Entertainment Media

On the Monday after the Oscars, MSNBC Morning Joe co-host Mika Brezinski appeared on her colleague Ronan Farrow's canceled-but-still-broadcasting to promote her "Know Your Value" campaign to teach women how to be more effective negotiators in the marketplace for better pay and benefits. During her chat with Farrow, the issue of "pay inequality" in Hollywood was discussed, including the allegation…

During an interview with House of Cards actor Kevin Spacey for NBC's Meet the Press on Sunday, correspondent Cynthia McFadden noted: "A life-long Democrat, Spacey says he, like many Americans, is frustrated with Washington." Spacey proclaimed: "I think that what is truly unfortunate is when an entire party makes a decision that they're going to block every single thing that a president wants to…

Sonia Saraiya suggests that Stewart “is one of the most influential political figures of our era” and claims that “as difficult as it has been to advance a progressive agenda over the last 16 years, it would likely have been impossible without Stewart’s ability to connect to millions of viewers and remind them that they weren’t alone in hoping for something better.”

John Hinderaker at Powerline is certainly correct when he notes that the media elites love "Girls," the HBO show starring sister-abusing, rapist-misidentifying Lena Dunham. Critics rave about how great the show and its main characters are, frequently employing complimentary adjectives descriptive of or synonymous with "smart." Hinderaker was brave enough to peruse the script of the show's Season…

Jon Perr of Daily Kos writes that Walker, like the Republican base, “believes his Democratic foes aren't just wrong, but unambiguously evil...He talks and fights tough, which for the right wing is not a means but an end in itself.”

A New York Times military correspondent filed a useful story on the problem of military veterans being stereotyped as violent and troubled on movies and TV. But what about when the Times was guilty of doing the same thing on its Sunday front page, smearing veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan as killers on "a cross-country trail of death and heartbreak"?

Taraji P. Henson, one of the stars of the new Fox drama Empire, gave an interview for the February 9 edition of Time magazine. She plays Cookie, the “fiery matriarch” at a hip-hop record company. Time asked, “What are people upset about?” Henson said “Barack Obama.” Time replied, “You mean the scene in which one of Cookie’s sons calls Obama a sellout during a drunken rant?” Henson explained:  “…

The Americans returns tonight with its third season debut at 10 PM EST/PST. While the FX series humanizes undercover KGB operatives working in the U.S., the show illustrates the ruthlessness of Soviet communism and how the American Left in the 1980s advanced Soviet interests. (Four videos below)

On the January 27 edition of Hardball, former DNC chairman Howard Dean issued a tepid half-apology regarding his recent ill-advised statement on Real Time with Bill Maher wherein he blasted as "angry" the moviehouse audiences that have made American Sniper a runaway hit. 

In an article for Salon, Penn State professor Sophia McClennen claims the box-office blockbuster has “no nuance, no context and no subtlety” and that its director, Clint Eastwood, “represents a dark, disturbing feature of the GOP mind-set.”

Comedian Jim Gaffigan got off a great zinger on Twitter yesterday aimed straight at Hollywood folks who look down on the average American who has given American Sniper their vote at the box office.

Georgetown professor Aaron Hanlon argues that Stewart’s foul-mouthed rants in response to conservatives are appropriate given that “his objects of critique aren’t interested in reasoned dialogue, clever jabs or unveiled truths.”

Jim VandeHei sees dead people. On today's Morning Joe, the Politico honcho agreed with Joe Scarborough's suggestion that Chris Christie is like Bruce Willis in The Sixth Sense: [politically] dead but doesn't know it. Ironically, Scarborough distanced himself from his own suggestion, twice saying that he didn't believe it. But when he asked his guest if the characterization was fair, Vandehei…

Esquire blogger Pierce alleges that right-wingers have turned the civil-rights movement “into a weapon against issues on which Dr. King surely would have come down on the progressive side,” and declares that the movement “no longer can be used as history's truncheon against the legitimate social, cultural, and political aspirations of the people who are its truest heirs.”