TV Pundits, Commentators and Anchors
 

Who do you feel is the most irritating and most entertaining TV pundit or commentator? Do these guys qualify as pundits -


Most Perplexing: Dennis Miller
Most entertaining: Bill Maher;
Most Irritating with the occasional hilarious observation: Ann Coulter

Do you like any of them? Lol, how about that James Carvel guy, a trip or what? [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]


So I was watching the O’Reilly Factor a few days ago (yes that’s always a chuckle) and Dennis Miller was on there talking about Katie Couric. I seriously had no idea what he was trying to say. Is that guy getting weirder or is it my imagination? I need a translator [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img] I’ll try to find some funny transcripts with him and O'Reilly and post them later.

Does anyone else watch these cable news channels besides me? Each one has its preferred roster of pundits.

At first I thought the concept was ridiculous. Like why would we care what the hell Bill Maher or Dennis Miller have to say about anything and why give them their own political shows? But then I got to thinking about Richard Pryor and how his sociopolitical commentary influenced a generation so perhaps it’s not weird after all.

Ok so which commentator or anchor makes you cringe?

Re: TV Pundits, Commentators and Anchors
 

In college, a buddy of mine was on a committee that brought political speakers to campus for talks. They brought Carvel once, and he was hilarious. He spent the first 20-30 minutes telling jokes and anecdotes, many at the expense of the Clintons, before getting to more serious business.

Afterwards, I talked to my friend. He said that among Carvel's requests for the speech was that he have some wine in his dressing room before the talk. He polished off two bottles by the time he went on, perhaps enhancing his comedic timing.

I don't watch much news/politics TV, so my loathing for TV commentary is restricted to sports guys. It seems everyone hates most of those, most notably Skip Bayless.

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I like Bill Maher a lot. Always entertaining and funny, while making the perfect point. He also has the best guests, and even though his politics are obvious, he treats those guests he disagrees with wit respect - giving them the opportunity to voice their viewpoint.

The others are unwatchable, IMO.

Re: TV Pundits, Commentators and Anchors
 

Bill Maher is great. Jon Stewart is usually pretty decent. Stephen Colbert can be good, but he is so heavily schticky that he can get tiresome real fast. Plus, sometimes his writing really has its ups and downs. I don't know that I'd consider any of these guys pundits, really, though. They interview pundits.

As to the pundits themselves, Christopher Hitchens is about the only one I care much about, except for Al Franken, who is usually funny and often does a wicked skewer right where it's needed. I'd add in Chomsky, but nobody ever has him on.

Dennis Miller is uselessly verbose and hyper-pretentious, while still having either absolutely nothing to say at all or saying something inane. His layering snarkiness on top of non-observations as if it were a final crowning glory on a remarkably keen, nuanced series of insights and brilliant commentary make him look like a lost, bewildered, and ever more frantic little boy who can't find his way home.

People like Coulter and Limbaugh make virtually anyone look good in comparison. I'd rank their contributions as worse than none, because they make their dollar on simple sensationalism and hate-mongering. Ann Coulter makes Wally Jay look even-handed.

Re: TV Pundits, Commentators and Anchors
 

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I like Bill Maher a lot. Always entertaining and funny, while making the perfect point. He also has the best guests, and even though his politics are obvious, he treats those guests he disagrees with wit respect - giving them the opportunity to voice their viewpoint.

The others are unwatchable, IMO.

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Yeah I like Bill Maher too. I was really shocked when he lost his show. I'm always surprised by how funny he is. I think I'm surprised because I don't usually like arrogant people and he sort of is one. But he can come up with some hilarious stuff that's for sure. He has some good guests but sometimes I think his format doesn't work that well for me. One time he had on Jason Alexander and I remember thinking that his guests that particular week weren't exactly meshing. It seems like there's always one too many guests on his show.

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I knew I would screw this up. I'm not even sure what a pundit is [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]. I looked it up on wikipedia

"an expert or opinion-leader who analyzes events in his or her area of expertise in the popular media"


So I guess Bill Maher and Dennis Miller are commentators who have pundits as they're guests and for some reason people like Bill O'Reilly like to have on Dennis Miller and Maher as their guests.

