Burt’s Eye View: Fox and Foes

Whenever I hear people outside the administration prattle on about how evil and biased Fox News is, I know I am listening to a flock of parrots who have never even tuned in. As a conservative myself, I have a number of problems with the network. For one thing, I resent Bill O’Reilly’s ridiculing those who merely ask for documentation that their president was born in the United States, and I also wish he’d stop defending Obama against charges that he’s a Socialist or worse. If it walks, swims and quacks like a duck, Bill, it’s a safe bet that you can pop it in the oven and serve it at Christmastime.

I’d also appreciate it if Sean Hannity would wake up to the fact that a lot of us change the channel the second that Bob Beckel shows up on the Great American Panel.

On the other hand, I wish that merely as an experiment a dozen or so liberals could be forced to watch Glenn Beck for an entire week. I would be dying to know how they would react after watching videos of Obama, Rahm Emanuel, Cass Sunstein, Anita Dunn, Andy Stern and John Holdren spouting off when they think nobody outside the room will hear about their plans to transform America.  They would have made Dr. Frankenstein blanch but put a smile on Karl Marx’s ugly mug. (more…)

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Tags: ACORN, Al Gore, Andy Stern, Anita Dunn, Barney Frank
Posted Nov 19th 2009 at 3:47 pm in Politics | 262694136 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/bprelutsky/2009/11/19/burts-eye-view-fox-and-foes/Burt%27s+Eye+View%3A+Fox+and+Foes2009-11-19+23%3A47%3A02Burt+Prelutsky

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

Broadway’s ‘Avenue Q’ Follows Obama’s Marching Orders

Back in February, my Big Hollywood colleague and super-funny-dude Tim Slagle wrote a series of posts on the Broadway musical “Avenue Q”.  The show was going through a mini-crisis/publicity stunt because one of the big punch lines to the song “For Now” was no longer valid:

A song called “For Now” has the puppets reassure each other that most things in life are temporary, like hair and sex. Until recently, one of those temporary things was “George Bush.” Knowing that Obama was to be shortly inaugurated, the producers and writers were perplexed for a replacement. I know it should be obvious to everyone else, but Broadway producers don’t think like you and I. So they threw a contest to decide a better verse.

Two weeks later, Slagle followed up with the big announcement of the new lyric: (more…)

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Tags: Avenue Q lyric contest, Bill O'Reilly, broadway, Fox News, george bush
Posted Oct 27th 2009 at 6:51 am in Theatre | 25084255 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/sright/2009/10/27/broadways-avenue-q-follows-obamas-marching-orders/Broadway%27s+%27Avenue+Q%27+Follows+Obama%27s+Marching+Orders2009-10-27+13%3A51%3A25Stage+Right

It’s Okay for Conservatives to Like Liberal Entertainers

It’s time to take on the most important issue facing American conservatives today: Can a self-respecting right-winger be a fan of Alec Baldwin?

The answer is “yes.”  Allow me to demonstrate why:

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Now, that clip from 30 Rock is, without a doubt, one of the funniest damn things I’ve ever seen.  Bizarre, obnoxious and unbelievably politically incorrect, it’s a welcome reminder that television need not be a soul-sucking void of mindless time-killing.

Baldwin was awesomely amoral in Miami Blues.  He was awesomely arrogant in Malice.  He was just plain awesomely awesome in Glengarry Glen Ross.  And as NBC Vice-President of Television and Microwave Cookery Jack Donaghy, he continues his track record of awesomeness and fully deserves his multiple awards and nominations.  But does he deserve a conservative’s appreciation? (more…)

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Tags: 30 rock, aaron sorkin, alec baldwin, Bill O'Reilly, Cialis
Posted Aug 21st 2009 at 10:14 am in Celebrity News, Featured Story, Politics | 207302127 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/kschlichter/2009/08/21/it%e2%80%99s-okay-for-conservatives-to-like-liberal-entertainers/It%E2%80%99s+Okay+for+Conservatives+to+Like+Liberal+Entertainers2009-08-21+17%3A14%3A29Kurt+Schlichter

The Left Has Spoken: Today, We Are All Extremists

The leader of genius must have the ability to make different opponents appear as if they belong to one category.” – Adolf Hitler.

“At this point, whatever dividing line there was between mainstream conservatism and the black-helicopter crowd seems to have been virtually erased.” – NY Times columnist Paul Krugman.

