The 9-minute interview here from yesterday’s program marks one of the few cases where Terry Gross fails to shine. I have missed first-hand listenings of such famous ones as Gene Simmons, Bill O’Reilly and some others where the audio has been prevented from the archives. And the actual interview may have been longer then the saved version of this one with Jones.
But I was really amazed at how unprepared and condescending Terry seemed to Jones. (Not that Jones didn’t contribute to the mood by being a bit aloof himself.) Maybe she was just being honestly ignorant of things Western. Maybe her preparation team didn’t come up with much to ask Jones. Maybe it was just the abruptness of the way the interview ended.
But I was left feeling that something went on in that studio that didn’t make it to the audio version. Any ideas what really happened? Did you hear the original airing and was it different from what’s available in the archived version?
I can’t answer, and didn’t hear the entire thing, but I tuned in while they were talking about his ranch, and I thought she was interviewing some rodeo star or something. You’re right, she was being clueless and I thought he was being condescending about her cluelessness. She usually connects with her guests (unless they’re O’Reilly) and even tries with the more out to lunch ones, but this one just didn’t work.
I just listened to the clip, and I didn’t have the same impression. She’s well known for doing her homework, and she laid down a lot of groundwork about TLJ’s past work and his new movie. I have rarely heard a director/actor do such a bad job of plugging his own flick. That business about throwing a horse off a cliff just to add some action to a dull story, boy, that made me want to head out to the theater :rolleyes:. The stuff about a classical hero’s journey probably went over the heads of folks who haven’t read Joseph Campbell’s The Power Of Myth or something similar, but even so, he wasn’t very convincing about it.
Terry Gross was roundly scolded by NPR’s ombudsman after the empty-chair interview when Bill O’Reilly stormed out in a huff. If another guest walks out, she’s not likely to let us know.
I was pretty stunned by how bad the interview was. I think both parties were equally to blame, though.
I thought Tommy Lee Jones gave the impression from the start that he didn’t want to be doing the interview. He sounded condescending when he talked about the “classical hero’s story” and downright bored when discussing throwing the horse off the cliff.
The part about his cattle ranch was awful. Terri’s questions were ridiculous. “So, you have a cattle ranch? You do real cowboy work?” I couldn’t tell if she thought she was being cute, or if she was being condescending, or if she was just trying to offer him an opportunity to ramble about his hobby. Jones got really defensive and condescending in reply though, too. He didn’t even try to be polite. He was actually laughing at her in a very smug, “you’re such an idiot” sort of way.
I thought Terri did a good job of trying to redeem the interview when they started talking about The Eyes of Laura Mars. Jones was still acting strangely though. He offered up the interesting anecdote about having written the climactic scene in the film. This tidbit cried out for more questions, but when Terri asked them, Jones acted like he didn’t want to discuss it.
Weird. I started out thinking, “Oh, he’s got a new movie out. Interesting.” And by the end I thought, “Wow, he’s kind of a jerk, and what little he did say of the movie makes me think it’s not worth seeing.” Why do interviews if you’re going to act like that?
Thanks! They didn’t keep the Laura Mars segment in the saved audio version. Wonder why.
I was impressed with TLJ from the beginning. One of my favorites was Gotham with Virginia Madsen, and of course the Lonesome Dove work as well. I felt he was overdue for acclaim by the time he got the Oscar for The Fugitive. But he has always been a bit removed from the press and interviewers in general. I think it’s the Texas in him, or maybe the “good ole boy” that comes through even when he’s trying to be suave.
It may have been on Inside the Actors Studio or on a Biography about him where I learned that he left from playing football at Harvard and went to New York and almost immediately into show business. I was most impressed that he was featured as Ryan O’Neal’s roommate in Love Story after being the real life roommate of Al Gore. Those trivia tidbits are amusing at least.
As for the Bill O’Reilly Fresh Air interview, that’s one I missed hearing. All I know is what was written up at NPR and from threads here about it.
I’ve listened to the entire Bill O’Reilly interview online. You say that (and the Gene Simmons interview) are being blocked? Interesting.
“Fresh Air” interviewed O’Reilly on Oct. 8, 2003. Usually, Gross is pretty easy on her interview subjects, but she took on O’Reilly pretty strong from the start. While it was a departure from her usual style, I don’t think any of it was unfair at all. O’Reilly came looking for a fight and he took his first opportunity to blow his top and storm off. O’Reilly ended the interview when Gross was questioning him about a criticism of him (from People magazine or something) and O’Reilly didn’t let her finish reading the quote. After he stormed out, Gross finished reading the quote.
The NPR ombudsman agreed that Gross had probably put O’Reilly on the defensive from the beginning and although he thought that that probably was not wise, he really criticised her for the “empty chair” bit at the end. Frankly, I don’t agree with the ombudsman’s evaluation of the situation. Really, O’Reilly got exactly what he was looking for and I don’t think anything Gross said was unfair or inaccurate.
O’Reilly’s whole shtik was that “I’m here to help everyone in America with my wonderful new book” and Gross was making the case that O’Reilly was just a bully and a opportunist, in a very fair and organised manner, I thought.
