I've let you down, nameless, faceless internet reader. Tell me, who is going to read a CBS Sunday Morning recap blog on Monday or Tuesday? I know my Sunday evening posts are already pushing a deadline. My dedicated (imagined) army of readers demand punctuality. CBS Sunday Morning represents the essence of Sunday and so the definitive recap should come on a Sunday. The day to rest, relax, recuperate, and rejuvenate for the week ahead. The Jews (and Seventh Day Adventists, I think) say that Saturday - the end of the week - is the day for rest. Apparently, mainstream Christianity messed it all up by transferring the Sabbath to the Sunday thus making the first day of the week the day of rest. I say, why not both?
Two thoughts on the religiosity of weekend rest:
A) The Resurrection asserts that Jesus rose on the Third Day, but I can count and Sunday is two days after Friday. Also, they found the tomb empty on Sunday morning. Considering that Jesus would have died early afternoon on Friday, Jesus was raised from the dead a day and a half later, not three days later. I mean, I know it's the third day of what is known as the Easter Triduum, but seriously, it's more accurate to say that Jesus was raised The Day After Tomorrow. But you know, religion and it's magic numbers.
B) I lived in Louisville while I was an undergrad. There was billboard that said something to the effect "Saturday is the Lord's Day. Sunday is the mark of the Beast." I think I learned at some point that Seventh Day Adventists put this billboard up. If that is a mistruth, I apologize to all Seventh Adventists. I'm sure where I'm going with this. But since I'm talking about billboards, here are the Southern Indiana I-65 billboard power rankings circa 2005:
1) Urgent Care Facility around mile marker 70. It had a picture of toe-headed kid with a goofy smile and band aid on his forehead.
If you remember either of these billboards, leave a message in the comments!
Anyway, now that Sofia Kenin has gotten out of shaky couple of first round sets in Melbourne intact, onto the CBS Sunday Morning Power Rankings for Sunday February 7, 2021.
There's no real history between me and Rita besides CBS Sunday Morning. So I can't really spill 1000 words on some personal relationship I've built up with a TV news personality over the years. According to the Wikipedia, she is chief national correspondent for CBS Sunday Morning. She was White House correspondent during Clinton. (Yamiche Alcindor currently sits atop the White House correspondent Power Rankings.) When I was born, she was cheif law correspondent for CBS and made her bones covering Iran-Contra. She presents straight journalism on Sunday Morning from time to time. While some might be inclined to dismiss such stories as inconsequential, I present the reason for CBS Sunday Morning's existence:
CBS Sunday Morning: Where leading journalists of 80's and 90's bring me three and half life changing minutes on soup tureens. Do you go to Bob Schieffer for a trustworthy source for political news, spending 23 years as the Nation Face? I go to Bob Scheiffer for 10 minutes on Tanya Tucker, his favorite country music singer. Sunday Morning is great because it takes Titans of news and encourages them to tell the small, quirky stories that don't fit into standard infotainment news.
There's an NFL cliche (It was Super Bowl Sunday after all) oft attributed to Ray Lewis (although I doubt he came up with it - sort of a Mark Twain situation...): You get paid for Monday-Saturday. Sundays come for free. That's what I like to think about Sunday Morning correspondents - it's where journalists the journalism-adjacent pursue passion projects. Thus, soup tureens.
300 bonus points for the working in the phrase, "the doyenne of American Astrologers" - put that on my tombstone! That's really what catapulted this into the top spot. (Also, it was the cover story.) Sports Sorceress is a great moniker. She got the pick wrong, but Astrology never promised accuracy and couldn't we all use a sorceress in our life? I'm a Libra, for whatever that is worth.
It's Super Bowl Sunday. What's Sunday Morning's angle? Astrology? Brilliant! Just don't get me started on the flat Earthers...
