Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

Happy indictment week to all who celebrate!

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

Let us savor the impending downfall of lawless scoundrels who richly deserve the trouble barreling their way.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the GOP

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

This really is a full service blog.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

The words do not have to be perfect.

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires

Republicans do not pay their debts.

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101Comments

  2. 2.

    Notorious P.A.T.

    I saw “Avatar” today. It was waaay better than I expected. Its plot is simple but not bad and there were a couple smart ideas in it.

  5. 5.

    cmorenc

    It will be a travesty if they let Leno bump the much more entertaining Conan O’Brian from the 11:30pm spot. Leno’s an ok guy, but his humor is very stale and conventional. O’Brian at least tries to do some very off-the-wall stuff that isn’t “jokes out of a can”.

  7. 7.

    geg6

    Oh, you meant “Chuck.”. Huh. I was hoping for an “Iron Chef America” and “Worst Chefs in America.” ICA has the first battle for the newest Iron Chef. And I loved the first ep of WCA. These people are train wrecks in the kitchen. I mean, how bad is your food when a guy who boils a whole chicken and then slaps Swiss cheese slices on top is considered a better cook than you? It’s highly entertaining.

  9. 9.

    RedKitten

    Cannot freaking wait for “Chuck”. Love that show. Love it, love it, love it. I hope everybody watches it tonight — it barely escaped cancellation, and it’s really just such a fun, entertaining show. Plus, it has Adam Baldwin. What’s not to love?

  10. 10.

    Chat Noir

    @cmorenc: We saw Conan in 2006. He was pretty good but the stand up guy who warmed up the audience before the show was one of the funniest people ever.

    As for Leno, we watched the premier of his prime time show and predicted that it would bomb. Simply lame. I bet Letterman is enjoying all of this.

  12. 12.

    General Winfield Stuck

    For any Hummingbird Lovers out there, there is a PBS special on Nature tonight. No more fascinating creature on the planet, in my humble opinion.

  13. 13.

    Max

    I’m down with Iron Chef talk. Chef Garces was my pick from the start.

    Big Love FTW!

    WTF if Chuck?

  16. 16.

    General Winfield Stuck

    Leno needs to bring back to life “Girls on Trampolines” that Kimmel has deprived us of. The beast.

    Ba ba ba

    ba ba ba ba ba

    ba ba ba

    ba

    I know, I’m a sexist neanderthal, but art is art.

  18. 18.

    scudbucket

    Watching 60 Minutes report on how Boeing hosed the taxpayer for 1 billion (read: $1,000,000,000.00) for a failed border security system. Talk about throwing up in your mouth.

    Stop thief. THIEF!

  19. 19.

    JR

    Or “Kings.” Yes, I understand that I was the only person watching it, but I like my dystopian re-imaginings of modern-day America, thank you very much.

  20. 20.

    MikeJ

    I’m down with Iron Chef talk. Chef Garces was my pick from the start.

    I was a fan of the French woman. Women are under represented on the show, so I really wanted to see one do well. They also seem to have a bias against French cuisine, probably because it’s seen as snobby.

    It’s really rare that an iron chef makes a straight up French dish and not a Thai fusion coq au vin. And I like fusion stuff, mixing up styles, but it seems like they’re unafraid to do a straight greek dish, or a completely Spanish one, but its rare that an iron chef goes for french and french alone.

  21. 21.

    Sentient Puddle

    YES

    If you’re not watching Chuck, you need to. For one, it’s good. For two, it needs more of an audience, because it was in danger of getting canceled after last season. We can’t have that happen.

  22. 22.

    Karen

    I’ll bet that Jimmy Fallon is the one who ends up screwed by all this. His show is original and quirky and it’s the one show I NEVER miss.

  24. 24.

    geg6

    Nothing makes me happier than the Leno FAIL. The unfunniest man in the world. I think Johnny Carson actually died of mortification that a dud like Leno replaced him on the Tonight Show. I am proud to say that I never watched one single second of that show after Johnny left and NBC passed on the only legitimate successor, the incomparable Dave.

