Rose's Return

Charlie Rose returned to his show Monday night after recuperating from heart surgery. Rose, who had been absent since last March, looked strong and healthy. I had expected a whithered shell with a scratchy voice. Rose dedicated the first half hour to talking to his former mentor Bill Moyers. Like David Letterman after his heart surgery, Rose was most grateful to his doctors and staff. As I mentioned earlier, I was looking forward to Rose's return in hopes that he'd come back a changed man. No more fluff interviews, no more interviewing powerful friends. So I was greatly disappointed when he announced his first guest in three months: Thomas Friedman. Friedman is one of the top five most irritating people on the planet. Rose mentioned that this was Friedman's 40th (40th!!) time on the show! Same old, same old. Oh, Charlie.