A friend over at ABC tells me that the network is in serious talks with Jimmy Kimmel about doing some sort of talk show to replace Bill Maher's Politically Incorrect. This bothers me, and not because I don't think Kimmel is funny. I think he's very funny, especially when he gets off the topics of tits, beer and other fratboy notions of all that matters to our gender. Alas, the substitution seems to be saying, "We've got to get rid of the guy who occasionally offends people with political comments. Let's find a guy who'll only offend them with sexual comments."
Maher stirred up a storm not long after 9/11 with a remark that I believe was almost deliberately misinterpreted by folks who already didn't like him. This seems to be part of the New Rules of political discourse in the land. It doesn't matter what your foes actually said, or what they obviously intended to say. If you can convince people that Al Gore actually claimed he invented the Internet…well, that's so much better than trying to debate what he actually says. That Maher's comment wasn't as outrageous as some later made it out to be is demonstrated by the fact that there was no outcry, no outrage the night he said it or the next day, either. A few days later, those most reliable of sources — the Internet and talk radio hosts — made it out to be much worse than he'd obviously intended, and sponsors started fleeing.
That is, of course, their right. It's just regrettable, if only because it can't help but cast a pall on a lot of televised discussion. Right now, most of those who write for or ad-lib on TV are putting everything through an extra laundering process, asking themselves, "Is there any way this can be misinterpreted?" Because they know, if it is and there's a protest, sponsors won't hesitate to cast them adrift. For a time, it looked like Maher might get axed right away. That did not happen, in part because ABC didn't have anything to stick on in his place. But they're obviously afraid of the next time and they may be close to having something — if not Kimmel, someone else — for the slot.
This will probably not mean the end of Bill Maher in that format. If his agents can't parlay this into a secure, long-term deal on a cable channel, he oughta sue them for malpractice. He could very well wind up with a better deal and even a better show. Still, I think it's unfortunate that, at a time when network TV seems to be growing up in its vocabulary — when Ozzy Ozbourne can even use the "f" word on The Tonight Show with minor notice — comments about real, important issues still make people nervous.