Paul Krugman

Really sucks to be a conservative these days. I feel like I’m walking around with a big bulls-eye on my back. I know many of the Left, especially Keith Olbermann, Frank Rich, Paul Krugman, the New York Times editorial staff and all the pundits at HuffPo and KOS would find that statement hilariously ironic, given the recent shooting deaths of Dr. George Tiller in Kansas and security guard Steven T. Johns at the Holocaust Museum. Then again, they’re not the ones being branded en masse as co-conspirators in those murders. Conservatives are. (more…)

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Tags: Air America, assassination chic, Axelrod, Bill O'Reilly, Cynthia Dixon
Posted Jun 16th 2009 at 3:31 pm in Politics | 1587586 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jtsimpson/2009/06/16/today-we-are-all-extremists/The+Left+Has+Spoken%3A+Today%2C+We+Are+All+Extremists2009-06-16+22%3A31%3A36John+T.+Simpson

I Come to Praise Bill Maher, Not to Bury Him

As recently as a few hours ago, my buddy Jimmy Arone joined many on this site in giving Bill Maher a well-deserved thrashing. But I’m feeling a responsibility to give credit where credit is due.  Maher may be a leftist ideologue, but when he’s not getting what he wants, at least he lashes out equally. No sacred cow is President Obama:

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My favorite part of that video is the quick shot of Chris Matthews. Even as he plays trained seal, his eyes betray a man dying slowly inside as Maher savages the thrill up his leg.  

Now, we can nitpick and say that at times Maher’s been harder on Bush, but there’s no ignoring the fact that Obama’s taking some withering fire there. This probably won’t satisfy those upset at the glaring double standard we’re seeing from television “comedians,” but I find it unrealistic to want Maher or any leftist comedian go after Obama in the same way they went after Bush. They like Obama, they hate Bush. What do you expect? Had someone lost their mind and handed me a Late Night show, I’d be just as biased. For instance, there’s no way I’d ridicule Sarah Palin or Carrie Prejean.  I admire them too much. Nancy Pelosi, however… (more…)

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Tags: Bill Maher, Bill O'Reilly, bush, Carrie Prejean, Chris Matthews
Posted Jun 15th 2009 at 6:14 pm in Entertainment, Politics | 1624305 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjmnolte/2009/06/15/real-time-real-man-ii-maher-takes-his-shot-at-obama/I+Come+to+Praise+Bill+Maher%2C+Not+to+Bury+Him2009-06-16+01%3A14%3A52John+Nolte

It Sucks To Be You, Dave!

I have had it with Letterman! I used to defend this guy to all of my friends who liked Leno better. I would say from a comic stand point that Jay was a great comic but Letterman was more original and had more style and class than Leno. Two recent events have changed my mind: Jay’s classy departure from the “Tonight Show” and Letterman’s classless left-wing attacks on the kids of politicians.

A comic needs to be an equal opportunity offender. We can’t pick sides in politics. We can have a point of view and a favorite but being a comic means when our guy drops the ball, you have to pick it up and smash it in his face. My friend and political opposite, Will Durst, said this a few years back about Mort Saul (I am paraphrasing here), “You can’t sit down to dinner with the Reagan’s and then pretend you’re still willing to sling mud at them.”

That is what is wrong with comedians like Letterman, Garofalo, and Stewart. They only see one side. Why do none of them at least give love taps to Obama? Why didn’t at least one of them make some comedic hay out of Obama gaffs like “57 states” and a reference to speaking “Austrian?” (more…)

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Tags: Alfred E. Newman, Bill O'Reilly, Billy Ray Cyrus, Botox, cbs
Posted Jun 14th 2009 at 2:24 pm in Entertainment, Media Criticism, News, Political Humor, Politics | 1592586 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjena/2009/06/14/it-sucks-to-be-you-dave/It+Sucks+To+Be+You%2C+Dave%212009-06-14+21%3A24%3A22Jeffrey+Jena

Britain to America: ‘Don’t Let This Happen to You!’

When I was a kid, American Idol wasn’t even a twinkle in Simon Cowell’s eye.  No, instead of Adam Lambert’s girly warbling, we listened to wrinkled pacifist Walter Cronkite rattle off the US body count as we ate our TV dinners.  (Thank God for I Love Lucy re-runs.)

