has there ever been a less interesting person than tom brokaw? the whole schtick is mechanically mumbling the common wisdom. i guess that must be the essence of who we are, or else he wouldn't be on your television 24 hours a day. if there were such a thing as collective consciousness, the consciousness of tom brokaw would be the consciousness of us all. but you have to picture the insane obsessive maniac or something underneath: one hopes desperately that there is a funky internal life, that there are secrets, some strangeness.