  26. 26.

    Emo Pantload (fka Studly)

    I got no dog in the Leno/Conan dealio. I’m a Ferguson guy all the way. And I hope to hell CBS never tries to put him on at 11:30; he works just perfectly as an insurgent.

  27. 27.

    Colonel Danite

    @ scudbucket:

    Don’t you realize that $1 billion wasted on Boeing for a system that never worked is not nearly as bad as a few hundred thousand given to ACORN to register voters. Get your priorities straight!!

  29. 29.

    freelancer

    I’m watching Bill Moyer’s Journal episode with David Corn and Kevin Drum. Illuminating stuff, but whenever Moyers has an episode where he focuses on our financial system, I feel like he might as well have a ticker running under the screen reading
    “We are fucked. No, seriously, are you listening to this? Well and totally boned. Completely fucked and hopeless.”

  30. 30.

    GregB

    President McCain chose Sarah Palin for veep via teh Google.

    God’s plan with a hat tip to Al Gore.

    -G

  31. 31.

    handy

    Leno would return to his former 11:35 p.m. slot after the Olympics ended under the network’s new plan, which also calls for O’Brien to retain his job with “Tonight” but at the later hour of 12:05 a.m. EST.
    Jimmy Fallon and his “Late Night” would be pushed a half-hour later as well, to 1:05 a.m. EST.

    Source.

    “Hey let’s break three shows for the price of one!”–NBC Exec.

    What a mess. Getting your ass handed to you by Letterman must be a bitch.

  33. 33.

    Dr. I. F. Stone

    “Southland,” which Mr. Cole mentioned in his post, will begin this Tuesday on TNT at 10:00 PM (Eastern time) with reruns of the original series as shown on NBC last year. These reruns will be followed by the six new episodes that NBC produced before making the cancellation decision final.

  34. 34.

    The Other Steve

    @JR: I loved Kings and was really pissed when they canceled it.

    I actually can’t stand Chuck. Big Bang Theory is better and funnier.

    Leno sucks. Always has. It’s typical manager thinking. We can do this cheap and therefore make more money. Except nobody watches cause it sucks. The only reason you watched Leno at late night was because of the guests.

  35. 35.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Mario Piperni: I’m guessing the parts about the Edwards campaign are also going to be pretty interesting.

  36. 36.

    geg6

    And I apologize to all the Chuck fans, but no thanks. Even though it matters what I watch (can’t say why or I’d have to kill you all), I can’t help you out here. It’s Food Network night! And, though I liked Garces second best, I was cheering for the German-American food goddess. I relate to her. Plus she won when she competed on Iron Chef before she was on Next Iron Chef.

  37. 37.

    Brachiator

    @JR:

    Or “Kings.” Yes, I understand that I was the only person watching it, but I like my dystopian re-imaginings of modern-day America, thank you very much.

    Kings. The re-imagining of the story of David? I never saw it as having anything remotely to do with America. Liked it though. The only problem is that it didn’t go far enough. Instead of a holy innocent, I would have preferred to see David shown to be a shrewd political operator, which I think is historically plausible.

    I was finally won over by Merlin, which I think is returning later in the season.

  40. 40.

    Chat Noir

    @GregB: Country First, bitchez! If McCain had any sense of duty to his country, he should resign in shame for having foisted that dirtbag grifter from Alaska on us.

    On the other hand, David Plouffe said in his book that Sarah Palin was the best fundraiser the Obama campaign could’ve had.

  42. 42.

    ihop

    network tv is dead to me, dead you hear!

    at least since “arrested development” was canceled.

    “analrapist”, indeed.

  43. 43.

    handy

    @The Other Steve:

    Except Leno consistently beat Letterman all the way up to his initial “retirement.” NBC went for the cheap and just screwed the pooch, no 2 ways about it.

  50. 50.

    Notorious P.A.T.

