Cool MJ in Thriller

PERSONAL REFLECTIONS ON THE KING OF POP

Long before the horrible allegations of child abuse and the sickening extremes  his plastic surgery would reach, Michael Jackson ruled my pre-teen world.  From the very first time I saw his video for “Billie Jean” (shown between movies on HBO, my only source for music videos before MTV made it to my hometown) Michael Jackson had my undying attention.

He was everything I wasn’t; a talented singer and dancer, unbelievably popular, and black .  That didn’t prevent me from trying to be just like him.  While I never owned a red, zippered faux-leather jacket, I insisted on having my own glittery glove and stealing every dance move I saw him perform on TV. 

When we gathered at a friend’s birthday party and watched The Making of Michael Jackson’s Thriller (on an old-school Video Disk)  I thought I had died and gone to heaven.  It seemed no matter where you turned, Michael Jackson was represented in one form or another.  His music, style, and attitude permeated popular culture in the mid-eighties. 

As I grew older  and my musical tastes shifted to other artists, I still paid special attention to whatever he put out.  Somewhere along the way Michael lost a firm grip on reality and his behavior grew more erratic. His appearance morphed from jheri-curled, cool-cat black guy, to weirdo white dude.  But his music stayed strong and his dance moves unmatched.

The further fame seemed to slip out of Michael Jackson’s hands, the stranger things became for him and his world.   Even as he became the punchline to an endless string of jokes, I never lost my love for his music, especially the early stuff.  And neither have a good portion of the rest of you, judging by the reaction his songs get whenever they are played for folks of all ages at weddings and school dances.  That’s quite a testament to his talent, considering the long list of reasons he gave us not to like him since the release of Off The Wall and Thriller.

His death will inevitably trigger a long, drawn-out battle over his legacy and assets, making the Anna Nicole Smith death look like a walk in the park.  Even as we face the prospect of  a parade of so-called friends, tell-all books, and the trickle of unreleased music in the years (possibly decades) to come,  his legend and popularity will grow and thrive. 

Let’s enjoy the good stuff he gave us, it is unlikely that we will ever see anything like him for a very long time.

Tony Award-winning actor (and saucy game show panelist) Charles Nelson Reilly died Friday night (5/25/07) in Los Angeles due to complications stemming from pneumonia.  He was 76. 

Although I was well aware of his failing health, it was still very sad for me to hear the news of his passing. It is not easy to say goodbye to someone that made so many of us laugh through the years.  Some of the folks we grow up watching in the afternoons of our youth seem like they’ll be around forever. They can always be found in ‘TV land’ sitting on our screens, forever frozen in time, looking just as young and healthy as they ever did.  That’s probably why I think 76 years-old seems a bit premature for Charles to leave this world.

Watching as much TV as I did growing up, I didn’t think twice about the sexual orientation of the people I saw on daily game shows or sitcoms.  I had no idea he was some sort of ‘ground- breaker’ for homosexuals on TV.  It didn’t matter to my young brain whether or not someone like Charles was gay or straight; he was consistently funny and almost always did (or said) something memorable during his many appearances.  His loud voice and even louder wardrobe made quite an impression on me as a child. 

It wasn’t until later in my life, watching hours upon hours of ‘Match Game’ reruns on The Game Show Network, that I came to appreciate the naughtiness of the humor that emanated from the top tier of its celebrity panel.  When Charles wasn’t occupying that upper right-hand seat, the show just didn’t feel right.  By today’s standards, most of what they said or did was pretty tame.  But in the context of the era in which it originally aired, it was very risque (to say the least.)  It blows my mind when I think about Charles spending nearly a decade making fun of Brett Somers on daytime television. To this day it has never stopped being funny to me.  Now that’s comedy with some legs!

In recent years, Charles Nelson Reilly would occasionally pop up on the odd sitcom or on a show like ‘The X Files’ and remind me that he was still alive.  Although he thought game shows killed his legitimate acting career, he was still getting work–just not as much as he would have liked.  Maybe he was frustrated by the baggage he had to carry around, but he had to know that the hours of hilarious TV moments he left behind were more than any performer would have ever dreamt of giving this world.  It is certainly nothing to be ashamed of in my book.

Charles was once quoted as saying: “When I die, it’s going to read, ‘Game Show Fixture Passes Away.’ Nothing about the theater, or Tony Awards, or Emmys…but it doesn’t bother me.” The funny thing is, I have yet to see or hear a report of his death that hasn’t lead with his Broadway credits before it mentioned his game show appearances.  Even he would be pleased to know that he was completely wrong about those kinds of things.  