But Vietnam wasn’t the only war raging.  There was a culture clash going on too, right in the privacy of our own home: the ’60s counterculture – seen in everything from Easy Rider to The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour - versus our deeply ingrained Anglophilia.  In other words, a tug of war between “social justice” and the Social Register.

Decades before it became cool to diss the Queen with an iPod, the Royals represented everything Americans were not, and never could be: educated, sophisticated, multi-lingual, above carrying cash – and worldly enough to know one doesn’t clean one’s antiques (think no housework).  Growing up in our comfy, middle class, anti-war household, I never knew if I was supposed to say “burn, baby, burn!” or “sod off, yank.”

This dichotomy took a psychic toll, which came to a head when I did my part for the revolution by proudly shoplifting a ballpoint pen from our local Lamston’s (”the establishment”).  To my amazement, my parents were not pleased.  Instead of a gold star, I received a verbal barrage of uncharacteristic cliches (”Do you think we send you to the best schools so you can steal?” ) that left me even more confused. (more…)

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Tags: "fitna", 30 rock, 9/11, Adam Lambert, Alexander Stoddart
Posted Jun 12th 2009 at 5:03 am in Entertainment, Featured Story, Media Criticism, Politics | 1487026 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/cwinecoff/2009/06/12/britain-to-america-dont-let-this-happen-to-you/Britain+to+America%3A+%27Don%27t+Let+This+Happen+to+You%21%272009-06-12+12%3A03%3A42Charles+Winecoff

A Conservative Journey Through Literary America – Part 5: A Conversation With John Derbyshire

John Derbyshire, columnist, essayist, critic, raconteur, has an opinion.  On everything, it seems.  Thankfully, he is not shy about sharing them, and was kind enough to speak with me by phone one afternoon.

In addition to wearing the above listed hats, Derbyshire has also written a strange and wonderful little novel called Seeing Calvin Coolidge in a Dream, a book described in the New York Times as, “a bouncy, Capraesque tale of midlife crisis, romantic confusion and spiritual regeneration.”  (The Times review was so favorable that it puts the conceit that conservative authors can’t get a fair shake from the liberal media in a good bit of jeopardy).

I asked Derbyshire about Coolidge, the writing of which he recounts with both fondness and exasperation, with decided emphasis on the former.  He claims that writing fiction puts one in a state of “aesthetic bliss” (to paraphrase Nabachov), the prime virtue of which is an expansion of perspective that “…separates you from the everyday world.”  He tells me that writing a good novel gives one a pleasure many times that of reading a good novel, which, if true, must be a high state of bliss indeed. (more…)

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Tags: ann coulter, Bill O'Reilly, Calvin Coolidge, David Mamet. John Derbyshire, Dean Koontz
Posted May 30th 2009 at 7:04 am in Entertainment, Featured Story, Politics | 1439822 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/mpatterson/2009/05/30/a-conservative-journey-through-literary-america-part-5-a-conversation-with-john-derbyshire/A+Conservative+Journey+Through+Literary+America+-+Part+5%3A++A+Conversation+With+John+Derbyshire2009-05-30+14%3A04%3A55Matt+Patterson

Acceptable Hate Mongering?

Yeah-I think I get it? If you’re a media personality of mediocre talent and dubious intelligence like…uh…gee, there’s so many to choose from? Oh, I know, let’s go with Janeane Garofalo now that she’s decided to be a spokesperson for the party of “love, openness and diversity” again. Anyway, apart from proving you’re not smart enough to keep your mouth shut, what happens if you’re a media personality of mediocre talent and dubious intelligence and you openly preach the most vile form of inflammatory hatred towards an entire group/race of people in today’s politically correct climate? 

You get a pass and high-fives from the MSM of course, but why? (more…)

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Tags: Al Franken, ann coulter, artists, Bill O'Reilly, constitution
Posted May 11th 2009 at 6:10 pm in Celebrity News, Politics | 1276505 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/aalvillar/2009/05/11/acceptable-hate-mongering/Acceptable+Hate+Mongering%3F2009-05-12+01%3A10%3A01Alvaro+Alvillar

A Republican Platform For The 21st Century

I have been a proud conservative Republican my entire life. My father and Jimmy Carter saw to that. My first vote ever was for Ronald Reagan in 1980, and I have never voted for a Democrat. Ever. Even today, the reasons for my being so have not changed, despite the media’s and liberal Democrats’ tireless efforts to discredit my belief system. Though the times may change, core principles never do. I have also served this nation proudly in uniform for six years, and don’t regret a minute of it.

