MSNBC loves the chatter of liberal pundit Rachel Maddow, but not her look. Maddow, who’s getting her own show, is being subjected to a net work makeover. A source says an entire “glam squad” has been hired for the openly gay Maddow, and she has been asked not to wear her Drew Carey-esque glasses again. There’s even talk of “putting her in a skirt.” We’re sure that’ll do the trick. A rep for the channel didn’t return e-mails.
First of all, Drew Carey looks great in those glasses: see Battle of the Bacon Dogs. (Drew Carey also has more interesting things to say about politics than does Rachel Maddow, but that’s another story.) Second, and not to put too fine a point on it, there’s nothing wrong with Ms. Maddow as she is. She’s no Sarah Palin, but she’s certainly easier on the eye than, say, Keith Olbermann. Is anybody tuning into MSNBC because of the pulchritude of the hosts? I can’t imagine that’s the case:
No doubt the same nefarious forces responsible for Chris Matthews’s suddenly strawberry hair are leaning on Ms. Maddow. (No, we print types aren’t all that telegenic either, for the most part, e.g. that great photo of yr. obdt. srvt. on the Philadelphia Daily News website.) The pressure on TV hosts must be terrible: I was present for the shooting of the first episode of noted plagiarist Molly Ivins’s abortive television program, and you could tell from the back row that she wasn’t going to make it on television, and you could tell that she knew it, too. It’s a tough medium. So good luck to Ms. Maddow and the “glam squad.”