Review: ‘V’ in the World of ‘O’

Much has been written about the premiere of the new ABC drama “V” and its relationship to  the election last year of President Barack Obama. As an article from the Chicago Tribune noted:

Nominally a rousing sci-fi space opera about alien invaders bent on the conquest (and digestion) of all humanity, it’s also a barbed commentary on Obamamania that will infuriate the president’s supporters and delight his detractors.

While it’s true there are reasons why comparisons between the candidate of hope and the aliens who want change are plentiful, the show “V” is about much more than a critique of the Obama administration.

“V” begins as a show about aliens who suddenly appear in spaceships around the world and the reaction they receive.  At first, as can be expected, there is a lot of fear and anguish about the visitors (which is what “V” stands for) as the ships show up hovering above different cities. However, when the alien leader appears on a ship’s video screen and talks about the benefits they will bring to the people of this world, audiences applaud (an unrealistic action, but an important one nonetheless in the development of the program). As the show goes on, though, some people learn that the aliens have more in mind than providing “heal centers” and universal health care for people around the world (which they are in favor of). (more…)

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Tags: abc, Alien, cult, Obama, Television
Posted Nov 7th 2009 at 5:47 pm in Reviews, Television | 25830267 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jhanlon/2009/11/07/review-v-in-the-world-of-o/Review%3A+%27V%27+in+the+World+of+%27O%272009-11-08+01%3A47%3A20John+P.+Hanlon

‘V’ Teaches Us to Combat False Saviors

The first episode of the new science fiction television series “V” is a wake up call to those looking for salvation in the wrong places. We cannot predict where the series will go, but the opening episode features a young pastor, who plays a lead role in opposing the rush to consider some benevolent looking aliens to be the saviors of mankind.

The aliens are called “visitors,” shortened to “Vs,” thus the title of the program. They appear over major cities in large hovering spaceships that project messages in the local language. More than just the classic we-come-in-peace message, the messages say, “We’re here to help you.”

The opening episode makes it very clear, however, that they are not here to help. It turns out the Vs have planted many of their kind, who look human, prior to their dramatic arrival in spaceships. The alien plants have done their best to foul up life on earth in order to encourage a hunger for “change” (salvation). The Chicago Tribune draws a parallel to the Obama administration but, while many believe President Obama was not born in the United States, it’s unlikely he was born on another planet. Even so, it’s interesting that the evil aliens offer “universal health care” to all people. Thus, the first episode clearly seems to be saying that President Obama’s health care proposals, now making their way through the U.S. Congress, are a false hope that will lead to tyranny and slavery. (more…)

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Tags: abc, Aliens, False Saviors, God, Priest
Posted Nov 6th 2009 at 6:36 pm in Religion, Television | 25881078 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/drbaehr/2009/11/06/v-teaches-us-to-combat-false-saviors/%27V%27+Teaches+Us+to+Combat+False+Saviors2009-11-07+02%3A36%3A53Ted+Baehr

Review: No Need to Visit ‘Cougar Town’

On ABC’s “About the Show” web page for the new show “Cougar Town”, the executive producer of the program notes that “you only get one chance to experience your 20s. Even if it’s when you’re 40 something.” That, in short, is a brief synopsis of the new Courteney Cox comedy that follows a divorced mother who starts to date younger men. I recently watched the last few episodes of the program and although I found some potential in the minor characters on the show, the program is crippled by a weak main story line and its overall coarseness.

In the program, Cox’s character Jules Cobb is a real estate agent who has recently started dating men in their twenties who are only a few years older than her son. Her dalliances with these men and her coming to grips with her age compose the overall plot of the program. In her daily life, Cobb is surrounded by an offbeat set of characters including her neighbor across the street, her young assistant at work and her ex-husband. (more…)

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Tags: "Cougar Town", abc, cougars, Courteney Cox, sex
Posted Nov 6th 2009 at 3:54 pm in Reviews, Television | 25618635 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jhanlon/2009/11/06/review-no-need-to-visit-cougar-town/Review%3A+No+Need+to+Visit+%27Cougar+Town%272009-11-06+23%3A54%3A20John+P.+Hanlon

Exclusive: Behind the ‘V’ Controversy

I missed the series premiere of “V,” but not the ongoing flap afterwards. The remake of the 1984 sci-fi classic seems to have hit a lot of nerves on the left and found an audience on the right. Left-wing media types are outraged that the series “degrades” the Obama administration, and some on the right are wondering if a Hollywood talent has been dismissed from his job for political reasons. As I write this, I’m watching O’Reilly go on about “the writers taking shots at President Obama.” 

