TVSquad

I don't see what the big deal is. It's not like he was joking about Mother Theresa on the day she died. (I have in my files a copy of the comic strip "Piranha Club" which had Mother Theresa bungee jumping on that day. Not sure it could have been pulled in time.)

Ken Lay was a weaselly criminal and I only wish he was still alive because it looks like his victims will now be robbed twice more - once because he won't serve any jail time and the second time because it may be impossible now to seize his assets to pay any type of compensation.

Ken Lay is hopefully toasty in the hellfires by now and I have no problem with making fun of him back here among the living.

It's the closest we can come to poking his corpse with a sharp stick, but not nearly as satisfying.

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I only saw a minute of it, and didn't realize until now it was a rerun. I thought, woah, Letterman has some rough edges left yet. I should have known better. But I don't believe there is any cosmic justice in Lay's death. I mean neither John Lennon, George Harrison, nor John Ritter to name just the 1st three that pop into mind, lived to the age 64, and who did they ever hurt?

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I have to agree with Tony OB on this one. Ken Lay was a bad bad man. Being dead doesn't change that. Any outrage over the Letterman rerun is taking political correctness way too far.

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The poster has a great point. I know that digital cable and other distrubitors like to say who is guests. These shows should have the ability to pull shows. It could greatly offend if this happened with a popular person. Classic episodes would be smart.

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Surely airing an older show would cause more of these situations? I think airing a few month old show, however annoying, is better to not have untimely jokes. There would be a lot of jokes in past shows that are insulting now.

I am all for seeing older shows but I can't imagine airing older reruns will help this cause.

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Oh please. So they aired jokes about a recently dead man. So what?! Jokes are supposed to offend people. That's what makes them funny.Sheesh. Get your panties out of those wads.

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Oh please, get real. It was a repeat and after what Ken Lay did do, I find it impossible to blame Letterman or the network for airing that show as it was planned long ago. The jokes didn't offend me and I think Ken Lay got off easy not paying jail time but left all that he stole to his family to live in confort. I agree...Lay is a weasel.

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Dead people have no rights. Maybe that sounds insensitive, but check your court records. You can't libel the dead. So if the first amendment protects making jokes while people are alive, and affords even less protection to people who are dead, who gives a damn when an episode gets aired, be it Mother Theresa or Ken Lay.

And, as others have pointed out, to whom are we to pay respects? Crack dealers and street pimps deserve more respect.

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One of the casualties of going HD is the ability to run older shows -- now that Letterman is in high def, I'm sure the suits at CBS have issued an edict to never re-run a non-HD show. This severely limits the shows available for reruns...

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Bob, your call to air older letterman shows makes no sense based on what you said. The older the show, the higher chance Letterman is making jokes about someone who has died. Obviously you want classic episodes but this is pretty thin. I don't see a problem here. It would be different if Letterman was making fun of the man right after he died, but he's not. I think most people are smart enough to distinguish between reruns and new shows.

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If they really cared as much as you say he should, he wouldn't have made the jokes in the first place.

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Agree with rest - you must be ultra sensitive or something. Ken Lay kept claiming a) he knew nothing and b) after being convicted of like 13 counts, claiming he was entirely 100% innocent. BTW, this was a company that manipulated CA energy prices by shutting down plants. Not sure if anyone died of heat stroke from not being able to afford electricity ...

Not sure why you'd defend this guy.

Even a sleazy politican at least has usually done something for his constituents at one point in his life - Ken Lay basically built a company of lies, cheated hundred/thousands of his own employees out of their retirement and claimed he knew nothing. He really doesn't deserve much sympathy so if dave re-runs a few old jokes, big whoop.

What reputation is there to protect?

I agree with you if it's someone like aaron Spelling, maybe easy to joke when alive but dead - he seemed like an honorable man and he cleared loved TV - most of his stars enjoyed working for him - so there, you're right - a dead person deserves some respect there but Ken Lay?

The only good thing is that Houston taxpapyers are spared the expemse of an appeal.

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I have to disagree. I like to think they had that episode in the can waiting until the day he died. The fact that he didn't spend a day in jail annoys the fuck out of me.

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Bob, please let me know if you're still alive. I'm tempted to make some jokes about your idiotic post, but I don't want to come off as insensitive.

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