OK, we try not to get too political around here. But we do like to rock. And this clip from "The Daily Show" is priceless - at least the last 30 seconds are. Jon Stewart is talking about that bloviating weasel Scott McClelland, whose new book about what really happened when he was White House spokesman has people on both sides of the ideological coin pissed off at him. The Republicans think he's a turncoat, betraying his people for the money; the Democrats think he's a dungwad for not speaking up earlier. But Stewart also points out that the book ain't exactly an exciting read, so he brings out B-52s singer Fred Schnieder to juice it up:
The highlight of my summer, professionally anyway, will be the Press Tour, two weeks in Beverly Hills interviewing TV stars with my fellow members of the Television Critics Association. Yesterday I got the ballot for our annual awards, to be given out at a ceremony on July 19. Here it is, with my picks and comments. "In each category, you may vote for zero, one or two candidates...." PROGRAM OF THE YEAR __ "John Adams" (HBO) X "Lost" (NBC) X "Mad Men" (AMC)
__ "Ken Burns' The War" (PBS)
__ "The Wire" (HBO)
My Notes: According to the instructions, "Program of The
Year defines a show whose contents transcended
television to become a major and commendable cultural phenomenon during
the 2007-08 season." Of the nominees, I
think only "Lost" qualifies as a cultural phenomenon.
None of the others had enough audience to qualify. If that's really the criteria, "American Idol" or for that matter "Moment of Truth"
would be a better nominee - until you hit the word
"commendable." "The War" and "The Wire" were commendable but not major phenoms. "John Adams" was overrated. Beyond its entertainment value, I'm not even sure what's
so commendable about "Lost." But I'm going to vote for it and my
favorite show of the year, "Mad Men," despite the latter's relatively small audience.
My father actually called me up to make sure I'd watched this episode of "The Colbert Report," and when the old man calls me about television, I can be sure it's something important. Of course, with Colbert, it's also going to be funny, but that doesn't detract from the actual message there.
It turns out that Stephen Colbert's father was the only hospital administrator willing to negotiate with black strikers during a Charleston, SC walkout in 1969. Neat detail, but the story gets better.
Colbert has as a guest the man who worked with his father to end the strike: Ambassador Andrew Young, a close friend of Dr. Martin Luther King. Young tells Colbert some pretty nice stories about his dad and also talks about current labor unrest, notably the WGA. Stephen Colbert's father died when he was young, so it's really sweet to see this moment. Then, more laughs: Young, Colbert, and Malcom Gladwell (another guest on that night's show) join the Harlem Gospel Choir to sing "Let My People Go."
It gets laughs, but it'll also bring a tear to your eye.
Read our item and some of the other posts on the return of "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart" and you get the impression that while Stewart is with the striking writers - saying the abbreviation for the studios' group is NAMBLA, for instance - he's also a bit peeved at the WGA. Nikki Finke reports that Stewart's studio audience heard a more candid version of his feelings Monday night, with the comedian a bit cranky about the fact that his show was denied the sort of waiver given to David Letterman and Craig Ferguson's late-night operations. Scroll down further and read the comments and you'll see this isn't going over so well with the writers ("Scab" and "fuck him" being among the remarks). And it's true that Stewart is missing the main difference, which is that those two CBS shows are owned by Letterman's Worldwide Pants Corp., while "The Daily Show" belongs to the giant Viacom conglomerate, one of the main companies taking a hard line against the strike. The WGA is trying to divide and conquer the studios, and Stewart is going to have to pay the price.
While everyone else was digesting last night's news that the Golden Globes ceremony will be turned into an NBC News press conference - and doesn't that sound entertaining - "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart" and "The Colbert Report" returned to Comedy Central with new episodes, sans writers. While neither one seemed to openly flout WGA rules by writing monologues like Jay Leno did on "Tonight Show," there were definitely moments that appeared not entirely improvised, including Stewart's "Strike Unibrow," mocking the beard that David Letterman shaved off on his show last night. Here's a clip:
Memorably, Stewart's show went close to the bone when talking about the strike. Sometimes he played up to the WGA, with jokes like "The Association of Motion Picture and Television Producers, or NAMBLA." But sometimes he needled the union: "Last time that all these talk shows were off the air for any length of time was after September 11th. And that time, most shows were off the air for a week. So if my math is correct, the writers strike is now nine times worse than September 11th." OUCH.