    @Cat Lady:

    3D. Which I am considering a jihad against. I *wear* glasses already. So what am I supposed to do with the plastic ones they give me? Which are too small for me anyway. And all for a gimmick that vanishes from my consciousness during the climactic scenes anyway.

  51. 51.

    scudbucket

    @handy: NBC went for the cheap and just screwed the pooch, no 2 ways about it.

    Don’t worry. The CEO will get a 2 million dollar bonus, so it’s all good.

  54. 54.

    ellaesther

    As long as we’re sending love out to our favorite tee-vee programmes, may I suggest Better Off Ted?

    It, too, is in danger of cancellation and dude. It is stinkin’ funny and weird.

  56. 56.

    Maxwel

    A problem with Avatar is that it’s an American Corporation and American mercernaries attempting to terraform Pandora. Considering that it’s 2154, they should probably be Chinese.

  59. 59.

    BGK

    Regarding the Leno business, I think the really funny part about it was that the network had no problem with the fact that his show and his ratings were putrid. It was teevee on the cheap and showed something a profit, if anything the show was a template for more of the same.

    I talked to someone I know at the local NBC affiliate and she told me the situation with dragging down the local news ratings was so bad most of the non O&O stations really were in full-bore, contract-breaking revolt.

  61. 61.

    Mike G

    Bet they could use a drama like Southland right about now.

    Southland was picked up by TBS and is restarting (from the beginning) this week, I believe.
    I hope it becomes a monster hit to stick it to the corporate cost-cutting-mediocrity turds at NBC.

  63. 63.

    Cat Lady

    So what am I supposed to do with the plastic ones they give me?

    I wore mine, and promptly forgot about them when the first water drop floated in front of my face.

    See it again in IMAX, if possible, and offer to bring a kid or pay for a kid who might not be able to go otherwise. That’s what I’m going to do, because kids need to experience the beauty. The beauty is a powerful antidote to all of the ugly and the anger and the violence, and the 3-D makes it *real*. It may be the only really beautiful, hence powerful experience of nature a lot of kids may EVER have. Not just city kids, but suburban kids who never go outside by themselves anymore.

    Avatar is awesome.

  65. 65.

    geg6

    Hey, WTF! Morimoto? I’ve been watching promos for Garces all week, dammit! Oh, well. Morimoto is always the most creative of chefs and his plating is often nothing less than Louvre level artistry. And the secret ingredient is figs. Love me some figs. And I still have Worst Chefs at 10.

  69. 69.

    Delia

    I never got going with Chuck. I’m going to see what this Battlestar Galactica spinoff is like, while I wait for Caprica to debut. Being the total geek that I am.

  70. 70.

    JK

    @General Winfield Stuck:

    For any Hummingbird Lovers out there, there is a PBS special on Nature tonight. No more fascinating creature on the planet.

    Hummingbirds are fascinating, but what about the starfish, the sea horse, the macaw, the owl, and the iguana?

  73. 73.

    Delia

    @BGK:

    Wow, that is one great pile of black and white kittehs. I only have one. The other is tabby. I’d suggest you line them up in ascending order of black to white ratio except they’re, well, cats.

  75. 75.

    BGK

    @Annie:

    Left to right: Sophia, Rizzo, Ava, and Jack. Angus is not shown. I’ve yet to get a picture with all five of them in the same place.

  76. 76.

    MattR

    @Delia:

    I’d suggest you line them up in ascending order of black to white ratio except they’re, well, cats.

    I am actually laughing imagining that scene complete with Benny Hill music in the background.

  79. 79.

    Nicole

    @Max:

    Total Big Love time.

    Oh yes. The only thing wrong with tonight’s episode was the new opening credits. Me no likey.

  80. 80.

    Seanly

    NBC first hobbled Life then canceled it. Then they canceled Southland as it was picking up the pace. The jerks deserve the ratings hell they’ve pulled onto themselves.

  81. 81.

