"John Johnston" wrote in message
...

On the Mary Tyler Moore show, Ted Baxter is an incompetent shell of a
man. He's selfish, inflated, overblown, egotistical, insecure, and very
very dumb.

Baxter's role model is Walter Cronkite. Although devoted to his wife,
Baxter has reproductive "issues." We're never told but my guess is,
he's impotent. Baxter is the proverbial talking air-head - no one
respects him.

So why did we enjoy following Baxter's antics?

It's simple. His idiocy made us laugh. He was the quintessential clown;
the court jester; the fool.

I'll miss our amateur radio version of Ted Baxter. In less than two
weeks his license will expire, and although he'll undoubtedly try to
get his license renewed, there's a huge doubt as to whether we'll ever
hear another original "broadcast."

I often wonder if Baxter, like another tragic clown, Pagliacci, is
crying on the inside. The comedy is nearly ended, and we may never
know.

This has been an editorial by John Johnston.


--
John Johnston

However, the comparison to Pagliacci is not entirely fair to Pagliacci.
Baxter created all his own problems by knowingly violating the rules. On
the other hand, Pagliacci, although brought down by his own unreasoning
jealousy, did not create the initial problem of his wife's unfaithfulness.

Dee D. Flint, N8UZE