A moment

With most of the important media in my life there have been certain "wow" moments where I realized that I was onto something really good. They happen frequently during Olbermann's Special Comments. I get goosebumps all of the time watching TED Talks. Occasionally, or really most of the time, Charlie Rose lets us in on the fact that he knows he has the best job in all the world.

The Rachel Maddow Show I had kind of been on the fence about. Even though the podcast is ready for me to watch by the time I finish dinner five nights a week, I didn't pay it nearly as much attention as I did Countdown. Obviously any sane person is ass over teakettle in love with Maddow. She's maybe the smartest person I've ever seen on television. She was simulatenously elated and heartbroken at the twin headlines of Obama's victory and the passage of Prop 8, but more importantly didn't shrink from letting us know out of politness, while not raining a drop on anyones parade. She is hilarious (sometimes because she's not classically so). She is the first big television person (besides Chris Hayes, who I still feel like I might have once stuffed inside his own locker after third period, and yet esteem completely) that I feel like I am in the same generation with. And, superficially, how could you not be enamored of anyone so stupendously gorgeous? She's the only woman in a suit that I want to see lean seductively against a poster that says "INFRASTRUCTURE."

But her show is new. It still has some rough edges to straighten out. It is at times awkward. Her earnestness is clear, but it isn't always, god this feels like the wrong word to use, as entertaining as Countdown.

Until tonight. Tonight was her executive producers birthday, and during their preparatory meeting, she and the rest of her staff organized him to be prank-called and told the production of the show is terrible. The producer, incredulous, asks who he is talking to. It turns out that it was Ozzie Smith, whom I could only have known from crossword clues (and, in all honesty, didn't). Turns out he is a famous St. Louis Cardinal baseball player. Also the personal hero of the executive producer. The show played the audio clip of him freaking out and being over the moon with excitement and thanking everyone and telling them how big this was for him.

Bear in mind that this came after a half hour of discussion and interviews about the nature of the Republican party leadership (Boss Limbaugh), and Pat Leahy's Truth Commission. The last minutes of her show were devoted not to a political news story or controversial issue, but to an example of extreme and personal human joy. Still glowing after the commercial break, Maddow went on to finish the show.

I'm sold. I now know that I was right to keep watching. I'm onto something good. I couldn't stop smiling myself as I began to write this post. A news show that constantly reminds me that there is something more than news out there to enjoy is a rare treat. Though I don't actually use my television to watch, Maddow's show is one more reason why I don't need to be ashamed for owning it.