StephenColbert-related stories
Posted Nov 12th 2009 11:01AM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: Children, TV Squad Lists, Reality-Free
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.
Continue reading Sesame Street's 40th: Five biggest controversies
Posted Oct 15th 2009 9:33AM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: Industry, Reality-Free
One of television's oldest and most powerful names is about to get a little less powerful.
Media mogul
Sumner Redstone is selling nearly $1 billion shares of CBS and Viacom to pay off a big portion of his debt to preserve his media empire. He owes nearly $1.46 billion and has to pay at least $500,000 of it by the end of October. Maybe he's got some used DVDs he can sell at his local Gamestop.
Of course, he'll still maintaining "controlling interest" in both companies but it won't feel the same. Now, no one will have enough power to make media bigheads like Stephen Colbert (literally) dance.
Posted Aug 27th 2009 12:05PM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Industry, The Daily Show, Commercials, Reality-Free
We often hear the phrase "die hard fan," but who is actually willing to "die hard" for the thing they care most about?
If you believe in statistics, that honor would go to fans of Comedy Central.
A recent study conducted by a research group found that fans of the long-running cable network have
the most dedicated fan base. Plus, those polled think people who watch
The Colbert Report and
The Daily Show are "cool." Are the kids these days still saying "cool"? My, where has all the time gone?
Continue reading Comedy Central fans would take a bullet for their network
Posted Jul 4th 2009 3:10PM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Other Comedy Shows, OpEd, TV Squad Lists, Reality-Free, Star Trek: Original Series, Burn Notice
There are a lot of really horrible things that have put America on the map: Jerry Springer, our ability to infuse anything edible with cheese, the fact that we're probably working on infusing something inedible with cheese.
Guns, however, shouldn't be one of them. The Second Amendment stands as one of many great testaments to the idea of freedom that our forefathers envisioned for their people. They felt a government should trust their people with great responsibility if they truly believed in the concept of freedom and democracy.
Sure, if they came to the present and saw that we primarily use that responsibility for hunting moose from helicopters and negotiating with the Domino's guy they might take it right back, but the idea is what's important.
So to celebrate one of America's latest of many birthday to come because fireworks are technically illegal in my neck of the woods, here are your TV's seven greatest guns.
Continue reading Seven greatest hand cannons in TV history
Posted Jul 1st 2009 8:25AM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: News, Web, Celebrities, Reality-Free
Keith Olbermann! Come on down! You're the next TV celebrity whose death has been falsely reported on the Internet!
The MSNBC Countdown's Wikipedia page reported he had died earlier this morning, possibly due to complications from celiac disease.
I sent emails to two networks officials to confirm this jarring claim. Jeremy Gaines, MSNBC's vice president of communications, responded that he is certain the entry is a "hoax" and that he and other network officials were working to correct it. The section on Olbermann's death has since been removed from the page.
Continue reading Exclusive! Keith Olbermann is not dead
Posted Jun 13th 2009 5:30PM by Annie Wu
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, TV on DVD, OpEd, Reality-Free
This installment of
Sketch Comedy Saturday is less about you pining for new episodes of
Saturday Night Live and more about me having an excuse to use this old image of Stephen Colbert with a puppy. It makes me sick, it's so adorable. Unfortunately,
The Dana Carvey Show wasn't just twenty-some minutes of Mr. Colbert nonchalantly holding baby animals, but it was still a pretty funny program.
Continue reading Sketch Comedy Saturday: The Dana Carvey Show
Posted Jun 7th 2009 9:05PM by Annie Wu
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Celebrities, Reality-Free
As most of you know by now, Stephen Colbert is taking his show on the road again and this time, the
Colbert Report is going to Baghdad. It's certainly a far cry from his first
TCR outside of New York, that week in Philadelphia way back in April of last year (check it out,
I was there). The troops and the casual viewers at home will definitely be in for a treat.
Something I certainly was not expecting out of this trip was a new look for Mr. Colbert. Sure, he was bound to incorporate some camo to get into the spirit of things, but I was expecting maybe, like, a tie or a playful lapel pin. But no. As we can see from this video, Mr. Colbert is hardcore enough to bypass the semi-patriotic accessories and get a full-on buzzcut.
Continue reading Yes, this is newsworthy: Stephen Colbert gets a buzz cut
Posted Jun 6th 2009 1:02PM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Standout Episodes, Reality-Free
The time and nation that Stephen Colbert couldn't reveal where he is taking his show has been revealed. And because elite Army ninjas have not sneaked into his studio and whisked him away to an interrogation room for breaking the military code of silence, it's been confirmed by the network.
Stephen Colbert is taking his
Colbert Report to Baghdad for the troops next week. The network claims this is the first time the USO has brought a television show into a combat area for a week of shows, if you don't count, say, the news.
Colbert has landed in Baghdad and underwent some basic military training to prepare for his visit to the region at Camp Victory, the former home of Saddam Hussein's Al-Faw Palace. That alone should provide hours of hilarious material for the show. But there's more going on than just producing something to keep you entertained during your post-work Kraft dinner.
Continue reading Comedy Central reveals they are sending Stephen Colbert to Baghdad
Posted Jun 3rd 2009 4:36PM by Nick Zaino
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, OpEd, Reality-Free
The New York Observer is reporting that
Stephen Colbert will guest edit the June 8 edition of
Newsweek. According to the Observer, the idea came from a lunch between
Newsweek editor Jon Meacham (who has been a guest on
The Colbert Report) and Colbert, in which Meacham was impressed by Colbert's knowledge of current events.
