Fox and MSNBC have been attacking each other with more frequency (but probably less violently) than the Black Spy and the White Spy, and one of their main forms of ammunition have been their respective ratings.
So naturally 'Countdown', hosted by the rather large (both in stature and physical size) talking head Keith Olbermann, had to respond to a report that appeared in the New York Post's "Page Six" column claiming that his show is one baboon hair away from cancellation hell.
Bill O'Reilly wrapped up the final portion of his interview with Jon Stewart on last night's 'O'Reilly Factor' and if you tuned in hoping for a night of hilariousness, well...you still got it. But this time, you got it from the right person.
Jon Stewart, the host of Comedy Central's 'The Daily Show', kept his trademark charm and wit at high volume during the third and final portion of their edited interview, even though the tone and substance of their discussion got a lot more serious.
And thankfully, O'Reilly put down his red nose and took off his clown make-up for this portion of the interview. As Joel mentioned yesterday, O'Reilly is painful to watch when he tries to be funny. Screw waterboarding; the NSA should have hired him as the emcee for their interrogations.
As part of his never-ending quest to make himself the news, the "Culture Warrior" has lobbed another fireball on the world of popular culture. This time it's Law & Order SVU creator Dick Wolf, because the show mentioned him.
This week's episode, titled "Anchor," featured a character who kills children birthed by illegal immigrants in America. His attorney, played by John Laroquette, fashions a defense that the TV and radio talking heads who rail against illegal immigrants are responsible for his actions. He even puts one on the stand, played by Bruce McGill, who seems to be channeling a Warner Bros. cartoon version of Lou Dobbs.
The attorney mentions O'Reilly by name, along with Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck, as a "cancer spreading ignorance and hate." O'Reilly not only ripped Wolf a new one for working him into his show, but also brought in fellow pundit Laura Ingraham who frankly seemed more upset that she wasn't one of the name smeared in the episode like a jilted prom queen who only scores "Miss Congeniality". Well, darling, there's always Criminal Minds.
There's a joke that runs around journalism circles that people who seek a career in the printer's ink arts do so because they are horrible at math. Believe me, I'm no exception and I usually understand when a reporter or journalism scribe messes up the numbers in his or her addition. (That's the one with the cross, right?)
The reporting company not only refuted the faulty statistics but called it a "stupid deception." The actual poll had smaller figures that mirrored the same outcome but also included a fifteen percent "undecided" group the network somehow lumped and inflated into this poll. This kind of thing wouldn't happen if Fox simply allowed their fact checkers to wear sandals to work.
Remember the brouhaha with Sesame Street over their alleged swipe at Fox News? Sesame Street has officially extended an olive branch.
Sherrie Westin, executive vice president of the Sesame Workshop, appeared on The O'Reilly Factor to explain the "Pox News" joke and unveil a new character that pays homage to "Papa Bear" as part of the show's long-standing Grouch journalism homages. Just so there's no confusion, the new Sesame Street character is the guy in the suit on the left, not the right, I think.
Who doesn't love Thanksgiving? I'll be enjoying mine with all the usual staples: turkey, cranberries, cornbread stuffing, some weird brown thing my father attempted to make and my Mom's mind-numbingly good meliton dressing. I'm literally chomping at the bit to take that first of 227 bites of homemade turkey. I've gone through three remotes in the last hour.
But I have to come up with something to do after all the food has been ravenously devoured by that wolf pack I call my family. And rather than list 100 reasons for regretting life (because 99 of them would be "Why did I eat that?"), here some things I have to be thankful for instead.
If you're playing a TV news drinking game wherein you and your dumb little buddies have to do a shot every time someone posts fake footage or film for a story, you might want to think about switching to Tang.
Now MSNBC's Morning Meeting has been caught dipping their hand in the Photoshopping jar when they aired rather obvious fake photos of Sarah Palin while doing a diss-session on the former VP candidate and her never ending book tour. Seriously, why is there this much coverage over one book? Even The Never Ending Story has an ending.
Dylan Ratigan issued an official apology to the viewers, Palin and her family for "mistakenly" using the doctored images. He also said he and the network took the weekend to ensure this would not happen again. I guess that means there's one less email forwarding fratboy on MSNBC's research payroll now.
Remember the old saying, "Fool me once (awkward pause), shame on (another awkward pause), shame on you (another longer and more awkward pause). Fool me, we can't get fooled again"?
Less than a week after Fox News host and conservative pundit Sean Hannity apologized for accidentally using the wrong footage from Glenn Beck's "9/12 Rally" as footage for Rep. Michelle Bachmann's "Super Bowl of Freedom" rally, the network used the wrong footage in another story. This time, they used the wrong footage for a story on the "crowds" that showed up during Sarah Palin's book tour.
Think Progress, a blog created by the liberal think tank the Center for American Progress, discovered the footage. The dead giveaway was the "Country First" campaign signs indicating the footage was taken during Palin's campaign run with John McCain back in 2008. The network called the clip mix-up a mistake and issued another apology. Hold on, are we sure that they aired the right apology this time?
First there was the Lincoln-Douglas debate. Then came the Nixon-Kennedy debate. Now Fox News' Geraldo Rivera continues that great American tradition of the public debate with the Cheech and Chong-Coulter debate.
