The Virtual Democratic National Convention has been a remarkably watchable pleasant surprise

Slate

"This year, the Democratic convention has what it’s always badly needed: an editor," says Joshua Keating after watching two nights of Democratic convention coverage, calling it "remarkably watchable and more appropriate for this moment in history." He adds: "The broadcast has moved along at a healthy clip—I was shocked that Bernie Sanders was speaking so early on Monday night until I looked at a clock and saw it was already 10:30 p.m. No one is droning on and milking applause. The format even kept Bill Clinton, the most famously longwinded speaker in Democratic convention history, to a tight 5 minutes. The 'unconventional' roll call, with on-site speeches in each state and territory, was more visually compelling, touching, and fun than the convention floor shoutfests of years past. The preprogrammed set-up reduces the role of TV journalists in the broadcast, which—I hate to say it as a journalist—is just fine from a viewer perspective. Moderators Eva Longoria and Tracee Ellis Ross have ably emceed, albeit from a sort of weird CGI stage. The lack of a live crowd saps some of the emotional drama—we’re unlikely to get an iconic, electrifying moment like Barack Obama’s 2004 speech this year. The tag-teamed 'keynote' delivered by Democratic rising stars on Tuesday didn’t quite rise to that level, even if Stacey Abrams managed to pull it together at the end. But the flip side of that is that the moments featuring 'ordinary voters,' are more effective coming from their literal kitchen tables and living rooms."

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• The DNC's roll call left viewers feeling patriotic: "In normal years, the roll call segment of the convention would feature delegates giving their spiels from the floor of an arena, sometimes in region- or culture-specific garb, but otherwise subsumed into the homogenizing patriotic hum of the event," says Christina Cauterucci. "Not so in a pandemic! This year, we got to see more than just who these people are. We got to see where they live, and what murals make the best backdrops there. The popular narrative of the Democratic Party is centered in cities and blue states; a different image was conjured by the young woman talking about rural broadband access in front of a group of unbothered cows in an idyllic Montana meadow. When state stereotypes were confirmed, they were confirmed with flair: Vermont, the home state of white guys with ponytails, was repped by Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman, a white guy with a suitably lustrous ponytail. State Rep. Joseph McNamara praised the 'calamari comeback state of Rhode Island' alongside a vaguely threatening looking masked chef holding a plate of squid prepared in the state’s signature style—studded, as it were, with cherry peppers. This land was made for him and me. There was also an equalizing force at work in the virtual format. People who normally wouldn’t have been invited to the convention got to appear in these videos, some standing behind the delegates like members of a masked indie band. A kid jumped for joy in the background in Oregon; in New Jersey, some randos wandered through the frame. The U.S. island territories, which normally get the shit end of U.S. policy—and, not coincidentally, have no voting representation in Congress—came out ahead for once, juxtaposing their turquoise waters with the broadcast from an Arkansas parking lot."
• Democrats offered reality TV that was "Calamari Counterprogramming": "Donald Trump is a star of reality TV, but in a very specific genre — the competition reality show, with winners and losers and backstabbing and vicious eliminations," says James Poniewozik. "His entertainment brand has been his political brand: He sees a zero-sum America where you’re either crushing the losers or joining them, and he’s cast himself as the president of the winners. The Democrats’ reel, on the other hand, recalled a different kind of reality show that also makes up a big chunk of the TV universe: the noncompetition show that surveys subcultures and explores a varied world. It made me think of Taste the Nation, the Padma Lakshmi Hulu series that combines mouthwatering American regional cuisines with dives into cultural history and issues like immigration."
• The DNC's roll call was a delight to watch: "It’s corny and I feel like it shouldn’t work, but it does," says Rebecca Fishbein. "For one thing, it was nice to virtually travel in a moment when so much of the country (and definitely the world) seems closed off. For another, it gives you an idea of the huge scope of the United States and its geographic and demographic diversity. Montana!!! So vast!!! Not a Kardashian in sight! And there were some heartstring-tug moments—the parents of Matthew Shepard, who was murdered in 1998 for being gay, reported the votes for Wyoming, and Fred Guttenberg, who lost his daughter in the 2017 Parkland shooting, reported the votes for Florida. Geraldine Waller, a meatpacking plant employee, reported the votes for Nebraska and detailed horrific conditions essential workers have faced in the covid-19 crisis."
• The roll call offered a travelogue of America: "It used to be that national conventions really were the place where parties picked their nominee, after hashing out backroom deals," says Erin Vanderhoof. "In years where the race was tight, the roll call vote was the height of drama. More recently primaries have been settled far in advance and the in-person roll calls become dramatic because of the promise of gaffes or awkward moments. By turning the tradition into a tonally varied, 60-minute travelogue about America, the 2020 roll call created pathos and real humor amid a show that normally prizes slick optimism over jump cuts and public access TV battiness."
• The convention is finally a made-for-TV event: "National political conventions were not originally designed as televised events," says Kathryn VanArendonk. "They’ve shifted that way in the past few decades, but what we think of as a traditional convention has always been retrofitted, backwards engineered from what was once just a big political meeting into something programmed for at-home viewers. There are standout optics, sure, performances designed to play to the people at home: Hillary Clinton in her white suit, striding out to yet another exhausting performance of 'Fight Song,' and Clint Eastwood and the chair. Conventions arguably made the Obamas’ political fortunes, beginning with Barack’s purple-states speech in 2004. Those memorable moments, though, be they stirring or ridiculous or obviously forced, were brief images or speeches within several hours of prime-time convention programming, very little of it nationally significant or striking. As a dedicated convention viewer of long standing, I can assure you that, most of the time, prime-time national conventions make for boring, rote TV, in part because they still bear the remnants of the event that wasn’t supposed to be TV: the states’ roll call, the opening and closing prayers, the speeches from politically important but less telegenic figures. It’s a little like if the majority of the Oscars telecast was the part with the accountants from Ernst & Young."
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• It's okay if the Democratic convention has the look of a telethon
• It's hard to stop thinking about "Calamari Man" from Rhode Island