Rockefeller Christmas special - featuring Al Roker, random girl, and washed up musicians from the 90’s

Live Blogging: Thanks to the magic of the BlackBerry, I am able to present breaking new to you as it happens

NBC is broadcasting live from Rockefeller Center as I broadcast this (somewhat) live from my couch. If you are not watching their broadcast, you are not missing much. Al Roker, the weather-man-turned-major-personality is hosting along with some random actress.

The funniest thing so far has been the dialog that they have been having the actress spit out. At least once each time she speaks, they make her say something that sounds ridiculously desperate. Early on, she was hitting on Al Roker, next she was whining about how she had nobody to dance with. She has also made a handful of comments about how she wished she could find the mistletoe. Before she finds that - she needs to find a new writer. Her current one makes her sound more desperate than a cat in heat.

Another general comment about the guests.
If you ever find that your favorite artists are performing in this event, you should ask the doctor exactly how long you were in that coma. The list of performers reads like the billboard charts for 10 years ago. Sure, the Brian Setzer Orchestra may have been hot at the peak of the retro move at the end of the 90’s - and Rod Stewart enjoyed a certain amount of fame in the 80’s (oh, and if you thought he couldn’t sound any worse than he used to, you are wrong) - but these people are nowhere on today’s pop radar. They might as well have booked Michael Jackson (reportedly, they tried, but this time of year he is busy dressing as Santa and working at shopping malls)

Sheryl Crow is arguably “modern” because of her new mockery of music album, but her performance tonight made it clear she is also past her prime. She was too cool to sing a Christmas song (every other band did, why not her?). Tonight, she was aiming for notes like a drunk butcher swings at meat - she was all over the place and it was painful to watch. She needs to do what Britney and Christina do and rely on an auto-tuner to shift the pitch of her voice to where it should be on some of her notes.

It is interesting to contrast the casting of this show with that of the floats in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, All of the groups in the Macy’s parade were extremely young never-will-be’s, where as all of the groups in tonights show are exteremely old has-beens.

NBC occasionally breaks up their coverage with shameless promos for their own shows. They had two people from “the office” come on and talk up their Christmas special.

Soon, they will stop promoting mediocre NBC TV stars and actually light the Christmas tree.

I’m still waiting for the scene where Donald Trump fires everyone who was involved in this production.

The tree is now lit. The show is now over, and so is this live blogging session. Thank you for reading.