The Importance of The Daily Show

This could also be titled: Why I Went to The Rally to Restore Sanity

Each generation has their news man. (It's usually a man, sorry ladies.) A man that we trust to tell us the news in a fair and balanced manner. There was Cronkite, Rather, Brokaw... the Gumbels.

My generation has too many channels for there to be anyone to trust. It started with CNN, and that was a good idea. Sure, it helped keep us informed during the first Gulf War, 24/7...but then there came a giant flood of news stations. News stations have news stations. It's ridiculous, it's biased, it's sensationalized, it's hard to believe. But from this darkness a bright light shined, and it was hilarious.

A comedy program stepped up and became a news leader of the generation. Now, I'm not talking about The Craig Kilborn Daily Show - a lot of people don't even remember that. I'm talking about The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

It's purely satirical. It's an unbiased look at the news, because no one is spared being made fun of. Best of all, it brings important news stories to the forefront in a manner that isn't meant to cause panic, but informed action.

I'm absolutely not the first to realize the phenomenon that this show has become. But, I do feel it's important to call out that perhaps this show has become the Nightly News of my generation because the way we've been reporting news is so ridiculous. There was a reason it was called "The News Hour". Perhaps we don't need continuous reports every minute. If you wanna go 24/7 report local stories, not embellished stories full of fear and clashing opinions. It's frightening that 20% of Americans actually believe we'd elect a president that wasn't an American - and the story is being perpetuated by someone who isn't even American!

To stop insanity like this, and have my opinions be heard in a reasonable manner, I went along with some friends to The Rally to Restore Sanity. It was a long trip, full of hours of waiting, epic lines, and exhaustive walking to not even get near the stage. But it was fullfilling to see that there are a lot of people looking for calm discourse. For change without screaming, for news programs to return to news programs so comedy can just be funny again.

Speaking of funny, check out our signs...

In this photo left to right: Kambri Crews, Sharon Jamilkowski, Sue Funke, Jenn Dodd, & Will Dodd

The Return of Scrubs?

Here's some breaking news I'd rather not report on.

Apparently, even though they had an amazingly perfect final episode, Scrub stars Zach Braff and Sarah Chalke say they'll go for another season.

Really?

I love Scrubs. It's not a popular statement to make, but I think it's a great show with wonderful characters and reliable comedy.

With that said, it's done. We had a wonderful ending, we mourned together discussing the beautiful final moments, and we've accepted it's death.

Let's let dead be dead, ok ABC?

Have you not seen the advertisement's for Chalke's Maneater on Lifetime?
It seems to be the similar launch they did for Will and Grace's Debrah Messing's show The Starter Wife on USA. Billed as a movie event, but expected to be a series.

Chalke's show looks like another stupid estrogen comedy about a woman dumped who finds herself. Sure, it's trite, but it could still make it - why go back to Scurbs?

We know that Chalke loves the double duty though, with her work on and How I Met Your Mother and Scrubs this season. But will she really give up her own series, or was she dumped at the first-airing-alter and crawling back to the "reliable hit"?

I guess we're gonna have to put this in the hands of TV fate.

Bea Arthur Died, Saturday, April 25, 2009

It is a sad story to write that today, we've lost another Golden Girl.

Bea Arthur died this morning at age 86. While many remember her for her wonderful portrayal as Dorothy, on Golden Girls, she was also known as sassy liberal Maude which aired on CBS during the 70's.

Maude was a spin off of CBS's other 70's hit All In The Family.

One of my favorite Bea Arthur television moments though was more recent in her role as the babysitter on Malcom in the Middle.

She often took roles where she played a tough woman, but Bea had a great sense for comedic timing and sense of humor about herself. Below I've put in one of my all time favorite parodies of Sex in the City. Bea did this with other classic TV actors for the TV Land Awards in 2008.



Bea Arthur you will be missed.

TV's Go HD June 12

Why not just get yourself cable now?

I mean, there's soooo many good shows.

Like Mad Men, which is supposedly returning summer 2009.

Ugh! I can't wait!

So, throw those bunny ears away pals, it's time to ring in '09. Hook it up!

Bernie Mac Dies at 50, Way Too Soon

Sad news America, Bernie Mac has died.
Apparently, Mac had sarcoidsis which is a lung disease that makes having pnemonia deadly.

This is indeed quite a loss. Not only did Mac have a family sitcom sitcom where he and his wife took in his two nieces and one hilarious nephew:



Mac was also a gifted comic. He struggled for years before he became famous and spent way too few years living comfortably off of his talents.

RIP Bernie Mac

Your 2008 Emmy Nominations

Here's the run down...

Best Drama
BOSTON LEGAL ---really? People are still watching this show? And they consider it a drama? It's pretty much the poor man's Alley McBeal without dream sequences.
Mad Men --- didn't this already win an Emmy for the first season? I mean I love it, but let's just say it's awesome and move on.
Dexter --- GREAT show. Really creepy, compelling and something that is not to be missed. A strong contender.
Damages: --- I found this show to be a little too into itself. I am willing to give it another shot, but I think the storyline is a little too night time soap opera meets law drama. I could be wrong here though. I'm going off the pilot, which is never the strongest.
Lost --- Amazing show. Great season. They really kicked it up a notch and deserve the recognition.
House, M.D. --- This season was the worst season, with the best season finale. Tough call. But can we all agree the extra team members are people you just couldn't care less about? Just keep showing House being a dick, it's all we really care about.

Best Comedy Series
Entourage - This show is a fun superficial comedy, but it's nothing so outstanding that deserves the kudos of an Emmy.
Two and A Half Men- a national tragedy that it's the number 1 sitcom. Make it stop America, I beg of you, make it stop.
Curb Your Enthusiasm- Consider it curbed. I love this show, but we've been uncomfortabley hilarious for long enough, this season wasn't as good as past seasons. I think it's time to say goodbye.
The Office - Here's a show that continues to get better. The writers and actors seem to all work really hard together to put forth characters that you care about and want to love and laugh at. It's really well done, but I don't see it getting the award this year.
30 Rock - This show has 17 nominations total, and had one of the best seasons ever in sitcom history. Topping out with my favorite 2.42 minutes in television history. I give you the clip that will win them their Emmy...



For more on Emmy nominations, stay tuned here, or visit:
The Prime Time Emmy Award List