I'm going to sound like a jerk here, and I invite the mods to delete this post if it's deemed out-of-bounds
The primary reason HLN has yet to change its format to full-time crime shows is due to the sustained, if mediocre, ratings delivered by Morning Express—and the reason Morning Express has its reliable viewership is largely attributable to Robin Meade and the way she looks. That’s a lot of pressure on one person, and she’s been carrying that burden for 20 years now.
To be clear, I think she’s as gorgeous as ever. I stopped tuning into her show a few years ago in favor of podcasts, but I still check the Venerable HSF's posts on this site almost daily. It’s incredible that this woman is 50. She also seems like a genuinely good person--something of a rarity in today’s media. At this point in her career, Robin has made more money than she’ll ever need. She has other hobbies and pursuits I’m sure she prefers over waking up at 3 am to deliver the news for the 10,000th time. Her main motivation for coming back every year might be out of the well-founded fear that her retirement spells the end of HLN and the employment of those who work there.
So, HLN exists because Robin Meade delivers ratings, and Robin Meade delivers ratings because she’s incredibly attractive (and a fine reporter with a fun personality too.) But—and here’s the me potentially being a jerk part—Robin choosing to wear increasingly modest and/or comfortable clothing, donning what looks like a wig instead of showing up early to sit for hair and makeup, and taking extended vacations, are all signs to me that she’s on her way out. She has never worn anything too sexy or unprofessional on air (sadly), but until recently she always took great pride in her appearance and a few times a year would provide her viewers with a renewed incentive for tuning in by wearing something that was, at least by her standards, revealing.
Sure, she’s always done the all-black dress-down on Mondays. But lately she wears that Monday attire almost every day, just not necessarily in the Monday color. It’s entirely her choice, of course, to go this route, and obviously I’d never wish her anything but the best no matter how she dresses. But, as I reasoned earlier, the show and channel will suffer. There are too many other options in the morning that have a better format, production quality, variety, and entertainment value. There are probably over 25 people who work on Morning Express, but the show draws fewer than 200k viewers per day. If that number drops more, HLN won’t be able to justify all those salaries, and it’ll be forced to pull the plug on the show and change the channel’s format. Again, a lot of burden on one person’s shoulders.
Thoughts?
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