Conor Knighton (a Yalie) visits national parks. I'm pretty sure "On the Trail" ended two or three years ago officially, but you know how you can go to a museum and get those headphone devices to do a self guided tour. I think the National Parks should have self-guided tours narrated by Conor Knighton. He had some excellent COVID hair going for awhile, but it seems like he's gotten a trim since his last appearance, it is still glorious. His wavy locks are straight out of a Selsun Blue commercial. He's done stories on top of mountains, volcanoes, glaciers. (The Glacier Nation Park dispatch was a favorite of mine - although sad considering most of the story was about how muc the glacier is receding due to climate change.) This time he reports from on top of the world's larges fungus - around 2.5 square miles in size. I have to admit, in my head I imagine a giant mushroom that is a mile wide below the whole forest. In reality, the fungus is mostly a network of delicate strands. Each year the world's largest organism blossoms with edible mushrooms across all the trees its taken down. Fungi are little creepy - pictures of them make me itch involuntarily - but I love mushrooms on a pizza or sauteed on a burger. I'll also recommend his story about St. Pierre and Miquelon from 2019. Haven't heard of it before?
Luke Burbank does more than just food stories, but I think of him as the CBS Sunday Morning food guy. Not a bad gig. Cheese, Chop Suey, Waffle House, Pizza. Here's a one that's not food related:
I know where that is! But I wasn't aware of the park until Luke's story. In the case of this week's food-centric segment, the subject makes the story. Eddie Jackson is undeniably charismatic. I've tried to cut down on meat in my diet the last few years, but it's so hard when I see something like this story on TV. I'm not really into cooking shows or segments on talk shows. I just want that finished dish money shot. A nice shot of barbecue and I'm done for.
(We interrupt the power rankings to take note of a Vika Azarenka upset alert.)
Technically this is Jane Pauley's spot. But I love Christopher Plummer. Knives Out was great. He was the best Klingon villain of them all. "You've not experienced Shakespeare until you have read him in the original Klingon" was not his line, but was certainly an hommage. Star Trek movies rise and fall with the villain. He was second only to Khan. He was perhaps Canada's greatest stage actor and I actually saw him perform as Caesar in Caesar and Cleopatra. I mean Star Trek isn't in the first paragraph of his obit, but the BBC did give it prominent placement. I could rattle of a bunch of great Sci-Fi movies where the acting didn't get the due it deserved. Christopher Plummer in Star Trek VI, Emily Blunt in The Edge of Tomorrow, Charlize Theron in Mad Max: Fury Road...
The nature segment was too short as always. When you think of Florida, don't think the Florida Man who runs out on the field during a pandemic super bowl. Think of the birds. Spoonbills and Ospreys and such. (Full disclosure: My Uncle works for Audubon Florida.)
If you to turn a Tracy Smith interview into a Sunday Morning drinking game, you'll down one or two or six Mimosa's during awards season. This week we got "Oscar Buzz", we got the low shot that shows the boom mics - intended to peel back the pretense yet only heightening it - and we got the walk and talk. I think everyone liked Steve Yeun on The Walking Dead. I only got through a season and half of the show. It was not my bag. I heard through the grapevine that his death on the show was its jump the shark moment, but I might just be making that up.
Will I see Minari? I think I will at some point. It seems like it could be very good. If Steve gets an Oscan nomination, I owe somebody $50 though.
(Vika lost. Coco Gauff, up in the first set. Gotta say, I expected little more from New Balance's kit for Coco at the Australian Open. It's not bad. It's fine. But the bar was high.)
A story on hold music. Not the standard Steve Hartman piece. It's not being penalized for it. If anything, power rankings bonus points for bringing a fresh pitch to the table. It felt more like a Gaffigan commentary (especially with the involvement of the kids) or even venturing into Sedaris or Salie territory - commentary on the absurdity of modern life. But Steve Hartman is not out for blood. You have nothing to fear from him. Put him on hold for 4 hours and he'll make it into a segment where he interviews the composer. And now, the best on hold gags from The Simpsons:
In Award season, there are multiple Hollywood segments per show which makes it hard for Tracy Smith to lock down the 11 AM celeb spot. I seem to be putting Lee in the bottom half a lot. Lee is a high volume shooter - one of the most prolific Sunday Morning correspondents. But apparently absence makes the heart of the Power Rankings grow fonder. It's hard for a celeb interview to get to #1. Lady Gaga being the obvious exception and they are on a first name basis.
