Bullying: Those who have been with me a while know that this is the ultimate hot-button for me, the issue that will get me fired up faster than dropping a lit match in a bucket of diesel.  I was bullied relentlessly for years, so I know what it’s like to feel so degraded that you don’t even want to show your face in public.  I know how it feels to be in so much agony that you’d rather cut to the chase and die than live to feel another day.  Yes, I’ve experienced the inner struggle of rejecting who you really are because it isn’t good enough for someone else. 

That’s why last night’s episode of Glee down right ticked me off.  While gays everywhere are celebrating it as a victory (because, lets face it – there’s quite an abundance of homosexuality on the show these days), their “win” comes at such a cost that it’s revolting.  The show’s two closeted gay characters (who happen to be the biggest bullies in school) start an anti-bullying campaign in the school as a means of making themselves popular and, therefore, prom king and queen contenders.  As if that wasn’t enough, Kurt (the openly gay character) finds out about the plot and is okay with it.  He won’t tell anyone as long as they start a PFLAG chapter at the school.  PFLAG: Parents, Friends, and Family of Lesbians and Gays. 

Are you &*%#ing kidding me?  For starters, you’re going to cloak a serious problem around something as superficial as prom king and queen?  That pool is so shallow it couldn’t drown a blonde if it had a scratch ‘n sniff sticker at the bottom. 

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Several weeks ago, two critically-acclaimed and extremely inventive television series aired their final episodes. With the new summer television season upon us and fall premieres just a few months away, we can only hope that these upcoming shows deliver in the same way that “24” and “Lost” did during their respective tenures, a way that maintained strong, loyal and passionate audiences that stuck for the long term. While many other programs focused on stories that resolved themselves in an hour’s time, both “Lost” and “24” presented topics that are not usually addressed on prime time, served their core audiences, kept them surprised, and will both be remembered for many years to come as strong examples of what prime-time television can accomplish.

In terms of their plots, “24” and “Lost” have very little in common. “24,” which ran for eight years on Fox, was about a counter-terrorism agent named Jack Bauer. Each episode detailed an hour in the life of Bauer and his work fighting against terrorists and threats to the United States. “Lost,” on the other hand, ran for six years on ABC and told the story of a group of plane crash survivors who land on a strange and mysterious island and had to learn to live on that island while dealing with a “smoke monster” and a group of mysterious individuals on the island’s other side.

Admittedly, I have not seen every episode of “Lost” (I recently watched the first few seasons  and the sixth season when it aired), and I likely missed a few random episodes of “24″ along the way, but it only takes an episode or two of each program for a viewer to realize that these shows are not typical network fare. Firstly, both addressed issues that are seldom brought up on network television. This USA Today article about “Lost” in mid-May noted: (more…)

NBC CEO Jeff Zucker

In a move that bodes well to strengthen TV programming overall in both primetime and late night, NBC has confirmed that Jay Leno will be moved back to his original 11:30 slot and his 10 p.m. show canceled on February 11, as rumored over the past week. USA Today reports:

Under the new plan, Late Night With Jimmy Fallon would move from 12:35 a.m. to 1:05. (Carson Daly’s talk show, which now follows Fallon, would be canceled, though Daly would remain under contract at the network.).

O’Brien, however, decided not to agree to the changes, in a public statement:

I cannot express in words how much I enjoy hosting this program and what an enormous personal disappointment it is for me to consider losing it. My staff and I have worked unbelievably hard and we are very proud of our contribution to the legacy of The Tonight Show. But I cannot participate in what I honestly believe is its destruction.

Thus Leno will return to the Tonight Show in its usual time slot, and O’Brien will move on to presumably greener pastures. (more…)

Critics love David Letterman. They love him because he’s mean and liberal and does everything they demand: further the leftist agenda through the brutal use of humiliation to target any public figure (or their child) who might derail Leftist causes.

And contrary to conventional wisdom, Letterman’s not edgy. In fact, he’s just the opposite. Doing exactly what those who can criticize you want you to do is not edgy. Kissing the big Manhattan/Los Angeles bi-coastal ass of the elite is not edgy. He’s their jester; their puppet; their bitch. Worse, he’s about as funny as watching your old, half-deaf Uncle intimidate, humiliate and demean your Aunt and then smile at the rest of the family as though he’s just reaffirmed his manhood. Letterman reminds me of the Jason Robards character in “Parenthood” in more ways than you can imagine. In other words, he’s a jerk, but in a sad end-of-his-life kind of way.

Oh, and how the elite critics resented nice ole’ Jay Leno for cleaning Letterman’s ratings’ clock all those years. And now that Jay’s back eating up primetime, they couldn’t wait to jump all over him with sniffing disapproval fed through a filter of wrist-flicking dismissal.

After exactly one show the knives came out: (more…)