Barack Obama-related stories
Posted Jun 28th 2009 3:11PM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: The Daily Show, Reality-Free
All of you right-wingers who thought that
The Daily Show was going to become just another tool in a liberal executive branch's belt should take note of the following story.
And if having to read a newspaper other than
The Washington Times,
The New York Post or
The Daily American Patriot Commie Basher makes your eyes bleed, grab your Visine and suck it up. You need to read this.
An attorney for the state said the Obama administration did not want to release detail of an interview with
former VP Dick Cheney regarding the Valerie Plame leak because of fears that "it's going to end up on
The Daily Show."
Continue reading White House officially afraid of The Daily Show
Posted Jun 4th 2009 10:10AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: News, OpEd, Law and Order, Celebrities, Ratings, Reality-Free, Celebreality
If Jay Leno isn't the answer for NBC prime time, perhaps the network should think about booking President Obama. NBC News devoted two hours, on Tuesday and Wednesday night, for
Inside the Obama White House and the
ratings were strong. Better than the insipid
I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here, which acted as a lead-in. Of course the season finale of
Law & Order: SVU on Tuesday didn't hurt the news production.
Having watched the two hours, NBC should sign the president ASAP. There's always the curiosity factor when a viewer is being given access behind the scenes, and that's what
Inside the Obama White House did. It was a look at the real West Wing, which reminded me a lot of the fictional, Aaron Sorkin
West Wing creation, and that was quite cool. President Obama still fascinates me, and
it's well past 100 days.Continue reading NBC scores with Inside the Obama White House
Posted May 14th 2009 10:03AM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: Late Night, News, Reality-Free
Every year, C-SPAN looks forward to a sharp boost in ratings while the White House press secretary cringes towards a sharp drop in approval points in the long shadow of the annual White House Correspondents' Dinner.
It's a chance for the current administration to let their hair down and show everyone that they can take a good joke and stand some pointed criticism in the K-Street jungle. That should explain why the last Bush administration hired
Rich Little to do their show in '07.
Continue reading Sykes gives us a taste of her talk show, right cross
Posted May 6th 2009 12:03PM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: The Daily Show, Reality-Free
When Jon Stewart announced before a studio full of deafening cheers and Stephen Colbert's deafening silence that Barack Obama would become the 44th President of the United States, the show seemed to be in an interesting pickle.
Could the show be just as funny as it had been under an administration that didn't blur the line between setups and punchlines? Could Stewart and friends find the funny in a president who inspires more love and fear in people than a teddy bear with a switchblade?
So let's grade
The Daily Show's first 100 days under
socialism President Obama report card.
Continue reading The Daily Show's first 100 days under Obama
Posted Apr 15th 2009 6:07PM by Eliot Glazer
Filed under: OpEd, Video, Music and Variety, Short-Lived Shows, Children, Reality-Free
As a kid, my parents were totally cool with my television viewing habits, as long as it never became excessive or kept my face from being kissed by the light of day every once in a while. Not that they had anything to be worried about, of course, considering that all I was watching was
Nickelodeon.
While my fellow prepubescents were slowly but surely migrating to more grown-up programming on MTV (and Playboy, if you had a cable box), I spent the bulk of my time between 1992 and 1996 fully devoted to
Roundhouse, a 30-minute sketch show sandwiched between the more popular
Clarissa Explains It All and
Are You Afraid Of The Dark? on SNICK, Nickelodeon's Saturday night programming block.
Continue reading Reprise the theme song, roll the credits, and for the love of God, revive Roundhouse! - VIDEO
Posted Apr 14th 2009 9:04AM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Pickups and Renewals, Reality-Free
The network that brought you a movie based on the 2000 Presidential Election and would have brought you a movie based on the 2004 Presidential Election had it been more interesting is bringing you another one.
Variety reports that HBO Films has optioned the rights to a book based on the events of the 2008 Presidential Election for another made-for-TV movie. The book, "Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime," written by political writers Mark Halperin and John Heilemann, will be released later this year.
So will the movie, written by
Blood Diamond screenwriter Charles Leavitt, be fair and balanced? Will it give both sides equal time? I honestly could not care less. As long as it pisses off the Elizabeth Hasselbecks and Joy Behars of the world, that's fine with me.
Continue reading HBO is making a 2008 election film, but who will play whom?
Posted Mar 24th 2009 9:04AM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: News, Industry, OpEd, Reality-Free
The networks have been getting their
collective panties in a bunch over Barack Obama's need to go on television every time gravity starts to effect the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
They claim it not only screws up their schedule, but it also costs them millions in advertising revenue. Normally, I'd say that anything that keeps more advertising from pouring out of my TV and infecting my eyeballs with its sludge of persuasion (brought to you by the makers of the Gelatin of Ignorance and the Gas of Shame) is a good thing, but they do have a point.
And unlike most TV talking heads, past and current White House Chiefs of Staff or people who donated half of their brain to science (that last one may be a redundancy), there are two sides to every story. So here's a breakdown of the lovers and the haters of the Barack Obama TV brewhaha.
Continue reading Barack Obama's Presidential addresses ... who loves ya, baby?
Posted Mar 21st 2009 9:02AM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: News, Industry, Reality-Free
President Barack Obama wants to make another primetime address to the nation, but the networks are puking in their soup over it.
The White House has another address scheduled for Tuesday, and
the networks are raising holy hell over having to shift their schedules to make room for him.
Tuesday is a prime choice cut for the four major networks (five if you count the CW) and shows like
American Idol,
Bones and
The Biggest Loser are having to play musical chairs because of his address.
