[VIDEO] Game of Thrones: Libertarian Edition
Posted: July 15, 2017 Filed under: Economics, Humor, Mediasphere, Politics | Tags: Andrew Heaton, Austin Bragg, Game of Thrones, HBO, Libertarian, Meredith Bragg, Reason (magazine), video Leave a comment
As HBO’s blockbuster series Game of Thrones returns for its seventh season, Reason offers its own freedom-filled parody. A libertarian paradise north of the wall? What’s happened to Westeros’ social security trust fund? Should it take low-income Dothraki four years to get a hair-braiding license?
Written and produced by Austin Bragg, Meredith Bragg, and Andrew Heaton. Shot and edited by Bragg and Bragg. Starring Andrew Heaton, Austin Bragg, and Remy.
[VIDEO] Billy Eichner: Do Gay People Care About John Oliver?
Posted: January 4, 2017 Filed under: Art & Culture, Entertainment, Humor, Mediasphere | Tags: ABC World News Tonight, Billy Eichner, Billy on the Street, Donald Trump, HBO, Hollywood, John Oliver, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, TruTV Leave a comment
John Oliver may well care about gay people, but it turns out gay people don’t care a huge amount about John Oliver.
The British comedian and host of “Last Week Tonight” joined up with Billy Eichner for a segment of “Billy on the Street” to find out what gay people think of him. Eichner scours the streets of New York for gay people to sample, while Oliver stands awkwardly by his side. At first the pair’s struggle seems to be to find someone who’s even heard of him.
“Who’s John Oliver?” one man asks…(read more)
Source: Variety
John Stossel to Leave Fox Business
Posted: December 10, 2016 Filed under: Entertainment, Mediasphere | Tags: 64th Primetime Emmy Awards, 89th Academy Awards, Academy Awards, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Documentary film, Emmy Award, HBO, Jimmy Kimmel, YouTube 1 Comment
Mediate reports that “John Stossel will step down from hosting his weekly Fox Business program, Stossel, this month.” Separately, Stossel announced on Facebook that the special he is airing on Friday, 12/16 will be his last show on Fox Business.
Mediate adds, however, that Stossel will “be working with ReasonTV to start up a libertarian-themed internet platform. He’ll also serve as an educator with the Charles Koch Institute’s new Creative Fellows Program.” Stossel has been a prolific libertarian documentary filmmaker, and a few of his documentaries were reviewed over the years at MissLiberty.com. Many Stossel clips can be found on YouTube.
An entire educational program, “Stossel in the Classroom,” has been built around Stossel’s work and is available to teachers on a complimentary basis. Read the rest of this entry »
[VIDEO] Band of Brothers: German General’s Surrender Speech
Posted: May 30, 2016 Filed under: History, Mediasphere, War Room | Tags: Band of Brothers, Dick Winters, Germany, HBO, International Security Assistance Force, Memorial Day, United States, United States Armed Forces, WW2 Leave a comment
This is the speech that is given by a German General to his men after surrendering to the Americans. This is directly cut from the episode, nothing added nothing taken. We feel its a great speech that can relate to all military branches foreign and domestic and should be shared.
“Band of Brothers” is one of the most famous television series ever created, and one of the most famous scenes is a German general’s speech after surrendering to American forces.
The general explains the horror of war as several American soldiers watch in what almost certainly appears to be complete agreement…(read more)
Read more: dailycaller.com
Larry David to Collect $5,000 for Calling Donald Trump a ‘Racist’ on ‘SNL’
Posted: November 8, 2015 Filed under: Entertainment, Mediasphere, Politics | Tags: Curb Your Enthusiasm, Donald Trump, FX (TV channel), HBO, Jeff Schaffer, Larry David, NBC, Saturday Night Live, Seinfeld, Taran Killam Leave a commentThe interruption was part of a scripted gag on the NBC sketch series. But advocacy group Deport Racism said it still plans to make good on the offer.
