Entertainment Media

Arthur Chu, best known as one of the all-time biggest money-winners on Jeopardy!, is also a writer who frequently contributes to Salon. In a Thursday article, Chu saluted departing Daily Show host Jon Stewart for, among other things, keeping him sane during his college days. Unfortunately, recalled Chu, back then America as a whole had lost its mind. Meanwhile, in the August issue of Vanity Fair…

One year ago, a British newspaper published a list of President Obama’s ten favorite television shows (the top three, in reverse order: Breaking Bad, The Wire, and M*A*S*H). Not on the list was The Daily Show, on which Obama guested yet again this past Tuesday, but Penn State's Sophia McClennen thinks that if Obama had been more of a TDS fan, he long ago would have realized how irrational his…

Arianna Huffington is no pachyderm, politically speaking, but like the elephant, she apparently never forgets--or forgives.  Three years ago, Donald Trump called Huffington "unattractive both inside and out."  Arianna has now returned the favor, relegating HuffPo's coverage of Trump to its entertainment section. On today's Morning Joe, HuffPo's Sam Stein was put in the unenviable position of…

The Miracle on Ice and Hoosiers aside, the underdog usually loses, and Penn State's Sophia McClennen speculates that it’s happened again: Jon Stewart is leaving The Daily Show because he’s “exhausted” and "dejected" from battling Roger Ailes and the Fox News juggernaut. “Could Stewart really be giving up his show due to Fox News fatigue?” wondered McClennen in a Wednesday article for Salon. “It’s…

Here is an object lesson in how the perceptions of low-information voters are shaped to the disadvantage of Republican and conservative candidates. In the daily email I receive from Eonline.com (subscribing to the web site’s missives is a necessary evil), the fifth item listed read: “Scott Walker Announces 2016 Presidential Run.” (Curiously, the web version of that email no longer links to the…

Amid mounting evidence of Bill Cosby’s depraved behavior, many have changed their minds about Cosby the person. Should they also reconsider, for very different reasons, their affection for his megahit sitcom, The Cosby Show? Lefty writer Chauncey DeVega thinks so. In a Sunday article for Salon, DeVega opined that the series “lied to its white viewers about the nature of racism, white supremacy,…

Megyn Kelly and Kevin Spacey have their eyes set on the White House.  The Fox News anchor and the House of Cards producer recently announced their plan to co-create a new presidential drama called The Resident. This will be Kelly’s first foray in the entertainment world, but Spacey’s fourth production set in the White House.

How can Judd Apatow, once ranked the smartest guy in Hollywood be so . . . ? On today's With All Due Respect, big comedy macher [credits include Lena Dunham's Girls] Apatow said it was "ridiculous that anyone thinks that rich people care about other people.  When the Koch brothers give a billion dollars, it is not out of a great concern for the masses." To his credit, Mark Halperin twice pressed…

Marlow Stern at the Daily Beast, who reviewed Jurassic World on June 10, must be absolutely furious. The Steven Spielberg-produced movie just had "the highest-grossing opening weekend of all time." Not bad for a film Stern panned as "A Big, Dumb, Sexist Mess." — with heavy emphasis on the "sexist" part.

Patrick Healy penned a theatrical tribute to hard-left Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders thatappeared in the New York Times Sunday Review: "Can America Back an Underdog? Broadway Did." Healy, a former political reporter, eagerly sold socialist Sanders as a scrappy underdog, just like the musical Fun Home. Healy even contradicted his own previous Obama reporting to make his odd…

Over the past decade or so, David Letterman has become outspokenly liberal, but according to cultural critic Scott Timberg, the seemingly apolitical comedy that Dave did in the 1980s actually hurt the left. Specifically, it served as a sort of opiate which left his audience disinclined to push back against Reaganism. “For those on the progressive or liberal side of the aisle,” wrote Timberg last…

When it comes to Hollywood, Proverbs got it right: there is nothing new under the sun. Trailers for ABC’s fall TV lineup are being released and the new show OIL appears to be more of same anti-gas and oil propaganda television networks and movie producers have been dredging up for years.

Apparently voters can expect to see Rick Harrison of History Channel's Pawn Stars hitting the campaign trail for Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio.

Readers who have seen my previous posts on actress Gwyneth Paltrow's recent "failed" attempt to complete the deceptively designed "Food Stamp Challenge" know far more than people who rely on Eonline.com ever will. Although it's far from encouraging when contemplating our nation's future, what we have here is an object lesson in how the entertainment press airbrushes the truth to polish the image…