The best recaps are from Mike Schneider over at Variety's strike blog: Stewart here and Colbert here.
"The Colbert Report" and "The Daily Show" with Jon Stewart have been off-air since November 5. Because they're news-driven shows, the ratings on their reruns have been predictably bad, so they're surely anxious to return.
But because they're such writer-driven shows, it's a real question whether they'll be any good Jon Stewart, of course, has the advantage that half his jokes consist
of a clip from CNN or Fox news, followed by "Hhhmmmmmm?!" and a funny
face, so he could even do the entire show without speaking at all.
However, Colbert's entire blowhard pundit persona could be seen as a writer's creation, and it's possible that he'll have to perform as his civilian persona, the father of three and Democratic-voting Catholic Sunday-school teacher.
Interestingly, sales of Colbert's book, "I Am America And So Can You,"
have also fallen since the strike began. Perhaps flagging book sales
have been part of what pushed him to cross the picket lines. We'll see sales pick up after tonight.
Developments came fast and furious over the weekend, and you can expect more big news today, as the Golden Globes, Jay Leno and Jimmy Kimmel, Tom Cruise and United Artists are all embroiled in strike related brouhahas. Can you feel the love?
BIG MESS NUMERO UNO: Today could spell the end for next week's Golden Globe Awards, at least the televised version. Late last week the Screen Actors Guild announced that its members would not cross Writers Guild of America picket lines to attend the ceremony. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association tried to get a Letterman-style waiver deal from the WGA, but failed. So will NBC want to pay a fat rights fee for a show without big stars? Doubtful. Expect NBC and the HFPA to have an announcement today. One possibility was that the telecast would be canceled, allowed the awards show to go on, so at least the stars could have their ego moments - Steven Spielberg is getting the Cecil B. DeMille Award! Rumer Willis is Miss Golden Globes! - and the studios would be able to put "Winner of Five Golden Globes!" in their movie ads.
BIG MESS NUMERO DOS: NBC is also spank in the middle of a nasty pissing match with the WGA over Jay Leno's return to the airwaves with a monologue he's writing himself. Jay and the network say he has the right to pen his own gags - and in some versions of the story from their camp, the WGA promised to look the other way. But the WGA says Leno is in violation of the WGA contract. Leno could adopt the obscure "fi-core" clause in the contract and opt out of the guild, but it's not clear what the long-term effect of such a move would be. Somebody's going to get stung here. Meanwhile Leno and fellow L.A.-based host Jimmy Kimmel are going to combat the lack of big-name guests on their WGA-boycotted shows by doing a crossover on Thursday night, with Leno visiting Kimmel's ABC talker and Kimmel heading to the "Tonight Show."
In other late-night news, amid plunging ratings for reruns, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert return to the air tonight on Comedy Central, sans writers, and it should be interesting to see how that's going to work. Bill Maher will also return to the air this week, but he can ease into more of a talk-show format which much pain.
BIG MESS NUMERO TRES: The Tom Cruise-run United Artists studio has signed a Letterman-style waiver deal with the WGA that would allow production on its projects to go ahead. That's be a second crack in the united front of studios and productions houses aligned against the WGA, and things are getting ugly behind the scenes. It seems likely that behind the scenes the AMPTP members are frantically dialing each other on their Crackberries and iPhones to make sure no one else is going to jump ship. Compared to the solidarity that SAG is showing with the writers (see BIG MESS NUMERO UNO), things are looking just a bit shaky for the moguls. But then there's also the Directors Guild, which is beginning its own negotiations with the AMPTP and is believed to be considerably less sympathetic to the writers.
