Election 2008 TV coverage: Holograms, History and Hi-Tech

Forget CNN reporter John King's fancy-schmancy movable map that has been so thoroughly mocked on "Saturday Night Live," Election Night 2008 brought out the big guns with holograms and 3D-studios to boot.

Sigh. Gone are the days when television anchors relied on a white board (RIP: Tim Russert) -- we've apparently entered the Star Trek/Star Wars dimension. CNN had reporters who were holographically projected into the studios, which seemed to serve very little purpose other than to show up the rest of the networks (according to one Thomas Rozwadowski, who spent most of the night watching CNN, "it was kinda cool"). Alas, I tend to agree more with Mo Ryan of The Chicago Tribune who said "IT’S TOTALLY WEIRD."

Now, I didn't get a chance to fully dissect any of the cable news and other networks coverage because I was working on election returns for the P-G, but what bits I caught seemed fairly benign. There were no faulty calls, no early projections or crazy sleep-deprived rantings (anyone remember Dan Rather in 2000?).

Anyone see something noteworthy in last night's coverage?

-- Malavika Jagannathan, mjaganna@greenbaypressgazette.com