As it happens, I’m acquainted with Scott Peters who developed and wrote the remake of “V” for ABC.  Mr. Peters was also the creator and executive producer of “The 4400” and a writer for “The Outer Limits.” As far as I know Mr. Peters has only made one mistake in his career and that was directing me in the low-budget film “Don: Plain and Tall” back in 2003. It was the story of my friend comedian Don McMillan’s life as a comic. I played myself in the film and the part was horribly miscast. 

When I started reading some of the rumors and theories about Mr. Peters’ latest show and the behind-the-scenes politics, I laughed out loud.  Let me try to shed some light on the “V” controversy. (more…)

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Tags: abc, Bill O'Reilly, Don McMillan, sci -fi, science fiction
Posted Nov 5th 2009 at 1:14 pm in Featured Story, Politics, Television | 258378134 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjena/2009/11/05/exclusive-behind-the-v-controversy/Exclusive%3A+Behind+the+%27V%27+Controversy2009-11-05+21%3A14%3A48Jeffrey+Jena

Obama Parable?: Brownshirt Lizards Return in ‘V’

This is my first “coming out” article as a conservative and Christian because Hollywood is taking its last breath before dying and I don’t really have much to lose. I’m a director, but made a good living for about seven years compositing visual effects. That is, until I was blacklisted for objecting to anti-Christian and anti-American propaganda that I was forced to listen to 8 hours a day by 90% of the people around me. But that’s a story for a different time.

Today, I’m writing to comment on “V,” as I’m sure many viewers missed the parallels of the questions raised in the show regarding our own politics today.

Hollywood script-writing 101 classes tell writers, “If you want to write a good script, write what you know.” Kenneth Johnson, creator of the original “V” series and story writer of the resurrected version, apparently knows his history. For disclosure purposes, I have met him and visited his home many years ago, but don’t know really much about him other than he has a good grasp on good and evil and human, albeit lizard, nature. (Possible political jab that the Left is slimy … even though lizards are not?)

What completely blows my mind is that all these comic book and sci-fi loving fans embrace and cheer for the underground rebels and immediately suspect the Visitors as wolves in sheep’s clothing (or lizards, in this case). So why is it so impossible for these same fans to see who the real-life lizards are? The aliens arrive and we don’t know anything about them other than they all look like celebrities too old for the CW Network, and they come offering hope and in the shows own words: “universal health care.” No, President Obama, nor Harry Reid, nor Nancy Pelosi didn’t arrive in a spaceship (or did they… hmmm?). No, they came with years of very questionable history behind them that anyone not rushing to embrace the empty promise of “hope” and “change” would immediately see. (more…)

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Tags: abc, health care, healthcare, Hitler Youth, Military
Posted Nov 4th 2009 at 5:03 pm in Politics, Television | 25792290 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jvarga/2009/11/04/obama-parable-brownshirt-lizards-return-in-v/Obama+Parable%3F%3A+Brownshirt+Lizards+Return+in+%27V%272009-11-05+01%3A03%3A05Jeff+Varga

Left Lashes Out at ‘V’, Obama-Friendly ABC Purges Showrunner…

Last night a brave and insightful documentary was aired that accurately portrayed the wave of ObamaMania that swept the nation. It was called “V” and aired on ABC to mostly rave reviews and tremendous ratings.

There was another documentary about the Obama campaign on HBO, but that left out a lot of relevant facts, so spaceships and lizard-people aside, ABC wins the veracity award.

The parable is, an attractive group of aliens show up, out of the blue, and offer universal health care, advanced technology and world peace in exchange for our trust and devotion. All we have to do is believe everything they say without question. Which means, don’t ask anything about their hidden motives or past associations because that would be racist impolite. In fact, one reporter who is offered an exclusive interview with their leader is admonished not to say anything negative or they would be denied access (Hi, Fox!).

And what do you know, the aliens are really here to eat us. And maybe even take over our car companies and banks. That part is unclear. But I’m sure they will reduce unemployment, because there will be less people looking for work. Oops, I guess “V” has nothing to do with Obama, because he sure isn’t doing well on that front. But anyhoo–

The New Republic’s Jonathan Chait was outraged by the pilot. Outraged, I say! (more…)

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Tags: abc, Glenn Beck, Jonathan Chait, New York Times, Scott Peters
Posted Nov 4th 2009 at 1:19 pm in Featured Story, Politics, Television | 257910239 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jhudnall/2009/11/04/left-lashes-out-at-v-obama-friendly-abc-purges-showrunner/Left+Lashes+Out+at+%27V%27%2C+Obama-Friendly+ABC+Purges+Showrunner...2009-11-04+21%3A19%3A20James+Hudnall

Chicago Tribune: ABC’s ‘V’ Takes Aim at ObamaMania

Big Hollywood covered this back in May, but it seemed too good to be true. It still seems too good to be true….

And we gave strict orders that our right-wing network television sleeper agents were not to be activated until after the holidays. 

Don’t tell anyone, but the activation password was: Eisenhower.

