katy Tur and Ari Melber-- most awkward handoffs

[dawg day]

What is up with these two? Night after night, Katy Tur does one of those lame but good-natured "handoffs" from her show to his. Ari Melber responds with a cold and/or sarcastic observation. No smile. It's painful to watch. Does he hate her?

They seem like reasonable people, so what's what here?
Maybe Ari is in rebellion against the whole handoff thing. But really, it's unpleasant. Maybe they should just put in a commercial instead.

[greyl]

1. Phish fan? :) nt

[dawg day]

4. Yeah, he made a point about her being a Phish fan

and how Phish won both country and rap Grammies. This apparently was a joke?

(They didn't.)

[democratisphere]

2. Ari can be an anal lawyer and takes it to extremes.

His behavior during the hand-off is creepy. Glad you also noticed!

[onecaliberal]

3. Katy is a repuke water carrier.

[dawg day]

5. Okay, but this seems really personal

I'm going to start fast-forwarding through the handoff. It's that painful. I sort of die a little in empathy. (Clearly, I've been publically insulted before.

[onecaliberal]

8. Im sorry.

[redstateblues]

6. Katy is not as knowledgeable as Ari

Katy was better as an “on the scene” reporter. She is a mediocre anchor. Especially when she tries to be tough.

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

7. Maybe Katy Tur is getting paid more than Ari.

Or the other way around. I saw something similar when Barbara Walters became the first woman anchor. (Yes, I'm that old.) Walters was being paid $1 million/year for five years, a considerable sum for a news anchor in 1976. Her co-anchor, Harry Reasoner was paid half that.

The tension was palpable. "You know, Harry," she quipped in one especially embarrassing exchange, "Kissinger didn’t do too badly as a sex symbol in Washington." Her counterpart just glared: "Well, you would know more about that than I would."

The "partnership" lasted two years before it was broken up in favor of a multi-anchor format, and it was 15 years before another woman -- Connie Chung -- sat in the anchor chair.