NBC: Has The Media Really Gotten This Bad?

I had the unfortunate experience of having watched the NBC Evening News with Brian Williams tonight - admittedly a rarity.

They teased a segment with an obviously hysterical-wailing Ellen DeGeneres - you can see the video here.

Bottom-line, she adopted a dog, gave up on it and violated a contract with a shelter by giving it to another family. I suspect that's to prevent people from putting rescue dogs into unsuitable homes, or simply turning them loose. Ellen is begging for viewers help to have the dog returned - watch the vid above. If DeGeneres wants to fill her show with ridiculous pablum, fine. When one of the big three news networks can't find something a bit more substantial to broadcast into people's homes as news, any reasonable concept of network news is, indeed, broken.

No wonder no one is watching anymore, geesh! I look in just once and find it's impossible to take it seriously at all.

There would be no dancing on The Ellen DeGeneres Show today, not when the preternaturally upbeat talk show host offered a rare glimpse inside her tortured, pet-lover's soul: Through deep sobs, she relayed the shocking and sad story of Iggy, a Brussels Griffon mix she adopted from an unnamed local shelter (news reports later revealed it to be the Moms & Mutts rescue in Pasadena).

When Iggy failed to get along with DeGeneres's feline stooges, she passed him along to her hairdresser's family--a contractual no-no, that resulted in Moms & Mutts secret police showing up on their doorstep to confiscate the illegally transferred mongrel.

Comments

[docweasel]

What is she whinging about? Saint Ellen is the one to blame here, 100%. There are rules for a reason, you don't just adopt animals then hand them out to whomever you please. It would have been quite simple to take the dog back, explain the situation, and let the hairdresser fill out the forms and apply to adopt the dog herself. If she has the right environment and time to care for the dog, I'm sure the shelter would have been happy to help out. Instead she makes up her own rules then cries about it and makes out like the SHELTER is the bad guy here. They are just trying to do right by the animals. Ellen is the one being a jerk.

BTW, I beat up Randi Rhodes last night and knocked out 2 of her teeth. I told her to say she "tripped" or I'd call the shelter and have her dog taken away.
signed, Miss Gulch ("and your little dog too!")

[seekeronos]

In the old days, just putting the dog down with a .22 would do the trick.

Of course, shooting Saint Ellen probably wouldn't go over very well with the studio holding her contract.

[Lala]

Wow, two morons in one day. Gawker's got some funny comments on both of them.

[Cindi]

so it's true............."they" do eat their own. Go figure.

[jj]

This is a story so typical of the liberal mindset, and so typical of the silliness that permeates America and the media today. Good Lord, who cares? It's a dog, people, a dog! Is this what America has come to, whining and crying about a damn dog? My observation of the day; liberals care more about, and get much more upset about dogs than unborn babies. Pathetic!

[Fred Beloit]

It must be wonderful to be a female TV celeb. When you make a stupid mistake that hurts two little kids; (1) you can demonstrate your good intentions before the nation, (2) you can try to browbeat and bully an institution into breaking its own rules and look like the victim at the same time, (3) you can sob, which further enhances apparent victimhood and makes you feel so much better. It's a really good deal.

[Kay in TN]

jj: It's about the contract. I'm conservative, and I love dogs. I have had two from a shelter and three from breeders. In all cases I signed a contract promising I would return the dog if I couldn't keep it. It's to protect the dog. Ellen is way wrong here because she broke the contract, not because she loves dogs.

[jj]

Kay, I hope I don't come off as rude, but this story is nothing short of ridiculous. I own two dogs myself, and love them like I have loved all my dogs, but to me this is just not newsworthy. And now we see the shelter is getting death threats and hate mail, just what the heck is this world coming to? And I am not defending Ellen, if she signed a contract, then she should abide by it. I just think this whole thing is silly and shallow, and is indicative of our culture.

[Lala]

When Randi Rhodes "was assaulted", no, I mean "fell down while walking her dog", a lot, I mean a lot, of the commentors on the blogs were worried about her dog.

[Fred Beloit]

Not me, lala, I am worried about her toopheses. Her photo shows a horseface. The gap-toothed look would not improve it. Is this what they mean by mean-spirited?