Posts with tag JohnMccain
Posted Sep 5th 2008 1:01PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: News, Celebrities, Reality-Free
Now that the confetti has been swept away, all the balloons popped, and the St. Paul cops are stowing their riot gear, it's time to recall the surprisingly eventful Republican National Convention in Minnesota. Is it really only one week ago today that Senator John McCain pulled a rabbit out of his hat and introduced little-known Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate? She's not little-known anymore. In fact, the 2008 Republican Convention is forever more to be remembered for her ascent, whatever her future portends.
Here's some other thoughts from the TV coverage of the RNC:
Media matters Having the two political conventions back to back was a plus for the TV pros. All the mistakes from Denver were rectified in St. Paul. The MSNBC set ups avoided train stations and noise interruptions. Splitting up Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews worked better, with Olbermann as the point man throwing the coverage to the other news pros. And there was less bickering and fighting, at least compared to the week before.
Continue reading Thoughts on the Republican National Convention - VIDEOS
Posted Sep 2nd 2008 12:05PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Programming, Reality-Free
While the Republicans are gathering in St. Paul for their national convention to confirm the candidacy of Senator John McCain as presiden,t and Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate,
Turner Classic Movies is presenting a night of alternative politics.
The cable channel going to present five movies about politics, and if you want to see how the world of running for public office has changed in the 20th century, these films are a fantastic reflection of the times.
On Wednesday, September 3, starting at 8 PM ET, the night begins with
The Last Hurrah, and includes
The Candidate (10:15 PM),
The Best Man (12:15 AM),
Nashville (2 AM) and
The Dark Horse (1932).
Like I said, these pictures are all really interesting choices.
The Candidate, released in 1972, for instance, is not so different from today's campaign pitting Senator Barack Obama versus Senator John McCain.
It's a young candidate espousing change, up against an experienced, wizened establishment candidate. Robert Redford plays Bill McKay, the up and comer, while Don Porter is the popular, long-time incumbent senator. Check out these photos, because Porter even looks like McCain!
Continue reading If you like politics, check out TCM's Wednesday lineup
Posted Sep 1st 2008 5:25PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: News, Celebrities, TV Squad Lists, Reality-Free
Last Friday, Senator John McCain shocked the world by announcing that little-known Alaska Governor Sarah Palin was his choice as vice presidential candidate for the Republican party. If you were like me, you couldn't help but notice that Sarah Palin -- a very attractive, 44-year-old mother of five -- looked an awful lot like some familiar TV faces, like
30 Rock's Liz Lemon.
In fact, at least one Hollywood writer recognized in Sarah Palin's being plucked from virtual obscurity was like one of his creations. Rod Lurie, the writer/producer of
Commander in Chief, joked that he and
Gena Davis should be asking for royalties if Palin emerges as McCain's VEEP, especially if she becomes president like Davis's character did on that ABC drama series.
Here are the main TV characters that come to mind when you think about Palin:
Continue reading Palin comparison ... GOP VP choice looks like a bunch of TV characters
Posted Aug 29th 2008 3:38PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: News, Programming, Ratings, Reality-Free
The reviews from the political talking heads -- right and left -- have been mostly positive. The visuals were spectacular and riveting. History was made at Mile High Stadium in Denver last night when Senator Barack Obama accepted the nomination of the Democratic party as the first African-American presidential candidate. There were 80,000 people packed in the stadium, and
now Nielsen has determined that 38 million people tuned in to watch on TV.
How impressive is that number? It's
more than the opening ceremonies from the Beijing Olympics. It's also more than the 2008 Oscars and the finale of Fox's
American Idol.The networks cleared just one hour of prime time -- from 10-11 ET -- and the Democratic organizers made sure to present Obama's speech right in that slot, not drifting into the local late news.
Continue reading Obama's speech shatters Nielsen ratings
Posted Aug 5th 2008 5:21PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: News, Reality-Free
John McCain wanted ten town hall style debates with Barack Obama, but after 22 Democratic debates, Barack said, "Thanks, but no thanks." So now the Republican and Democratic presidential candidates will meet three times: two traditional, one-on-one debates with a single moderator for each, and one townhall-style session with questions from the crowd.
The Commission on Presidential Debates announced that
NBC's Tom Brokaw, PBS's Jim Lehrer, and CBS's Bob Schieffer will be the moderators, with Gwen Ifill, the host of PBS's
Washington Week handling the chores for the one vice presidential debate.
