more news shows and fewer crime-related documentaries. What I don't understand is why some of the posters above believe that this type of program is "cheap to produce." What is cheap to produce is a live news anchor reading from a teleprompter into a single camera while you run file footage. What is not cheap to produce is an hour-long documentary with voice-overs, tight editing, interviews, etc.

Even the much-maligned Predator series is expensive. Here's a quote from the New York times (8/27/07):

While remaining popular, the program is also expensive to produce. NBC spent tens of thousands of dollars on each sting, installing hidden cameras and microphones. It has also paid Perverted Justice a consulting fee of roughly $70,000 for each episode.

Well.... compare to the other news network... doesn't it take a week to get 24 hours of actual news?

The Congress and Senate get campaign contributions from Correctional lobby, so Forget about the declaration of Indepence, you know the part of Life and liberty. When laws are passed to restrict protesting, we no longer our a free country.

This "Perpetual Campaigning for Perpetual Padding of Political News" is getting quite tiring. Showing a bunch of adults that were already elected to do jobs as senators and representives do NOTHING (except Kucinich, at least he is addressing Cheney) for about two years except try to get a job promotions has become the MSM's way of PLAYING at political news reporting.

I'll take 40 mins of Keith Olberman, David Shuster, and Rachal Maddow from MSNBC anytime over this 24 hour meaningless campaign blather on CNN or FUX NEWS.

What is an "Iowa Caucus" anyway? Is it some "imaginary" primary or something? Is it called a "Caucus" because all the voters seem to be caucasian?

If it hadn't been for the "Twighlight Zone" and "Law and Order" marathons I might have turned on "Lock Up" and left the room to do some reading as a "bite me" to the rest of these imaginary 24 hour "news" networks

Peace Out

With the possible exception of "Ice Road Truckers" on the HISTORY channel, nothing upsets me more than the ridiculous Lock Up and Predator crap that MSNBC shows. We're on the brink of the most important election of our lifetimes and MSNBC can't be bothered to send someone to Iowa to report live.

I understand vacations for their on-air talent, but come on. Get Alison Stewart. Repeat an Olbermann. Find Mike Barnacle to stand in for Matthews. Just do something political!

So tell me WHY you keep paying for that cable/satellite feed?

You like supporting those who seek to take down our internet?

Or do you just enjoy supporting MSM while they dismantle our government?

Anyone who fills their pockets is COMPLICIT in the destruction of this nation.... MSM are traitors.