My review of the movie Eulogy is available at Amazon.com here.
To say that this was an odd movie is the understatement of the year. It does show that good actors can overcome bad writing.
Posts Tagged ‘comedy’
Jeff Dunham cancelled in Comedy Central red state purge
Posted: December 29, 2009 by datechguy in opinion/newsTags: comedy, comedy central, jeff dunham, political correctness
About 50 years ago CBS ruled the roost with a series of shows that appealed to rural audiences such as Petticoat Junction, ,Beverly Hillbillies, Mayberry R.F.D., and Hogan’s Heroes. Around 1971 these shows were canceled in what was called the Rural purge. They were all still popular, all still successful but generally paned by urban critics.
These shows continue to make money in syndication.
Fast forward to 2009 and it looks like comedy central has decided CBS had a point:
Achmed the Dead Terrorist has been all but buried on Comedy Central. Press representatives for the network said on Tuesday that its hit series featuring that contentious puppet — not to mention Jeff Dunham, the man with a hand up his back — will not be picked up for a second season, confirming a report that appeared in The Hollywood Reporter.
Well it isn’t like the old days with only three networks, a specialty network like comedy central has to cater to the shows that bring in the absolute highest ratings not just red state stuff…oh wait:
The decision comes as a bit of a surprise given that “Jeff Dunham’s Very Special Christmas Special,” a performance shown on Comedy Central in 2008, is that channel’s most-viewed broadcast ever, drawing 6.6 million viewers, and the premiere of “The Jeff Dunham Show” was watched by 5.3 million viewers.
Well ok it had millions of viewers a whole lot more than the entire MSNBC lineup, but it’s not as if it was in response to the decisions of urban critics…oh wait again:
A widely read post on the Web site videogum.com declared, “‘The Jeff Dunham Show’ Is the Worst Thing in the Entire World.” In The New York Times, Neil Genzlinger wrote, “Offensiveness is a mutable thing, especially on television, where everything is interchangeable: a Lewis Black joke could be a Jay Leno joke could be a Jeff Dunham joke.”
So bottom line a niche network chooses to cancel a show that still brought in millions of viewers after critics pan it.
I guess comedy central isn’t immune to PC.
Update: Welcome Salon readers, I haven’t quite figured out what this post has to do with the article that linked me but welcome just the same. Feel free to check out my weekend Amazon Reviews. Read a Massachusetts Republican’s take on the Brown Coakley race. Check out my Dr. Who End of Time rant and read my poetic answer to Al Gore.
Was feeling a bit better today so we went off for a few frames of candlepin bowling. After some decidedly average bowling I dropped off the shoes and my wife went up to pay while I went to get the youngest at the pinball machine.
When the clerk took the sheet the first words out of his mouth to my wife were to inquire if I was a senior citizen and entitled to the discount. I’m 14 years away from that privilege.
Maybe that’s why I can’t find work, everyone thinks I’m ready to retire.
With the Health care bill meeting Cloture it’s time to revisit my favorite Onion story.
Posted: December 21, 2009 by datechguy in funTags: comedy, morning joe, nostalgia, obamacare, three stooges
Morning Joe was dealing with the Onion today so in honor of that and Harry Reid’s success to impose Cloture it’s worthwhile to link to this highly relevant Onion story from 1997:
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND—World Health Organization officials expressed disappointment Monday at the group’s finding that, despite the enormous efforts of doctors, rescue workers and other medical professionals worldwide, the global death rate remains constant at 100 percent.
Death, a metabolic affliction causing total shutdown of all life functions, has long been considered humanity’s number one health concern. Responsible for 100 percent of all recorded fatalities worldwide, the condition has no cure.
I love the Nader “quote”:
“Why should we continue to spend billions of dollars a year on a health care industry whose sole purpose is to prevent death, only to find, once again, that death awaits us all?” Nader said in an impassioned address to several suburban Californians. “That’s called a zero percent return on our investment, and that’s not fair. Its time the paying customer stood up to the HMOs and to the so-called ‘medical health professionals’ and said: ‘Enough is enough. I’m paying through the nose here, and I don’t want to die.'”
Yeah it’s funny and the Onion as always is worth a laugh but the bottom line is still what the article says. Everyone dies. That includes me and you.
Boy, back to back post on death, I know I’m in a bit of a mood today but two posts in a row on death? Bad sign, but as Curley Howard once said: “The Morbid the merrier”
I guess the “free cigarettes” line would get this a R rating today.
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