What's interesting here is that of the big three, ABC is not represented. Among the cable news crowd, Fox News and MSNBC were equally snubbed as was CNN.
I can't say why ABC was left out of the loop. However, George
Stephanopoulos and Charlie Gibson were both roundly criticized for their work on the Democratic debate they helmed.
Continue reading The presidential debate moderators are chosen
Posted Aug 4th 2008 6:23PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: News, Interviews, TCA Press Tour, Reality-Free
When I spoke to Keith Olbermann at the press tour a few weeks back, I mainly wanted to get his thoughts about the
comments that Fox News' Chris Wallace made earlier in the tour. Essentially, Wallace said that MSNBC isn't objective in its election coverage because they have commentators like Olbermann -- who are perceived to be "in the tank" for Barack Obama -- serve as anchors.
Olbermann's remarks in response were pointed, to say the least.
But while I had Keith poised in front of my voice recorder, I wanted to ask him some questions about the origin of his Special Comments, how he thinks people determine their perception of each of the news networks, and what it will be like to sit down and do highlights with his old
SportsCenter partner Dan Patrick on NBC's
Football Night in America. The remainder of the interview is after the jump; we pick up with Olbermann talking about Wallace's "In the tank" line.
Continue reading More from Keith Olbermann: Special comments, and reuniting with Dan Patrick
Posted Jul 18th 2008 5:26PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: News, TCA Press Tour, Reality-Free
After the executive session, it was CBS News' turn to face the critics and talk about their election coverage. Via satellite from their New York studios was
CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric,
Face the Nation moderator Bob Schieffer, senior political correspondent Jeff Greenfield, and CBS News and Sports president Sean McManus.
Right away, a reporter brought up Katie Couric's job status. "I'm glad you got right to it," Couric joked. "I thought [the speculation] had died down considerably." She said she "can't control what media writers write. We live in an echo chamber," with media reporters more fascinated by her status than the general public is. "The attention befuddles me," she continued. She's concentrating on doing "the best job I can."
Continue reading As far as Katie Couric knows, she's staying - TCA Report
Posted May 18th 2008 1:05PM by Annie Wu
Filed under: OpEd, Saturday Night Live, Celebrities, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S33E12) To ensure a strong season finale,
Saturday Night Live made a very smart choice to go with Steve Carell. He is an incredible comedic performer and his first hosting stint went pretty well, so I wasn't surprised to see him pull it off again this time around. Actually, this picture is from the first time Carell hosted
. Is it weird that I've had it sitting on my desktop since then? Yes, probably. Anyway, the material was better than some of the other episodes', with a few spectacular highlights, including the hilarious digital short.
Continue reading Saturday Night Live: Steve Carell/Usher (season finale) - VIDEOS
Posted May 8th 2008 9:47AM by Annie Wu
Filed under: OpEd, The Daily Show, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
"The Long Flat Seemingly Endless Bataan Death March to the White House": The Hillary Clinton camp decided to celebrate its win in the Indiana primary, despite the fact that it wasn't 100%. Clinton and Barack Obama also tried to be nice to each other, leaving the bitterness to the media. The Indiana primary saw a bit of controversy and the news networks, desperate for any bit of drama to spice up those seven hours of news time, jumped all over it.
Indiana's Lake County didn't turn in its results within the same time as the other voters. Naturally, "hanky panky" was suspected and the news anchors were
pissed. CNN's John King turned to the touchy screen for distraction. The choice of music under the footage made me laugh uncontrollably. Fact: On two hours of sleep,
The Daily Show is even funnier, but not necessarily on the best parts. The mayor fight sent me into a fit of giggles, if that's any indication of my fatigue.
Continue reading The Daily Show: May 7, 2008 - VIDEOS
Posted Mar 3rd 2008 10:02AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Late Night, Saturday Night Live, Watercooler Talk, Celebrities
It wasn't April 1st so it couldn't be April Fool's Day. It was March 1st. Still, there she was, presidential candidate Hillary Clinton saying those famous words, "Live from New York, It's
Saturday Night Live."
