It's been several days of watching CNBC following their extreme makeover. And one thing is clear to us: it's a big fat flailing flop. There's not one thing that we like about it. Not one. Zip. Zero. Grade: F.
It's hilarious to hear the on air personalities like Maria Bartiromo do their little commercial spots where they speak so earnestly, touting the new 'improved' ticker, now with the companies' names. Why is that such an improvement? Now it's slow as molasses, and there's only a small fraction of information scrolling across the screen. Seems like that's a big step back, not forward.
Then there's new 'bug'. It's completely illegible. We have a 60 inch TV in another room, and it's more or less legible, but on the 20 inch screen we have in our office, it's simply unreadable. Bring back the old bug. What were they thinking?
Then there are their new and also supposedly improved 3D charts. Unless that peacock they've now plopped on to the charts is some sort of new kind of cycle indicator, it's gotta go. The charts are too busy, and that bird is just an ugly, pointless distraction. Stick to the relevant info in the chart, not the shameless CNBC/NBC bird placement. And the sounds are just plain annoying.
This morning as they were running a video clip to accompany a story, they superimposed unrelated jagged graphics over the film, so that one third of the screen was obscured and you couldn't see much of the video. Sheesh. Show us the footage, not your silly graphics!
And then there's the morning cast reshuffle. UGH. Putting Mark at the exchange is such a waste of talent. And there's that horrible din in the background that they practically have to shout over. Bad move, guys. Really stupid.
And then there's the stretching out of Squawk Box. Another waste. And the new set: who cares?
Sorry CNBC. But you screwed up. Again. This is worse than your misguided remake attempt from a couple of years ago where you were seemingly trying to morph CNBC into MTV, CNN, ESPN, and E! all rolled up in one (Remember all of those bad musical groups we were treated to at lunch time? And the long patches of golf coverage? ACK!). Whoever is responsible for this remake version needs the boot. While we normally swap back and forth between CNBC and Bloomberg throughout the day, we'll probably be watching Bloomberg a whole lot more now.
We don't seem to be the only haters of the new format. Here's a thread over at EliteTrader.com devoted to CNBC's new format: New CNBC Format - Big Mistake . And if you search the web, it's not hard to find scores of other articles and blog posts that also give big thumbs down to the changes.
Bet the folks at Bloomberg TV are the only ones loving the CNBC extreme makeover, because of all of the new viewers they must be getting.
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