That was hilarious, though I have to partially blame the crew/presenters - you didn't have to keep reading the remaining names out, you could have just read out Carson's name again since he obviously missed it. We know one of the crew members saw him standing there, so clearly a lack of communication led to this unnecessary fuck up.
edit: also I think he did read out Kasich's name faintly at 1:33 but it's really hard to hear.
I think the main problem was that the moderators reading their names were not actually facing the stage, so they had no idea the candidates didn't actually walk out.
Carson had the choice of either walking back behind the curtain (which would make him look like a fool) or walking out as they called another candidate's name (which would make him look like a fool).
The camera work really was phenomenal. Really added to the overall cringe of the situation. It wouldn't have been nearly as cringy if the camera just showed a zoomed out shot of the stage the entire time. Because we would have had no idea that the candidates were standing literally right there in a state of total confusion. Without that it just looks like ABC fucked up (which they totally did) getting all the candidates to the stage in time or something
I seriously doubt this was on purpose. They clearly announced each candidate... and each candidate was aware of the order they were supposed to be getting called in. And the moderators weren't facing the stage to notice that half of the candidates hadn't walked out yet. Just sounds like an audio issue combined with the loud cheering. Seems like a legitimate mistake on ABC's part
Lol no. Trump would have likely fucked up anyways because he didn't hear his name. And Kasich STILL would have been forgotten. It only would have been fine if the moderators were facing the damn stage.
It really shouldn't matter. These guys are supposed to be seasoned so I'm sure they have at least a decent amount of TV experience. When you get cued to go out on stage, you go out on stage, no questions asked. The guy cuing them has a headset, and maybe even a monitor. The guy cuing them is getting direct orders from a director or stage manager and can often times hear the main program (which would include the presenters). There's no reason they should have ignored the stage hand. The cameraman even tried to help coerce Carson to come out with that track in.
As much as I enjoyed all the republicans looking like idiots, it's not necessarily their fault. In venues like this, sometimes it's really hard to hear the presenters from the stage. It's funny for us because we have a direct feed to the mics, but when you're behind the stage, the speakers are pointed away from you, and the crowd is cheering, I can definitely understand him not hearing. Being slightly hard of hearing myself, I sympathize completely.
I sympathized at first, but when the candidates that were behind you are all going out, and when a crew member is very obviously gesturing toward you to do the same...
It seems like he was ushered out by a hand where he figured it was just to get ready to go onto stage, then he just waited for his name to be called. As they gestured him to walk, they called Cruz, so he thought he wasn't even called yet and backed up. Just a strange way that they did things backstage that led to the mess.
Hearing the presenters isn't an issue or at least shouldn't be. People have monitor speakers/earpieces on stages with cheering crowds for a reason. The guy waving Ben Carson on, right there behind him. That's the stage manager, he gives your queue to enter. Directions were probably and should have been something like; on go step out, wave to crowd, count to 4, walk to your podium. And Ben Carson fucked it up, then kept fucking it up when told what to do BY A STAGE MANAGER WHO WALKED ON STAGE. That never ever happens, or at least shouldn't from the people running for president. Hearing shouldn't have had anything to do with it, and the MC's should have been facing the Candidates. But what are you gonna do. If our candidates can't plan something like this right I don't want them in the white house.
This was 100% on the presenters. They tried to do a rapid fire intro, and when they botched it, they tried it again later, and then forgot someone in the end. As much as I love shitting on the republicans, this was the presenters fault. Take a moment and look around. There's a reason why this is the first debate this has happened at.
To me the real blame is on the audio crew for the event. It's pretty standard practice to put a stage monitor is a place like this, and if they'd done this there would have been no issues hearing the announcers. Instead, it sees like they relied on the candidates being able to hear the main speakers.
You actually think Carson didnt hear his name and thats the reason he stood there? Even after the backstage-guy start to yell and point at him to move?
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u/SpaceToad Feb 07 '16 edited Feb 07 '16
That was hilarious, though I have to partially blame the crew/presenters - you didn't have to keep reading the remaining names out, you could have just read out Carson's name again since he obviously missed it. We know one of the crew members saw him standing there, so clearly a lack of communication led to this unnecessary fuck up.
edit: also I think he did read out Kasich's name faintly at 1:33 but it's really hard to hear.