Charlie Rose

I’ve been a fan of Charlie Rose for quite awhile. I first began watching his show after my freshman year in college. I had a job in a factory working 2nd shift which meant I would get home late and be wide awake. I would usually watch TV until 1-2 am, and Charlie Rose was one of the only good things on at that hour. I had surfed past the program a few times but never stopped to watch; however, one night Charlie had a round table of boxing analysts, including Teddy Atlas, discussing Mike Tyson. Teddy had some great stories about Mike Tyson, and I was intrigued by a PBS show that would spend an hour talking about boxing and Mike Tyson. So I decided to watch more regularly and found that I really enjoyed Charlie Rose’s style and the broad range of topics covered. On any given night his guests might include authors, Generals, politicians, directors, artists, scientists, athletes, business men, curators, political analysts, actors/actresses, etc. The show is rarely antagonistic, unlike so many of the cable news shows, yet he still manages to ask tough, intriguing, and incisive questions. Now I’ll admit, I don’t always enjoy every show. When dealing with the arts, it can be rather elitist and pretentious. But overall, I really enjoy the show and find it very informing.

For a long time I didn’t watch Charlie Rose much because it comes on so late. Unlike Jocelyn, I like to go to bed before Midnight, and even if I was up that late, Jocelyn never wanted to watch Charlie Rose because she thinks it’s boring. However, now that we have a DVR, I’ve solved both of those problems. I record Charlie Rose every night and then watch it on my own time. And if I don’t like the program, it’s easy to delete.

Charlie’s recent coverage of the Iraq war has been tremendous. Infinitely better than anything you could get from the gas bags on cable like Bill O’Reilly, Glenn Beck, Lou Dobbs, or Sean Hannity. With Charlie Rose, the show is all about the guest and not Charlie. He invites experts, asks them intelligent questions, and let’s them speak their mind. As a viewer you get a myriad of different viewpoints, and then you're allowed to come to your own conclusions. For me, this is so much better than some pompous know it all telling you exactly how to think while shouting at his guests. We need more intelligent TV shows like Charlie Rose, and I hope he keeps it up for many years to come. Check him out; at a minimum, you’ll learn something, and most likely you’ll really enjoy it.