PBS News Hour - Brooks and Capehart - Podcast Rankings and reviews

I’ve been listening to (and watching!) Shields & Brooks for decades going back to Shields & Gerson, Shields & Gergen, Brooks & Marcus, and beyond. I’m unable to simply listen to their voices. I must see the expressions and interactions between Judy and her guests for this segment.

For me, these expressions (David’s “smiles”, Mark’s gestures, and more) are a critical part of my understanding of these contentious issues of significance to our nation. Without it, I’m left feeling empty and anxious.

Please offer an alternative VIDEO version of this segment. I watch and listen to Rachel Maddow nightly on just such a podcast offering video and audio alternatives.

Otherwise, I will refrain from using the podcast and will go to YouTube or other streaming sources.

I look forward to this segment all week! Keep up the good work! These are not the guys to watch if you want to hear your own views echoed back to you! I don’t Always agree 100% , but I always learn something!

Mark Shields and David Brooks are a great combination. It seems to be the only place in the news to hear different perspectives without people trying to yell over each other. They respect one another and still have strong individual opinions.

This is a great segment. I don’t give out 5 stars freely, you’ve got to earn it.
However, this segment is at its best when the pundits are center left and center right, as David Brooks and Mark Shield were. I agree with those calling for Jonathan to be a bit less progressive.
What I truly appreciate is the fact that everything is said with respect. No screaming and no talking over each other. Much appreciated

More often than not, Brooks and Capehart end up agreeing substantively on just about every issue discussed making for boring and not terribly sharp commentary. Given Brooks’ leftward drift over the last five years or so, I think it would be valuable to rotate the panel or to have someone more suitably represent the right-of-center position. Writers like Charles C. W. Cooke, Kevin Williamson or Michael Brendan Dougherty, for instance, could offer varying degrees of conservative perspectives from the classically liberal to more nationalist and populist and offer the average left-of-center, Acela corridor-residing NewsHour viewer a more representative point of view.

Capehart is a fantastic writer but his genuineness doesn’t shine through on air. Same observation when he hosts on MSNBC. I don’t know if he’s a bit anxious but it’s hard to miss when he was opposite Brooks (bc brooks is very genuine and comfortable in his own skin). There was no sense of connection with the two. My criticism is vague, I realize, but the show is just not powerful like it was 5+ years ago. Maybe he will adapt and grow into the role.