Suspicious Package had a hiccup two weekends ago when I produced a piece that was long on earnest effort, but woefully short on humor. It was a solid concept, poorly executed: Give used-car salesman treatment to a TV live truck.
Though some of my coworkers have tried to console me by suggesting the piece was still interesting, it looks completely flatfooted. I post it below, and welcome your abuse.
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Errin Haines, AP
The good news: I recovered a bit with another piece (obviously shot the same day by John Samuel, a guy whose talent was badly underutilized on this shoot). This piece explores a theme that I expect to tap frequently: The love / hate relationship between the news media, and pretty much everybody else, including our viewers / readers / listeners.
As we shot the piece, the adorable Errin Haines stopped to chat. Slurping a big-gulp of tea, the Atlanta AP reporter begin to riff on the exact topic I was exploring in this particular Suspicious Package segment. I obviously need to find an infusion of charm in these pieces. Perhaps I can recruit Errin as a regular sidekick.
If only she’d shown up for the live truck segment. She might have redeemed it too.
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live apartment fire 
Enjoyed the video and always enjoy reading your blog.
Mr laf
Normally I enjoy your material, but I fear the well may be beginning to go dry.
Thanks for stating the obvious, Sammy. I’ve known this for more than a year. Now everybody knows.
sammy’s crazy
I can’t believe you didn’t “Look Up and Live”(tm). What a terrible example to be setting for the future live truck operators of our nation… at least until we start doing everything by Skype.
Paul Yates taught me about News Organization Parking. Because I had to be taught.
Mike
A snazzy music bed (circa 1959) may have helped with the pacing. Trimming the edits would have helped too. Nice try.
Meh, You’ve done worse.
Eh… the car salesman thing was really negative. Came off like you realllllllly hate being a reporter & feel genuine disdain for journalism. I missed the point of this one, but did get a chuckle from the 80s styled music edit to the dish.
Second piece was back on track. Do more of this – offer insight and understanding to viewers. Please don’t make them hate us any more than they already do.
PS… lose the long “Hi, I’m…” intro. You need an animation then dive right in. Get your son to do it!
Ha, give Doug a break. As a non-media person, I liked it. Most self-deprecating humor is highly, well, humorous.