And, yes, I thought the Tommy Lee Jones interview was crappy, and I think it was mostly Jones’s fault. He seemed very reluctant from the beginning to respond to her questions in any meaningful way. Usually, when that happens, Gross tries some open-ended questions to get the guest to talk about something he’s interested in, but it didn’t work here. I don’t think Gross sounded like an idiot, but Jones clearly did. In my view, Jones had some kind of attitude problem going on.
Here’s a transcript of the part of the Gene Simmons interview that was considered rough. Again, it doesn’t seem to me that Gross is at fault for the train wreck. It seems to me that Simmons is just a pompous, humourless ass:
A couple of weeks after Terry interviewed the Kiss bassist, Harry Shearer was her guest. As the show was ending, Harry said: “Terry, please give my love to Gene Simmons!”
I didn’t get that impression at all.
I really like her interviews. She seems genuinely interested in her subjects and doesn’t have pre arranged questions as other NPR folks seem to.
I thought things were going rather calmly. She asked him mildly provacative questions, he lied well, and she rarely followed up.
If George Bush could lie that well, he would be dangerous. Dick Cheney should speak so well.
O’Riley went nutso over her wanting to read an article from People Magaziene.
What set him off about that? Because he called the interviewer a pinhead? I can see that would be a candidate for the first opportunity, but he fielded lots of stuff before that.
Despite Ms. Gross entertaining style, I’m sorry I wasted half an hour of my life listening.
I listened to the O’Reilly interview when it first aired. The impression that I got was that she came on strong at first, but then backed off a little, after which they had about a half hour of very calm and reasonable discussion. Terry turned the heat back up with the questions about the People article, but O’Reilly’s response was far from reasonable or proportional. In fact, at the time it seemed to me like O’Reilly had planned the whole walking-out-pissed thing in advance, and he realized that the interview was almost over, so he had to get it in while he had the chance.
I don’t think she came on strong at all. She was a pussycat. She didn’t have time to turn the heat up. “People” was mentioned, he demured, she insisted and he went nutso.
Maybe he’d planned it and fired off at the first excuse. That seems the best explanation, DoctorJ.
I started listening to NPR on 89.3 KPCC in earnest not too long after I moved out here, once I realized how lousy most LA radio is.
One learns to appreciate the art of the interview out here, as 90% of the music stations in town have four hours of talk and comedy in the morning.
I was certainly aware of Fresh Air before, Terry Gross’ voice sounded familiar. I have always found her to be a very uneven interviewer however, frequently missing opportunities for a line of questioning and often coming across as unconnected to her guests.
I caught the tail end of the Gene Simmons interview when it was broadcast, and the glee with which he was playing with her was quite plain in a way no transcript could show and she continually walked right into it (to her credit, I understand she included the interview in her recent book).
Another time she really blew it was her interview with Bette Midler a couple of years ago. About 3/4ths of this 21st century interview focused on her work in the gay bath houses in the early 1970s. Sure, it may have been her most significant period, but let’s just say that harping on the idea that their best work was 30 years behind them wasn’t the most effective way of putting an interview subject at their ease. Midler’s polite communication of her evident exasperation seemed to go right over Gross’ head for decades of minutes at a time.
Perhaps it’s just that, as experienced an interviewer as Gross is, she had met her match on the very station I heard her on. Larry Mantle, who hosts the 20-years-and-still-going-strong AirTalk (which I hear is rebroadcast on XM Public Radio, and well worth a listen) makes radio interviews seem as simple as breathing. Not only can he effotlessly get a guest to spill forth, but his selection of topics are almost always right on the mark.
Don’t forget he kept bringing up Gross’ interview with Al Franken (who had been on earlier that week or the week before). O’Reilly kept asking why she didn’t ask the same questions she had asked Franken. Gross would explain that Franken was a humorist while he O’Reilly had identified himself with journalism. Then he would go back to what he considered the softballing of Franken again.
As I remember, to change the subject she went to the People magazine quotation. Yeah, I think he had planned the whole thing out. I didn’t consider her that combative at the beginning. But it was clear he was loaded for bear if the interview did not go the way he wanted.
The Simmons interview was all Simmons’ fault. My biggest criticism of Gross as an interviewer is that she is down right worshipful of muscians. She began that way way with Simmons too. But he wanted to be obnoxious from the beginning. One of the first questions she asked was why did he go into music, and his response was “To get laid. That’s why everybody become a muscian. If they tell you otherwise, they’re lying…”. She tried to draw it back to music numerous times but had no luck. She tried treating him as if the whole thing was done in jest and that went nowhere. Eventually, she just gave the impression of, “OK, I’ll ask questions, but I’ve already lost my audience.”
As for this Jones interview. I sort of blame that on Gross. If you have seen other interviews with Jones, you will remember, they are short. He is very laconic. He is uncomfortable talking. That is part of his persona. That there was little emotion in his discussion of his movie and lifestyle is no surprise. That is how he is. He can be more talkative, but I’ve never seen it in an interview situation.
Recall all the promotional interviews with Will Smith and him for the second Men in Black. Smith would talk for four minutes and Jones would say three words. Smith would talk for ten minutes and Jones would say five words and so on.
