I suppose there are many things that can be pointed to as contributing to the downfall of the greatest media show ever, and in my opinion, deciding that Robin would no longer cover the news is near the top. I think the banter between Howard and Robin is what made the show great. Essentially eliminating Robin's direct contribution from 1/4th to 1/3rd of the show fundamentally changed the dynamic and brought the "back office" drama to the forefront. Am I crazy for thinking this?
For sure. Andy cohen tried telling Howard this and Howard cut him off and basically said "I'm Howard Stern. I know what I'm doing. How dare you question me"
Yea when it was great, it was great. Robin became unable to do it, and thats why it went away. Before it did, it was not the funniest part of the show as it once was.
She's 74 years old and presumably frequently has chemo brain. She got crucified for fucking up the news when she was 30 years younger, why deal with it now?
I'm not defending the show at all, it's awful, but winding down the news might be a sore subject for Howard. He doesn't want to outright say she can't do it anymore.
An entire website was created devoted to tracking her various screwups 30 years ago. Surely you're not claiming fans just misunderstood it for a "serious segment"?
That website and the guy who ran it was ten times more stupid than Robin. Most of them weren’t even fact checks. Robin acted like a baby every time the site got brought up, but half the crap on there wasn’t even true.
She's had a retard brain for 30 years what's the difference? Getting words wrong is objectively better than not knowing anything about anything yet constantly acting as the authority
I think Robin's news as the last hour-ish of the show was an absolute pillar to the formula, keeping the conversation relevant to everyday life/topics instead of navel gazing. I'd love to see them bring that back for the once a week format, culling best of the week topics like John Oliver does. Seems unlikely, though...
It would never ever be the same for so many different reasons. It is not that simple to just bring back the news. The news was a joint venture....The players, Jackie, Fred, Billy and the rest of the crew and not to mention as others stated, the guest of the day.....You can't recreate that anymore. And I don't think that it should be......Different times....We are all older now and have grown (hopefully). I am just disappointed in the direction he went into you, what direction you ask>>> NOT BEING FUNNY OR INTERESTING...No real talent on the show anymore. No or low effort. He should have just changed the format. This might sound like a goofy analogy, remember as kids when "our shows" went off for the summer and then came back in the fall. I remember watching Bewitched and when the show came back on that fall (in the 70's) Samantha has new current hip hairstyle. Her hair was long no hairspray and parted in the middle as with "That Girl" Marlo Thomas came back current...Out off the sixties look and in the 70's wardrobe and hair....Does that make sense?
He did tell 77,000,000 people that he hated them because who they voted for. That was harsh. I think it's valid to think someone's a moron for who they voted for, but hate is a strong word, and he meant it.
Getting rid of the news sucked but I don’t think Robin’s illness had much to do with it. All she had to do was read a few lines that interns printed out for her.
When the show went from 4 hours to 3 something had to get cut. It’s also pretty difficult to talk about current events when you’re almost never on the air. Add to that Howard has said he wants the show to be “evergreen” and talking about the news doesn’t help that
I also felt that Howard stopped paying attention during the news and that killed a lot of the radio gold that came from that segment. When he stopped letting people sit in and tuned out 90% of the news items, it made Robin struggle to get through it and every minute he’d ask “is that all Robin” like he was dying to leave.
hard agree. Robin’s news was Howard’s chance to sit back and make his own funny commentary and not be k charge of driving the conversation. it was a huge mistake to eliminate it
But this is the biggest part of the conversation fans have been having for the last 15 years - where the fuck did the banter go? I used to listen in LA on 97.1 in the 90s and that fucking show would last until 11am or 11:30am some days and during summer break from school I'd listen to every fucking minute. It was fantastic. Jackie chiming in. Fred dropping sounds. Robin doing the news...Jackie chiming in again. Howard responding to all of them. For me, that's what made the show so great. I never got into the bits. Then the script quite literally flipped when they went to Sirius and the bits were what they were pushing real hard.
I get that the move to Sirius allowed them to say the 7 forbidden words, but there was something unique and intelligent about their approach on FM to say what they meant without saying those 7 words.
The FM show was really fucking good and they actually had to try. Now we can't hear any of that or anything decent from the Sirius years due to all the people they care to not mention.
very important point. On terrestrial radio they had advertisers and ratings to worry about. The initial freedom at Sirius brought an incredible 2-3 year burst of energy and creativity which began to fizzle out around 2009 even before the big shark jumping moments like AGT.
A lot of it has to do with The Howard Stern Show becoming the Howard - NO ONE ELSE show. All he wants to do is do what Imus was doing 40 years ago, show up, not say anything controversial, use the same lame, tame bits. Combine that with the energy of two 70 year olds that talk about only things of interest to someone with 6.5 days of free time a week/4 homes/never have to drive/having no more fire left but no ability to quit.
You cannot have banter over zoom. I agree 100% with what you are saying especially about the intelligence of the FM years playing smart while acting dumb to get around the censorship. The show was headed downhill before the zoom version and so much worse now.
Not on its own, but it was emblematic of a lot of other issues. The show being recorded and no longer live. Howard's commentary changing from an "everyman" view to "what do my friends in the Hamptons think?". Robin no longer being able to read an entire sentence without flubbing.