Anita Bennett reports: “Joke or not, it’s true,” the group Deport Racism says about David’s scripted outburst
Larry David just hit the jackpot for calling Donald Trump “a racist” on “Saturday Night Live.”
While the “Curb Your Enthusiasm” creator probably doesn’t need the cash, he’s about to collect $5,000 courtesy of an immigrant rights group for heckling Donald Trump this weekend on “SNL.”
“Trump’s a racist!” David shouted at the end of the GOP presidential candidate’s monologue. When asked by Trump why he was shouting, David answered, “I heard if I did that, they’d give me $5,000.” Read the rest of this entry »
[VIDEO] The Art of the Main Title: ‘Daredevil’ and ‘Halt and Catch Fire’
Posted: August 11, 2015 Filed under: Comics, Entertainment, Mediasphere | Tags: Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, Amazon Instant Video, AMC (TV channel), American Horror Story, Emmy Award, FX (TV channel), Game of Thrones (TV series), HBO, NBC, Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series Leave a commentPatrick Clair of Elastic (www.elastic.tv) has created some of the most startling credit sequences in recent years, including both seasons of “True Detective” (HBO) and 2015 Emmy nominees “Halt and Catch Fire” (AMC) and “Daredevil” (Netflix). Clair explains the thinking behind his work and why a great title sequence long or short can still be a vital part of TV storytelling.
[Variety]
[VIDEO] Violating Taboos on LIVE Television: Louis CK’s SNL Opening Monologue
Posted: May 19, 2015 Filed under: Entertainment, Humor, Mediasphere, The Butcher's Notebook | Tags: Amy Schumer, Child sexual abuse, Chris Rock, Comedian, Controversy, FX (TV channel), George Carlin, HBO, Joke, Lorne Michaels, Louie (TV series), Louis C.K, Mollie Hemingway, Monologue, New York City, Saturday Night Live, The Federalist Leave a comment‘Louis CK’s SNL Opening Monologue Was Awesomely Offensive’
In a late-night post involving Louis CK, and Mollie Hemingway, we find ourselves in familiar territory. Testing the limits of good taste, defending freedom of expression, and witnessing fallout from violating powerful social taboos. In the current edition of The Federalist, it’s gratifying to see one of my favorite media writers stand up for one of my favorite comedians. As we see in the video above, Louis CK goes where few comedians would dare to tread.
“It was actually quite disgusting and completely offensive. I can not possibly characterize how tasteless it was. It was also hilarious.”
— Mollie Hemingway
If you’ve ever heard Louis C.K. talk about SNL preparation–as I did recently, listening to a recent radio an interview–you know he seeks out difficult audiences rather than easy ones. He described testing his SNL monologue material in unfavorable environments, on disinterested audiences, intentionally, in order to find weaknesses in the material, and win over tough crowds.
Unlike his usual hip New York audiences, he discovered, SNL audience are comprised mostly of non-New Yorkers. Tourists, regular folks from the heartland. Edgy material he might normally do doesn’t necessarily connect here. After one disappointing performance on SNL, he worked harder at it the next time—testing, calibrating, rehearsing more. And coming better prepared, in his subsequent appearance, he succeeded. (it’s a good interview, if I find the audio clip or transcript of it, I’ll link it) Which is why his recent appearance on SNL surprised me. Because even if the now-infamous controversial material seemed risky, or misguided, you can be sure that the choices made were not arrived at casually.
Likewise for Lorne Michaels. SNL is shot live, the material is vetted in advance. I can’t imagine anything was performed that wasn’t approved. (or at least not disapproved) Knowing Louis C.K.’s work habits (more disciplined than they appear) it’s likely that he rehearsed his monologue for weeks, in front of difficult audiences, in different settings. And then, on live TV, Louis said exactly what he wanted to say. Knowing the risks. Expecting to offend people. But reasonably confident that it was funny.
When asked, in the interview, about his willingness to make people uncomfortable, referring to his frequent run-ins with authority figures in childhood, Louis C.K. said, “I’m used to getting in trouble”. It doesn’t bother him, the experience of being in trouble. He’s often talked about the challenge, and joy, of taking audiences to uneasy places, to explore what’s there, and find what’s funny about it.