Robin Wright (I started typing Laura Dern for some reason.... make of that what you will) is beloved for the Princess Bride. Everyone loves that move. Robin Wright is also intensely private for a celebrity. Does privacy make for a less interesting interview? What I'll say is, Clooney knows there's a quid pro quo here - give us a Flowbee and we won't pry. (Like Sunday Morning is ever going to pry - the paparazzi they ain't) Robin Wright has been in two American adpatations of classic BBC political dramas. I've watched both BBC series (State of Play and House of Cards) I haven't seen the film version of State of Play. All I'll say is that is hard to improve on the originals.
It's not really a tie. This is Allison Aubrey's spot hands down (probably should be higher, maybe a victim of NCAA style pod seeding). I can't knock the story or the correspondent, but I don't want to give the NFL any credit. Is this fair? No. Did they do a good job with getting through the pandemic? I have to begrudgingly say yes. I just don't like the NFL or it's product all that much. The Super Bowl has become nothing more to me than an excuse to hang out with people - just my immediate family (50% vaccinated) this year. There were some good commercials. Will Ferrell's was the best. Robert Kraft seems like a well meaning billionaire, but (insert joke here...)
Quick hits:
I hope it is not insulting to say David Pogue is something of a cornball. I think he knows and embraces it. It gives him power.
Jim Gaffigan and Josh Seftel gave us Tom Brady. Josh Seftel's mom is a hoot. They all share the 9 spot becuase...
Random Introductory Topic(s) It's a busy spring. I wasn't able to post last week because of Easter. I actually also took an extra day off work, but that was done with the express intent of cleaning my house. It was long overdue. The day after Easter was cold and rainy and just perfect for vacuuming and scrubbing counters and floors. Then I had to go to St. Louis for work. It was a mildly pointless trip, but on the drive I listened to the entirety of The Trojan Horse Affair podcast. It was pretty interesting as these sorts of things go. Expecting some kind of neat resolution at the end was a bridge to far, which I guess is the moral of the story. Or a moral of the story. If you can call that a moral. Am I using the word moral too much? Moral. Then stuff sort of hit the fan at work. It sucks when you're the only person who can fix something. I've begging them to have some redundancy built in to the system. Basically, if I had been hit by a truck last week, somebody somew
I'm starting to clear out the backlog here at the Sunday Morning power rankings. Before delving into episodes past, let's talk briefly about movie previews. There was a time in my life when Roger Ebert was my hero. I fancied myself a film buff and wanted to learn all about them and hopefully go on to either work on them or write about them. As with most things, it was a phase - I got a PhD in physics instead. (A humblebrag? Well, lets just say to this day I regret not dropping out of grad school...) Anyway, back in the day who didn't love movie trailers? YouTube probably killed that excitement because now I'm plan on showing up to a movie 10 minutes after it's listed start time and then still complain when it hasn't started within another 10 minutes after that. In the before times, you never wanted to miss any preview trailers. For one, you got legitimately excited because you hadn't previously heard that such and such movie was coming out and it looked so c
It's Saturday night and I'm buzzing a little bit. The team of my youth, the hometown Cincinnati Bengals are going to play in the AFC Championship game. I won't spill many words about the game. It was a defensive struggle that the Bengals won on a walk-off field goal. I thought I had excised the NFL and Cincinnati Bengals from being a meaningful part of my life. But then... well, Joe Burrow is a special human being. I never played football as a kid. Well, I sort of did. Just not with other people. What sort of football can you play by yourself? You can kick and punt. I spent cool Saturday afternoons with a kicking tee and football, using our backyard swingset as makeshift uprights for kicking field goals. I taught myself how to punt a spiral. I remember the first time I punted a spiral while also making solid contact with ball and it rocketed off my foot in a way it never had before. It gave me a warm and fuzzy feeling. As such, my favorite Bengals as a kid were the kicker a
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