–

No doubt, CNN’s fact-checkers are on alert.

Today’s Chicago Tribune:

“Imagine this. At a time of political turmoil, a charismatic, telegenic new leader arrives virtually out of nowhere. He offers a message of hope and reconciliation based on compromise and promises to marshal technology for a better future that will include universal health care.

“The news media swoons in admiration — one simpering anchorman even shouts at a reporter who asks a tough question: “Why don’t you show some respect?!” The public is likewise smitten, except for a few nut cases who circulate batty rumors on the Internet about the leader’s origins and intentions. The leader, undismayed, offers assurances that are soothing, if also just a tiny bit condescending: “Embracing change is never easy.” (more…)

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Tags: abc, miniseries, Obama, Obamamania, V
Posted Nov 3rd 2009 at 10:44 am in Politics, Television | 257162169 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/bighollywood/2009/11/03/chicago-tribune-abcs-v-takes-aim-at-obamamania/Chicago+Tribune%3A+ABC%27s+%27V%27+Takes+Aim+at+ObamaMania+2009-11-03+18%3A44%3A39Big+Hollywood

ABC’s ‘Forgotten’: Solid Crime Drama with Values

After several years of mostly miserably failed attempts to ride the wave of crime dramas most of the other TV networks were successfully navigating, ABC has turned to the TV and cinematic crime drama maestro Jerry Bruckheimer for help. The resulting series, The Forgotten (Tuesdays, 10 p.m. EDT), is a solid crime drama and stands for some very appealing values.

The visual style of the show is familiar from Bruckheimer’s many other policiers, such as the CSI series. It has the same tendency toward dingy, low-level lighting, moving camera shots, eccentric framing, and the like, though in The Forgotten it’s not as frenetic and flashy as in most of Bruckheimer’s shows. That’s a good thing.

The stories and performances reflect the earnestness of Bruckheimer’s TV productions, while avoiding the sensationalism the other shows tend to indulge in. Christian Slater is Alex, an ex-cop who leads the Forgotten Network, a team of private citizens in Chicago who investigate cases in which the police have run out of leads and can’t afford to devote additional resources.

Avoiding both cynicism and romanticism, the program makes a point of showing how many people around the nation are willing to volunteer their help. It also shows people who refuse to help, thus making each such instance a test of a person’s character. (more…)

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Tags: abc, Christian Slater, CSI, Jerry Bruckheimer, The Forgotten
Posted Oct 25th 2009 at 5:54 am in Featured Story, Reviews, Television | 25043432 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/stkarnick/2009/10/25/abcs-forgotten-solid-crime-drama-with-values/ABC%27s+%27Forgotten%27%3A+Solid+Crime+Drama+with+Values2009-10-25+12%3A54%3A08S.T.+Karnick

Grammer’s ‘Hank’ Tries Different Comedic Approach

The new ABC sitcom Hank is rather short on big laughs, but it’s well-stocked with good ideas and sound values. The big question is, will ABC give it a chance?

Hank is the first of two family-oriented comedies ABC is running back-to-back on Wednesday nights beginning at 8 p.m., with each show featuring a big former sitcom star.

Most TV sitcoms, and that goes double for ABC, are largely about what the great filmmaker and satirist Preston Sturges referred to as Topic A. That is because Americans presumably have nothing else on their minds–other than being murdered or having to go to the hospital, the subject matter of most TV dramas.

Hank bucks that restriction, attempting to mine humor from family relationships, romantic love, and social conditions–which used to be the central subjects of Anglo-American comedy before the relaxing and eventual discarding of social and cultural restrictions on discussions of sex freed Hollywood to parade its inner sex maniac with impunity and in fact great financial success. (more…)

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Tags: "Cheers", "Hank", "The Honeymooners", abc, kelsey grammer
Posted Oct 16th 2009 at 10:46 am in Reviews, Television | 24629432 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/stkarnick/2009/10/16/grammers-hank-tries-different-comedic-approach/Grammer%27s+%27Hank%27+Tries+Different+Comedic+Approach2009-10-16+17%3A46%3A24S.T.+Karnick

Planting the Seeds: The Politicized Art Behind the ACORN Plan

Everything you needed to know about the unorthodox roll out of the now-notorious ACORN sting videos was hidden in plain sight in my Sept. 7 column, “Katie Couric, Look in the Mirror.” ACORN was not the only target of those videos; so were Katie, Brian, Charlie and every other mainstream media pooh-bah.

They were not going to report this blockbuster unless they were forced to. And they were. What’s more, it ain’t over yet. Not every hint I dropped in that piece about what was to come has played itself out yet.Stay tuned.

