No Joke: More Strip-Mining of Boston Globe Comics

January 9, 2023

For the past handful of years, the hardreading staff has diligently chronicled the Boston Globe’s chuckleheaded handling of its comics pages. Beset by a chronic case of schlimmbesserung (making something worse by trying to make it better), the Globeniks are forever replacing decent strips with inferior ones.

Representative reaction from us after a 2019 Globe reader survey led to wholesale changes in the comics lineup: “Seriously? Rose Is Rose instead of Get Fuzzy? Adam @ Home instead of Zippy? We’re sorry to say this, but Globe readers are idiots.”

Not to mention Globe editors.

On January 2 the Globe unceremoniously kicked Mother Goose and Grimm to the curb via this microscopic notice (actual size).

(To be sure graf goes here)

To be sure, no one has ever confused Mother Goose and Grimm with Calvin and Hobbes or The Boondocks, but Ma and Grimmy are like cartoon comfort food, which is more than you can say about Pardon My Planet, judging from its maiden voyage in the Globe on New Year’s Day.

Pardon my plaint, but that’s just not funny. More like grim.

UPDATE: Splendid reader Mark has informed the hardreading staff that “[a]pparently you’re not the only one who missed it. Mother Goose was back as of today.”

Indeed she was, complete with another microscopic notice.

Universal Hub’s redoubtable Adam Gaffin also weighed in.

Grimm situation at the Globe resolved

By adamg on Mon, 01/09/2023 – 8:36pm

John Carroll reports he could not believe his eyes the other day when the Globe replaced “Mother Goose and Grimm” with one of those depressing strips about 20somethings being depressing.

The Globe’s Kevin Slane, though, reports the venerable strip is back today.

All’s well that ends well, yeah? Let’s hope the Globe editors stop all their strip teasing for a good long while.

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Boston TV Dress Coda: Ties Clipped at NECN/NBC10

October 22, 2018

Well the hardreading staff was perusing the Sunday papers yesterday when we came across a startling sartorial item in the Boston Globe’s Names column, which actually recycled the story so we’ll reference Kevin Slane’s original piece on Boston.com.

A local TV station just got a new dress code

If you’ve been watching NECN recently, you may have noticed something missing. Male anchors in the studio have done away with the tie, a longtime staple of business attire.

The new dress code, implemented by NECN news director Ben Dobson, officially went into effect last week. Other NBC-owned stations in the region, including NBC10 Boston and Telemundo, plan to adopt the tie-less look, too.

 

Loosen the knot graf:

“Dobson said the move to ditch the neckwear is an effort to mirror its viewers, whom he believes are less likely to wear ties on a daily basis thanks to evolving workplace dress codes.”

Seriously? So maybe doctors should wear jeans and Patriots jerseys? Or lawyers could wear Lululemon to court? What the hell.

Back in the 1920s and ’30s, the BBC made radio announcers wear dinner jackets. In the U.S. at that time, announcers and performers wore tuxedos and gowns. It was a sign of respect for the listeners, even though they couldn’t see the broadcasters.

But that’s so old school. It’s clearly better to be personable than professional now, according to Audrey Mansfield, visual stylist for NBC-owned stations. She told Slane, “On set, they’ll still be wearing a nice shirt and full suit. They’ll still have a very nice collar, and be very well-groomed. It is one piece of clothing we are taking away.”

Except it’s more than just a necktie. At least to some of us old fogies.

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Boston Globe Redesigns Nameless Names Column

September 6, 2018

As you splendid readers might – or might not – have noticed, former Boston Globe Names stalwarts Mark Shanahan and Meredith Goldstein were deleted from the sort-of gossip column several months ago. Last known sighting was June 18.

 

 

After that, the column had this stripped-down look.

 

 

Until yesterday, that is, when Names got a bit of a facelift.

 

 

Most of the content has been outsourced to Boston.com writers, chief among them Kevin Slane. Nice chance to make a name for himself.

Meanwhile, memo to Boston Herald Track Gal Olivia Vanni: Now’s the time to hit up your bosses for a fall makeover, no?

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Boston Globe Namesniks Finally Credit Their Sources

February 20, 2017

First, disclosure.

The hardreading staff has a serious beef with the Boston Globe’s Names column, as we noted in a recent post.

Boston Globe ‘Names’ Outs Howie Carr, Stiffs Two-Daily Town

Twice this week the hardreading staff has noted that Boston Herald columnist Howie Carr, a charter member of the Donald Trump coat holder brigade, is also now a member of Trump’s swanky Florida resort Mar-a-Lago.

We also noted that neither Boston daily had reported on Carr’s quantum leap in social status, ending yesterday’s post this way: “Hey – you Namesniks at the Globe: Wanna grab a piece of this?”

Apparently they did, since this appears under Mark Shanahan’s byline in today’s snakey local broadsheet.

Trump backer Howie Carr is now a Mar-a-Lago Club member

Conservative talk-show host Howie Carr fancies himself a man of the people, albeit one who went to an exclusive prep school (Deefield Academy), attended a fine liberal arts college (University of North Carolina), and resides in a wealthy Boston enclave (Wellesley). So it should be no surprise that, like any other average Joe, Carr has become a newly-minted member of the Mar-a-Lago Club, President Trump’s posh Palm Beach, Fla., retreat.

 

That, not surprisingly, went over like the metric system here at the Global Worldwide Headquarters. But, hey, that’s show biz.

Then again . . . we did seem to tap into some basic sense of decency in the Namesniks, as yesterday’s column featured something new (at least as far as we can tell) – honest to God attribution.

 

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Of course, that does nothing for the hardbleeding staff.

But we’re happy to take one for the team.

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