CNBCfix review: ‘Gold’ feels like
another nighttime rush job
Posted: Tuesday, March 13, 2012
A cynic might say that CNBC sent Bob Pisani 2 miles underground in South Africa just to show viewers what gold bricks look like.
A cynic might also say that demand for gold is the Greater Fool Theory at work, that it makes little to no sense for individuals to be bidding up the prices of all these bars sitting in a confidential basement, doing absolutely nothing.
Yet, there is something appealing about seeing it all, stacked on racks and carts in a giant warehouse, that maybe helps explain the underlying bid. Perhaps it's like sex; we can't quantify it, we just know we want it.
Pisani's "Gold," like Courtney Reagan's "Luxury Boom," is another winter 2012 half-hour prime-time production of new CNBC programmer Scott Matthews. Unfortunately, "Gold" is almost too painful to watch, with cameras zipping through vaults at warp speed and often at cockeyed angles that flirt with making viewers ill as the video game "Doom" once did.
The program makes little mention of the price of gold — a wise move, given that it will likely air for many months — and offers little besides seeing the bricks. The hook appears to be fairly rare visuals of large amounts of the precious metal. For this there is no reason for even a 30-minute program; 15 would easily do.
Pisani stresses the rarity, explaining so much of the world's gold has been found in South Africa but that there's "almost no surface gold left on earth." Anglo Gold CEO Mark Cutifani says "the supply side is really constrained;" that's why Pisani is viewing bricks 2 miles below the surface. He says the Johannesburg mine produces 1,700 ounces of gold a day.
Jeremy Charles of HSBC speaks about the importance and reliability of a bank as the broker in gold transactions and explains the terms of the SPYder Gold Trust, well-known to stock market players as the GLD, for holding bullion.
Yet this program offers little to nothing for investors. Many, for example, might wonder if it's wiser to buy gold coins or bars and then hold them, or whether to simply buy GLD shares. There are mixed, nuanced opinions on this subject regularly discussed on CNBC that never made it to this program. Nor is there anything about the U.S. government's vast history with gold and what the gold standard meant/means and why it comes up in the Ron Paul campaign.
A trip to the Stuller factory of Louisiana, where gold is made into jewelry, has potential, but Pisani barely gives it a chance, zipping around cubicles at breakneck speed and ultimately showing what he showed in the rest of the half-hour, a gold bar lifted from a vat.
Matthews deserves at least a small amount of credit for trying something different. There's something to be said for speed. "Gold" doesn't work, though; it's too fast, feels like Pisani is somehow in way too much of a hurry, and almost comes across as the type of space filler one sees on cable channels when movies run 10 minutes long. No need to rush — despite the efforts of Pisani's crew just to behold the bricks, they'll still be there tomorrow.
"Gold" (2012)
Featuring: Bob Pisani, Mark Cutifani, Jeremy Charles, Jay Jackson
Reported by: Bob Pisani
Vice president, special projects: Scott Matthews
Produced by: Kelly Lin
Editors: Jesse Bekas, Kelly Laudien
Photographers: Mike Vaughn, Joe DeWitt, LeRoy Jackson, Raul Marin
Audio: Lebo Mawasha, Chris Balmer, Dave Foerder, Claudio Musajo
Global creative director: Victoria Todis
Senior art director: John Rehm
Designer/animator: Wale Adekandi
Edit director: Vito Tattoli
Edit coordinator: Gina Saudino
Media coordinator: Rich Marko
Special projects director: Ray Parisi
Sr. vice president of business news: Nikhil Deogun