In the early 1980s, my military service brought me to some of the darker corners of the world. I spent time in South Korea and Marcos’ Philippines when both countries were under martial law. Knowing I could be shot just for being in the wrong place at the wrong time really woke me up to what exactly it is we have here in America. Seeing a thousand Vietnamese Boat People pulled out of the South China Sea in one day only reinforced my belief in America, Sweet Land of Liberty.

Today, the Party of Lincoln and Reagan appears to be in political disarray, which is why I am writing this OpEd now. Yet many promising developments, along with some huge mistakes by Congress and the Obama Administration, have opened many new doors for us. If only we will enter. (more…)

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Tags: abortion, Africa, Al Franken, amnesty, apology tour
Posted May 2nd 2009 at 3:13 pm in Featured Story, Politics | 12196215 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jtsimpson/2009/05/02/a-republican-platform-for-the-21st-century/A+Republican+Platform+For+The+21st+Century2009-05-02+22%3A13%3A08John+T.+Simpson

Beauty Queen Vs. Drama Queen

The Match Up: 

• The Beauty Queen – Ms. Carrie Prejean – Miss California, now Miss USA 2009 Runner Up.
• The Drama Queen – Perez Hilton. He has a B.A. in drama, is a gay activist blogger, and co-opted his professional name from a celebrity with whom he has a personal fascination. He was a judge in the Miss USA pageant.

Ms. Prejean was the underdog. She’s not a slugger. She’s just a dumb blonde, right? 

Mr. Hilton, on the other hand is the notorious gay activist blogger – a verbal street brawler known for picking and winning fights by jumping victims in back alleys and clobbering them with whatever he can get his hands on  - pipes, tire irons, beer bottles.   (more…)

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Tags: Bill O'Reilly, culture war, Donald Trump, gay amrriage, Keith Lewis
Posted Apr 25th 2009 at 10:33 am in Celebrity News, Politics | 115266No Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/cwrawlins/2009/04/25/beauty-queen-vs-drama-queen/Beauty+Queen+Vs.+Drama+Queen2009-04-25+17%3A33%3A51CW+Rawlins

“NewsBusted” 4/07/09 — Fake News from the Right

In this episode, “NewsBusted” covers: North Korea’s missle launch, Pep Boys, Queen Elizabeth’s iPod gift, Best Buy, Obama bows to Saudi Arabian King, TelePrompter, Tea Parties, Obama’s illegal alien aunt, Bill O’Reilly, Sean Penn, Madonna, and Miley Cyrus.

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Tags: Best Buy, Bill O'Reilly, iPod, madonna, miley cyrus
Posted Apr 7th 2009 at 1:24 pm in Media Criticism, Political Humor, Video | 994348 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/epeterkofsky/2009/04/07/%e2%80%9cnewsbusted%e2%80%9d-40709-%e2%80%94-fake-news-from-the-right/%E2%80%9CNewsBusted%E2%80%9D+4%2F07%2F09+%E2%80%94+Fake+News+from+the+Right2009-04-07+20%3A24%3A39Eric+Peterkofsky

Letterman vs. O’Reilly (and Limbaugh, and the Republican Party, and the War on Terror…)

Kids, you might not believe me, but there was once a point when Dave Letterman was considered funny.

You know what really destroyed Letterman for me? For years Letterman coasted on the same gag — “Look at how much precious network time I’m wasting with comedy bits intended to go nowhere and provide zero entertainment to the audience.”

Now, the thing of it was, we, the loyal Letterman audience, thought we were in on the joke. We laughed along with Dave as he wasted our time, because we were digging that he was also wasting the network’s time. All those “found comedy” moments that yielded nothing but awkward silence and stilted interaction with deli owners. (more…)

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Tags: Bill O'Reilly, David Letterman, johnny carson, Norm McDonald, Saturday Night LIve
Posted Apr 1st 2009 at 1:36 pm in Entertainment, Featured Story, Political Humor | 9493062 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/aspades/2009/04/01/letterman-vs-oreilly-and-limbaugh-and-the-republican-party-and-the-war-on-terror/Letterman+vs.+O%27Reilly+%28and+Limbaugh%2C+and+the+Republican+Party%2C+and+the+War+on+Terror...%292009-04-01+20%3A36%3A42Ace+of+Spades