To me, this is classic Louis C.K. There’s something about his frankness, sincerity, and delivery, that allows him to get away with things other comics would get crucified for. There’s more here than meets the eye.
In I’ve Seen The Future. It’s Comedy Speakeasies, Hemingway writes:
The social justice warriors are creating a culture where comedians can’t make most jokes about race, sex, sexual choices, or any of the things that used to be staples of the comedy circuit. One joke in a stand-up set bombs for being over the line and the social media mobs come forth with pitchforks and your career is over or your comedy is seriously proscribed. It’s a free country, though, which means, in these cases, that if a bunch of coddled children can’t handle transgressive comedy without losing their minds, they can make life for a comic a living hell. Just because you’re trying something out in an intimate setting with a particular group of people doesn’t keep them from blasting it on the internet for a global audience that couldn’t possibly understand what you were going for. Comedians such as Chris Rock say it’s just not fun any more….(more)

Photo By Dan Nguyen @ New York City
“It’s a free country, though, which means, in these cases, that if a bunch of coddled children can’t handle transgressive comedy without losing their minds, they can make life for a comic a living hell.”
— Mollie Hemingway
While not exactly endorsing the content of Louis C.K.’s queasy monologue, The Federalist‘s Mollie Hemingway defends it, describing it as “refreshing — and ballsy”, and links to an earlier article discussing the necessity of tolerance. Comedy will suffer if comics are threatened and stop taking risks. Enforcing current PC-orthodoxy with online shaming campaigns, social justice warriors provoke and exploit social media hysteria to keep violators in line. Thus, the idea of Comedy Speakeasies.
The problem with comedy is that people can share what happens in the club with anyone in the world. In the future, when comedy speakeasies are the only way for people to hear transgressive jokes about race and sex, people will have to have the password. But they’ll also have to be patted down for recording equipment. No phones. No audio recorders. No pens and pads. Any recitation of the bits will be fully denied…
In her current column, Mollie continues…
…Louis CK knew he’d be met with social justice warrior outrage — and he was — and he went ahead with the monologue anyway. Not in a speakeasy but on network television. No trigger warnings. No concerns about punching all the way down…
Read more of MZHemingway’s comments here, and also read I’ve Seen The Future. It’s Comedy Speakeasies.
[VIDEO] True Detective Season 2 Trailer
Posted: May 14, 2015 Filed under: Art & Culture, Entertainment, Mediasphere | Tags: Crime fiction, Dramatic Series, HBO, media, Television, True Detective, TV, video Leave a comment[VIDEO] Louis C.K.: ‘Older People are Smarter’
Posted: May 11, 2015 Filed under: Art & Culture, Entertainment, Humor | Tags: Chris Rock, Comedy Central, HBO, Jenny Slate, Louie (TV series), Louis C.K, Pootie Tang, Scott Rudin, The Hollywood Reporter Leave a comment
Footage from Louis CK‘s Oh My God Comedy Special
‘Mad Men’ Retrospective
Posted: May 11, 2015 Filed under: Art & Culture, Entertainment | Tags: Apple TV, Betty Draper, Don Draper, Google Play, HBO, iPad, iPhone, iTunes, Mad Men, PlayStation, PlayStation 3, Television Leave a commentMad Men Retrospective on Google Play Includes Free Episode
Todd Spangler writes: “Mad Men,” as it nears the finish line after eight years on TV, is getting a virtual retrospective on Google Play that will allow fans to relive the show’s run — a promo that includes free streaming access to the series’ very first episode.
Under a pact with Lionsgate, Google Play is debuting “The Mad Men Experience,” at madmen.withgoogle.com. The website is billed as an interactive, art-exhibit-style destination set in the world of 1960s Madison Avenue with more than 300 pieces of content released for the first time in a digital environment. Those include rarely seen artwork interviews with cast audio commentaries and other features.
