Friday, June 18, 2010

Talk Show Talk

My pal Marc Wielage pointed me to this interview with Bill Carter, the N.Y. Times reporter who covers late night and who authored the book, The Late Shift. He has a new book coming soon on the whole Conan/Jay mess.

One odd moment in the interview. Carter is discussing whether Craig Ferguson might one day take over for Letterman and he says...

We know that Craig has the show that follows Dave, and usually those things happen — a guy steps out, and the 12:30 guy steps in. That is what has happened although never very smoothly in the past.

Uh, when has that ever happened? 12:30 talk shows are a fairly recent development. Only about five guys have ever done them. When Johnny Carson stepped out, the guy who was at 12:30 behind him didn't step in. Leno was replaced by the guy at 12:30 but he didn't step out. He was pushed because the 12:30 guy wanted his job. There's been no succession at ABC or CBS. I'm puzzled as to where Mr. Carter thinks this precedent has played out.

• Posted at 8:38 PM · LINK

Recommended Viewing

Senator Al Franken recently gave an address at the American Constitution Society's annual convention in Washington, D.C. His thesis was that Conservative forces are manipulating our court system, and the Supreme Court in particular, to enact an agenda that most Americans would reject if it weren't so cunningly disguised. You can see the whole speech at this link but I wanted to yank out this quote...

What conservative legal activists are really interested in is this question: What individual rights are so basic and so important that they should be protected above a corporation's right to profit? And their preferred answer is: None of them. Zero.

I'm not sure the majority of self-identified Conservatives in this country realize this. Most of the folks they think are working in Washington to protect "traditional American values" (and even traditional Conservative viewpoints) have a higher mission. It varies slightly depending on who's paying them and the potential profit points...but it's all about the money.

• Posted at 10:57 AM · LINK

From the E-Mailbag...

Michael Emond writes...

Sorry to bug you but being in Canada I can't link to your Daily Show clips directly (but I can watch them at a Canadian site). If you just give a clue to what is in the clip (in your text accompanying the clip) it would be helpful for me to track it down — giving the date it aired would be even better.

Oops, didn't know that was necessary. It's a clip about how every danged U.S. President for the last eight has spoken of America's need to become independent from oil, especially foreign oil, and how nobody ever does much about it. It ran on 6/16/10. Well worth seeking out.

• Posted at 10:16 AM · LINK

Today's Video Link

I assume most of you watch The Daily Show with Jon Stewart so I don't bother linking to every great bit they produce. Every so often though, there's one so pointed that it deserves extra attention. If you know someone who doesn't watch the show, make sure they see this one...

• Posted at 2:12 AM · LINK