Are Ann Coulter, Al Franken and James Carvel pundits or just political analysts?



Ann Coulter and Al Franken: Both of these people are annoying. Franken possibly more so than Coulter though I happen to agree with his politics more than hers. I wish Ann Coulter wouldn't grin so much. She laughs at her own jokes and her eyes are always flitting around coyly like she's trying to flirt or something. She reminds me of my friend's little sister who is really taken with herself. She says some really wicked stuff however. I think she occasionally has a valid point but it's hard to notice because she's so damn snotty and smug that my first instinct is to want to kill her.


Limbaugh: I forgot about him. He's actually one of my least favorite. I don't think he's humorous at all. Old guys like to listen to him. We had an old man at my office who would listen to him religiously and thought the guy was a god. I think he's a jackass and I really don't care for his style. I can stomach Bill O'Reilly a lot more than I can Limbaugh.

John Stewart: I enjoy his show and watch it frequently. I think his manner of speaking is retarded and his little gestures and head jerks are getting old. Right now my favorite thing about the show is Aasif Mandvi. He is hilarious.

Stephen Colbert: Not into this at all. I think >50% of his jokes fall flat. I don't appreciate his format or satire or whatever it is.


Dennis Miller: Good description Blarg. He is hyper-pretentious and just ridiculously verbose. I still need to find some of those transcripts.

Re: TV Pundits, Commentators and Anchors
 

Yeah, three guests at once is a bit much to make mesh, when they're usually there pretty much at random.

Re: TV Pundits, Commentators and Anchors
 

It would be a lot easier to list the good ones, because so many of them are just awful.

One guy who a lot of people love that I don't is Stephen Colbert. There comes a point when someone becomes so ironic that he's not ironic anymore, or something.

Re: TV Pundits, Commentators and Anchors
 

I'm a big fan of an anchor/interviewer in the UK called Jeremy Paxman, who's famous for his brand of rottweiler-style journalism.

Here's a youtube selection of his finest moments...

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Chris Hitchens is the man.

Bill Maher is the best.

Denny Miller never disappoints me...

...except that one time in 1996 when I payed money to see him in Las Vegas, and got nothing but recycled material I had heard before. Really, emptying your George Bush41 bag in a 1996 show makes it clear that you're not earning your pay tonight--going to the Ronald Reagan bag is just adding insult to larceny.

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Denny Miller never disappoints me...

...

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Well he's entertaining to an extent. But be honest, can you understand what the hell he's talking about? He likes to use pretty strange analogies if you ask me, and plenty of them. He's a trip.

Re: TV Pundits, Commentators and Anchors
 

Chris Matthews of 'Hardball' is among the best in the business both in interviewing the pundits and doing political analysis. His questions are poignant and his analysis and understanding of events from both a right and left perspective is fairly unique in the business. He ticks off both liberal and conservative watchdog groups, so he's probably doing something right.

I like Tucker Carlson of MSNBC a close second. He makes no bones about being a conservative, however is thoughtful and understanding of the Left's perspective. He saves the grandstanding for the O'Reilly's of the television world.

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Denny Miller never disappoints me...

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Well he's entertaining to an extent. But be honest, can you understand what the hell he's talking about? He likes to use pretty strange analogies if you ask me, and plenty of them. He's a trip.

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You know you're in trouble when he goes, "That's like when the Pelleponesians ..."

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[ QUOTE ]
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Denny Miller never disappoints me...

...

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Well he's entertaining to an extent. But be honest, can you understand what the hell he's talking about? He likes to use pretty strange analogies if you ask me, and plenty of them. He's a trip.

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I catch about 90% of Miller's references. The other 10% sail over my head. I think my .900 batting average ranks me among the league leaders. Often, a joke is primarily funny because I know I'm the only guy in the room who gets it.

As for analogies, Miller can't go five minutes without using my favorite joke structure: "A makes B look like C." Like, "Duluth is so cold, they make Minneapolis look like Miami."

That works for me every time. Miller steps it up a notch, though, and would say something like, "He makes Hirohito look like Chamberlain."

