PILOT #2 or There's A Reason They Call This Process 'Rough Cuts'

For this program, as a pilot, I really liked the idea of producing a recap of a Week in Iraq every Friday to digest the week's events. And the "ramble section" is perfect.

I did like the casual tone of the program, but some patches of dialogue were strained and the humour seemed forced.

Sent by John H | 4:05 PM | 7-13-2007

I'm not a fan of the billboard music, but I liked how it faded out as Matt did the newscast and then came back as Alison took over. This is a better idea than the music playing throughout the newscast.

I have mixed feelings about the Week In Iraq segment since it will likely fixate on deaths and bombings; yes, I know bad news will occur more than good news. Hopefully, news like policy decisions (ie Wednesday and Thursday of this week) will dominate the segment. Perhaps you could give totals of deaths and attacks for the entire week so that other news from Iraq will fill the segment.

I liked hearing from Rachel Martin about what it is like in Baghdad. Can she do a reflective piece (a la This American Life style) about her day to day reentry into normal life after living in Iraq?

Alison, we both need to take a Tylenol for our certain socialite headache...

Also, here's an interesting Iraqi blog -- Alive in Baghdad; perhaps this is a great source of news stories that aren't reported exhaustively elsewhere.

Not to focus on Iraq, but I was talking with a Navy med student friend of mine last weekend. He told me that the doctors are navigating unchartered medical waters with the injured returning from Iraq. Apparently, IEDs are causing injuries that are new to the doctors. I would love to hear a segment about this.

I just went to DeadSpin.com after the will Leitch story. As of now, the most recent post is titled "Who Will Be the Next Sports Figure To Get gastric Bypass Surgery?" I see a story in that title. There are plenty of overweight athletes -- other than Grid Iron offensive tackles. How many athletes are actually unhealthy? Why? Can someone wrestle or play offensive tackle while maintaining a healthy body shape?

Jane Magazine... I'm not in to gal mags, but media news interests me.

"Scandal ass?" Luke, I think I'm going to send a bar of soap to NPR's New York bureau for you.

NPR is known for showcasing musicians on its shows. I'm personally not a big fan of this (I still donate to my local affiliate ;)). Thus, I won't comment further about this here other than it seemed a bit long. Three songs seems like a bit much for a morning hard news show.

Great pilot, folks!

Sent by Steve Petersen | 4:16 PM | 7-13-2007

If you put too much stuff in the newscast section all you have time for is the quick soundbite version of things which doesn't tell the whole story.

For instance in the same week Richardson issues his apology statement, he uses the AP to ensure the masses that he likes to hunt and watch boxing. So accompanying his apology is a news piece reassuring his masculinity. The guy's homophobic. Nuff said. But so is everyone running for President. (USA! USA! USA! Ra ra ra!)

Sent by Brian | 8:19 PM | 7-13-2007

This is more of a technical comment, but when you have someone talking (especially on the phone), I would try and turn off your mics when that person is speaking. Rachel was saying some great stuff about her experiences, but I couldn't help but notice small sounds on your end (lip smacks, paper moving, a pen writing, etc). This wouldn't be as big of a deal if you had an in-studio interview, but when you're going back and forth from two different settings, the smallest sounds can stand out.

Perhaps you guys can turn on your mics when you want to ask a question, and then turn them off when you're done.

Sent by Sean Powers | 9:26 PM | 7-13-2007

Luke, you so totally said "scandal ass." Don't deny it.

Overall, a far more relaxed show than the first, and much more even in terms of its quality. As a Teddy Thompson fan, I'm not going to complain about the lengthy segment -- I assume that had something to do with the cryptic note about one guest blowing you off, anyway.

Week in Iraq: Surely I'm not the only one who recognized the music stinger. Shoutout!

Sent by Stewart | 12:47 AM | 7-14-2007

Stewart -- I think this was a more relaxed show too. (And I'm glad you dig Teddy, great guy.) As for turning off the mics, Sean, while that may seem like an easy solution, it would wreak havoc in the studio. I think you may be hearing Luke and Alison constantly shuffling scripts and mouthing words through the glass as I'm squawking in their ear that the next guest has fallen out, or that we're blowing through the next segment.

John, glad you liked the week in Iraq -- and Steve, yeah, we thought that the seg was a bummer -- but that's the reality of the war. At the same time, we all thought it was really copy and numbers heavy. We think the segment will work -- and is important, but we have some work to do on it.

Oh, and Stewart, I hope you're not the only one who recognized the music stinger!

Sent by Matt Martinez | 8:41 AM | 7-14-2007

I really liked how you ended the program with a musical performance. Music is a great way to help listeners absorb the content from the program. In the future, it might be interesting to try other forms of entertainment as well such as verse readings, audio from a stand up night club, a reading from a play, etc.

I would also be interested in maybe hearing a regular segment on the BPP where you collect natural sound from a setting, and create a 2-3 minute audio postcard. You could also post video and extended audio from the postcard on the web.

I can't wait for the third pilot!

Sent by Sean Powers | 12:42 PM | 7-14-2007

"ramble" reads exactly like "week in review" on gawker.com.

Sent by molly | 5:01 PM | 7-16-2007

Could we get some links to things in the Ramble? Googling things like "walk it out mashup" gives just about a billion results. :)

Liking the show, though. :)

Sent by END | 11:22 AM | 7-17-2007

Good Show. Goodluck with it.

Sent by Robert | 10:25 PM | 7-17-2007