Profile Of “Mayberry” Turned Into Southern Political Hit Piece
We’ve mentioned this before, but one of the bright spots in the sometimes dark landscape of television entertainment is “CBS Sunday Morning.” Look, just set your DVR and you’ll see why. On a weekly basis they do profiles and stories in longform that you just don’t get to see much anymore. So, when I saw that the show did a profile on Mt. Airy last weekend, I had to check it out. On the surface it was an interesting story. How a town, that was on the verge of collapse after the demise of the textile industry, reinvented itself by embracing the legacy of its favorite son, Andy Griffith. If you didn’t know, he was born and grew up there. So, it’s safe to say that Mt. Airy was his inspiration for “Mayberry.” Anyway, as the piece begins, I was even more enthused as venerable journalist Ted Koppel was telling the story. In a way, it was more fascinating than anything listening to Ted being seemingly confused as to why/how this “town that never was” continues to thrive. And then, to me, the story took a dark turn about 10 minutes in.
I guess the simplicity of people longing for the feelings of a different time and era wasn’t good enough for Mr. Koppel. Can someone please explain to me why, on a trip to Mt. Airy, with so much to say about the positive nostalgia everywhere, he decided to go political? What was the purpose of asking the head of the Chamber of Commerce and a trolley full of tourists their opinions of the 2020 Presidential Election? What was the purpose of asking these same people about January 6th? Why did CBS decide to turn a story on Mt. Airy into a political hit piece directly aimed at the people of the south in general and North Carolina in particular? I don’t get it. And I’m a little more than disappointed with CBS and what is normally a tremendous program.
