The news media seems pretty mad this morning at folks in Iowa who are still, as of this moment, insisting on getting the vote totals right before releasing them. Their failure to announce them last night when the networks expected them was indeed a screw-up but it was one that left a lot of network reporters having to fill, fill, fill and not deliver what their viewers tuned in to hear. Some of them resorted to trying to find out and announce the totals for individual precincts, which are of course of no real meaning. So one precinct out of 1,681 went overwhelmingly for Mayor Pete. What does that prove?
I don't even think the final results whenever the hell we get them mean much. This is like trying to project how the baseball game will turn out after the first batter in the first half of the first inning. And if you don't believe me, ask the Republican nominee from 2016, Ted Cruz. He won the last Iowa Caucus.
I have a certain interest in live television in those moments when the folks who are supposed to tell us what's going on have no friggin' idea what's going on. It's why I like the coverage of police pursuits. It's why I loved that episode of the game show Press Your Luck when Michael Larson got control of the board and was running up a fortune compared to what the producers thought was possible. I still think guys like Colbert, Kimmel and Meyers should do their shows live — or at least without editing — and when things collapse, as they eventually will, have to see what they can build out of the wreckage.
Most so-called "Reality Television" doesn't do this. The folks in charge don't know if the contestant will pick Door A or Door B but they have a script ready for either option. After last night, some of the newsrooms are going to do contingency planning for what to put on when the totals just plain aren't there to be announced. What I would have done is have the anchors explain why the results of the Iowa Caucus, whenever they show up, aren't really that significant. And then fill the time by telling dirty jokes or maybe having Brian Williams do a number.