TVSquad

All this talk of Emmy snubs has overshadowed the biggest snub, numerically speaking: Real Time host and professional Ann Coulter wrangler Bill Maher.

The man has been nominated a staggering 21 times for his late night talk shows and stand-up comedy specials and never won a single award, as many as soap star Suan Lucci's 21 (although she finally did snag one).

That number will probably keep growing since his show faces some stiff competition for a little gold statue. And despite my (and your) personal approvals and disagreements with the man's various opinions and philosophies, it's time he got something for his work.

Oh boy, I can already hear the fast and furious fingers of fury from the peanut gallery typing out angry, fiery, spittle flinging comments as I write this. Before you take up the torches and the pitchforks, hear me out.

A lot of dissecting and exploratory surgery has been done on the jokes that David Letterman made about the Palin family. Even after Dave apologized and Palin accepted, people still want to perform a comedy autopsy to figure out what Dave's intent was and why Palin was so vocal in her reaction to it.

The problem is it's an unnecessary surgery and it fails to attack the root of the problem while the real cancer spreads like a California wildfire. E.B. White once said about such procedures that, "Analyzing humor is like dissecting a frog. Few people are interested and the frog dies of it." The only reason this frog hasn't died is because someone wants to keep it alive and no one has dared to touch the heart.

This is the side I will debate in the never-ending Letterman vs. Palin "Joke-gate" controversy while our very own John Scott Lewinski will offer a rebuttal later in the day that a public figure's children should always be off-limits.

Bill Maher recently brought up the tour-de-frump that is the Susan Boyle phenomenon on his HBO Real Time show, along with an interesting observation on her runaway success.

Now I'm not a regular watcher of these flashy Gong Show remakes like American Idol, America's Got Talent or America's Got Nothing Better To Do Than Watch This Crap, so maybe my opinion doesn't count in the court of reality show watchers. It seems to me that every few years or so, a phenomenon will bust out of one of these shows for reasons other than their ability to do whatever it is they do on these shows. These shows feed on humiliation like great white schadenfreude sharks.

Enter Mrs. Boyle, the "lovely Scottish troll with the voice of an angel," as Maher put it. But Maher feels her success is due to the unconscious guilt everyone secretly feels from watching these bottom-feeding talent shows.

I know I've been asking this question a lot, but what the hell is going on here? Have we entered the bizarro world? Is up now down? Has black become white? Did Dr. Sanja Gupta accept Barack Obama's offer to be the next U.S. surgeon general after Dr. Pepper turned him down?

Last week, we reported on Apple's refusal to include a new South Park iPhone app. The white hot anger could be felt from coast to coast. We here at TV Squad were worried that the uproar it could have caused could have landed us in "Enemy Combatant Land" for disturbing the peace and inciting a riot, which technically would be Apple's fault.

Then an interesting little story popped into my view that seemed to contradict the claims Apple had made and as always, television helped show me the way.

In recent weeks, TV Squad has reported that HBO has made episodes of their new drama series In Treatment available for free viewing online. Now, HBO has taken another step in expanding its brand and making some of their top shows available on the web. The cable channel has just inked a deal with YouTube to create an HBO channel online. The HBO/YouTube site is up and running -- you can click over there today and start catching up on HBO series.

The initial line up is impressive, starting with the Gabriel Byrne drama In Treatment. You can also catch up with Entourage episodes, which are always fun. There are more laughs with Flight of the Conchords, Extras, Stand Up Comedy, Def Comedy Jam, and Real Time With Bill Maher. On the dramatic front, there's The Wire. In addition, you can watch episodes of the award-winning magazine show Real Sports, as well as the Latino documentary series Habla y Habla.

• At 7, FOX has the first game of the Indians/Red Sox playoffs.
• At 8, ABC has a new 20/20, then the series premiere of Women's Murder Club and the season premiere of Men In Trees.
• CBS has a new Ghost Whisperer at 8, followed by new episodes of Moonlight and Numb3rs.
• NBC has new episodes of Deal Or No Deal, Friday Night Lights, and Las Vegas.
• The CW has a new Friday Night Smackdown at 8.
• There's a new NOW on PBS at 8, then new episodes of Washington Week and Bill Moyers Journal.
• At 9, Food Network has a new Paula's Party.
• Sci-Fi has a new Flash Gordon at 9, followed by a new Stargate Atlantis.
• Also at 9: TV Guide Network has Heroes: The Return, a behind the scenes look at the sci-fi show.
• At 10, TBS has the second game of the Rockies/Diamondbacks playoffs.
• E! has a new ep of The Soup at 10.
• At 11, HBO has a new Real Time with Bill Maher, with guests Vicente Fox, Joy Behar, Tucker Carlson, Paul Krugman, and Naomi Klein.

Check your local TV listings for more.

• At 8, FOX has a new Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader, then a new Nashville.
• The CW has a new Smackdown! at 8.
• PBS has a new NOW at 8, followed by new episodes of Washington Week, Bill Moyers Journal, and Expose.
• There's a new Cory in the House on Disney at 8, then a new Hannah Montana.
• The N has a new South of Nowhere at 8.
• Also at 8: Sci-Fi has a new Doctor Who, then a new Flash Gordon and the series finale of Painkiller Jane.
• At 8:30, Nickelodeon has a new Avatar: The Last Airbender.
• Animal Planet has a new Meerkat Manor at 8:30, followed by a new It's Me Or The Dog.
• At 9, Discovery has a new Survivorman.
• VH-1 has a new Best Week Ever at 9.
• At 10, E! has a new episode of The Soup.
• At 11, HBO has a new Real Time with Bill Maher.

Check your local TV listings for more.

My favorite part of Real Time With Bill Maher is the last segment, "New Rules." It's a segment devoted to looking at things a little bit differently, offering new rules for current events, celebrities, and politicians. Maher released a great book last year with the same title.

After the jump is a clip (from Salon) of the latest "New Rules" segment of the HBO Friday night show. It's entitled "Half-Cocked," and I would usually say to you that the clip is NSFW, but you can probably guess that from the title.

• At 8, NBC has a new 1 vs. 100, followed by a new Las Vegas.
• PBS has a new NOW at 8, then a new Washington Week.
• The CW has a new Smackdown! at 8.
• Sci-Fi has a Special Unit 2 marathon at 8.
• Also at 8: Fox Movie Channel has Tom Hanks in Big.
• At 9, CBS has a new Close To Home, then a new Numb3rs.
• TLC has a new What Not To Wear at 9.
• At 9:30, Food Network has a new Giada's Weekend Getaways, with the cook visiting Charleston, S.C.
• At 10, The History Channel has a new episode of Mail Call.
• At 11, HBO has a new Real Time With Bill Maher, with guests Roseanne Barr, Deepak Chopra, Dana Milbank, and David Kuo.

Check your local TV listings for more.

You can always count on Bill Maher to cut to the very heart of the matter. He's interviewed at Time.com about his new Amazon.com show, his politics, where he gets his daily news, and about whether or not Katie Couric will do a good job as the new anchor over at CBS (side note: someone should tell the folks over at Time's site that there is a "bold" function in most web programs):

Will you watch Katie Couric?

I think she'll probably read the teleprompter the same way the others did.

Ha!

[via TV Newser]