Everyone's A Critic
I just got a phone call from my wife, mocking my 10 p.m. story from Tuesday on a professional ring of safe burglars targeting local coffee shops. She wondered if I could work a few more coffee references into the story. I don’t see what her problem is.
The first two are the producer’s fault, Matt Liddy:
“Think “The Italian Job”… with more caffeine.”
“coffee capers”
The next four are my issue:
“has Twin Cities coffee shops steaming mad”
“quick jolt of cash”
“the safe is surrounded by concrete that’s thicker than espresso”
“Police say they hope neighbors who are up late — maybe on a caffeine high”
Alyssa brought up the old saying about women looking in the mirror before they go out and taking one accessory off. I pointed out that I did remove one line. I was going to work in a reference to “better to be safe than Sorry” because we had video of a kid playing the game “Sorry!” and the story was about safes. Actually, that’s TWO “accessories” that I removed.
So I should be getting an award for writing.
Typically I’m not a big fan of clichés or “clever” references in TV news writing. I think it’s distracting. But I make an exception for stories that involve coffee.
((Reposted from DeBlog, WCCO-TV, 11/20/07)
