3rd Level Habib

We're experiencing problems with our cable and internet, and of course we're having to navigate Time Warner Cable's troubleshooting protocols; as my sister says, we are at the 3rd level Habib of customer service.

OK, They Admit It: It's Just a Sideshow

Duck Dynasty, that is. And Honey Boo-Boo, and those folks that catch catfish with their bare hands. Paula Deen, too. All just part of the sideshow, like the Strong Man and the Snake Woman and Spock and the Dog-Faced Boy:



I found the admission here, in a discussion of the "offensive" remarks made by Phil Robertson of Duck Dynasty:

"Channels like A&E program 'regular' people mostly to make curiosities out of them," said Jeffrey McCall, a media studies professor at DePauw University. "The programmers want to manage every aspect of their 'reality' commodities, but that isn't really possible.

"If A&E wants the Robertsons to make money for the channel by being authentic, then at some point A&E has to accept that reality stars will be real human beings," McCall added. "If A&E didn't like the Robertsons as they are, then why did they give them a weekly platform?"

So there you are. Just part of the sideshow.

Yer REAL Hunger Games

Kimono vs. Komodo:

"Woman with a slab of meat tied to her has to outrun giant lizard in bizarre Japanese TV show."

Pic:

For You Older Readers...

...whose memories stretch back to the 60's and 70's, Time-Warner has announced that 50 full episodes of The Carol Burnett Show, along with numerous extras, are now available as a DVD boxed set.

That show would have been just a run-of-the-mill variety show were it not, frankly, for the presence of two people: Harvey Korman, who could not keep a straight face when he found something funny, and Tim Conway, the man who was the most skilled at making Harvey Korman (and, very often, the rest of the cast) break into uncontrollable laughter. This propensity of Conway's is best exemplified by his "elephant story," in which he breaks up Carol, Vicki Lawrence, Dick Van Dyke (and himself) before being topped by Vicki Lawrence in a brilliant riposte:



When you see the modern internet term "ROFL" (Rolling On Floor Laughing), this is a perfect example of what is meant.

"People Are Improperly Informed."

Liberal actress starring in a liberal show created and written by a liberal spouts liberal drivel.

I can remember when Bush got in for the second time, just feeling like so much of the problem about the way that politics go here is that people are improperly informed. That they didn’t know that they had been lied to, or they didn’t understand exactly to what extent they had been, and they still thought that there were weapons of mass destruction. And that was just crazy to me that people could be so under-informed.

I don’t think the same is true here, and television broadcast news especially seems to me to be a pretty dicey area. You can’t rely on getting the facts, or getting them presented in a way that is actually objective and makes sense and puts people in a position where they can make informed decisions about who to vote for. It’s just over-sensationalized and, as our show keeps pointing out, one of the big problems is that they act like there’s just two definite sides to every discussion — and that’s just not necessarily the case, but it feeds into the way this country has just become completely polarized. This Tea Party is presented on the television as the viable alternative instead of like a lunatic fringe.

So to be properly informed is to believe that the Tea Party is a lunatic fringe. Got it. And properly informed stinks of re-education camps, IMO.


h/t David Codrea.

Old Devlins Was A-Waiting By the Lonesome River Ford...*

...when he spied the Mackey Captain with a pistol and a sword...

Starting on Monday at 9 p.m., actor Kevin Costner returns to the epic story on the History Channel with a miniseries Hatfields and McCoys, about the famous feud between those two Appalachian families.

Costner plays Devil Anse Hatfield, the patriarch of the Hatfield family; Bill Paxton plays Randall McCoy, the leader of the McCoys. There's a video available at the link.

Looks like it might be worth watching.

*bonus points for identifying the story I got the blog post title from. No cheating with Google, now.

The Walking Dead...

...gets a third season.

You can't keep a dead man down.

I'm Feeling Better...

Which Walking Dead Character Are You?

I'm Dale:



Only 7 questions. Unfortunately Merle Dixon isn't one of the possible results.

update: take the quiz here. Sorry for not linking it earlier. Not that anyone reads my sorry shit anymore, anyway.

Sunday: The Walking Dead, Season 2

Here's a video featuring guns and other props from the show:

Bocephus On The View?

Man, that's going to be wild. With both Behar and Whoopi tag-teaming him? It's just a matter of who makes who walk off first.

Sherwood Schwartz, Creator of Gilligan's Island: R.I.P.

One of the true greats.

Gilligan's Island Opening Theme in Color. Watch more top selected videos about: Gilligan's Island

James Arness, 1923-2011: R.I.P.

Matt Dillon has ridden off into the sunset.

Here's the only YouTube clip I could find that included Arness riding the buckskin horse I coveted:

Why Should I Welcome You, Gandalf Stormcrow?

Jim Cantore, the face of The Weather Channel's hurricane coverage, shows up at Wrightsville Beach to film a commercial and makes the locals nervous.



Why indeed should we welcome you, Master Stormcrow? Láthspell I name you, Ill-news; and ill news is an ill guest they say.

Meanwhile, Over At Monster Hunter Nation...

...Larry announces that he's sold the rights to Monster Hunter International as a TV show.

The End of an Era

ABC TV is cancelling the soap operas All My Children and One Life To Live.

Replacing them will be shows entitled The Chew and The Revolution. So help me God.

How Many of Y'all...

...are going to watch The Walking Dead this Sunday?

Here's the trailer:

Game Show Idea

Call it Redneck vs. College Professor, and make it a simple knowledge test, similar to Jeopardy. Categories would include the usual ones, but also such subjects as breeds of hogs, tractor parts, growing season, fertilizer types, fishing lures, rifle calibers, etc. So not only would the redneck have to answer questions about opera and broadway, but the college professor would have to know the difference between a shoat and a sow.

I think that you could have a lot of fun with such a concept.

That's Right, Folks, Don't Touch That Dial!

Because Don Pardo, the announcer on Saturday Night Live, is 92 years old.

Good New York Times article, and they score supreme points for coolness by including Pardo assisting Frank Zappa perform I'm The Slime.

Watch Him Scream Like A Little Girl

An Australian weatherman is attacked on-screen by a hungry pelican.

Thursday TV Recommendation

Hey, give BBQ Pitmasters a look tonight if you're bored and can't find something to watch. It's on TLC, and features a bunch of BBQ cooks as they tour the country and compete in various BBQ contests. Along the way you get to see great tips on how to cook BBQ.

Watch the arrogant but knowledgeable Myron Mixon put down the other competitors, but who often takes home the trophies; Johnny Trigg, the old guy with the beer belly and the cold blue gunfighter's eyes; Paul Peterson, the BBQ noob who is as ignorant as he is arrogant; Harry Soo, who is Chinese and from California, but still makes good BBQ; Tuffy Stone, who makes BBQ cooking more of a bean-counting science than an art; and Lee Ann Whippen, the hot blonde BBQ girl (you always have to have a hot blonde, right?)

I'll say now that the website that TLC has set up is kind of crappy, but the show is still fun to watch.