"Happy Hour" is so bad you have to watch

Eric Starkman of PR agency Starkman & Associates writes on the Gawker web site that Fox Business Network‘s “Happy Hour” show at 5 p.m. is so bad that it makes people watch.

Starkman wrote, “With the hosts and guests perched on barstools as pints are pulled behind them, ‘Happy Hour’ has the production values of a community access channel in Aurora, IL (‘It’s Wayne’s World, Wayne’s World, party time, excellent!’). The banter is light and the guest lineup, umm, eclectic. You may get a CEO or an investment manager or two talking about taxes and assets, but you’re more likely to get models, actors, strippers, ice dancers, comedians, filmmakers, more models, actors and … oh, did I mention the strippers?

“‘Who on earth is going to watch this show?’ I wondered aloud the first time I watched the show.

“Well, for starters, my colleagues Jeff and Anthony. Every day at 5 p.m., they immediately tune out CNBC and flick on ‘Happy Hour.’ These are two of the smartest people I’ve ever worked with, and they haven’t missed a segment since the show began. Another surprising viewer? An erudite editor friend of mine at a major business publication – we’re talking a true Renaissance man who studied ancient Greek just so he could read the original works of Plato and Homer – confessed over dinner last week that he’s a big fan of the show.

“Ok, so ‘Happy Hour’ seems to appeal to highly intelligent people. That answered the ‘who?’, now I just needed to understand the ‘why?’ Jeff and Anthony helped me out on this one:

“‘We can’t believe just how bad the show is,’ said Jeff.

“‘It’s so bad, it’s actually brilliant,’ added Anthony.”

Read more here.