The deal is Google Play’s first digital fan experience for a TV show, and it’s aimed at driving viewers to purchase episodes and full seasons of “Mad Men” from the online store. In addition, for a limited time Google Play will stream season one, episode one (“Smoke Gets in Your Eyes”) for free on Google Play, available to users in the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and Australia. All prior seasons of “Mad Men” also are available for streaming on Netflix, and for purchase on Apple’s iTunes and Amazon’s Instant Video services. Read the rest of this entry »
[VIDEO] Take Your Hat Off
Posted: May 5, 2015 Filed under: Art & Culture, Entertainment, Humor, Mediasphere | Tags: Cap, Hat, HBO, James Gandolfini, Manners, media, Television, The Sopranos, Tony Soprano Leave a commentOH YES THEY DID: Journalists Who Peddled Mayweather Domestic Violence History Say They Had Credentials Revoked Before Fight
Posted: May 2, 2015 Filed under: Entertainment, Mediasphere | Tags: CNN, ESPN, Floyd Mayweather, HBO, Jeremy Schaap, Manny Pacquiao, Michelle Beadle, Rachel Nichols (actress), Showtime, Twitter, USA TODAY 1 CommentESPN.com news services/ABC News reports: Two reporters said their credentials were revoked for Saturday night’s Floyd Mayweather–Manny Pacquiao fight, and a third reportedly had his taken away as well.
Rachel Nichols of CNN and Michelle Beadle of ESPN/HBO said via Twitter that they had been told their credentials were pulled. USA Today reporter Martin Rogers’ credential was reportedly pulled as well, according to SI.com.
Beadle was credentialed through HBO and not ESPN, both networks and Beadle said.
A spokesman for Mayweather denied the allegations from Beadle and Nichols.
A source told ESPN’s Jeremy Schaap that Mayweather Promotions insisted on having approval of credential applications, a stipulation included in the fight contract.
A source with Showtime told Schaap that it had nothing to do with Beadle’s credential situation — only that it denied her permission to film inside MGM Grand arena. A Mayweather promotions source, meanwhile, said Nichols had a temporary credential, but CNN never confirmed she’d need a fight credential.
All three of the reporters have been at the forefront of reporting in Mayweather’s history of domestic violence. Nichols had a contentious interview with Mayweather on CNN last September. Rogers has written a number of stories chronicling Mayweather’s domestic violence issues, and Beadle has been outspoken about Mayweather.
Kelly Swanson, a media relations spokesperson for the Mayweather camp, denied that Nichols and Beadle has lost their credentials. Read the rest of this entry »
[REWIND] The Pros and Cons of ‘HBO Now’
Posted: April 14, 2015 Filed under: Entertainment | Tags: Apple TV, Cable television, Comcast, DirecTV, Dish Network, Game of Thrones (TV series), HBO, Internet service provider, Internet television, Multichannel video programming distributor, Netflix, Pay television, Satellite television, Time Warner Cable Leave a commentBack in September, there was plentiful speculation about HBO’s rumored streaming-only service. Now that the service is here, how did the speculation stack up to the reality? Here’s a trip back to some of those early predictions.
Sept. 16, 2014, Chris Osterndorf writes: For TV junkies of the Internet age, the promised land may be on the horizon. That’s right, HBO may start offering streaming-only service
Speaking at an investment conference earlier this week, Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes said that the company is “seriously considering what is the best way to deal with online distribution.” For the many who have been pushing HBO to package HBO GO as a separate entity for awhile now, this is no small statement. And with Netflix marching ever forward to corner the streaming market, this could be a crucial moment for HBO.
Yet offering HBO GO without a subscription to HBO presents a number of difficult questions. While it’s undoubtedly a tantalizing possibility, there are as many challenges inherent in this scenario as there are benefits.
Pro: Easier for “Cord Cutters” and Millennials to Watch Their Favorite Shows
Offering HBO GO sans HBO already gels with the way a large number of millennials watch television. According to newfound data, this is a demographic that ingests three times more TV online than their older counterparts.
