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.
My first thought whenever O'Reilly visits The View is Joy Behar. She always looks like she'd rather be anywhere else but sitting next to him. But I suppose she puts up with it -- and has no choice in the matter -- because O'Reilly and Barbara Walters have been friends for a long time, and Barbara, of course, has the final say on who gets on the show and who doesn't.
This is all speculation, of course. I have no idea what goes on behind the scenes. Just reading the body language, which I've learned a little about while watching Tonya Reiman on O'Reilly's Fox show, The O'Reilly Factor.
One last Halloween post. Bill O'Reilly appeared on The View on Friday, dressed as Dracula. It's a basic costume, but it suits him. Of course, the talk turned to the Fox News vs. the White House story, and then O'Reilly, for some bizarre reason, calls Whoopi "jealous" because he has a best-selling book. But what's equally odd is Whoopi's response, where she lists the awards she has won. I think that has been boiling inside her for a while (that part happens about 7:48 in).
And what's with all the weird mugging and looking around that Whoopi is doing? She's actually kinda of an odd person, isn't she?
Whatever your political opinions are and however your cable news tastes run, you have to admit that this Daily Show examination of how Fox News works is pretty smart. Not just as an explanation at how the news side works with the non-news side of the network, but as an explanation of how any organization can spin things their way.
You may have heard that the White House seems to have declared war on Fox News. President Obama has even gone as far as not appearing on one of the Fox News Sunday morning shows even though he appeared on every other network that morning. Now other White House spokespeople are openly saying that the network can't be trusted.
It's not that she's not talented, successful or funny. It's just an odd choice, putting a comedian on the show that takes its goal of crushing losers' dreams on live television so seriously. It would evoke the same reaction from me if they picked Andrew "Dice" Clay as the new judge, if the Diceman was talented, successful or funny.
And besides, why do they need humor and comedy on such an otherwise serious show? There are lots of humorless, vapid and downright boring shows that are crying out for comedic interjection.
Even though the sudden pull out from several sponsors hasn't caused Fox to prematurely eject Glenn Beck from his time slot, he was suspiciously absent from the airwaves this week.
Some suggest this Beck-free week wasn't just a much needed vacation for the host, or for the viewer for that matter.
TVNewser spoke to some Fox insiders who claim the network ordered the silver haired devil to take a week off so some of the heat over his advertising boycott could die down.
Yesterday, Jon Stewart and The Daily Show had a little fun with FOX News, saying the way that they're covering the town hall protests makes them sound like liberals. Well, last night, Bill O'Reilly turned the tables on Stewart and gave him a little bit of his own medicine. You decide who's being more fair and balanced.
It seems the never-ending feud between Keith Olbermann and Bill O'Reilly has become a kangaroo boxing match. The worst thing you can do is get in the middle of it.
That's exactly what the parent owners of Fox News and MSNBC tried to do when they arranged a "cease-fire" between them and their top-tier shows' "lieutenants."
The cease-fire, however, didn't last long. It's another case of the ol' Rufus T. Firefly conundrum for peace. Either side might be willing to do whatever it takes to end this war, but they've already paid two months' rent on the battlefield.
Rupert Murdoch thinks so. In fact, he's betting that folks will pay to watch all of his television properties on their respective websites.
A friend of mine once suggested something like this. Basically, news would be free, but premium content online would come at a cost. Sort of like how stock quotes are delayed 20 minutes unless you pay a premium to see the prices instantly. And those with extreme political opinions, like sports fans, would pay any price to see their favorite commentators/players do their thing.
There have been a lot of uneasy vibes floating around the offices of TV Squad HQ about the elevation of Family Guy to Best Comedy status by this year's Emmy nomination committee. I'm not speaking for the entire group, but it does feel a little out of place earning a nomination that even The Simpsons couldn't score in its 20 year history. It's like giving the Nobel Peace Prize to Michael Jackson for writing "Heal the World" and completely snubbing Nelson Mandela.
But no one is more unhappy about the news than pop culture's official lifeguard, Bill O'Reilly.
Walter Cronkite's passing didn't mark the end of an era in the TV news business. The era he helped produce and prolong died long before he did.
It's hard for me to ever imagine a time when people considered a major network news anchor as America's most trusted source for anything. Claims of bias and political persuasion being injected into every story with a meat syringe created a thick fog that made it very hard to cover anything with a modicum of honesty.
Cronkite, however, was the man people turned to when something blew up, exploded, imploded, launched, landed or any other number of descriptive verbs, because his goal wasn't to make news every time he stepped in front of a camera. His goal was just to report it.
This reporter was thinking just a little while back, that what this country needs is another intolerant political loud mouth on the airwaves. It doesn't matter what political party they call home -- R or D, liberal conservative. No TV viewer seems able to go more than a few minutes without having some self-important gas bag named Matthews or O'Reilly, sporting one ideology or another, raging at a camera.
Fortunately, MSNBC brings us another fix -- the emerging show from Air America personality Ed Schultz. Resembling a sort of square-headed Rush Limbaugh, Schultz's politics run more toward Keith Olbermann. But, let's face it: None of these guys are on TV to discuss sensible politics on either side of the aisle. They're on the air to pontificate, yell, scream and (in Schultz's case) have a borderline Network-ish nervous breakdown on camera every night.
Whoever says that shows like The Daily Show and The Colbert Report suffer from a liberal bias have no idea what they are talking about. The Colbert Report, in particular, has a large audience of deep conservative thinkers whose arteries AND veins run redder than their state.
The problem is that some of those conservatives may not be laughing at what they are watching. In fact, get ready to be scared out of your head. They might actually agree with what they are hearing.
A new study conducted by Ohio State University found that some viewers of Colbert's show who purported to be conservative are taking the show a bit too seriously. And by a bit too, I mean literally seriously.
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."
It's always fun when Bill O'Reilly visits 
You may have heard that the White House seems to have 
Even though the sudden pull out from several sponsors hasn't caused Fox to prematurely eject Glenn Beck from his time slot, he was suspiciously absent from the airwaves this week. 
It seems the never-ending feud between Keith Olbermann and Bill O'Reilly has become a kangaroo boxing match. The worst thing you can do is get in the middle of it. 
Rupert Murdoch thinks so. In fact, he's betting that folks will 
There have been a lot of uneasy vibes floating around the offices of TV Squad HQ about the elevation of Family Guy to Best Comedy status by this year's Emmy nomination committee. I'm not speaking for the entire group, but it does feel a little out of place earning a nomination that even The Simpsons couldn't score in its 20 year history. It's like giving the Nobel Peace Prize to Michael Jackson for writing "Heal the World" and completely snubbing Nelson Mandela. 
This reporter was thinking just a little while back, that what this country needs is another intolerant political loud mouth on the airwaves. It doesn't matter what political party they call home -- R or D, liberal conservative. No TV viewer seems able to go more than a few minutes without having some self-important gas bag named Matthews or O'Reilly, sporting one ideology or another, raging at a camera.
Whoever says that shows like The Daily Show and The Colbert Report suffer from a liberal bias have no idea what they are talking about. The Colbert Report, in particular, has a large audience of deep conservative thinkers whose arteries AND veins run redder than their state. 
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