The stories themselves will be treated seriously, as they would in any other issue, but Colbert gets to play in the margins, editing contributor bios, writing an essay, and annotating different stories. Which should make next week's issue look something like the magazine version of
The Daily Show's faux text book
America.
The Observer quotes Colbert as saying, "I'm confident we'll have mixed results! I want to be apart [sic] of that proud tradition!" and cites a few other guest editor ventures gone wrong. I wonder about the timing of it.
Newsweek launched a complete redesign three issues ago, trying to re-conceptualize the newsweekly's place in the age of instant news.
Continue reading Stephen Colbert to guest edit Newsweek
Posted Apr 13th 2009 1:26PM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Celebrities, Reality-Free
An open letter to the folks at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration:
You have done some mighty fine things over the years. You've put a man not just in space, but on the moon. You've invented devices that have reached the farthest corners of space (some haven't made it back, but that's another letter). You invented Tang.
Technically, that's about it, at least if you don't count
the hilarious, million dollar mistakes that have provided wonks like me with hours of depressing entertainment. But that leads me to my point.
Continue reading In space, no one can hear you vote
Posted Mar 11th 2009 9:16AM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: OpEd, Celebrities, Reality-Free
He's already had an ice cream flavor and a hockey team mascot named after him (among other things), now the host of
The Colbert Report, Stephen Colbert, is shooting for the stars and trying to get a
section of the international space station named after him.
Colbert has a remarkable ability to create controversy, the best example being his speech at the 2006 White House Correspondents Dinner. With the exception of the aforementioned, all his controversy doesn't seem to be very controversial. It's as if, with the exception of the previous administration and their acolytes, everyone gets the joke.
In all likelihood, this will lead to nothing since the small print of NASA's web site says that they have the right to overturn the voting results. But we can dream.
I just wonder if the section he's trying to get named after himself is, in fact, the toilet facilities. That would be irony at its finest.
Posted Feb 26th 2009 12:03PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Late Night, Industry, OpEd, Talk Show, Reality-Free
Remember when, as all the late-night shows came back during last year's writers' strike, Jay Leno mentioned on the air that he was writing his own
monologue jokes? As you might expect,
that didn't sit well with the rank-and-file of the WGA, but the guild decided to ruminate on it because a) he was very supportive of the union at the beginning of the strike and b) it's Jay Leno.
Apparently, though, the union has had a change of heart.
The Tonight Show's outgoing host has been
called to testify to the union's trial committee on charges that he violated the terms of the strike by writing for himself. Both Leno and NBC claim that there was language in the strike terms that said performers could write for themselves, even if they were guild members like Leno. The union, however, disagrees.
Continue reading Leno gets questioned by the WGA
Posted Jan 6th 2009 6:02PM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, News, The Daily Show, Celebrities, Reality-Free
If you're anything like me (first of all, you have my deepest sympathy), you haven't been able to sit still since
The Daily Show and
The Colbert Report went off the air for the holidays. It also may be because my body has absorbed more sugary fat from the holidays than one of Tyler Durden's homemade soaps.
Both shows returned to the airwaves Monday with new episodes. Both also had cable news celebrity cameos so big, no lightning fast news ticker announcing an accidental nuclear missile launch could draw your attention away from them.
The Daily Show returned with another appearance by CNN's gray-haired uber-anchor Anderson Cooper and an interesting interview with new
Meet the Press moderator David Gregory.
The Colbert Report picked up former
Hannity and Colmes pushover Alan Colmes and wound things up with an interview with CNN reporter John King.
Continue reading Stewart, Colbert return from Vacationland with a cornucopia of cable news cameos - VIDEOS
Posted Jan 6th 2009 1:26PM by Annie Wu
Filed under: OpEd, TV Squad Lists, Reality-Free
BEST
Summer Heights High: Including this Australian show from 2007 is only kind of, sort of cheating because it premiered in America (HBO) this year. Ha! Loophole! Anyway, this show was a great discovery and it's worth a look if you're into mockumentaries. Chris Lilley's performance(s) were hilarious and I am not ashamed to admit I still get "Naughty Girl" stuck in my head every once in a while.
Continue reading Best and Worst of 2008: Annie's List
Posted Dec 24th 2008 12:03PM by Jay Black
Filed under: OpEd, Festivus, TV 101, Reality-Free
If there's one universal among TV Christmas specials it's this: they all seem to want to tell you what the "true" meaning of Christmas is. There are so many specials trying to explain the true meaning of Christmas, it actually makes you wonder if the power of TV to influence has been exaggerated. I mean, you'd think after watching approximately eleventy-five billion hours of holiday programming, we'd have gotten the point already.
Perhaps the reason why America continues to view Christmas less as a time for spiritual reflection than as one for reindeer sweaters, crass consumerism, and suicide contemplation is because our Christmas specials aren't really sending the messages that they claim to be. Sure, on the surface we're told about "peace on earth and goodwill to men, blah blah blah", but there's a bubbling subtext in these specials if you only look hard enough.
I've decided to put my New Jersey state college English degree to good use and break down what Christmas specials are
really saying...
Continue reading TV 101: The true meaning of TV Christmas specials (OR: You're a mean one, Mr. Black)
Next Page >
The TV Squad Podcast: The Prisoner, '80s TV, soap news and more
Let's talk about spoilers ...
The Prisoner -- An early look
