TVSquad

Bill Maher has never really been one to take the easy road. He could have been a nice safe comedian, getting the occasional movie role, guesting on a sitcom here and there, keeping his more controversial opinions private. But for whatever reason, he chose to tell the world exactly what he thinks. And he's been fortunate enough to keep finding broadcast partners that will let him do just that. I say, more power to Bill.

Of course, not everyone agrees with me. Bill's recent comments comparing the Catholic Church to the polygamist compound in Texas has a whole lot of Catholic panties in a bunch. So much so that there is now a site with the goal of getting him fired, the aptly titled Fire Bill Maher. It's not nearly as fun as God Hates Shrimp. They would like everyone to cancel HBO until Bill is fired. I really wanted to join in, but there are just too many boobs on HBO. And like my grandma always said, "Always side with the boobs." Video of Bill's allegedly offensive remarks after the jump.

[via bumpshack ]

• At 7, Cartoon Network has a new episode of their first live-action show, Out of Jimmy's Head (repeated at 8:30).
• 8, FOX has a new Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader, then the premiere of Nashville.
• PBS has a new NOW at 8, followed by new episodes of Washington Week, Bill Moyers Journal, and Expose America.
• The CW has a new Smackdown! at 8.
• Animal Planet has a new Meerkat Manor at 8:30.
• At 9, USA has the season finale of Monk, then the season finale of Psych.
• Sci-Fi has a new Doctor Who at 9, then new episodes of Flash Gordon and Painkiller Jane.
• Food Network has a new Paula's Party at 9
• There's a new Survivorman at 9 on Discovery.
• Also at 9: VH-1 has a new Best Week Ever.
• At 10, ABC has a new 20/20.
• E! has a new episode of The Soup at 10.
• At 11, HBO has a new Real Time with Bill Maher, with guests Drew Carey, Carl Bernstein, and Rep. Jan Schakowsky.

Check your local TV listings for more.

• At 8, ABC has a new Set For Life.
• NBC has the Miss Teen USA Pageant at 8.
• PBS has a new NOW at 8, then a new Washington Week.
• There's a new Smackdown! on The CW at 8.
• Nickelodeon has a new Danny Phantom at 8.
• Also at 8: TCM has Bedtime For Bonzo.
• At 8:30, Animal Planet has a new Meerkat Manor.
• At 9, USA has a new Monk, followed by a new Psych.
• Discovery has a new Survivorman at 9.
• CMTV has a new Ty Murray's Celebrity Bull Riding Challenge at 9.
• At 11, HBO has the season premiere of Real Time With Bill Maher with guests Mike Huckabee, Tim Robbins and Stephen Hayes.
• At 12:30am, ESPN2 has a woman's semifinal match from the Pilot Pen Tennis Tournament.

Check your local TV listings for more.

Larry Charles, director of Borat and a writer and producer for Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm, is teaming up with comedian Bill Maher (HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher) for a new film about God and religion. Their goal: make it funny.

To quote Variety, quoting Maher: "this movie will make you laugh so hard you'll pray for it to stop."

Maher and Charles traveled throughout the Middle East, interviewing people to try and find humor amongst the tragedy. It was undoubtedly a rough undertaking, but the result was hundreds of hours of footage that Maher and Charles are currently paring down to a feature-length film.

• At 8, The CW has a new Smackdown!
• TMC has more John Wayne movies starting at 8: Big Jake, then The Cowboys.
• HGTV has a new 24 Hour Design at 9, followed by new episodes of Curb Appeal and House Hunters.
• At 9, ABC has a new National Bingo Night, followed by a new 20/20.
• TLC has a new What Not To Wear at 9.
• At 10:30, AMC has The World Stunt Awards.
• At 11, HBO has a new Real Time with Bill Maher, with guests Ben Affleck, Michael Moore, Rep. Ron Paul, and P.J. O'Rourke.

Check your local TV listings for more.

• At 8, CBS has the special That's The Way It Is: Cronkite at 90, then another special with the horrible Dr. Phil, Caged?
• PBS has a new NOW at 8, then new episodes of Washington Week and Bill Moyers Journal.
• The CW has a new Smackdown! at 8.
• TNT has an NBA playoff game at 8.
• At 9, ABC has - are you ready? - the premiere of National Bingo Night.
• Larry King interviews Hugh Hefner on CNN at 9.
• G4 has a new X-Play at 9, focusing on Star Wars.
• At 10, CBS has the season finale of Numb3rs.
• HGTV has a new House Hunters at 10.
• At 11, HBO has a new Real Time with Bill Maher, with guests Bradley Whitford, Senator Chris Dodd, Rep. Loretta Sanchez, and Russell Simmons.

Check your local TV listings for more.