[Read the full text of Chris Osterndorf‘s Sept. 16th article here, at The Daily Dot]
These millennials are often lumped in as part of a larger group that’s been dubbed “cord cutters,” aka people who’ve dumped cable entirely to watch television through the Internet. And they’re a group that’s growing. A study that came out in June found that 2.9 percent of pay-TV consumers in this country are planning on canceling their cable service and joining the ranks of the cord cutters in the next year. This doesn’t sound like much until you take into account that this number is up from 2.7 percent last year, which was up from 2.2 percent the year before that, indicating American cord cutters are rising steadily.
Together, as millennials and cord cutters reject cable, they are changing the face of American television. HBO GO becoming its own service would be a huge victory for them, and for the shifting trends they represent.
Con: Harder for HBO to Create Content
However, offering HBO GO separately from HBO could come at a price. Because for now, HBO, and all the content they provide, are still very much entrenched in a classic model of distribution.
When viewers first started to clamor for standalone HBO GO accounts several years ago, Ryan Lawler at TechCrunch observed, “HBO currently has about 29 million subscribers and reportedly receives around $7 or $8 per subscriber per month. So HBO could, theoretically, get more per subscriber than it’s currently making. But that doesn’t include the cost of infrastructure needed to support delivery of all those streams, including all the CDN delivery and other costs that would come with rolling out a broader online-only service.”
He continues, “More importantly, it wouldn’t include the cost of sales, marketing, and support—and this is where HBO would really get screwed. Going direct to online customers by pitching HBO GO over-the-top would mean losing the support of its cable, satellite, and IPTV distributors. And since the Comcasts and the Time Warner Cables of the world are the top marketing channel for premium networks like HBO, it would be nearly impossible for HBO to make up for the loss of the cable provider’s marketing team or promotions.”
What does this ultimately mean for you, the consumer? In short, it means that if HBO suffers, their output also suffers.
So far, HBO is doing just fine in their fight against Netflix. Of course, they’re not able to provide the same wide array of movies and TV shows from other networks, but they’re as prestigious as ever, and they have several huge hits on their hands. In fact, Game of Thrones just surpassed The Sopranos to become their highest rated show ever. Read the rest of this entry »
[VIDEO] Want 8 More Minutes? Watch Apple’s Watch and MacBook Event in 11 Minutes
Posted: March 9, 2015 Filed under: Breaking News, Entertainment, Mediasphere | Tags: App Store (iOS), Apple Inc, Apple TV, HBO, iPad, iPhone, MacBook, San Francisco, Spring Forward, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Leave a comment
Apple’s Spring Forward event was quite eventful (repetition intended). Apple TV got a big price drop and an even bigger exclusive partnership with HBO. The Apple Watch was priced for every single tier. And there’s that ultra-thin, minimal-ported MacBook.
Game of Thrones Blooper Reel
Posted: February 24, 2015 Filed under: Entertainment, Humor | Tags: Blu-ray Disc, Board game, Dragon, DVD, Game of Thrones (TV series), HBO, Monopoly (game), Television program, Valentines Day, YouTube Leave a commentThe last season of hit HBO series Game of Thrones brought moments of high drama and tragedy, but it looks the stars of the drama can make time for a laugh behind the scenes….(read more)
[VIDEO] Bill Maher Calls Real-Life American Sniper ‘Psychopathic Patriot’
Posted: January 24, 2015 Filed under: Entertainment, Mediasphere, War Room | Tags: American Sniper, Ben Affleck, Bill Maher, Chris Kyle, Clint Eastwood, HBO 1 CommentPANIC MANAGEMENT: Lena Dunham Flees Twitter, Hires Top Crisis Management Firm
Posted: January 17, 2015 Filed under: Entertainment, Mediasphere, U.S. News | Tags: Girls (TV series), Golden Globe Award, HBO, Hypocrisy, Jack Antonoff, Lena Dunham, Rape, Taylor Swift, Television program, Twitter 1 CommentJohn Nolte reports: What was supposed to be Her Year has in fact turned out to be five-alarm disaster for Lena Dunham, the creator of HBO’s “Girls.” A year ago, closing out 2014 had to look pretty exciting to the 28 year-old. No matter how good or bad it was, her memoir would be released to guaranteed critical acclaim (she is Lena Dunham after all), there were two major Golden Globe nominations, and the publicity surrounding the 4th season premiere of “Girls” was going to be bigger than anything anyone could have ever imagined.
