Watching the third night of the Democratic National Convention, I couldn’t get out of my broadcaster’s brain how the Dems were blowing the opportunity to introduce VP candidate Tim Walz to larger TV audiences by not making sure he appeared in primetime in the Central and Eastern time zones. After all, that’s where five of the swing states that will decide this election are: Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia, and North Carolina (which is surprisingly back in play).
On Tuesday, I wrote about how this issue impacted Joe Biden’s appearance, but Wednesday night’s backup was even more egregious.
Does it matter that these evenings run so long that the star speakers aren’t being seen by large portions of America? I think so. Granted, highlight clips on social media will extend the audience, particularly for younger demos — and even the not so young who don’t watch live linear television anymore because they’ve cut the cord.
You know how annoying it is when you go to a concert and have to sit through some opening act you’ve never heard of? Imagine discovering there are ten of them. That’s how I felt watching the convention roster unfurl in real time. I was reminded of all those Judd Apatow movies that ran 3+ hours but would have benefitted by being cut down a lot.
DNC Night Three was padded to excess, often with people on stage who added very little. I’m a lifelong Democrat and I couldn’t have cared less about many of the speakers. No home viewer said, “Honey. I don’t wanna go to bed yet because Wes Moore is going to be speaking soon!” FYI, he’s the Governor of Maryland — which is not a swing state.
To make matters worse, too many of the speakers didn’t understand a concept professional broadcasters and comedians know — get out at the peak! I wish someone had taught that to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who had the crowd eating out of his hand as he built to a beautiful crescendo, but then kept talking. Then he worked up to another crescendo — and he still wasn’t done. At home, I was shouting at the TV, “Get off the stage already!”
Same with Bill Clinton, who is not the dynamic speaker he was three decades ago. Don’t even get me started on Nancy Pelosi, who is literally old enough to be Tim Walz’s mother. I like Pete Buttigieg a lot, and he was good, but why make us sit through so many yawners before he got to the podium?
The only real primetime highlight for the Democrats was Oprah Winfrey who, as a professional broadcaster, understands timing, rhythm, and pacing. I knew she’d do an excellent job, and she did. But when you have someone that good, you keep the momentum going by bringing out the headliner next, not more opening acts.
As for the main attraction, when Tim Walz did finally get on stage, he made the most of it. Over the course of a tight eighteen minutes, he introduced himself to the 99% of Americans who knew nothing about his life story — high school football coach, long-serving National Guardsman, and longtime social studies teacher. As the son of two educators, I especially liked hearing him say, “Never underestimate a public school teacher.”
Walz got in some good jabs at the opposition, too, differentiating himself from the cruelty that defines the personalities and policies of Donald Trump and JD Vance. He talked about some of the programs he put in place as Governor, including giving all kids free breakfast and lunch at school: “While other states were banning books, we were banning hunger.”
That’s really good stuff, as were the appearance of former members of the football team he led to the state championship and the hundreds of Coach Walz signs waved by the crowd. It all added up to a nice piece of branding.
If only more people had seen it and heard him before they went to bed. Here’s hoping the convention planners do a better job ensuring Kamala Harris gets the big tune-in primetime spot she deserves tonight.