As a former TV reporter, let me assure you my personal tastes tended more towards "hanging back in the studio trying to nail the weekend weathergirl," but the spawn-of-Satan news director loved live shots more than he loved watching adorable puppies slowly die of thirst.

I've always wondered this myself. Does the viewer really benefit from seeing some harried meteorologist in a raincoat, clutching a lamppost and shouting, "Wow! It's really BAD out here! Anyone with any sense should definitely avoid this at all costs!"

I mean, apart from the obvious schadenfreude, it's really sort of stupid for the reasons Subby mentions.

Why do political reporters feel the need to add gravitas to their reports by standing in front of government buildings? Or crime reporters in front of courthouses? They didn't just rush out of those buildings to do their stand up.

I'll tell you why. Satellite trucks are expensive, so if you don't use it at every chance you are wasting money.

One day, during a hurricane broadcast like that, I'd really like to see a nice chunk of sheet metal come whipping into frame and farking decapitate the screaming asshole standing out in the middle of that shiat.

Just a sudden HWIP!! and the head falls to the ground, followed by the headless body jetting blood from the carotid and jugular as it falls to its knees, then chest-first to the ground as you hear the camera guy scream like a little biatch.

Let's see how many on-the-spot weather dudes stand in the middle of a raging hurricane after THAT.

MaxxLarge: I mean, apart from the obvious schadenfreude, it's really sort of stupid for the reasons Subby mentions.

That's OK. Darwin may start weeding them out. I saw one on the news this morning standing in a puddle and picking up the still working lamp from a traffic signal.

Shocking stupidity there.

Sybarite: Why do political reporters feel the need to add gravitas to their reports by standing in front of government buildings? Or crime reporters in front of courthouses? They didn't just rush out of those buildings to do their stand up.

Hehe. I'd love to see a reporter do a crime report outside a bank. Or a political report outside of ROXXXY'S CLUB AND GRILL. That would be a million kinds of awesome.

Norad: One day, during a hurricane broadcast like that, I'd really like to see a nice chunk of sheet metal come whipping into frame and farking decapitate the screaming asshole standing out in the middle of that shiat.

Just a sudden HWIP!! and the head falls to the ground, followed by the headless body jetting blood from the carotid and jugular as it falls to its knees, then chest-first to the ground as you hear the camera guy scream like a little biatch.

Let's see how many on-the-spot weather dudes stand in the middle of a raging hurricane after THAT.

Is it wrong that I can't stop giggling uncontrollably at this?

MaxxLarge: Norad: One day, during a hurricane broadcast like that, I'd really like to see a nice chunk of sheet metal come whipping into frame and farking decapitate the screaming asshole standing out in the middle of that shiat.

Just a sudden HWIP!! and the head falls to the ground, followed by the headless body jetting blood from the carotid and jugular as it falls to its knees, then chest-first to the ground as you hear the camera guy scream like a little biatch.

Let's see how many on-the-spot weather dudes stand in the middle of a raging hurricane after THAT.

Is it wrong that I can't stop giggling uncontrollably at this?

So wrong. But, at the same time, so very right.

Living in a hurricane-prone area, I find it particularly useful to see where Jim Cantori of the Weather Channel is so I know not to go there.

Nabb1: Living in a hurricane-prone area, I find it particularly useful to see where Jim Cantori of the Weather Channel is so I know not to go there.

That dude is like the Grim Reaper combined with a Rain God.

The GF and I were on vacation a few years back when a tropical storm hit our resort. I was all "ehh, it's fine. We'll ride it out" then the next thing I heard was "Our Jim Cantore is live on the scene" and I ran for the rental car.

I'm suddenly filled with the desire to watch that clip of the female reporter doing a report on "flooding" from a canoe that she's paddling along a street when two guys just come wading through the shot and the water's only up to their ankles.

I think Al Roker really got this whole thing rolling.

I'm here in my mom's basement to bring you the latest report on the massive party taking place at the Playboy Mansion.

Loud_Mouth_Soup: Thanks, Ollie.

And Xerxes99, thanks that's what I came in here for.

Why do TV reporters feel compelled to cover weather by standing in it?

...on the RADIO?

Seriously, you can lie to us. We can't see you.

notmtwain: I think Al Roker really got this whole thing rolling.

That needs more than one pic:

It's pretty stupid behavior. I'm just waiting for footage of a weatherperson to be decapitated by a traffic sign blown loose during the storm.

I had a teacher who would tell stories of his WWII experiences, which included watching a piece of corrugated iron from a quonset hut do just that to someone during a typhoon in the Pacific.

Television producers are all English majors who failed to get teaching jobs but who are nonetheless stuck in that whole "showing, not telling" crap from 1950s American literary theory.

A European literary critic would cover the hurricane from a village café in Tuscany. And he'd read Cervantes, Doestoyevski and Proust in the original language because THERE IS NO OTHER WAY TO READ GREAT LITERATURE.

American English professors will be first up against the wall when the Revolution comes.

Then we'll tell all the lawyers that a famous literary critic is up against the wall so they should grab a flashdrive with their novel on it and get on over there to get on the fast track to publication.

Bendy Geraldo, now available at toy stores everywhere.