It might sound like the world's most lopsided episode of Celebrity Deathmatch, but the world's most famous pot comedy duo squared off against the famed conservative pundit on Rivera's "Geraldo at Large" show recently to discuss the opening of the country's first cannibus club in Portland, Oregon and the legalization of marijuana. Despite the craziness of the casting, they actually have a very frank, civilized and enlightening discussion on the subject.
It looks as though Lou Dobbs has picked up another spot on another cable news network. This time, he's not the interviewer. He's the interviewee.
Dobbs will appear as a guest on Monday's episode of The O'Reilly Factor where host Bill O'Reilly will grill the former CNN talking head on his sudden departure from his previous employer, his future career options and his never-ending quest to battle the invading armies of the Mexican empire aka illegal-immigrants.
Of course, the timing could not be worse. His appearance should only "fuel speculation" that Dobbs has scored a job at the Fox News Channel. The network's PR team continued to deny such speculation, something they'll continue to do until he scores a job at the Fox News Channel.
Sit a kid in front of a TV for an hour a day and a parent is bound to find something that offends them, other than the fact that plopping impressionable minds in front of a TV unsupervised is considered "good parenting."
Sesame Street is no stranger to controversy. Critics, cynics and crybabies have called out the show on everything from questionable behavior to the ambiguous situations...of puppets. Of course, all of these complaints and cackling criticisms just scratch the surface of a much bigger issue that has largely gone unaddressed: the total loss of our sanity and grasp on reality.
So as we look back at the last 40 years of television's greatest children's show, we see some speed bumps along the way. These are the ones that caused the greatest loss of tire pressure.
Poor Oscar the Grouch. Not even PBS' ombudsman will cut him a break. No wonder he's so grouchy. Well that and he lives in a garbage can. That would make me more than a little perturbed.
A clip of a two-year episode of Sesame Street popped up on YouTube thanks to conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart's on his Big Hollywood blog in which Grundgetta, Oscar's girlfriend, makes a crack about "POX News" that sounds very close to "FOX News." PBS' ombudsman Michael Getler said while the name could be construed as a "clever and appropriate title" to the "Grouch News Network," the joke about the reference "should have been resisted.
I was shocked when I saw it. Oscar the Grouch has a frigging girlfriend?!?
The other day, Fox News newsman Shepard Smith announced on his Facebook page that something "crazy" would be going down on his show. Just what kind of crazy are we talking about? A monkey wearing a Napoleon hat crazy? Putting two bananas in your ears and barking like a walrus crazy? TiVoing Brothers crazy?
He never officially confirmed just what the "crazy" thing would be, but I wonder if this is it. Smith, the Fox News Channel's equivalent of Edward R. Murrow, issued an official apology for his network's (and I'm actually quoting) "lack of balance."
The "lack of balance" in question referred to Fox correspondent Shannon Bream, who conducted an interview with Republican candidate for New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, but failed to nail down his Democratic opposition Jon Corzine. Smith said he didn't know the candidate wasn't interviewed and that "If I had control, it wouldn't have happened." Quick, someone check The Weather Channel for Hell's temperature and five-day forecast!
If your town wants to honor Glenn Beck with his own day, you better check the cushions in the couch for change and start taking up a collection.
The mayor of Mount Vernon, Wash. recently gave Glenn Beck his own day, and the taxpayers will now have to fork over more than $17,000, most of which was for police overtime.
Where are the teabaggers when you actually need them to protest unfair taxation without representation?
It's official, "pulling a Letterman" means sleeping with a co-worker. Why? Because I said so.
It seems that ABC's late night host Jimmy Kimmel has been in a relationship with a member of his staff as well. This time, the host has been dating the show's head writer Molly McNeary for "several months."
This forced Fox News to pose the question if Kimmel is "pulling a Letterman" and ask if he should be forced to apologize on the air to Ben Affleck. That normally would be hilarious if Fox News didn't handle all of their news with the same level of integrity and tact.
And yes, I'm jealous they came up with that line first.
Who doesn't love Thanksgiving? I'll be enjoying mine with all the usual staples: turkey, cranberries, cornbread stuffing, some weird brown thing my father attempted to make and my Mom's mind-numbingly good meliton dressing. I'm literally chomping at the bit to take that first of 227 bites of homemade turkey. I've gone through three remotes in the last hour. 
It looks as though Lou Dobbs has picked up another spot on another cable news network. This time, he's not the interviewer. He's the interviewee. 
Sit a kid in front of a TV for an hour a day and a parent is bound to find something that offends them, other than the fact that plopping impressionable minds in front of a TV unsupervised is considered "good parenting."
The other day, Fox News newsman Shepard Smith announced on his Facebook page that something "crazy" would be going down on his show. Just what kind of crazy are we talking about? A monkey wearing a Napoleon hat crazy? Putting two bananas in your ears and barking like a walrus crazy? TiVoing Brothers crazy? 
If your town wants to honor Glenn Beck with his own day, you better check the cushions in the couch for change and start taking up a collection. 
It's official, "pulling a Letterman" means sleeping with a co-worker. Why? Because I said so. 
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