Friday, April 28, 2006

Rush to Judgment

Rush Limbaugh, as you've probably heard, has reached a pretty favorable plea bargain (his lawyer calls it an "agreement") regarding prescription abuses relating to his drug dependency. He is paying a $30,000 fine (his lawyer calls it a payment to defray the public cost of the investigation) which represents something like two hours' income for the radio host.

The initial news reports said "Rush Limbaugh arrested" and his supporters are scurrying to claim that since he turned himself in, the word "arrested" is inaccurate. Not only is it inaccurate, they say, but the use of it is an example of Liberal media bias.

I don't think I buy either spin. The word is probably technically correct. If there's a warrant out for you and you go in and you're booked and they take a mug shot photo of you, you've been arrested, albeit voluntarily. But the word is also misleading. The first thing people think of it you say someone's been arrested is that the cops came and put the cuffs on him, which is not what happened here.

It isn't bias. It's just the way reporters write stories. A few moments ago, I did a Google search on the words "surrendered to police" and one of the first things I found was this item about an NFL player who's out there setting a wonderful example for today's youth...

Green Bay Packers fullback Najeh Davenport was arrested Monday, accused of breaking into a university dormitory and defecating in a woman's closet. Davenport, 23, surrendered to police Monday and was charged with a second-degree felony count of burglary and a misdemeanor count of criminal mischief, said Richard Master, a Miami Shores police spokesman. The former University of Miami player was wanted on a warrant issued in April.

There was a warrant for the guy and he turned himself in...and they used the word "arrested." I think it's a bad choice of word but it's pretty standard for this kind of story. It wasn't used just to make Limbaugh look bad.

And what do you want to bet that if it had been a Democrat or Liberal in exactly the same situation, Rush would be out there proclaiming that a dangerous, immoral criminal had been arrested...and then a bleeding-heart, weak-kneed prosecutor had given him a slap on the wrist instead of throwing the slime in prison where he belongs? I'm not saying that would have been the proper punishment for Limbaugh. But you know that's what he would have said.

• Posted at 9:30 PM · LINK

Harvey Bullock, R.I.P.

Veteran TV-movie writer Harvey Bullock died last Sunday at the age of 84. Bullock was an amazingly prolific author of scripts, usually in partnership with R.S. Allen, whom he met while writing a radio show starring Abe Burrows in 1949. The team of Allen and Bullock went on to become one of the top teams in television writing with credits on The Real McCoys, The Andy Griffith Show, I-Spy, The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Danny Thomas Show, The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, The Bill Dana Show, The Joey Bishop Show, Rango, Hogan's Heroes, Gomer Pyle, Mr. Terrific, My World and Welcome To It, Love American Style, The Doris Day Show, The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo, Alice and dozens of others. They also wrote numerous scripts for animation including The Flintstones, Top Cat, The Jetsons and Wait 'til Your Father Gets Home. (Bullock and Allen created and produced the last of these.) This is a very partial list, and I should emphasize that Bullock and Allen wrote some of the most memorable episodes of the TV shows listed. For instance, they did 31 episodes of The Andy Griffith Show, including the one about the goat that ate dynamite, the one where Barney Fife had to track down a cow thief, and the one about Aunt Bea entering a pickle-making contest.

In the world of motion pictures, they wrote Honeymoon Hotel, Girl Happy (starring Elvis Presley), A Man Called Flintstone, With Six You Get Eggroll, Don't Drink the Water and one of my favorite unheralded comedies, Who's Minding the Mint?

Bullock's career slowed in 1981 when his partner Ray Allen passed away...though Harvey did team up in '86 with Everett Greenbaum (whose partner Jim Fritzell had died in '79) and together they wrote the highly-rated TV-Movie, Return to Mayberry, which reunited the characters from The Andy Griffith Show.

Harvey's work will live on and so will his name. In 1974, a police lieutenant character was added to the Batman comic books and he soon became a permanent part of that character's mythology. His name is Harvey Bullock and I don't know quite how it happened but he was apparently named after the writer. I'm told he felt honored.

• Posted at 8:37 PM · LINK

Set the TiVo

The annual White House Correspondents Dinner is tomorrow night. I always find this interesting because of the tradition of bringing in some comedian — usually someone who does topical humor — to entertain, right in front of the current president and a goodly portion of the Washington establishment. Last year, they had Cedric the Entertainer but the highlight was a speech by Laura Bush. This year, Stephen Colbert will be toplining and I have a feeling he's going to be quite wonderful.

The event airs on C-Span, which will probably repeat it a couple of times over the weekend. You'll have to keep an eye on the ever-changing C-Span schedule to know when but at the moment, they're planning to run a 90 minute live preview at 8 PM Eastern time and the dinner itself at 9:30. Don't believe the part where they say it'll only run an hour.

• Posted at 8:55 AM · LINK

Things I'm Not Buying - #1 in a series

A full-size replica of the robot from the Lost in Space TV series.

• Posted at 12:05 AM · LINK

Today's Video Link

Tired of endlessly replaying William Shatner's stirring interpretation of Elton John's "Rocket Man?" Well, do I have a treat for you. Yes, it's William Shatner performing Harry Chapin's song, "Taxi" on an old episode of Dinah Shore's show. (If the ifilm link below doesn't play in your browser, go here.)

• Posted at 12:01 AM · LINK

April 29, 2006 • Current • April 27, 2006