Jim totally guessed correctly. And to be honest, seems like you are saying the same thing here. Unless I have a set on Letterman then anything I say is invalid?
"I'd like to see you try..."
Nope. And I'm honestly a touch disappointed -- I thought you English guys were good at the whole clear thinking and careful reading thing...Newton, Russell...you guys did this stuff at a darn high level once upon a time...
If I felt that not being on Letterman disqualified one from writing about guys on Letterman, I would not have written several hundred words about the guys on Letterman.
Let me take a stab at making the distinction clearer (I'll try to keep it brief as I'm sure it is of interest two less than two people):
One view -- mine -- is that the perceived expertise and experience of the reviewer is one of the things to balance in evaluating the helpfulness of the critique.
"How would this person do in a similar situation?", then, strikes me as a very fair question.
The (different) view you peg me with -- "shut up if you haven't been on TV" -- takes one arbitrary career event, and makes it the
only factor.
I don't know if Doc Eason has been on Letterman, I do know that he has a wealth of experience dealing with unpredictable, human behavior -- and that makes me listen close when he talks about it...and, even if I didn't know that about Doc, that depth of experience can be felt in what he writes...and that's why asking myself "how is this person likely to do in the situation" makes sense
N.