If the broadcast television networks' aim is to elicit from viewers the response "I can't believe they said (or did, or showed) that on TV," I must admit that they have succeeded spectacularly, again and again, in the past few seasons. Most of this jaw-dropping material, of course, has been sexual, and in that department this fall's leader among new drama series is NBC's "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit." This "Law & Order" spinoff, which was originally and accurately called "Sex Crimes," airs Mondays at 9 p.m. on the coasts, 8 p.m. in middle America. Even Dick Wolf, the... continue reading
The latest conventional wisdom from the media reflects an aching desire to take politics away from self-obsessed loudmouths like Jesse Ventura and give it back to the "professionals." Ventura's dreadful interview with Playboy, in which he denounced organized religion as "a sham and a crutch for weak-minded people," exposed Ventura as the dumbest star in American politics. But it also underlined the media's hypocritical protests about celebrities in politics. Simply put, they're loving it. Take Newsweek, which ran a "Hollywood Squares" layout with all the celebrities thinking of running for high office, from Cybill Shepherd to Jerry Springer. The subheadline... continue reading
Odd as it may sound, there is a small silver lining to be found in the dark cloud of each high-profile cultural attack on religion, from "The Last Temptation of Christ" to the fecally defaced Virgin Mary portrait currently, and shamefully, on display at the Brooklyn Museum of Art. When the media cover these outrages, they usually allow those disgusted by them to speak out. In the case of the Brooklyn Virgin Mary, New York mayor Rudy Giuliani and the Catholic League's William Donohue have been frequent television talking heads. Such spokesmen alert the public to the true nature of... continue reading
One has to wonder why Time magazine seems determined to make a fool of itself at least once annually with its Person of the Year award. No, I don't mean the ruckus caused by giving the award to monsters like Adolf Hitler and Khomeini: Time was not judging them on their merits but on their importance, and as such they were justifiable winners. I mean choosing "Endangered Earth", as they did in 1989. Or their pick for Man of the Decade in 1990, when they might have selected Ronald Reagan, whose domestic policies gave our country its biggest peacetime economic... continue reading
When Thomas Edison declared that genius was one part inspiration, and 99 parts perspiration, he could not have imagined how today's "modern artist" would take that metaphor and make it reality. Instead of inspiration, today's art-gallery version of the shock jock replaces inspiration with perspiration. And dung. In their latest attempt to prove there is no culture in their counter-culture, "arts advocates" are championing the newest tasteless art exhibit, titled "Sensation," coming soon to the Brooklyn Museum of Art. The museum somehow prides itself on displaying as fine art pig carcasses in formaldehyde; dead flies and maggots, killed by a... continue reading
Anyone with one eyeball on TV newscasts today knows that the networks thrive on disasters and murders, yanking the udders of tragedy until they've milked out the very last ratings point. The real conundrum comes when the disasters and murders compete. As Hurricane Floyd buried the East Coast in rain, a man named Larry Ashbrook massacred seven people in a Fort Worth Baptist church Although this horrible spectacle didn't trump hurricane coverage, journalists did reliably arrive in droves to interview victims and relatives. They also announced this would "reignite the gun control debate in America," and in so doing, reignited... continue reading
On September 14, Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) and William Bennett announced they were giving their Silver Sewer Award for cultural pollution to the Fox television network and its chairman, Rupert Murdoch. Sad to say, it's impossible to question Lieberman and Bennett's choice. Fox isn't the only web that's specialized in the tasteless, of course, but it's been a trailblazer. "In its five years of existence," wrote Erich Eichman in a 1992 American Spectator article, Fox "has earned the dubious distinction of having brought television's already abysmal content to new lows, mostly by trading in coarse jokes, risque humor, [and] sexual... continue reading
In May 1997, the weekend chat shows lit up with outrage. Bob Dole had agreed to loan money to Newt Gingrich for a $300,000 ethics penalty assessed by the House. On CNN's "Late Edition," journalist Steve Roberts noted Dole's job with a law firm lobbying on the tobacco settlement and asked, "Do we really want a speaker of the House who owes $300,000 to a guy who's a principal in a major lobbying firm?" On "Inside Washington," Newsweek's Evan Thomas bemoaned that Dole had retired from public service to "become an influence peddler so he can post bail for Newt... continue reading
The other night I was tuned in to NBC, watching the Mel Gibson movie "Braveheart," clearly one of the best films in recent years. Next door on Fox they were airing the annual Emmy Awards extravaganza, clearly one of the dumbest shows television has to offer. Go beyond the hoopla - the dresses, the stars, the winners and losers - and ask yourself this simple question: Just what are they - we - celebrating here? There are exceptions, of course, but as a rule there's just so little to cheer about, really, with a television industry that quality-wise is in... continue reading
With the Waco fiasco back in the headlines, one of two conclusions concerning this Attorney General of ours is inescapable. Either Janet Reno is the most corrupt A.G. in memory, or the most incompetent. It also says something about the political press that has slobbered all over Ms. Reno for years, most notably over her handling of the Waco disaster back in '93. Let's take a trip down Memory Lane, when Reno took responsibility for the disaster, even though her department's supposed number-three man, Webster Hubbell, was more involved than she was. Far from burying Reno in charges of incompetence,... continue reading