When filmmaker and provocateur James O’Keefe came to my office to show me the video of him and his friend, Hannah Giles, going to the Baltimore offices of ACORN – the nation’s foremost “community organizers” – dressed as a pimp and a prostitute and asking for – and getting – help for various illegal activities, he sought my advice. In the past, Mr. O’Keefe created brilliant social satire that rocked his college campus and even made its way on to the talk-radio and cable-news shows, but the magnitude of his latest adventure had the potential to rock the political establishment.

I was awed by Mr. O’Keefe’s guts and amazed by the footage, but explained that the mainstream media would try to kill this important and illuminating expose about a corrupt and criminal political racket, and that the well-funded political left would go into “war room” mode, with 25-year-old Mr. O’Keefe and 20-year-old cohort Miss Giles in the cross hairs. I felt I had a moral obligation to protect these young muckrakers from the left and from the media, and to devise a strategy that would force the media’s hand.  (more…)

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Tags: abc, ACORN, acorn scandal, Bertha Lewis, Brian Williams
Posted Sep 20th 2009 at 6:40 pm in Featured Story, Media Criticism, News, Politics | 230558No Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/abreitbart/2009/09/20/planting-the-seeds-the-politicized-art-behind-the-acorn-plan/Planting+the+Seeds%3A+The+Politicized+Art+Behind+the+ACORN+Plan2009-09-21+01%3A40%3A55Andrew+Breitbart

It’s Gut Check Time, Ms. Couric

This week’s Washington Times column:

Now that White House “Green Jobs Czar” Van Jones has resigned, what’s next?

Inevitably, the American mainstream media – ABC, NBC, CBS, the New York Times, the Washington Post, Time, Newsweek, et al – must be held to account for sitting on the sidelines as this major story kept building without them, went viral on YouTube, and then became so large that a key appointee of President Obama was forced to step down.

But with their decision to ignore the Jones story, they may have actually done Mr. Obama far more harm than good: Who vetted this guy? How did he get past the FBI? What did he say, and how did he answer the infamous seven-page questionnaire that all Obama appointees were required to fill out? Inquiring Freedom of Information Act minds want to know.

For most people in this country, the resignation was the first they had heard of Van Jones. For this sin of journalistic omission, there’s institutional media blame. Bias is too tame a word for the utter shamelessness on display: Only Republican scandals – real and imagined – matter. (more…)

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Tags: 9/11 Truthers, abc, cbs, community organizers, Czars
Posted Sep 6th 2009 at 6:08 pm in Featured Story, Media Criticism, News, Politics | 218914230 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/abreitbart/2009/09/06/couric-should-look-in-mirror/It%27s+Gut+Check+Time%2C+Ms.+Couric2009-09-07+01%3A08%3A36Andrew+Breitbart

The Cult of Iconography

You know, the one thing that I learned from this last election is that if you have a young, hip, likable, historic candidate, and you promote him through CBS, ABC, NBC, CNN, MSNBC and all the rest, not to mention stand-up and late night comedy, the entire music industry, university, high school and even elementary school teachers, just about every major movie and television star… and run against the oldest candidate in the history of the Republic, despised by the base of his own party, a man unwilling to take the fight to the only fields in which he can win, and representing the incumbent party responsible for two unpopular wars, a two-term President with historic disapproval ratings, in the middle of the “worst economy since the Depression…”

[click image to play]

…Well, you put all of those forces in harness and you, sir, will attain 53% of the vote!

Just think about that for a second. Think about how many things have to go perfectly for Liberals to eke out a bare majority.

This leads me to think that their entire edifice doesn’t need a whole lot of demolition to swing the tide. One or two planks ought to do nicely and then the rest of it will collapse under its own weight.  (more…)

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Tags: abc, cbs, CNN, gop, Iconography
Posted Aug 20th 2009 at 5:05 am in Culture, Featured Story, Politics | 20782682 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/bwhittle/2009/08/20/the-cult-of-iconography/The+Cult+of+Iconography2009-08-20+12%3A05%3A16Bill+Whittle

‘Goode Family’ Canceled, Too Left for ABC

Proving once again its claim to the hotly contested title of Stupidest Television Network, ABC has canceled “The Goode Family” and “Surviving Suburbia,” continuing their business strategy of desperately trying new things and failing to give them a chance to succeed.

No wonder the cab/sat USA Network actually beat ABC (and the CW network) in the national ratings last week. USA’s formula of original series with unusual but likable characters and sound values carries consistently impressive audience appeal.

Although the ABC cancellations were expected–given the fact that the network had brilliantly moved both series to Friday night, a network television Dead Zone, thus guaranteeing that the shows would not be able to generate an audience over time–they nonetheless prove that ABC hates anything with decent values and ideas and cannot appreciate good, solid entertainment with real sense (Castle being the rare exception). (more…)

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Tags: "American Dad", "The Goode Family", abc, Bob Saget, disney
Posted Aug 18th 2009 at 12:56 pm in Uncategorized | 207446110 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/stkarnick/2009/08/18/goode-family%e2%80%99-canceled-too-left-for-abc/%27Goode+Family%E2%80%99+Canceled%2C+Too+Left+for+ABC+2009-08-18+19%3A56%3A41S.T.+Karnick

Tom Delay To Appear on ‘Dancing With the Stars’

From ABC:

DWTS is a long way from Washington D.C.’s world of politics, so we’re anxious to see just how well this Texas native can do the two-step!

