As clients and readers of this space know all too well, I’m like a broken record with my use of the word treatment.  But it’s not my OCD, there’s a good reason for it.

While pure talent and X-Factor are critical for today’s biggest entertainment stars, stellar treatment is also very important … and without it, a show will have its struggles no matter how talented the hosts are.

For our purposes, treatment simply means this:

The manner in which a show or personality treats their content or subject matter.

Having unique and compelling treatment is especially important with shared stories and pop culture.

Let’s use “American Idol” as a good, relatable example.  While most will cover the show; most will also only offer generic treatment – which usually consists of playing back some clips, mocking the judges and contestants, and maybe picking a winner or two.

That’s generic treatment because it’s what most shows do – lazy, predictable, nothing special about it.

On the other hand, shows that do Steven Tyler Creepy or Not, the Randy Jackson Over/Under Game, the ‘Idol’ Drinking Game, or even simply discussing ‘the economy of’ or the sagging ratings of Idol have much more original, creative, stand-out treatment.

It’s in that spirit I introduce you to WBKB TV’s Tom Murphy.  Call him cheesy or brilliant, but his original and confident treatment of doing the weather forecast is making him a viral sensation.  Will this be enough to rocket him into stardom?  Probably not, he’ll need more than this and others will quickly adapt his style, but Tom probably has the goods and this is a great start for him (btw – there once was a guy named David Letterman who had very creative treatment for weather on TV … it got him a lot of attention and he went on to do pretty well for himself).