We'll be watching developments all day. Meanwhile, here's Letterman talking about the strike:
Slate has a great piece up on the "Daily Show" and "Colbert Rerport," covering the amazing entertainment and financial value that even old clips of even the most time-sensitive shows can have. Just look at things like the roundup of Jon Stewart's gayest moments and tell me that there's no money to be made in online redistribution of television content. Hilarity!
But I have to admit I'm not missing new content on the "Colbert Report." The political idiocy it chronicles hasn't changed at all. Just look at this "The Word" segment on war with Iran. It's from October 1, 2007, but it could have been any time in the past four years: It has all the jokes about the same warmongering idiocy that Colbert and friends have been making since we got to Iraq. Still topical, still funny.
Whether celebrating a victory or drowning your sorrows in nacho-cheese dust, it's always a perfect time for Doritos, unsmiling balloon drops, and bitter, bitter tears. Via BuzzSugar, here's Stephen Colbert getting the news that his candidacy has been rejected by the South Carolina Democratic Party:
USAT just noticed the homosexual gentlemen on "Desperate Housewives." They're not quite on-stereotype as the usual TV gays, and they have the same issues as everyone else on Wisteria Lane. That is, they're crazy. I think that's a good thing.
The South Carolina Democratic Party has rejected Stephen Colbert's petition to get onto the presidential ballot, because he's a joke candidate, and they just won't have it. What has this world come to when I'm getting my political news from Star Magazine?
"The Hills" is the fakest of all the so-called "Reality" shows out there. We know that. But E! says they're having a casting call for guests at the wedding. That's a little much, even for them. Isn't it?
"Ugly Betty" star America Ferrera has some issues related to being abandoned by her father as a child, says Celebrity Wonder. I bet she blamed herself for it. Poor thing.
Oh, it's all fine and dandy to print up signs and make bold statements and laugh about it, but once you end up on a ballot, there are serious rules to follow. Rules you have to have followed from the beginning. Rules like "you can't get huge amounts of free publicity from Comedy Central."
Turns out that being on the "Colbert Report" as a guest is one thing, but that being the star and host is quite another, and it just might cross a line.
If we start to take this thing seriously, Stephen Colbert might actually become a legitimate politician with his own legitimate scandal!
Last night on "The Daily Show," Jake Gyllenhaal dropped by to talk up "Rendition," show off his new scruffy beard (it's for his next role), and talk about his beloved, beleaguered Red Sox. He and Jon take most of the time to explore the nature of the friendly rivalry between New York and Boston.
In contrast, tonight on "Private Practice," we have an episode titled "In Which Addison Finds A Showerhead." Yes, it's about masturbation. Addison, apparently, doesn't do it. This explains so much of her idiocy over the past few seasons, it seems like it must have been a character note from the very beginning. I assume that we'll get all the "master of your domain" jokes we've already heard on "Seinfeld" before Addison finally gets around to buying herself one of those fancy adjustable showerheads. (You ever think about the environmental effects of that method? There's a drought on, you know.)
Some shows are like old friends with familiar faces. Granted they'll never you give the honest friend's advice such as, "you in THAT bikini....I don't think so" or "you should dump Karen, she's definitely cheating on you". Now that we think about, maybe our friends aren't that great after all. In any case, many of us have grown old with these shows. They've given us laughter, excitement, and sometimes, for some reason, tears. We're calling these shows returning champs. They may not be the longest running shows out there, they're just considered champs in their own respect.
This week Video Top 5 has trivia games for ER and The Simpsons. Test your knowledge so that maybe you will score high enough to brag on your MySpace page. We also have full episodes and weekly clips from the show that somehow helped make voyeurism cool, Big Brother: Check out past clips from Jon Stewart and gang on The Daily Show and catch some exclusive clips of Survivor: China. Finally, we have our YouTube Clip of the Week. If you haven't seen that obnoxious kid from University of Florida get tasered, you just haven't experienced life.
Our friends at BuzzSugar report that NBC's new head of programming, Ben Silverman, recently wined and dined "Daily Show" anchor Jon Stewart and his agent, saying that if everyone's favorite "news"man ever became free, he'd be interested in doing business. With Conan due to take over "The Tonight Show" in '09, there'd be a late-night opening. But is that their best play?