One of the most influential Republican figures in the early 2000s, Tom DeLay rose through the ranks in the United States House of Representatives to become the Majority Leader of the Republican Party. His aggressive “Grow the Vote” method of party discipline, where he never lost a vote, earned him the nickname of “The Hammer” from the Washington Post.

The site is loaded with overwhelmingly angry comments from the entitled Left show’s fans making it clear the choice of Delay will cost ABC viewers: (more…)

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Tags: abc, dancing with the stars, MSNBC, Politics, Texas
Posted Aug 17th 2009 at 11:48 am in Entertainment, Politics | 20634285 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/bighollywood/2009/08/17/tom-delay-to-appear-on-dancing-with-the-stars/Tom+Delay+To+Appear+on+%27Dancing+With+the+Stars%272009-08-17+18%3A48%3A09Big+Hollywood

G.I. JObama

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Tags: AARP, abc, ACORN, AFSCME, CNN
Posted Aug 9th 2009 at 11:33 am in Media Criticism, News, Political Humor, Politics | 20294625 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/cmuir/2009/08/09/gi-jobama/G.I.+JObama2009-08-09+18%3A33%3A29Chris+Muir

What ObamaCare Needs is a Little Sham Wow!

In the course of my duties here at BH I was tasked with watching the Obama infomercial.  A side effect of having to sit through Obama’s drivel is that I got to interact with my fellow writers and the readers of Big Hollywood.  Good stuff.

I’m only half kidding when I say this, but President Obama needs to channel Vince the “Sham Wow!” guy.  Pronto.  That is the kind of salesman he needs to become if he is going to lull the American public into buying Obamacare.  “You are going to love my co-pay, Charlie.  It’s made in Germany, you know the Germans make good stuff.”

Obama did not move the needle forward the other night.  ABC must surely regret its decision to have hosted this partisan affair.  Not only were they shown as the tools of the Obama media machine that they are, but they bored the American public to tears.  One thing stuck out: I don’t ever remember seeing the President of the United States sit around while a network took a commercial break.  It debased the Presidency.  How did ABC pull that one off?  President Obama could of surely gotten ABC to go commercial free, couldn’t he have?  Perhaps the networks are fighting back against the “all me” President, if ever so slightly. (more…)

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Tags: abc, gop, health care, Obama, ObamaCare
Posted Jun 26th 2009 at 2:56 pm in Politics | 1700262 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jromano/2009/06/26/vince-where-are-you-the-president-needs-you/What+ObamaCare+Needs+is+a+Little+Sham+Wow%21+2009-06-26+21%3A56%3A01John+Romano

Open Thread: ABC’s ‘The Goode Family’ 9/8c—Back-to-Back Episodes

Review, debate, discuss back-to-back episodes of ABC’s “The Goode Family”: “Pleatherheads” (9/8c) and “Goodes Gone Wild” (9:30/8:30c).

(more…)

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Tags: "The Goode Family", abc
Posted Jun 3rd 2009 at 5:50 pm in Entertainment, Live Blog, Political Humor | 151318No Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/bighollywood/2009/06/03/open-thread-abc%e2%80%99s-the-goode-family-98c%e2%80%94back-to-back-episodes/Open+Thread%3A+ABC%E2%80%99s+%27The+Goode+Family%27+9%2F8c%E2%80%94Back-to-Back+Episodes+2009-06-04+00%3A50%3A35Big+Hollywood

On the Record, Off the QT and Not Very Hush-Hush

Dear Big Hollywood readers, it gives me great satisfaction to report to you that BH has been out on point not only on compelling film industry issues, which will never be covered in promo rags like Variety and the Hollywood Reporter (but then again, AMPAS and the studios aren’t buying us off), but on many controversial issues being played out in America and the greater world at large as well.

I know this to be true. Being a news junkie myself, I have found time after time as I was reading about a supposedly breaking subject, like ABC’s recent coverage of the targeted LGBT murders in Iraq, that it had already been on display for all to see in Big Hollywood posts for months.