When the Best of the Match Game DVD set came out last year and GSN aired the documentary ’Behind the Blank’, noticeably absent from both were Charles and his sardonic wit.  Word had gone around that his health was failing and he was unable to do any interviews for the projects.  It was a shame because I was hoping to hear some sarcastic zingers from my favorite panelist.  “Maybe next time,” I told myself. Sadly, next time would never come.

Thankfully, a film crew captured his one-man show Save it for the Stage: The Life of Reilly in 2004 and turned into a feature-length movie.  I consider myself a huge Charles Nelson Reilly fan and I had never read about or heard of his one-man show.  If there was ever a person’s life that was cut out for this kind of treatment, it was Charles’.  

It will be a bittersweet moment when The Life of Reilly finally comes to theaters (from what I have read, we will be able to see it sometime this fall.)  Judging by the trailer I saw, it looks like it’s one hell of a movie.  I just wish it was playing in a theater near me right now.  Oh well, I’m sure it will be worth the wait.  How could it not be?

I just wanted to say ‘Goodbye Charles.’  Thanks for all of the laughter you have brought to my life. 

Read more about his life at YAHOO news.

Enjoy this hilarious clip of some classic Charles and Bret interplay on the Match Game.

Check out this video of Wednesday’s verbal sparring match between Rosie O’Donnell and Elisabeth Hasselbeck.  Rosie has been pissed since Monday when Elisabeth refused to come out and say she whether or not she actually believes that Rosie thinks the U.S. troops in Iraq are terrorists.  What started out as a Bush bashing segment (initiated by Joy Behar reading a list of the president’s mistakes) eventually turned into a shouting match between the co-hosts.

Enjoy…

The producers made a mistake by letting the argument go on for that long without going to a commercial.  This will either spill over to tomorrow’s show or be forgotten like most of the other arguments they have had since Rosie joined the program last September.  One thing is for sure, cable news knuckle-heads like Joey Scarborough and Bill O’Reilly are going to have a field day with this exchange.

Even better than the argument was the way Alicia Silverstone dissed Elisabeth when she came out after the commercial. Check the obvious ‘blow-off’ by the former star of Aerosmith’s music videos:

Ouch!  Talk about awkward.  That part of the show must slipped by me while my head was still reeling form the cat-fight.  I can’t imagine any event over the next two weeks that Rosie has left on the show that will eclipse the coverage this whole mess has received.  But you never know…

(Update: Rosie is taking Thursday off in order to celebrate her wife’s birthday.)

NBC, America’s (barely) number four TV network, announced Tuesday that it will not renew Stone Phillips’ contract when it expires this June.  Phillips has been co-anchor of ‘Dateline NBC’ (originally with Jane Pauley, currently with Ann Curry) since the show began in 1992.  Now that NBC can barely eke out more than one hit TV series per season the purse strings have tightened, leaving a trail of bloody corpses from its news division in its wake.

NBC released a statement quoting Phillips as saying “It’s been a wonderful 15 years, I’m profoundly appreciative of the many friends and colleagues, past and present, who have been a part of the `Dateline’ family. This is a great news division with a bright future. I wish the people of NBC News all the best.”

Last November NBC Universal announced that they were planning to slash expenses by $750 million and cut 700 jobs, about 5% of its workforce.  Like any big business they gave these cuts a lame name- the NBCU 2.0 initiative. Pinhead executives claimed it would help the TV and movie giant with its transition from traditional analog media to digital, including ventures on the Internet and cellphones.  Just what the internet needs, more crap that no one wants to watch.

Apparently NBC doesn’t understand that folks aren’t tuning in because they keep producing lame shows.  I’d rather look at the glowing keys on my home phone than 99% of the tripe I see on its schedule.  Why not get rid of Saturday Night Live?  All that show is these days is a bunch of camera mugging half-talents doing the same six sketches they have done all year (five of those six sketches involve talk shows.)  NBC did the right thing by pulling the plug on ‘Studio 60′ (the woefully unoriginal dramedy about an SNL-type variety show) now they should go the extra step and close up shop at the real SNL. 

What NBC really wants from its ‘news’ division is a bunch of robots willing to do more than one thing for the ever-sinking network.  That’s why ‘Dateline’s’ Ann Curry gets to stay put.  She reads the real news in between the puff pieces that occupy the three (soon to be four) hours ‘Today’ takes up in the morning.  They canned weekend news anchor John Seigenthaler a couple months ago in favor of ‘Weekend Today’ co-host Lester Holt, who now gets to do double duty as anchor of the weekend edition of ‘NBC Nightly News.’  Dateline’s staff was slashed from 300 to 150 employees around the time NBCU 2.0 was announced. 