2014 was going to be Dunham’s breakthrough; the year she went mainstream. Along with the gushing reviews of her memoir and slavish coverage from The New York Times, there would be countless magazine covers, talk show appearances, and a thousand slathering articles obsessing over her every tweet and utterance. The entertainment media was on board. The mainstream media was on board. And at first it all went according to plan. Read the rest of this entry »
[VIDEO] Bill Maher Forces Liberals To Eat Their Own Vomit: ‘Islamophobia Kills?’
Posted: January 17, 2015 Filed under: Mediasphere, Politics, War Room | Tags: Berkeley, Bill Maher, Charlie Hebdo, Freedom of speech, Freedom of the press, HBO, Islam, Islamism, Jihadism, media, Real Time with Bill Maher, Rush Limbaugh, Sony, Terrorism, University of California Leave a commentIn the final segment of Friday’s edition of HBO’s Real Time, host Bill Maher took aim at those who oppose free speech, especially taking liberals to task for the “Islamophobia kills” campaign and being against “bullying” when it’s convenient.
“Yeah, liberals hate bullying alright but they’re not opposed to using it when they causally throw out words like bigot and racist.”
“It does cower people into avoiding this debate. And if you’re doing that, you don’t get to wear the “Je suis Charlie” button; the button you wear is ‘Je suis party of the problem.’ And that goes for everybody,” he added.

Some are willing to have an open debate. Others are too delicate, fragile, prefer to join movement that advocates unplugging their opponent’s microphone, so they won’t risk being “offended” by forbidden points of view
[BONUS: The pro-censorship website crooksandliars.com disapproves of Maher’s defense of free speech with this thumb-sucking, pouting, infantile headline: Maher’s New Rule: Limbaugh Can Say Whatever He Wants, You Little People Can Just STFU]
Maher criticized Catholic League president Bill Donahue for blaming the publisher of Charlie Hebo for not understanding “the role he played in his tragic death. Maher says that’s essentially blaming a woman for rape because she was wearing clothes that were too provocative.
“Free speech only works if there are no waivers. No waivers. Including for religion.”
— Bill Maher
Next, Maher slammed frequent guest of the show Glenn Greenwald for saying anti-Muslim speech is a “vital driver” for the occupation of Muslim countries and killing the innocent.
“Really? Newspaper cartoons did all that? Wait until they get to the horoscopes and the crossword.”
“It reminds me of one of those protest signs that I saw up in Berkeley last month; it said: ‘Islamophobia kills.’ Does it? The phobia kills? Or maybe it’s more the AK-47s, and the beheadings, and the planes into buildings,” Maher responded.
There it is.This Just about sums up our #FreeSpeechRally today & the Muslim counter protest. RSVP FB #standforfreedom pic.twitter.com/nELTozlr9L
— Pamela Geller (@PamelaGeller) January 17, 2015
“…Ironically you’re not even a proper liberal because you don’t get free speech. You’re just a baby who can’t stand to live in a world where you hear things that upset you. Oh, you’re not alone.”
Maher even defended Rush Limbaugh from campaigns in recent years to boycott him and get companies to pull their advertisements from his show. Read the rest of this entry »
Television: ‘This could be the year of the anus’
Posted: January 13, 2015 Filed under: Entertainment | Tags: Actor, Adam Driver, Allison Williams (actress), Girls (TV series), Golden Globe Award, HBO, Howard Stern, Jemima Kirke, Lena Dunham, New York, New York City, Taylor Swift, Zosia Mamet 1 CommentHBO Series Goes There
…Lena Dunham, creator and writer of the series, said that she’s proud of Allison for being a “good sport,” and offered some insight as to how personal something like the aforementioned sex act actually is.