Not to toot my own horn, but…well, okay, I’m tooting my own horn. And those of Andy Breitbart and John Nolte, who have given I, and so many other wonderful and insightful Hollywood right-wing fringe types, a magnificent bullhorn we otherwise would not have. We appear to be doing the dirty jobs our media just refuses to do. It’s a labor Hercules would completely sympathize with. (more…)

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Tags: abc, Academy of Motion Picture arts and Sciences, Adrianne Curry, Ali al-Sistani, AMPAS
Posted Jun 3rd 2009 at 5:20 pm in Entertainment, Politics | 1476823 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jtsimpson/2009/06/03/on-the-record-off-the-qt-and-not-very-hush-hush/On+the+Record%2C+Off+the+QT+and+Not+Very+Hush-Hush2009-06-04+00%3A20%3A57John+T.+Simpson

‘The Goode Family’: Animation Continues to Save Political Satire on TV

Since the election of Barack Obama, aggressive political parody has been hard to come by outside of Comedy Central. But, as noted here on Big Hollywood, ABC and Mike Judge are taking on political correctness and progressive activists with The Goode Family.

When Bush and Cheney left office, they became old news. Mocking them now is like making Eisenhower jokes, but that doesn’t stop the occasional hack like Wanda Sykes trotting out tired material. And Obama seems off limits lest anyone wants to look like a buzz kill during the ever-lengthening, forced-fed honeymoon. In fact, the only show that really dared effectively to venture into political mockery consistently this season was South Park.

Mike Judge

And spare me any mention of The Daily Show or The Colbert Report. Both shows kiss the Democratic ass (the donkey, I mean) all week until they realize how biased they’ve become. Then they scramble around to make fun of some minor Dem Congressman for 30 seconds and applaud their own objectivity. Meanwhile, Stewart rages at every conservative cause he can find with the furor (not the wit) of Murrow until he’s called on it. Then he scrambles back into his hole screaming, “I’m only a comic!”

Fortunately, The Goode Family levels the satirical skills of Judge (creator of Beavis and Butthead and King of the Hill) at the taboo supporters of global warming, racial hypersensitivity, animal rights and any other cause over-hyped by self-righteous busybodies. (more…)

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Tags: " "The Daily Show, "The Colbert Report", "The Goode Family", abc, animation
Posted May 28th 2009 at 9:37 am in Entertainment, Featured Story, Media Criticism, Political Humor | 144966No Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jslewinski/2009/05/28/goode-animation-continues-to-save-political-satire-on-tv/%27The+Goode+Family%27%3A+Animation+Continues+to+Save+Political+Satire+on+TV2009-05-28+16%3A37%3A02John+Scott+Lewinski

Open Thread: ABC’s “The Goode Family” 9/8c

Review, debate, discuss ABC’s “The Goode Family” series premiere.  Is it funny?  Is it sharp?  Does it have a future?  Have it out… (more…)

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Tags: "The Goode Family", abc
Posted May 27th 2009 at 6:01 pm in Live Blog, Political Humor | 145026No Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/bighollywood/2009/05/27/open-thread-abcs-the-goode-family-98c/Open+Thread%3A+ABC%27s+%22The+Goode+Family%22+9%2F8c2009-05-28+01%3A01%3A40Big+Hollywood

ABC’s ‘The Goode Family’

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This owned me at the six-second mark with the bumper sticker that reads, “Support Our Troops … And Their Opponents.”

What’s going on at ABC? First the miniseries “O” “V,” and now this…? Is it… (more…)

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Tags: "The Goode Family", abc, Beavis and Butthead, environmentalists, liberalism
Posted May 23rd 2009 at 9:34 am in Entertainment, Politics | 142098No Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjmnolte/2009/05/23/abcs-the-goode-family/ABC%27s+%27The+Goode+Family%272009-05-23+16%3A34%3A24John+Nolte

ABC’s ‘V’: Obama Parable?

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“The world’s in bad shape, Father. Who wouldn’t welcome a savior right now?”

Aliens arrive offering “hope” and telling us not to be afraid of “change.”

To grab power they set out to manipulate the media and create a culture of devotion around themselves.

But they are not who they appear to be.

In fact, they’re out to destroy our way of life.

Hmmm??? (more…)

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Tags: "Path to 9/11", abc, DVD, hopenchange, mini series
Posted May 21st 2009 at 12:30 pm in Entertainment, Politics | 1403987 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjmnolte/2009/05/21/v-the-obama-parable/ABC%27s+%27V%27%3A+Obama+Parable%3F2009-05-21+19%3A30%3A47John+Nolte

ABC’s ‘Castle’: Exemplary TV

Like the best works of popular culture, the ABC mystery-crime series Castle is both entertaining and edifying. It exemplifies an increasingly strong trend in the American culture: the use of grim, sensual, bizarre, disturbed, or perverse imagery and subject matter in works of popular art that promulgate positive values and attitudes.

