Thursday, June 28, 2007

TV News


I've been traveling for a few days, but have been catching up on fall TV news. My reactions to the two latest announcements:

Yeah!

'Veronica Mars' Star Basks in CBS' 'Moonlight',
Vampire drama woos Jason Dohring
In one of the oddest pieces of recasting you're ever likely to see, Jason Dohring is joining CBS' "Moonlight."


That's the best ABC can do??
ABC renews Belushi's 'According to Jim'
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LOS ANGELES -- After mulling the fate of "According to Jim," ABC decided to bring the James Belushi sitcom back next year. The network said Wednesday it has ordered 18 episodes to air in midseason.

Thursday, June 21, 2007

How to go from hip to unhip in 2 seconds


Hillary's Sopranos video is great (and "hip"), but I can't believe she's going to make us all listen to Celine Dion throughout her campaign. I'm so glad to see that other people are "not pleased" by Hillary's choice of campaign song. (And I don't want to hear anything else about 'she didn't pick it, her supporters did'! As president, I hope she'd overrule bad choices!)

Here's a great post:

Hillary Clinton is a woman of stupendous intellect. She's a political leviathan. But is she a woman of taste?

For her "campaign song," a tune that presumably defines the tone and intent of the campaign, Hillary Clinton chose Celine Dion's "You and I." This is the song that's supposed to make me want to rally the troops in support of our first female president? Are you kidding me? I have so many problems with this song I don't even know where to start.

Click here to read Laura Thomas list of gripes!

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

I have to agree with Kevin Drum on this

As Newsday reported yesterday:

WASHINGTON - Rudolph Giuliani's membership on an elite Iraq study panel came to an abrupt end last spring after he failed to show up for a single official meeting of the group, causing the panel's top Republican to give him a stark choice: either attend the meetings or quit, several sources said.

Giuliani left the Iraq Study Group last May after just two months, walking away from a chance to make up for his lack of foreign policy credentials on the top issue in the 2008 race, the Iraq war.

He cited "previous time commitments" in a letter explaining his decision to quit, and a look at his schedule suggests why - the sessions at times conflicted with Giuliani's lucrative speaking tour that garnered him $11.4 million in 14 months.

Yet, it has barely even been mentioned by the MSM. Here's what Kevin had to say at Political Animal:
I'm keenly aware that an awful lot of blog criticism of the mainstream media is basically just partisan sniping. But is this seriously not considered news? A guy who's running for president based on his reputation as a hero of 9/11 was given a seat on the highest profile group ever created to investigate a way forward in Iraq, but he decided it wasn't worth his time? He blew off James Baker and Lee Hamilton so that he could give speeches in South Korea and attend fundraisers for Ralph Reed in Atlanta? And the consensus reaction is a big yawn?

UPDATE: Well, CNN just covered this story - but only after talking about the Giuliani supporter who got busted for dealing crack and the campaign aide who just jumped ship. I don't know...I think the Iraq Study Group news is more important than either of those two tidbits.

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Speaking of voting...

Maybe I should have voted for Hillary Clinton's campaign song. It seems her supporters voted for Celine Dion...

I'm not kidding...check it out here (with a warning that the song starts playing!)

Monday, June 18, 2007

Time to Vote!


Time to vote on matters of extreme importance...quality TV :)

I happen to love this weekly TV Gal column on Zap2it.com. Every year, she holds the Amy Awards...her readers nominate categories and then nominate the potential winners in the categories. So, all of that has been done and now it is time to vote in such categories as: Excuse Me, I'd Like My Emotional Investment Back (Most Beloved Canceled Show); Sorry Addison, but THIS Character Deserves a Spin-Off (Character Most Deserving of a Spin-Off) and I was Born at Night but Not Last Night Award (Worst Plot or Storyline).

If you love TV, go vote!

I thought I was the only one...


I used to be a Sunday news junkie...The New York Times, The Washington Post, Tim and George (and before him David, Cokie and Sam). But in the last couple of years, I could care less about the TV side of Sunday mornings. We now Tivo the programs, but we tend to fast-forward through most of Tim, and we tend to wait a couple of days before we just delete George. (And sometimes we do watch Chris Matthews...that probably says something about my attention span, and the fact that he only interviews reporters.)

So, I was happy to see that I am not alone in my increasing lack of interest in the Sunday shows. Today's Huffington Post has a piece by Peter Smith, If it's Sunday, it's Increasingly Irrelevant:

Sunday morning political shows may have reached their high water marks during the impeachment and the 2000 presidential recount. They seem to have struggled for influence and relevance ever since. They matter less now...

...The debate -- the genuine give and take of ideas -- has moved on to the Internet. Radio (public and talk -- both left and right) remains somewhat relevant, too. But its over for the Sunday morning political shows. They're done. Time to replace those stooges with the Three Stooges.

Do you still watch the Sunday shows?

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Virginia Politics


So, yesterday was primary day in Virginia...I am an election geek, so I went to vote for the only "contest" in my county...the Democratic primary for County Treasurer. Not much of a contest...the incumbent won with more than 73% of the vote, with a 4.5% voter turnout. Well, at least he had a challenger...

News was a little more interesting around the state though - and November's elections should be good. I'm not sure I can imagine the Democrats in control of the Virginia Senate - we need to pick up 21 seats - but it's great to have a goal (and some actual competition in the state)!

Here's the quick recap from the Washington Post:

Two moderate Republican incumbents lost to conservative challengers who accused the sitting senators of having morphed into big spenders just like the party's now widely disliked standard-bearer, the president of these United States. Martin Williams of Newport News and Brandon Bell of Roanoke are gone goodbye, and while hard core Republicans will celebrate this as a reassertion of the party's pre-Mark Warner-Tim Kaine era commitment to chopping spending and eschewing taxes, plenty of Democrats will also be cheered by these results. That's because Kaine and the Dems had already planned to make this fall's campaign--the entire Virginia legislature is up for election in November--about how the Republicans are supposedly so far to the right that the state needs to push the Senate over to the D side to provide safety and balance. These primary results will only strengthen the Dems' hand--not necessarily in those firmly Republican districts, but elsewhere around the state where the party split is closer.

Thursday, June 7, 2007

Is this ever going to stop?


Why do "journalists" and their editors/producers insist of force-feeding us news about Paris Hilton?? Now, I subscribe to Us Weekly because I like celebrity "news" as much as the next red-blooded American, but I don't expect to be getting that same trashy info from CNN. Celebrity gossip has more than enough outlets; the MSM should go back to actually trying to report things we need to know!

Here's how Marty Kaplan's latest post concludes...definitely worth reading! (And the photo included here will make sense once you read his post.)

Democracy, said our Founders, depends on an educated citizenry. That's why they protected the news business with the First Amendment. On the other hand, it's a good bet that Spring Comes Early for Paris isn't exactly what they had in mind.

Also related...Read about how CNN's anchors reported the Paris Is Free news (I actually felt a little sorry for them): CNN Anchors Mock Paris Hilton "News;" Who Forces Them To Cover This Crap?

Wednesday, June 6, 2007

Wow.


Mitt Romney said that Hussein did not allow the IAEA inspectors into Iraq??? Where has he been??? Do we really need another clueless president???

Al Gore, we really, really, really need you!

Slowly...

I'm slowly getting back around to checking emails and reading some news. I hope to have a new blog post up soon!

(I'm in Ohio with my mom.)