• At 8, CBS has a new Ghost Whisperer, a new Close To Home (both season finales) and a new Numb3rs.
• NBC has a new, two-hour Dateline at 8, then a new Law and Order.
• There's a new Smackdown! on The CW at 8.
• PBS has a new NOW at 8, then new episodes of Washington Week and Bill Moyers Journal.
• TLC has a new Trading Spaces at 8.
• Also at 8: Sci-Fi has new episodes of Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis, and Painkiller Jane.
• At 9, ABC has a new, two-hour 20/20.
• At 11, IFC has a new Henry Rollins Show, with guests Luke and Andrew Wilson and Chris Cornell.
• HBO has a new Real Time with Bill Maher, with guests Paula Poundstone, Arianna Huffington, Frank Luntz, and David Talbot.

Check your local TV listings for more.

• At 8, CBS has a new Ghost Whisperer, followed by new episodes of Close To Home and Numb3rs.
• NBC has a new Identity at 8, then new episodes of Raines and Law and Order.
• PBS has a new NOW at 8, then a new Washington Week.
• There's a new Smackdown! on The CW at 8.
• At 9, ABC has a new Six Degrees, followed by a new 20/20.
• FOX has a new episode of The Wedding Bells at 9.
• TLC has a new What Not To Wear at 9.
• At 9:30, Food Network has a new Giada's Weekend Getaways (in Chicago), then a new Paula's Party.
• At 10, Comedy Central has two new episodes of Comedy Central Presents, with Ian Bagg and Josh Sneed.
• At 11, HBO has a new Real Time With Bill Maher, with guests D.L. Hughley, Madeleine Albright, and Michael Smerconish.

Check your local TV listings for more.

• At 8, PBS has a new NOW, followed by a new Washington Week.
• NBC has a new 1 vs. 100 at 8, then the return of Identity.
• CBS has March Madness all night.
• The CW has a new Smackdown! at 8.
• AMC has Cool Hand Luke at 8, with Paul Newman.
• Also at 8: HBO has a marathon of new episodes of Addiction.
• At 9, FOX has a new episode of The Wedding Bells.
• TLC has a new What Not To Wear at 9.
• At 9:30, Food Network has a new Giada's Weekend Getaways (in Napa/Sonoma), then a new ep of Paula's Party.
• At 10, ABC has new 20/20.
• A&E has a new Intervention at 10.
• At 11, HBO has a new Real Time With Bill Maher, with guests Jason Alexander, Chris Rock, Dan Rather, Martha Raddatz, and former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee.

Check your local TV listings for more.

Bill Maher appeared at the TCA to tease the upcoming fifth season of Real Time with Bill Maher (that's already four Bill Maher mentions between the headline and this -- I hope the check's in the mail). He let us know that he wishes (hopes?) that he could get Bill or Hillary Clinton as a guest, and that they have trouble getting a lot of conservatives to appear because, "most of them are in bed by 8PM on a Friday night, getting ready for church."

Real With Bill Maher (*cha-ching*) premieres on February 16th.

Quotes from Bill:

• "Truth is like sex. It's best when it's a little painful."
• "HBO pays me the same whether I listen to the guests or not. It's all: bullshit, bullshit, bullshit -- my line."
• "Fox News hates us, for good reason, I make fun of them a lot ... and for good reason, they suck."

I have a love/hate relationship with that freeSpeech (yeah, that's the spelling CBS seems to like to use so I'll use it too) segment on The CBS Evening News. I think it's an interesting idea, but it has several things wrong with it. First, the topics are usually things that everyone can agree with and aren't really counter to anything. Then we had the revelation from Bill Maher that he wanted to do something controversial on religion, and they kinda balked. And lately I've been seeing freeSpeech segments with Bob Schieffer, who is a CBS newsman and the former host of the show. Huh? Are they not getting enough people who want to talk on TV? I doubt that. And just last week a freeSpeech segment featured Katie Couric interviewing Senator John McCain. Again, huh?

Still, it's a good idea. Tonight might be interesting: TV Newser is reporting that FOX News' Sean Hannity will be giving his viewpoint.

I guess I could just devote my evenings to MyNetworkTV's telenovas but that would be too easy. From the NFL, to New Caprica, Star's Hollow, the Sunset strip, Rockefeller Plaza, and west Baltimore, here's where I expect to park my butt this fall season:

Sunday
5:15 pm (West Coast) Sunday Night Football (NBC). John Madden.

10 pm The Wire (HBO). The best ... blah blah blah, etc. (Actually, I'll most likely catch these earlier in the week On Demand.)

This sounds good... but then it gets weird. Amazon is creating original programming on its website in the form of a talk show, hosted by comedian Bill Maher. The 30-minute program will open in traditional talk show format, with a monologue by Maher and then an interview with a guest or a performance from a musical group. All the featured acts will have something up for sale on Amazon.com. Now, here's where it goes downhill. Bill Maher is known for his political humor, but, according to the New York Times, Amazon has asked him to steer clear of politics in his weekly monologues. Why get Bill Maher, then? What on earth will the man talk about?