Re: TV Pundits, Commentators and Anchors
 

Dana Carvey did a hilarious Dennis Miller impression when both were on SNL. He said not even Miller understood most of his own references.

"What am I, Kowhaacko over here? Who am I, Quintibulous The Slew-Footed One? What? What?"

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Huge fan of Tim Russert and The McLaughlin Group.

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I like Russert on cnbc, when he has an hour to actually go into some depth.
Stephanapoulous ( [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img] lol) is watchable on sunday mornings.
Mahar makes me laugh, and usually has a decent point of view.
As a rule, the cnn + fox commentators are useless.
And I remember when O'reilly was the lead trash man on "inside edition". Not much has changed.

Re: TV Pundits, Commentators and Anchors
 

Youtalkfunny -

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As for analogies, Miller can't go five minutes without using my favorite joke structure: "A makes B look like C." Like, "Duluth is so cold, they make Minneapolis look like Miami."

That works for me every time. Miller steps it up a notch, though, and would say something like, "He makes Hirohito look like Chamberlain."

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lol! After reading your post (and DrewDevil's reference) I'm starting to think that I've not fully appreciated Dennis Miller's gift. I think from now on I'll try to look at him with a more appreciative eye.





Kickabuck-

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Chris Matthews of 'Hardball' is among the best in the business both in interviewing the pundits and doing political analysis. His questions are poignant and his analysis and understanding of events from both a right and left perspective is fairly unique in the business. He ticks off both liberal and conservative watchdog groups, so he's probably doing something right.


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I think this is true. I too like Chris Matthews. His questions are really solid and I agree that he makes a point of coming at the issues from both sides. The guy is squirrelly. You cannot peg him. Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't he used to be more liberal?

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Hello katyseagull, yes I think it is fair to say that as a younger man Chris was a liberal. He worked for Tip O'Neill(former Dem speaker of the House) for six years and was a speech writer for Jimmy Carter.

This is pure speculation on my part(based on my observation of him during this era), but I think his party willfully ignoring rampant campaign funding irregularities that were commonplace in the Clinton era(and many other scurrilous activities, including some which got Cinton disbarred in Arkansas and necessitated his resignation from the Supreme Court bar) really dampened his enthusiasm for the Democratic party and is much of the reason he voted for Bush as opposed to Gore in 2000. I believe he is still a liberal at heart on most issues, save the gun issue and some conservative tendencies arising from his Catholicism.

Re: TV Pundits, Commentators and Anchors
 

Which commentators do you like whose viewpoint/worldview is opposed to your own?

I can't think of one.

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Hello katyseagull, yes I think it is fair to say that as a younger man Chris was a liberal. He worked for Tip O'Neill(former Dem speaker of the House) for six years and was a speech writer for Jimmy Carter.

This is pure speculation on my part(based on my observation of him during this era), but I think his party willfully ignoring rampant campaign funding irregularities that were commonplace in the Clinton era(and many other scurrilous activities, including some which got Cinton disbarred in Arkansas and necessitated his resignation from the Supreme Court bar) really dampened his enthusiasm for the Democratic party and is much of the reason he voted for Bush as opposed to Gore in 2000. I believe he is still a liberal at heart on most issues, save the gun issue and some conservative tendencies arising from his Catholicism.

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Glad to read this. I thought I was losing my mind. I didn't realize that he was a speech writer for Jimmy Carter. That's pretty interesting. And he voted for Bush?! You're kidding! This really surprises me.

Did you ever get a chance to see Darrell Hammond do Chris Matthews on SNL? Oh my god that guy is so funny.


[img]http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A9gnMiCKspdGnXMBGlSjzbkF/SIG=14m6vt4vk/EXP=1184433162/**http%3A//us.movies1.yimg.com/movies.yahoo.com/images/hv/photo/tv_pix/nbc/saturday_night_live_episode_photos/darrell_hammond/snl3.jpg[/img]


[img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

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Most irritating:

http://www.theadvocates.org/celebrit...n-stossel2.jpg

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I think I'm getting mellow as I get older. A lot of these guys don't really bother me all that much. I can watch O'Reilly and it is simply entertaining. I really don't dislike very many of them at all. Mainly Limbaugh and Coulter.