In an unannounced and potentially savvy political move,
Senator Hillary Clinton, appeared on the NBC late night comedy and showed that she can laugh at herself. This surprise appearance, coupled with her agreeing to be on Monday's
Daily Show with Jon Stewart, can only help her in Tuesday's primaries in Texas, Ohio, Rhode Island and Vermont. It's pretty much desperation time for the Clinton candidacy and if Hillary wants to make it to the Denver convention with a chance to beat Barack Obama, she must win Texas and Ohio -- the big states -- decisively.
Continue reading It's Hillary, Live from New York, on SNL
Posted Jan 22nd 2008 8:41AM by Annie Wu
Filed under: OpEd, The Daily Show, Episode Reviews
Jon kicked off the episode by running a few rounds of paper football. Not that I'm a big paper sports enthusiast, but I couldn't help but notice that he wasn't holding the football quite right. Jon, your story just doesn't add up. He then flubbed a gag with a toy robot, which was pretty precious, even though it didn't make much sense. What can I say? I like satirists and robots.
"Indecision 2008": The Democrats took on Nevada and the media took on the world's most cliche Las Vegas metaphors to cover Hillary Clinton's win. However, Jon had them all beat with his "bet on black" comment. Of course, Hillary's win was met with criticism and Bill Clinton defended her like he's already the First Laddie. And then that drew even
more criticism. So it goes.
Continue reading A Daily Show: January 21, 2008
Posted Sep 14th 2007 9:06AM by Annie Wu
Filed under: OpEd, The Daily Show, Episode Reviews
First off, Senator John McCain has changed his "Straight Talk Express" bus into the slightly more aggressive "
No Surrender" bus. As a good buddy of the show, he called in to talk about this change. McCain is such a sport to still do goofy spots on
Daily Show. I mean, I'm sure that, by now, he knows that it's pretty much a kiss of death to any campaign, but he doesn't seem to mind. Perhaps he just wanted to call in to talk about his "No Surrender" pussy wagon. Okay, he didn't call it that, but it'd be cool if he did. Give McCain some street cred with the younger crowd, yeah?
Continue reading The Daily Show: September 13, 2007
Posted Apr 25th 2007 11:22AM by Annie Wu
Filed under: OpEd, The Daily Show, Episode Reviews
"
Mess O' Potamac": Ahh, yes. I'm glad I wasn't the only one that felt extremely uncomfortable watching Nancy Pelosi pretend she didn't mind having Harry Reid's hand on her shoulder. The Bush vs. Bush debate was well-done.
The Daily Show has totally mastered the art of collecting video clips. That is the beauty of doing a faux news show, is it not? CNN wishes they had a time machine to do a debate between past- and present-Bush.
Continue reading The Daily Show: April 24, 2007
Posted Mar 1st 2007 12:36AM by Anna Johns
Filed under: CBS, Celebrities, Talk Show
Tonight, John McCain announced that he is running for president... on the
Late Show with David Letterman. McCain reminded Letterman that he had invited the Senator back to the show to announce his candidacy, so that's what he did. Although, McCain also pointed out that it's not his "formal" announcement, which he says he will make in April.
I was a little surprised McCain did it this way, instead of the old-fashioned way, but hey! It worked for Arnold Schwarzenegger (but not John Edwards). I can't help but wonder if he did it on Letterman to avoid questions from the press, just like many of the Democratic candidates did when they announced their candidacy on their webpages.
Interesting factoid: John McCain is now 70 years old. If he wins, he will be the oldest president ever sworn in for a first term. Reagan was 73 when he was sworn in for his second term.
Video is
here.
Posted Apr 5th 2006 9:19AM by Annie Wu
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Cable, Late Night, OpEd, The Daily Show
"
Delay: The
Inevitable": Big news! Big news! Tom "The Hammer" Delay has announced his resignation! Cue lots of
cheers and applause from the
Daily Show audience. That's right, Delay... no one likes you. Not since you stole
the Fonz's hairdo. And your lame reason for resignation ("Because I care so deeply about this district and the
people in it, I refuse to allow liberal Democrats an opportunity to steal this seat with a negative, personal
campaign") deserved nothing but sarcastic crying... which is what Jon heartily served up. Silly Delay.
Continue reading The Daily Show: April 4, 2006
Giveaways reminder: Office, Eli Stone, Supernatural, South Park
Giveaway Thursday: Tickets to the New York Television Festival ... all of it!
I miss the media-friendly John McCain - VIDEOS
