Okay, so I’m definitely on Royal Wedding overload. I’ve heard enough about British fascinators (little headband hats), what Kate and Williams guests might or might not eat, where they might or might not go on a honeymoon and which bookmakers are giving odds on which of the three already designed dresses Kate might or might not wear.
I’m all in favor of fun and happy news over what our networks typically spew forth on a daily basis and any news that will give a backseat to Charlie Sheen or Donald Trump is right up my alley but…I think all the networks could be confusing many of us Americans with people who give a damn. Not that we don’t wish William and Kate the best, and not that we don’t think lovingly of his mother on this big day but we really don’t need the 24/7 coverage where Barbara Walters tells us how she has interviewed Princess Diana in the past, Robin Roberts reports on how BIG Westminster Abbey is and Diane Sawyer interviews a third cousin once-removed of Williams to give us some real insight.
Leave it to us Americans to turn this Royal Wedding into a media circus. Many American news outlets will be reporting from London all week-long. NBC has said their coverage will be comprehensive and aggressive? What the heck does that even mean? It’s a wedding not a war. ABC will have 20 straight hours of wedding coverage on the 29th starting at 4 a.m. ABC also mentions that Barbara Walters and Diane Sawyer will “anchor” the wedding. Who knew a Royal Wedding needed an American anchor or two? Or actually many more as two billion viewers are expected to watch the wedding on ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, E, Bravo, MSNBC and Telemundo among many more.
And just in case you can’t take the day off from work and/or it hasn’t been declared a national holiday in your neck of the woods, the wedding will be streamed live online to IPADS, iPhone applications, Facebook, Yahoo! and Hulu. Even some of our U.S. weather channels this week have been reporting on the weather in Britain. I haven’t checked it out myself but I’m pretty sure we can count on it raining on this parade. It’s not a big deal for the Brits, they are used to it. It will give them all a chance to use those William and Kate souvenir umbrellas to keep all their hats dry.
I won’t be up at 4 a.m. to watch the Royal Wedding on U.S. channels nor will I be watching our American news media for 20 hours-or any hours for that matter but I might take a peek at the BBC, something tells me they will know how to cover a British wedding in short order.