Well the reviews are in, from the UK anyways....................
Sarah Palin TV: How America's 'Mom-in-Chief' made me reach for the remoteFormer Alaskan governor Sarah Palin has launched an online TV channel from her own home, featuring rousing patriotic rants and scenes from her family life. Cathy Newman watched it, so you don't have to.
By Cathy Newman, Presenter, Channel 4 News
30 Jul 2014
Got a spare £6 a month? What better way to spend it watching Sarah Palin (and her sizeable family) opine on everything from impeaching President Obama to trimming the welfare state, with cheery scenes of family meals and hunting trips thrown in – gratis.
Alternatively, you could save yourself the dough and read on. I’ve watched the former Alaskan governor's new online TV channel - so you don’t have to.
There’s plenty to delve into on SarahPalinChannel.com. But let’s shun Palin's invitation to “go rogue” and start with her welcome message – all dazzling smile and glittering stars-and-stripes pendant (there’s a whole lot of that little pendant on SarahPalinChannel). Oh, and is that a globe I spot almost out of shot? Handy, given that Palin reportedly had no idea Africa was a continent.
Palin welcomes us to her “new project” which, apparently, “really is a lot more than news”. Heck, yes. There are recycled clips of old speeches for starters.
But perhaps I’m not getting into the spirit. Because this is no ordinary channel, you understand.
“This is a community,” explains Palin. “Are you tired of the media filters? Well, I am,” she says, with a wink. “I always have been. So we’re going to do something about it. I want to talk directly to you on our channel on my terms - and no need to please the powers that be.”
Ah yes, those pesky powers that be. Palin, of course, was once a media darling. Fox News built her her own studio in her home in Wasilla, Alaska, and paid her a million dollars a year to pull in the punters. But they – Fox and the punters - lost interest and her contract wasn’t renewed, leaving Palin railing about the need for “more truth-telling”.
Now, at least, Fox News can see what they’re missing.
“Together we’ll go beyond the soundbites,” she vows, without the merest trace of irony. “And, most importantly, I want you to talk directly to me. That’s what I’m most anxious about.”
She neglects to mention, though, that to make her TV channel dream-come-true, she's joined forces with two representatives of the broadcasting elite she claims to loathe - former bosses at NBC and CNN. But never mind. With cameras installed all round her house, Palin can flip a switch any time she’s got breaking views to share.
“The Sarah Palin Channel: No Filters. All access. 100 per cent Mom.”
The Palin family: fully beind their 'mom-in-chief'
And what a mom (or “Mom-in-Chief” as she calls herself) Palin proves to be. Behind the scenes glimpses of her five children and two grandchildren going about their lives are used as the bait to hook viewers in, like wild Alaskan salmon caught on the bait of reality TV.
Even Palin's “scrabble-obsessed” mom Sally gets a few words – or at least “word of the day”. (Factious, since you ask. "Adjective: produced by or characterised by internal dissension").
Her daughter Bristol has her own blog, too. Though at time of writing this contained more pictures than words.
No shortage of verbiage, though, on the “Sarah says” segment - a rant to camera. That stars and stripes pendant makes an appearance again, so you can tell this is going to be one helluva patriotic riff. There’s lots of talk of “we Americans”, “this great land” and “America you deserve better”. That means cutting both the welfare state and immigration down to size – and getting Obama kicked out of the Oval Office.
Helpfully, in case you haven’t got the message yet, there’s a countdown clock to the end of the Obama administration, plus a counter perpetually tracking the escalating national debt.
Not that Palin seems unduly concerned about the outlay of her potential views. But believe me when I tell you to save your $9.95 a month (almost £6) and spend it on something cheaper, like Netflix. What's more, she might not be too fussed if you do. Tapp Media, which is working with the former governor on her channel, reckons it can make a profit with fewer than a hundred thousand subscribers. Which shows you how much investment they’re putting into it.
So even if you’ll end up laughing at Palin, rather than with her - chances are she’ll be laughing all the way to the First National Bank of Alaska.