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I think I'm getting mellow as I get older. A lot of these guys don't really bother me all that much. I can watch O'Reilly and it is simply entertaining. I really don't dislike very many of them at all. Mainly Limbaugh and Coulter.

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I saw like two minutes of O'Reilly last night and was howling with laughter. He's SO over the top, it's like watching a t.v. wrestling match disguised as journalism. He should squeak a bulb on one of those clown horns several times a sentence. There is nothing remotely respectable about this guy, and I wonder how hard up for attention you have to be to go on his show. I mean, this guy even managed to make a PETA spokesman look like the voice of reason.

Re: TV Pundits, Commentators and Anchors
 

http://www.thussayssuzanne.com/images/chrishansen.jpg



Does this guy count?

I'm all for taking down child predators but I just can't stand this smarmy [censored].





Most irritating ever:

http://schema-root.org/people/career...dan_rather.gif

Arrogant, judgmental azz. His fall was so great it took a whole network news department with him, that of the legendary Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite no less.

I hated Rather so much my reaction was that of Nelson Muntz: Ha Ha!

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I saw like two minutes of O'Reilly last night and was howling with laughter. He's SO over the top, it's like watching a t.v. wrestling match disguised as journalism. He should squeak a bulb on one of those clown horns several times a sentence. There is nothing remotely respectable about this guy, and I wonder how hard up for attention you have to be to go on his show. I mean, this guy even managed to make a PETA spokesman look like the voice of reason.

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He is over the top for sure. He gets all wound up and starts shouting at his guests [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]. Pretty entertaining. I don't dislike him though. There are even times I find myself agreeing with his position. Usually when it comes to kids and bad parenting.

The other night I was watching him talk about the conference at Boulder High school pertaining to sex and drugs. Of course I was completely skeptical of his take on it and figured he was distorting the facts, yet I understood his disapproval. The problem with Bill is that he doesn't present things in an even handed and honest manner which completely damages his credibility.

O'Reilly gave me one of the biggest laughs I've ever had. I will always be grateful for it. How can you hate a man who misuses the word falafel?

http://img66.imageshack.us/img66/4171/falafelsdf9.jpg

Re: TV Pundits, Commentators and Anchors
 

Chipwrecked -

Agree with you on the child predator guy. What's his name, Chris Hanson? I cannot stand him.





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Most irritating ever:

http://schema-root.org/people/career...dan_rather.gif

Arrogant, judgmental azz. His fall was so great it took a whole network news department with him, that of the legendary Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite no less.

I hated Rather so much my reaction was that of Nelson Muntz: Ha Ha!

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Well I don't hate him exactly. What's the word I'm looking for...pompous? Stuffy? Yeah I guess arrogant sort of hits it on the head. I'm not a fan of Rather or CBS news at this point. Is there that much difference between CBS and the other networks?

I was pretty disgusted when I found out that Katie Couric tried to pass off some light fluff about libraries as her own. Turns out it had been plagiarized from the Wall Street Journal. My faith in the news team over there dropped to an all time low. There's just no excuse for that.

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Funny thing is, t.v. journalism is such a sham now that she couldn't muster up what would probably be her best defense -- that her staff does the writing and research, and she just reads a teleprompter. She has to go along and pretend to be dishonest just to keep alive the illusion of not being even more dishonest.

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Funny thing is, t.v. journalism is such a sham now that she couldn't muster up what would probably be her best defense -- that her staff does the writing and research, and she just reads a teleprompter. She has to go along and pretend to be dishonest just to keep alive the illusion of not being even more dishonest.

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I didn't watch her video essay on libraries so I hope I'm not presenting it inaccurately but as I understood it she was reminiscing about her memories of going to the library as a kid and how much it meant to her. I might be wrong. If her staff is the one that does the writing and research then exactly what does she do? They could replace her with that Cat Deely host on So You Think You Can Dance.

Re: TV Pundits, Commentators and Anchors
 

She looks cute and builds a rapport with the audience. Most of these guys are very far from journalists.