"It's an enormous exercise in completely indefensible voyeurism just to be here," said Matt Taibbi, a writer from Rolling Stone.Bowes didn't mention it in his story, but he made an appearance in a Daily Show report by Rob Corddry on covering this monumental legal event.
"What this is all about is really just a whole bunch of men and women sitting here waiting for somebody to say the word masturbate in a courtroom.
"It's about; did Michael Jackson stick his hand down some little boy's pants? There's no compelling reason why we should all be here telling the world about this stuff."
Others took a more pragmatic view.
"It's fascinating," said Jane Velez-Mitchell, a correspondent for the US TV show Celebrity justice.
"It's been a really interesting life experience for me personally, as a human being. I think I've learned more than anything else that happiness is an inside job." ...
Even on the days when the star attraction was nothing more than a ream of telephone records, America's cable networks did not let up.
"We have lots of television shows that need to fill lots of time and there are lots of pundits that need to jibber jabber endlessly and fill that time," explained J Randy Taraborrelli, Michael Jackson's biographer, who is also covering the trial as an analyst for CBS News.
"One of the best ways to fill it is to speculate about the guilt or innocence of people who are on trial," he added.
What amused me in watching the bit was how Corddry was shunned by journos when he went looking for someone to play with. They all had their backs turned to him or were otherwise silent. Methinks they've learned by watching Jon Stewart and Co. that there really is no way for them to end up looking better than they started.
To his credit, Bowes good-naturedly decided to be Corddry's foil, and to my surprise, Corddry was pretty gentle with him. Maybe it's because he's a Brit. :)