The general election season has begun in earnest, and over at Fox News, the channel’s slogan seems to have become, “We Report, You Deci—Oh, Screw It, Let’s Just Make Sure Obama Doesn’t Get Re-Elected.” That anyway is the message sent by a remarkable four-minute attack-video on the Obama presidency that aired Wednesday on Fox and …
News Media
Dead Tree Alert: The Year of the Nontroversy
Who’s nicer to dogs? Whose idiot supporters said more obnoxious things than the other guy’s idiot supporters? Who didn’t eat a cookie that it would have been more advisable for him to eat? These are some of the burning issues that have faced America as the general election of 2012 has gotten under way. And in my column in the print TIME …
Ann Romney, and Her Running Mate Mitt, Meet Diane Sawyer
There was a lot of attention over the weekend to the remarks Mitt Romney made at a fundraiser in which he let slip some details about which government programs he might cut to fund his tax-cut plans. But at least an equally revealing comment was an insight into his media strategy as the general election begins: Fox News, he told his …
The Week Ahead: One, Two, Three Shades of Grey
Every Monday, for your planning purposes, we will lay out the week ahead in entertainment. (All times refer to EDT.)
It’s 150 Shades of Grey Now
The first book in the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy, a series of NSFW novels by …
Grand Inquisitor: Mike Wallace Dies at 93
If investigative journalism has a face, that face belongs to Mike Wallace. Wallace, who died April 7 at age 93 after a long illness, did a wide range of jobs in his time, and he was just one of many journalists who practiced an adversarial style of interview in the prime of his career. But even more than reporters like Bob Woodward and …
Crystal Persuasion: Keith Olbermann, on Letterman, Likens Self to Expensive Chandelier
It made perfect sense for Keith Olbermann to go on Late Show with David Letterman to post-mortem his departure from Current TV. Two talented broadcasters, two very strong-willed guys, two guys who have a history of, shall we say, friction with their employers. So whatever Letterman thinks of how things went down with Olbermann and his …
Game Change! On Today Show, Palin Joins Lamestream Media
Before she was a guest host on this morning’s Today show — 45 minutes before — Sarah Palin was a guest, joining Matt Lauer on the morning of three Republican primaries, to offer “her take on the race.” Toward the end of the …
You’re Sorkin in It: HBO’s Newsroom Trailer Looks Pretty Familiar
Taking advantage of the tune-in audience for the season premiere of Game of Thrones, and the built-in overlap between fans of fantasy epics and cable news, HBO previewed a trailer for its Aaron Sorkin drama The Newsroom last night.
The Week Ahead—10 Things To Watch, Read and Listen To: April 2–April 8
Every Monday, for your planning purposes, we will lay out the week ahead in entertainment. (All times refer to EDT.)
1. Full Steam Ahead
We seem to have taken the “never let go” thing pretty seriously because Titanic is …
Olbermann Out, Spitzer In at Current TV
Once Keith Olbermann worked for MSNBC. Then he left amid a feud with his bosses. Then he signed up to remake Current TV’s news operation. Then he got embroiled in a feud with his bosses (despite ostensibly being one of them). Now, eight months and change later, late on a Friday afternoon Current announced that Olbermann is leaving the …
Hummus-Aisle Intifada! The Daily Show Comes to My Neighborhood
Ah, those cut-ups at The Daily Show! They’re so delightful and on target–when they’re mocking and ridiculing people who are not you, who do things that you don’t do, and believe things that you do not personally believe! But is Jon Stewart’s satire as funny-because-it’s-true when it comes to your own neighborhood?
A confession: I am …
Geraldo Rivera Opens Hoodie, Inserts Foot in Mouth
So there’s a heartbreaking, controversial public story and Geraldo Rivera made a stupid, insensitive comment about it. Which is good reason not to write about it; it’s dog bites man. Rivera doesn’t deserve the attention for saying, as he did on Fox and Friends today, that Trayvon Martin’s hoodie “is as much responsible for Trayvon …
Did I Just Say That Out Loud? Romney Adviser’s Unerasable Etch-a-Sketch Comment
The Mitt Romney presidential campaign has been unusually full of sitcom analogies this election season. Earlier, Romney compared opponent Newt Gingrich to Lucy in the candy factory from I Love Lucy, and characterized Gingrich as “zany,” a la a sitcom neighbor. In a recent debate, Romney alluded to the wisdom of Seinfeld’s George …