Continue reading Networks want Barack Obama to butt out
Posted Mar 20th 2009 8:44AM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Late Night, News, OpEd, Video, Watercooler Talk, Talk Show, Reality-Free
As I was watching President Obama chat with Jay Leno last night, one thought kept crossing my mind: how unusual it was to see a current president sitting in the same chair as David Spade. It's just odd and somewhat disconcerting to see the man who's the supposed leader of the free world engaging in lighthearted banter with Jay, and responding to the audience when it cheered or booed something. During the third segment, I almost expected to see the flat screen TV behind Jay pop up so they could show a clip from Obama's latest project.
And
that's why the appearance was so historic. It doesn't matter how many times a president goes on a talk show before or after he's in office; while in office, pretty much all interviews go to
him. It doesn't matter what show it is; it could be a Sunday morning issues show like
Meet The Press or a twinkie-fest like
Larry King Live. But in just about every case, the interviewer goes to wherever the president is and sits down with him for a quiet, reverent interview.
Continue reading Here's why Obama on The Tonight Show was so historic - VIDEO
Posted Mar 19th 2009 5:01PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: News, Programming, Reality-Free
I get that there's a lot going on, and normally I don't have a problem with the President coming on television to tell us what's up, but I think Obama is looking to get his own weekly show on all four major networks. And I'm sure Fox is just thrilled that he's been picking Tuesday's at 8/7 Central to speak. If you're going to interrupt our regularly scheduled programming, why not do it during the biggest show on television? Gives you the best chance of pissing off the largest number of people who didn't know
you were going to be on instead of Ryan Seacrest.
Now with the NCAA playoffs also starting this week, there was a big question as to how the networks were going to respond. Fox's
American Idol is a live show, so it's not like it can just be moved around the schedule without some prep work being done. That said, once again
Idol will be shifting both of its episodes back a day to accommodate the Presidential Address. Let's take a look at how the networks are responding to this sweeps interruption.
Continue reading The Barack Obama Show returns to television next Tuesday
Posted Mar 17th 2009 6:05PM by Hemal Jhaveri
Filed under: Programming, OpEd, Reality-Free
Slate's
John Dickerson is reporting that President Obama is considering a series of short, 10-minute length televised addresses to the nation about the state of the economy. Calling it Fireside Chat 2.0, the addresses are meant to reach and reassure viewers about the steps the government is taking to make sure our entire economy doesn't go down the toilet. Now, I'm all for open and transparent communication between the higher echelons of power and us proletariat masses, but please President Obama, stop pre-empting my shows!
Continue reading President Obama asks for more TV time
Posted Mar 16th 2009 1:04PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Late Night, Talk Show, Casting, Reality-Free
The Tonight Show is the top-rated nightly talk show, which is why NBC got creative to keep Jay Leno on the air. What it is not, though, is a show to tune into for good interviews. At best Jay is a giggling buffoon. At worst Jay is ... a giggling buffoon. So it should allow for pretty free reign to talk about whatever he wants when
President Obama appears on The Tonight Show this Thursday.
MSNBC says he'll talk about the economy. I know, right: That's some impressive journalism there. I was leaning toward comparing the tastes of the new Multi-Grain Big Rice Krispies and Marshmallow Rice Krispies. Personally, I think the former could use some of those marshmallows to soften the taste, but I'd really like the President's take on that.
Continue reading President Obama in for the toughest interview of his life ... Jay Leno?
Posted Mar 4th 2009 9:03AM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Industry, Pickups and Renewals, Reality-Free
Once again, people, I'm forced to asked the question, what the hell is going on here? Has black become white? Has up replaced down? Has Rush Limbaugh been saying he wishes Barack Obama all the best, while Janeane Garofalo is caught trying to start a fire in the White House rose garden?
The makers of
The Sarah Silverman Program have been
in a standoff with Comedy Central over their latest budget negotiations. Thankfully, a deal was reached and the show will return for another season, but the deal was even bigger than the budget they called into question.
Well, no one ever said you had to be good at math to run a major network, or any of the other basic requirements for passing standardized testing, for that matter. Fred Silverman's parents, for instance, had to hire their boy a special tutor so he could pass finger painting.
Continue reading Sarah Silverman gets saved by 'gay TV channel'
Posted Jan 27th 2009 7:02PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: News, Industry, OpEd, HDTV, Cable/Satellite, Watercooler Talk, Hardware, Reality-Free
Yesterday, the U.S. Senate followed President Obama's recommendation and approved a
delay in the digital TV transition date from February 17 to to June 12. If a similar measure passes in the House, then we all know what that means: four more months of DTV transition ads! Woo hoo!
Seriously, though, will it matter if the transition date is February, June, or sometime in Obama's second administration? At this point, even the most casual observer has figured out that the transition hasn't been communicated very well to the American public. People who have cable or satellite still think that they need to buy a new HDTV or
upgrade to digital cable in order to be compliant with the conversion, people who got discount coupons for converters early on have found that
the coupons have expired and they can't get more, and the people who
have converted are being surprised that some weak stations won't come in due to the "
digital cliff effect."
Continue reading Will more time make the digital TV transition any easier?
Posted Jan 22nd 2009 2:08PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: News, Celebrities, Reality-Free
When is an exclusive not an exclusive? No, it's not a riddle. The answer is simple -- when everybody has the very same story or image or film. ABC had acquired the exclusive broadcast of President
Barack Obama's first dance with Michelle at the
Neighborhood Ball: An Inauguration Celebration, which was the first ball that the new First Couple attended.
With Grammy-winner Beyonce singing "At Last" just for them, the two danced alone together on stage. However,
ABC's first dance exclusive ended up on other networks.
Continue reading ABC squeals about Obamas' first dance
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