    Yutsano

    @Seanly: Only thing that’s going to save their skins are the Canadians now. The Olympics are a good ratings booster for them but otherwise their shows are crap. And I loved Kings. In fact it was so good I knew exactly when it was gonna get canned, and I was right.

  82. 82.

    Billy K

    I don’t understand all the love and support for programs like “Chuck” and “Better Off Ted” and “Big Bang Theory.” The “jokes” are the same lame retreads we’ve heard for years. They’re telegraphed in advance. They’re repeated every show. Every character is a stereotype. Every situation is a rehash. I just don’t get it.

    Maybe I need to start watching PBS (oh wait – I do) and reading books, because this crap just aint funny. I can’t think of a single broadcast TV show I care about any more.

    P.S. Life” was very good.

  86. 86.

    Yutsano

    @Brachiator:

    The only problem is that it didn’t go far enough.

    Now you got me imagining what HBO or Showtime could have done with this series. It really is a fantastic story line and I always love the alternative universe stuff (cf Battlestar Galactica) but NBC just completely futzed it up. I may have to do some exploring on Hulu tonight when I get home from work.

  90. 90.

    Dayv

    Bah, I forgot to record Chuck. Now I have to watch it on the computer. I really need to get the laptop and the TV to play nicely one of these days.

  91. 91.

    asiangrrlMN

    Cole, when I first read your lede graf, I thought you meant Chuck Todd, and I was gonna grab my rusty pitchfork and shove it where the sun don’t shine. Then, I realized what you meant. I think I may be a tad bit too involved in politics, you think?

    And, I iz librul elite, too, in that I don’t watch television much except for sports.

  92. 92.

    Emo Pantload (fka Studly)

    Started to watch the Chuck, but then came the realization that Desperate Housewives is on, and Mrs. Pantload needs her fix of desperation.

    I’m at peace with it, though. When it comes to witty spy series, Burn Notice has set a pretty high bar, in my mind.

  93. 93.

    General Winfield Stuck

    @Billy K:

    I can’t think of a single broadcast TV show I care about any more.

    Same here. There are some long running series like L and O, CSI, that I used to like, but now have grown tired of them. And shows like Chuck, etc…. and some of the chic new cable movie channel ones just seem too contrived and old hat to me.

    There are a few good movies being made, but very few, so I turn to PBS docs and foreign flicks I haven’t seen, and new ones that are better than what we are making these days.

    I don’t know what it is, but the creative juices in Hollywood and elsewhere are running low, seems to me. Maybe Bush and Cheney stole our mojo with all the lying and killing, and torturing, or something.

  94. 94.

    Yutsano

    @asiangrrlMN: You were gonna use the pitchfork on John? What would Tunch do for tuna if that were to occur?

    CRAPPY day at work. Rather not talk about it.

  95. 95.

    John

    Instead of a holy innocent, I would have preferred to see David shown to be a shrewd political operator, which I think is historically plausible.

    This was the fatal problem with Kings The David character was just insanely boring. I was enjoying McShane (because, well, he’s absurdly awesome), but I couldn’t get into a show where the hero was as boring as that dude, so I gave up on it. A real waste of an interesting idea.

  96. 96.

    asiangrrlMN

    @BGK: Gaaaaaaaaaah! How did I miss this?????? OMG! They are sooooo cuuuute! I die!

    Ahem.

    @General Winfield Stuck: You know, I gush over Charlie every time you post a pic, but there is something about his eyes that make me melt every time I see him.

    @jeffreyw: Awwww, your dogs and cats are soo adorable! I love it when you get into pet pic wars!

  97. 97.

    asiangrrlMN

    @Yutsano: Heh. I was actually going to use it on whatever exec would think two hours of Chuck Todd on prime-time was a good thing. I would never deprive my beloved of his servant.

    Sorry your day at work was bad. I’m here if you want to vent.

  100. 100.

    b-psycho

    If NBC had any brains whatsoever, they would’ve kept Southland, ditched Jay completely, & offered “Late Night” to Dave Chappelle. But they don’t.

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