When reporters from The New Yorker, "NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams," "Good Morning America," The Associated Press and The Washington Post, have all converged upon one event, it must be important. An appearance by the president. A press conference about dignified matters, with plenty of throat-clearing and questions taken at the end. Something worthy.
Nope! It's puppies, 63 of them to be precise — the stars of Animal Planet's ninth annual Puppy Bowl. Journalists spent two days writing about puppies and taking video of other people taking video of puppies.
Many of you may be rolling your eyes. But the rest of you will eat it up, because puppies — these puppies especially — are so very cute. So cute that in the nine years since the Puppy Bowl first graced American screens, adorable has become a television genre, an Internet phenomenon and a cash cow for both. Cute cannot be dismissed.