“Let me tell you this, when someone puts their face in your butt, whether there’s a barrier or not, their face is still in your butt. And she handled that with aplomb.”
— Lena Dunham
“Maybe that’s one of the cliffs or peaks that we need to begin to incorporate into our societal representation of this revolution, specifically in television.”
— Alex Karpovsky
Zosia Mamet, who plays Shoshanna Shapiro on the show, said she understands that Dunham and the other writers wouldn’t incorporate anything that’s “uncomfortable or scary” into the script, unless it served a purpose….
“Maybe that’s one of the cliffs or peaks that we need to begin to incorporate into our societal representation of this revolution, specifically in television. This could be the year of the anus,” he said….(read more)
HBO Orders Rock Drama Series from Martin Scorsese, Mick Jagger
Posted: December 2, 2014 Filed under: Entertainment, Mediasphere | Tags: Cable TV, HBO, Martin Scorcese, Mick Jagger, Rock Music, Television, Variety Magazine 1 CommentCruel and Unusual Amusements
Posted: November 4, 2014 Filed under: Entertainment, Mediasphere, Politics, White House | Tags: Cable TV, Cruel and unusual punishment, Global Panic, HBO, Political Drama, propaganda, Revolving Door, Showtime, Speechwriter, Television, TV Leave a comment[VIDEO] REASON TV Presents: The 5 Most Anti-Libertarian TV Shows Ever!
Posted: October 11, 2014 Filed under: Entertainment, Mediasphere, Politics, U.S. News | Tags: Aaron Sorkin, HBO, Jack Bauer, Jeff Daniels, Newsroom, Penn & Teller: Bullshit!, Prisoner, Wire, Yes Minister 1 CommentFor Reason.com, Meredith Bragg & Nick Gillespie assemble the worst of the worst, see the whole thing here. And don’t miss the best of the best list from earlier, we’ll include that in an upcoming post, because life is too short for bad TV.
A little while ago, we tallied up “The 5 Best Libertarian TV Shows.” South Park, Penn & Teller: Bullshit, The Wire, The Prisoner, House of Cards: They’re all there, along with your abuse in the comments for leaving out Firefly, Yes, Minister, King of the Hill, and all your other favorites.
Now it’s time to list the five TV shows that are the absolute worst from a libertarian perspective.
5. The Newsroom (2012-2014). To be fair, just about everyone hates this sanctimonious drama created by Aaron Sorkin, who also has the rosy-eyed White House valentine The West Wingin his oeuvre. Its third and final season premieres on HBO in November.
The Newsroom follows the on-air tantrums of Will McAvoy, a preening, self-righteous anchorman who can’t open his mouth without inveighing against capitalism, gun rights, or political speech with which he doesn’t agree. As played by Jeff Daniels, McAvoy is a lot like Ron Burgundy, but unintentionally funny. Read the rest of this entry »
[VIDEO] John Adams: ‘While I Live, Let Me Have a Country, a Free Country!’
Posted: July 4, 2014 Filed under: Art & Culture, History, U.S. News | Tags: Founding Fathers, Giamatti, HBO, John Adam, John Dossett, Laura Linney, Paul Giamatti, United States Leave a commentFrom HBO’s “John Adams”, 2008. The life of one of the USA’s Founding Fathers, its second President, and his role in the nation’s first 50 years, featuring Paul Giamatti, Laura Linney, John Dossett |See full cast and crew »
An extraordinary Adams speech, well-exectuted by Giamatti.
This series had such potential. Some unfortunate casting choices and a mediocre script made it less successful than it could have been. HBO started with material rich with history and drama, and managed to make it boring.
Casting Paul Giamattia as John Adams was perhaps the most misguided aspect of this production. I admire Giamatti’s work in other movies, but as John Adams, much of the time his performance results in unintended unserious, comic, lightweight moments. This speech, however, is an exception.
