A Spork in the Drawer

Get Thee To The Fainting Couch!

"Even the liberal" New Republic is clutching their collective pearls at the thought of an actual liberal having her own teevee show.

It will coarsen the debate! It will divide us further! Why can't we have sensible people like (neocon) Anne Applebaum or (establishment insider) Bill Keller?

Oh, oh woe!

Get me the smelling salts!

[faints]

[Via TPM Café.]

ADDED: As always, read Glenn:

In our political discourse, the only real way to lose one's objectivity -- one's Seriousness credentials -- is to fail to appreciate and praise all the Good Virtues of the Right (the crime of which Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow are guilty), or to be too disrespectful to the Bush administration (the sin committed by David Gregory, at least in Sacha Zimmerman's eyes). Liberalism is inherently shrill and unserious -- even when advocated by a smart and sober commentator like Maddow -- which is why the presence of an actual liberal or two on television sends shock and panic waves through The New Republic and Howie Kurtz's column, while the bulging stable of hard-core right-wing ideologues permeating news shows merits no concern; the virtual banishment of anti-war views from the establishment media barely provoked a single word of objection; and the loss of Tucker Carlson is deemed a matter of grave national mourning.

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Maddow

Unsurprisingly, there's some hand-wringing over MSNBC's decision to give Rachel Maddow her own show. The network is becoming too liberal, don't'cha know.

KO has been branded as being a lefty or a liberal despite the fact that by all accounts he is - or at least was - fairly apolitical. It was the egregious crimes and other abuses of BushCo&trade that outrage him. This in and of itself doesn't necessarily indicate political bias; there are plenty of conservatives who are just as outraged by the actions of the administration. Regardless, I'd hope that Olbermann (and the obviously liberal) Maddow will be just as tough on an Obama administration as they are on the current destructive clown show. Honesty demands it.

As for the hand-wringing, that's the expected distress at the thought of anything not center-right.

At any rate, here's KO and Rachel discussing her new show on last night's Countdown:

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Good Question

Wolcott:

If Joe Biden and Chuck Schumer raced toward the same MSNBC camera at the same velocity from converging angles, would they...

a) Bounce off each other upon point of collision

b) Fuse upon impact (smack) into one super-talkative, tele-addicted, Kali-armed, dual-cam ego'd uber-Senator?

I say we test this proposition.

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No Escape

NBC/General Electric decides that there just isn't enough advertising in the world:

A newly formed NBC Universal production unit is teaming up with an advertising agency to create programs around sponsors' products, the company said.

NBC Universal Digital Studio will work with a division of Omnicom Group Inc. to create programs that help advertisers sell their products, the entertainment giant announced in a statement Thursday. The programming will be broadcast on NBC Universal's digital properties, such as Web sites.

Here's the part that will make Paddy Chayefsky spin in his grave:

The collaboration between NBC and Omnicom offers "a unique way of giving brands a seat at the table with writers and producers in developing episodic programming that ties directly to brand needs," Omnicom Media Group Digital chief executive Matt Spiegel said.

Does the line, "This was the story of Howard Beale: The first known instance of a man who was killed because of lousy ratings" sound so far-fetched anymore?

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That's That

The strike's over.

Now get back to work and gove us the final season of Battlestar Galactica.

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ADDED: The NYT's David Carr looks at the settlement. Short version: The writer's had a qualified win.




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Quote Of The Day

As many of your probably know, yesterday The Huckster crossed the picket lines to appear on the Jay Leno program. (Huckabee said that it wasn't a problem since Leno's writers weren't on strike. Needless to say, some campaign aide had to clean up that mess.)

Meanwhile, on the line:

Strike supporters outside the NBC studios carried signs calling Huckabee a scab. One read: "Huckabee you can't deny this cross."

[Via Tim Grieve.]

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Teevee

Al Gore will be appearing on 30 Rock tonight.

You might as well enjoy the show anyway; depending on how long the WGA strike lasts it might be one of the last eps.

Speaking of the strike, worth a read: The United Hollywood blog and Jane Espenson (Among other things, writer/producer of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and currently co-executive producer of Battlestar Galactica. She also came up with the name "Zima" for the briefly trendy drink. (Full disclosure: I've long had a mad crush on Jane.))

Atrios has posted a funny video of the folks from The Office on the picket line.

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Nothing To Be Learned

There's absolutely no reason to have "news" helicopters following police chases except prurience.

I remember watching MSNBC one evening 7 or 8 years ago - John Gibson had a show then - and they had on live coverage of some nutter in LA blocking traffic on a freeway. The guy had set his truck on fire on an overpass and he was walking around with a shotgun. Before anyone in MSNBC's control room could do anything the guy stuck the gun in his mouth and his head disappeared in a pink mist. Cut back to Gibson: "we're very sorry you had to see that. Let's take a break." [cue commercial.]

Sorry? No, John, you weren't sorry and neither were the suits who run the network. Remember, fellas, "if it bleeds, it leads." If you were actually sorry you and all the other networks and teevee stations would simply stop broadcasting this particular sort of porn.

Now I won't say anything about the four who were killed; they were just in it for a paycheck for all I know. But the "news" directors and the station owners, they're a different story. They had their helicopters following this chase because they wanted their own "pink mist." No doubt they would deny or rationalize that but it remains a fact. That their own employees became the Pink Mist wasn't part of the plan, especially since it didn't result in smashing video footage.

Right now, the stations are offering this:

Tragedy! Live continuing coverage! Sign our condolence book! (Oh boy, this is ratings GOLD!)

No doubt before the evening is done - in fact, probably just in time for the late "news" cast - the "news" managers and station owners will release statements of sorrow. Tomorrow or the next day - soon, certainly - there will be a debate: Is this sort of coverage news or not? Whichever way that goes those concerned will justify the coverage as being what the viewers want.

And they will be right.

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Bad Information

As a fan of Veronica Mars it's disappointing to see the show passing along fundie misinformation about emergency contraception.

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UPDATE: I watched the ep and it wasn't bad. The CW has corrected the information it sent out.

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