Certainly Castle has plenty of immorality and other damaging personal behavior in evidence. Set in modern-day Manhattan, the series stars Nathan Fillion (Firefly) as wealthy mystery writer Richard Castle, who accompanies police detective Kate Beckett (Stana Katic, The Spirit, Quantum of Solace) on homicide investigations in order to glean valuable real-life knowledge to use in his murder mysteries. The conceit is that Castle is able to get this kind of access because he is a friend of the mayor and many other highly influential people in the city. (more…)

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Tags: abc, Castle, mystery, Nathan Fillion, Stana Katic
Posted May 13th 2009 at 9:48 am in Entertainment, Reviews | 132894One Commenthttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/stkarnick/2009/05/13/abcs-castle-is-exemplary-tv-series/ABC%27s+%27Castle%27%3A+Exemplary+TV2009-05-13+16%3A48%3A40S.T.+Karnick

One Critic’s Review of ‘Roxana: A True Story’

Now that ‘Roxana: A True Story’ has come to a most satisfying and happy conclusion for Roxana Saberi, her parents, myself and millions of others around the globe (a conclusion not always assured, and which looked very grim in some scenes), it is now time for Your Most Humble and Obedient Critic to give you the full skinny on ‘Roxana: A True Story.’

Or, by its Hollywood acronym, RATS. Funny. I actually found that startling contraction fitting, not for Roxana (not hardly), but for all of the major black hats and clueless morons who populated this nerve-wracking Thugocracy Studios production, which had civilized people everywhere both riveted and outraged in its most grueling and suspenseful moments.

Not to mention for Roxana and her parents. But before we get to heroes and villains, let us look at the story to date with all its dramatic twists and underpinnings, many with significant international implications. Just like a good Hitchcock drama should. And I caught ‘em all!

By pure happenstance, Your Most Humble Critic and Boy Reporter was already hot on the job covering Iran (unlike some people) and hammering AMPAS for their tea and finger-cookie soirees with these guys, when I saw what Iran was pulling with Roxana and called it for what it was: a hostage crisis. And on the same day HRW called it the same in a press release on March 13th, which I didn’t find out until the 19th thanks to our on-the-ball Vein Stream Media. (more…)

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Tags: -1, abc, Academy of Motion Picture arts and Sciences, Ahmadinejad, al qaeda
Posted May 13th 2009 at 8:13 am in Entertainment, Politics | 132142One Commenthttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jtsimpson/2009/05/13/one-critics-review-of-roxana-a-true-story/One+Critic%27s+Review+of+%27Roxana%3A+A+True+Story%272009-05-13+15%3A13%3A00John+T.+Simpson

What if President Obama Were a Republican?

In my Big Hollywood post of April 27th, I decried the media’s acting as a cheerleading fourth branch of government, in which the MSM has not only assumed a Dear Leader-like reverence and awe for our new president, but attacks any and all critics with slander, ridicule, and even intimidation, and discounts any real concerns by the public as right wing extremist rabble-rousing and racism.

Given my love of true reporting and Woodward and Bernstein-like investigative journalism, which is really nowhere to be found in this Messianic Media Age of Obama, it was a very depressing piece to write. But after the recent flyover of New York City by Air Force One and F-16 fighter jets, which sent half of the Big Apple fleeing for their lives, it occurred to me.

How would the Left report the news if Obama were a Republican, i.e. an Uncle Tom, as many on the Left call now-GOP Chairman Michael Steele? Eureka! That’s it! See, it’s one thing for me to point out the obvious, as I did in my media slam yesterday. But what if we walked GOP President Obama’s media coverage through the mirror darkly, as was SOP for President Bush?

NOW we’re gonna have some fun! (more…)

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Tags: abc, Air America, Al Franken, assassination, bush
Posted Apr 29th 2009 at 4:07 pm in Celebrity News, Politics | 11890614 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jtsimpson/2009/04/29/what-if-president-obama-were-a-republican/What+if+President+Obama+Were+a+Republican%3F2009-04-29+23%3A07%3A47John+T.+Simpson

From Fourth Estate to Fourth Branch of Government

I remember when the term investigative journalism used to mean something. My first introduction to it was through Peter Maas’ seminal classic The Valachi Papers at the tender age of eleven. Hooked me right away. A year later, at the age of twelve,  I devoured William L. Shirer’s monumental and award-winning ‘Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany.’ A very heady 1250 pages of fine print in paperback, and I do mean fine print. Worth its weight in gold.

From that point on, I was addicted. I couldn’t get enough of Peter Maas, Robin Moore, Woodward and Bernstein, Nick Pileggi, Ovid Demaris, James Bamford, James Michener, Cornelius Ryan, anything from the Ballantine Espionage/Intelligence Library, and too many others to list here.