[VIDEO] Higher Education: New Documentary Questions Absurd Cost of College
Posted: June 14, 2014 Filed under: Economics, Education | Tags: Andrew Rossi, college, Daily Caller, HBO, Ivory Tower, Participant Media, Sundance Film Festival, The College Fix, University 1 CommentFor The Daily Caller, Eric Owens reports: If you are looking to catch a flick this weekend, you could do a lot worse than “Ivory Tower.”
The provocative documentary, which hit select theaters on Friday, demonstrates in sad detail how American college students and their families are struggling to cope with tuition prices that have skyrocketed 1,120 percent in “absolute dollars” since 1978.
WATCH
The director, Andrew Rossi, talked to The College Fix recently about the documentary.
[New Documentary Exposes Vast Wealth Squandered on Campuses – thecollegefix.com]
Rossi observed that salaries for bureaucrats ranging from incredibly cushy to downright obscene have been a huge factor in tuition increases.
“The increase in administrators and professional staff has far outpaced the growth of full-time faculty.”
— Director Andrew Rossi
Many college presidents now bring home seven-figure salaries, he noted. Read the rest of this entry »
Jon Stewart’s Former Sidekick Rips Oregon’s Obamacare Debacle in New HBO Show
Posted: April 28, 2014 Filed under: Art & Culture, Entertainment, Humor, Politics | Tags: Andrew Johnson, Cover Oregon, HBO, John Oliver, Lisa Loeb, Oregon, Portland Oregon, YouTube 2 CommentsLast Week Tonight With John Oliver: “Oregon Spirit” by Lisa Loeb (HBO)
“your passion for cuteness may kill your whole state.”
Good catch by Andrew Johnson at The Corner:
“That has got to be a bitter pill to swallow for the people of Oregon — or it would be if they could get the pill, which they can’t because their sh***y website is broken”
FEVER: ‘Breaking Bad’ Finale Ratings Hit 10.3 Million
Posted: September 30, 2013 Filed under: Entertainment | Tags: AMC, Breaking Bad, CBS, HBO, Sex and the City, Showtime, Sunday, Walter White Leave a commentAMC’s “Breaking Bad,” one week after picking up the top Emmy drama prize, capped its meteoric ratings rise Sunday by surging to series highs in its finale — despite facing formidable season premieres on ABC, CBS, Fox and Showtime.
There was no stopping fans from watching the show live Sunday (or at least same-night, thanks to DVRs), as the conclusion to Walter White’s odyssey was watched by an average audience of 10.3 million, according to Nielsen, up 3.7 million (or 56%) from its penultimate episode of the previous week (6.6 million). Read the rest of this entry »
A Tale of Two Seasons…
Posted: September 18, 2013 Filed under: Entertainment | Tags: AMC, Breaking Bad, David Chase, HBO, Mad Men, New York Times, Sopranos, Television 1 CommentYesterday the New York Times broke the news that the final season of Mad Men will be broadcast in two parts (see more on this here). This isn’t the first time that a television series has been split into two – AMC recently adopted the same strategy for Breaking Bad which saw a gap of almost a year between the first half and the last half of the final fifth season. Nor is this necessarily even a recent trend – HBO notably broadcast the final season of The Sopranos (1999-2007) in a similar manner. In that instance, the decision to split the season into two was arguably more of an afterthought, as the series’ creator David Chase later decided that he wanted the opportunity to “round out the story”. But it’s not just TV (as the HBO slogan goes), this happens in cinema too. Franchises such as Harry Potter (2001-2011) and Twilight (2008-2012) have both recently featured two-part endings in concluding their narratives. The logic behind the two-part conclusion, whether it’s in film or television, is no doubt financially motivated. Indeed, why not draw out the story in two parts and reap the financial rewards? In the case of cinema, this form of serialisation is intended to increase box office takings (presumably people who saw part one will want to see part two), while in television the money comes from subscription fees and advertising. This economic gain may be the main impetus for this trend, but I’m more interested in the way that these patterns of distribution might impact upon the programme’s narrative. Read the rest of this entry »