Re: Change in broadcast of Boston Pops Fourth of July special

Date: 5 Jul 2003 20:18:42 -0700
Newsgroups: rec.arts.tv
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My mom taped the Pops concert for us off Channel 4; we got all but the
first 20 minutes, which was probably providential as the emcees sucked
big time. Chirpy reporters in the field, and when CBS took over, Harry
Smith yapped too much. The coverage altogether was horrible. There was
definitely too much Leeann Rimes singing these dopey songs. The one
patriotic song she sang was fine, but who cared about "the new hit
song from LEGALLY BLONDE 2"? Talk about blatant product placement in
the midst of a good concert. The operatic singer should have had
another song rather than Rimes.
I heard they had to make the mortars smaller in the "1812 Overture,"
and it sure sounded like it. Instead of going "boom" they went
"crack." Sheesh. Not the same effect at all.
The fireworks were magnificent but the camerawork was so dicey you
missed a lot of it. At least WCVB/A&E kept the camera static at a good
distance. A couple of the closeup shots were cool (like the crescent
moon shot), and the overheads were good, but too many times we were
watching the fireworks through poles, people's heads, or from too long
a distance. I don't want to see people watching fireworks; I want to
watch the fireworks. Nor did they tell us what themes were being used
during the fireworks; there was one movie theme we thought we
recognized, but they didn't ID it.
I guess I want to say I can't believe the Pops sold out to these
people...but I guess I can believe it.
Oh, they were bragging on tonight's Boston news how they would
probably break crowd records next year because of their "national
coverage." Okay, it wasn't BROADCAST coverage, but what the heck was
A&E, chopped liver?
Linda