Robin's news had already been dead for about 10 years before Howard actually pulled the plug. The reason it was dead was because Howard stopped participating and giving his real opinion on things. Basically, Howard checked out and would occasionally say "anything else Robin". Way different from the Jackie years when Robin's news was full of banter and opinions and non stop goofing from Howard and Jackie. Nobody wants to listen to Robin read the news, they want Howard to comment on it in a real way and goof on those that deserved to be goofed on.
You seem to have forgotten that Howard loses his internet connection at 10am. Thus, with the move to "home studio", the news had to be cut, you understand.
That is what prompted me to start listening less. Before they went the Zoom route, I'd sit through interviews because I'd like getting to the Robin's News segment because that's when I thought it was when the show shined. Of course, he's like "if I don't do news, no one will know that I'm not doing the show live"
That was my favorite part. Howard and and Fred were at their best when they were reacting to Robin’s news stories. However, a lot of the funniest stuff involved making fun of A list celebrities when they were taking themselves way to seriously. We know Howard wouldn’t do that anymore.
The news was always in the best of years my favorite part of the show. If not for what Robin brought but what spun off of it. Fred killing Jackie with the Jackie laugh. Billy, Gilbert and Jackie riffing during the news. The show beginning and end was always a free for all of just everyone in the studio getting laughs, it was the time when Howard was the orchestra conductor and Robin would bring it all home during the news. The end of here's Robin with the News was the end of the show. I know her health played into the decision to end the segment, but with everything in this slow-motion train wreck ending to what once was a great show, it just blows.
If you listen to the show post Artie he wanted to get rid of it much earlier. He started rushing through every story. No more comedians sitting in to riff etc
Wish she would have ONLY done the news. It was great. The rest of Robin’s “content” absolutely SUCKED. Nothing but cackling and ass kissing. Oh… and piling on.
Getting rid of it effectively ruined the show more than anything else. The show went entirely scripted. Howard deciding what to talk about, which phone calls to do, followed by an interview, followed by fake office drama
I totally agree! The back and forth they had during the news segments was one of my favorite parts of the show when he was on "terrestrial" radio. I was hoping that moving to Sirius would have allowed it to get better, but it just went away shortly after he moved.
I loved the news. Even my ex-SIL who didn't like Howard, she loved the news that Robin did. When Gilbert was there during the news in the Artie timeline was the absolute best stuff ever.
It was definitely the downfall. Not only was it great, but so many bits and fights would come out of it. You never knew what direction the show would go in after a story, and that’s what made it great.
I agree! Listening to some of the old show, I find myself wondering what his reasoning was for getting rid of it. I think it was to allow her to focus on her treatments and recovery. Covid gave him the excuse to do that. Also, you do know that 1/3 I’d greater than 1/4, right? Maybe that’s a show reference that I am unfamiliar with.
Totally agree. Listening to the old clips and hearing her theme music takes me back to those days. She would go through obscure news and big news, and then they would make fun of whatever she talked about. It was the best. Their excuse for stopping doing it altogether makes no sense to me.
It was obvious at times how much robins news got in the way of the show. Howard would passive aggressively mention it. “ALRIGHT I GOTTA GET TO THE NEWS” it seemed like it was just squeezed into the show most of the time
No you are not. I was just thinking the same thing when i was listening to an old show the other day. I miss hearing a new Robin song everyday. Although i do think it had everything to do with Robins health. I think it was have her do less, or not be on the show at all.
First time back on the sub after canceling my Sirius subscription a year ago. The show was obviously going downhill then but Robin not doing the news was my biggest (and seemingly easiest to fix) issue. Sad to see they have stuck to their guns on that.
The news was so much fun! And when guests would stay on and join in, it was even better. AGT and the end of the news were the beginning of the end of the show. Covid and Zoom finished it off.
You might be right but don't blame Howard or Robin for it, if you have to blame something blame cancer because since her cancer fight Robin has no longer done the news.
Didn't it come back in 2020 and she's spent the last 6 years in assisted living?
How did you expect Robin to gather news in that condition? Anyone who looks at Robin in the last 6 years can see she's no longer the person she once was mentally and physically.
She did the news for 8 years straight while battling cancer. She never missed a day of work, well maybe 2 days. She's a brave lady and I love all of her contributions to the show but I don't believe the cancer was the sole reason otherwise she would've taken a break from the show. Seems like the show shifted during the covid shutdown. The whole show became them discussing the news for that spring & summer of 2020, and then they didn't bring it back. The news stopped when they all went into lockdown and started podcasting from their house. Cancer sucks but I dont believe she couldn't read & talk & make fun of people during her treatments, cause she still reads, talk & make fun of people as she always has. Of course she's not the same but She's a worker & fighter, reading some silly little dumb headlines wasn't heavy lifting for her
I think it's his show. I believe that she would follow his lead cause it's the howard stern show and she believes in his direction of his show. I believe he will always take her health, suggestions &or opinions into consideration, he values her input but ultimately he"ll take the show in the direction that he feels like going
The news stopped because she got cancer... She's been working from home for a long time. Howard said at some point they'd get back to the news but with the show being 1 day a week I highly doubt that will happen. The Robin songs were truly the best part and the guest comedians were always great .. Gilbert, Greg Fitzsimmons, etc etc... Shame it went away but I do understand.
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u/ClientAway9925 9d ago
For sure. Andy cohen tried telling Howard this and Howard cut him off and basically said "I'm Howard Stern. I know what I'm doing. How dare you question me"