I only recently read Michener’s The Bridge at Andau, an account of the 1956 Hungarian Uprising based on hundreds of eyewitness accounts, written in novelized form to protect identities at the time. It takes you right into the chaotic and revolutionary Bupapest of the day as though you were there. (more…)

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Tags: abc, Albert Speer, Arthur Sulzberger, Ballantine Espionage/Intelligence Library, cbs
Posted Apr 27th 2009 at 8:40 am in Media Criticism, Politics | 1147024 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jtsimpson/2009/04/27/from-fourth-estate-to-fourth-branch-of-government/From+Fourth+Estate+to+Fourth+Branch+of+Government2009-04-27+15%3A40%3A43John+T.+Simpson

‘Life on Mars’ Exemplifies Good, Bad of Hollywood

It’s all too easy for those who dismiss U.S. television and the culture as a whole as leftist, immoral, and fattening to pick and choose (and misinterpret) episodes and scenes that seem to confirm their assumption that the culture is overwhelmingly awful. The ABC TV police/fantasy drama series Life on Mars, for example, provides some tempting apples for pop culture-haters to pluck.

For instance, episode three, “My Maharishi Is Bigger Than Your Maharishi,” was an agonizingly earnest appeal for tolerance toward homosexuals (which is of course laudable) which included some dubious propositions about the causes and consequences of homosexuality and social attitudes toward it. The episode sent out a big invitation for undiscerning opponents of pop culture to point to Life on Mars as evidence of an ongoing leftist conspiracy to destroy the nation through cultural promulgation of radical, transformative ideas and values. (more…)

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Tags: abc, crime dramas, Life on Mars, mysteries, scifi
Posted Mar 22nd 2009 at 1:04 pm in Media Criticism, Reviews | 84974122 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/stkarnick/2009/03/22/life-on-mars-exemplifies-good-bad-of-hollywood/%27Life+on+Mars%27+Exemplifies+Good%2C+Bad+of+Hollywood2009-03-22+20%3A04%3A27S.T.+Karnick

TV Classics: “Chutch”

Still reeling from Vietnam, and with Watergate and OPEC looming on the horizon, 1972 was a turbulent time for America. Nowhere was the zeitgeist more reflected than on ABC Thursday nights, with the debut of “Chutch.” Starring Jan-Peter Bronston in the title role, the fast-paced action series centered on the adventures of a mystic, Indian-like professor at fictional Boulder University. Based on the rugged hippie anti-hero Bronston portrayed in a skein of popular low budget drive-in biker films (including 1968’s “Tenured Losers” and 1970’s “The Angry Ones”), Chutch battled against injustice and The Man with a lethal arsenal of martial arts, mystic dialog, dirt bikes and his faithful mountain lion, Zapata.

The show’s unique combination of serious social commentary, folk music and violent desert dirtbike action sparked a brief but intense popularity among young viewers, spawning the memorable catch phrase “you heap big dead, paleface” — uttered by Chutch whenever a villain questioned his Native American bona fides.

“Chutch” rose to #16 in the Nielsens in its debut year, a level of popularity it never repeated. Ratings continued to slip through 1974, hobbled by weak scripts and the increasingly bizarre behavior of Bronston, a gifted method actor whose obsession with his role as a mystical revolutionary pseudo-Indian led to an unfortunate and debilitating peyote habit. The series was finally replaced in 1975 by the gritty police drama “Torino Squad” starring Lash LaDouche. (more…)

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Tags: 70's television, abc, iowahawk, Phony Indian, tenure
Posted Mar 11th 2009 at 8:10 am in Entertainment, Political Humor | 7736234 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/dburge/2009/03/11/tv-classics-chutch/TV+Classics%3A+%22Chutch%222009-03-11+15%3A10%3A43Iowahawk

A 12-Step Liberal Recovery Program

Most 12-step programs start out by requiring that people understand that they’re powerless over their addiction and that only by turning their lives over to a Power greater than themselves can they be restored to sanity.  Far be it for me to suggest that I am that Power, but clearly someone has to step in and try to rescue these poor liberal souls.  Even the most harebrained among them deserves that much.

First, though, they have to acknowledge that Ted Kennedy, Nancy Pelosi, John Murtha, Dick Durbin, Charles Rangel, Harry Reid and Charles Schumer, are not moderates, but, rather, leftists with a Socialist agenda.  Furthermore, they must recognize that the New York Times, the Washington Post, the L.A. Times, CNN, the three major networks, the news magazines and the New Yorker, are not objective in their reporting of political events, and neither are Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann and Bill Maher, in their commentary.  If these entities and individuals are not on the payroll of the DNC, they certainly should be.  They certainly put in longer hours than Howard Dean. (more…)

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Tags: "under God", 10 Commandments, 12-step programs, abc, ACLU
Posted Mar 6th 2009 at 2:42 pm in Media Criticism, Political Humor, Politics | 7413869 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/bprelutsky/2009/03/06/a-12-step-liberal-recovery-program/A+12-Step+Liberal+Recovery+Program2009-03-06+22%3A42%3A04Burt+Prelutsky