Around contract renegotiation time this year, uber-metrosexual Keith Olbermann turned his program ‘Countdown’ into a joke by covering a lot more ’American Idol’ gossip and Paris Hilton updates while simultaneously toning down his (now) rarely seen ‘special comments.’  It must have worked because got to keep his job.  He also signed on to join NBC’s ‘Sunday Night Football’ as some kind of analyst even though he has never played a real sport in his life. I realize he helped make ESPN the homo erotic sports love-fest it is today, but he is nothing more than a sports geek.  Stone Phillips played  quarterback on the Yal football team.  Why wasn’t he offered a job as a football analyst?

Oh well, that’s ‘show-biness!’  Most likely Stone Phillips will have no problem finding a new job with a network that can actually pay him to report the news.  Let’s face it ‘Dateline NBC’ is way past its prime. The network just needs to turn the show over to reporter Chris Hansen and officially rename it ‘To Catch A Predator:The Series’ since that is the only thing it features these days.  And they wonder where the viewers have gone…  

Now that I think about it, I doubt Stone lost any sleep after this decision.

This morning, puffy evangelist Jerry Falwell was found dead in his office at Liberty University.  I am no doctor, but one look at a recent picture of the man would have told you his days on this planet were numbered.  Forgive me if I forgo the fake reverence one is expected to extend to the recently departed.  Jerry Falwell was a buffoon who claimed to be a Christian, yet he never missed an opportunity to exploit national tragedies for his own political gain.

Although he sometimes used the title “Doctor,” Falwell held no earned doctorate. He held three honorary degrees: an honorary Doctor of Divinity from Tennessee Temple Theological Seminary, an honorary Doctor of Letters from California Graduate School of Theology (an unaccredited institution), and an honorary Doctor of Laws from Central University in Seoul, South Korea (an unaccredited institution).  Those facts didn’t prevent his friends from referring to him as Doctor Falwell when they announced his death at a press conference this morning.

News anchors did their best to whitewash his legacy of hate and ignorance as they interrupted television programs to report the news.  I guess we have the Anna Nicole Smith spectacle to thank for lowering the bar enough to warrant this kind of media attention for the death of someone who proclaimed: “AIDS is not just God’s punishment for homosexuals; it is God’s punishment for the society that tolerates homosexuals.”  With that choice quote in mind, let’s take a trip down memory lane…

Falwell openly supported racial segregation for the first few years of his career. In 1958, he was quoted regarding his stance:

“If Chief Justice Warren and his associates had known God’s word and had desired to do the Lord’s will, I am quite confident that the 1954 decision would never have been made…. The facilities should be separate. When God has drawn a line of distinction, we should not attempt to cross that line.”

In 1965 Reverend Falwell gave a sermon at his Thomas Road Baptist Church criticizing Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement (which he sometimes referred to as the Civil Wrongs Movement.) Around that same time period he regularly featured Segregationist politicians like Georgia Governor Lester Maddox and Alabama Governor George Wallace on his Evangelist program The Old-Time Gospel Hour. 

In 1979, long after Falwell and his cohorts were unsuccessful in keeping African-Americans from gaining equal rights under the U.S. Constitution, he co-founded the Moral Majority.  It openly sought to outlaw abortion, opposed state recognition and acceptance of homosexuality, and pushed for censorship of media outlets that promoted what it labeled as an ‘anti-family’ agenda.  It boasted millions of members and mainly consisted of conservative Christian political action committees, which campaigned on issues it believed central to upholding its Christian conception of moral law.  It dissolved in 1989 but its impact is still felt in national political races (just ask John McCain.)

Falwell was critical of sanctions against the Apartheid regime of South Africa during the 80s.  He claimed that he was opposed to Apartheid, but he feared that sanctions would result in a worse situation for South Africans in the form of a more oppressive white minority government or a Soviet-backed revolution.  One of his greatest gaffes at that time came about when he called Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu (a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize) a phony “as far as representing the black people of South Africa.” He later apologized (as he often did following this kind of remark) and claimed that he had misspoken. 

In 1994, Falwell released the documentary “The Clinton Chronicles”, a video that connected Bill Clinton to a conspiracy theory involving Vincent Foster, James McDougall, Ron Brown, and an alleged cocaine-smuggling operation. Despite the theories being discredited by all major investigations, the video’s sophisticated production techniques served as effective exposure, and sold over 150,000 copies.  Falwell’s infomercial for the 80-minute tape included footage of Falwell interviewing a silhouetted journalist who was afraid for his life.

The journalist accused Clinton of orchestrating the deaths of several reporters and personal confidants who had gotten too close to his illegalities. However, it was subsequently revealed that the silhouetted journalist was, in fact, Patrick Matrisciana, the producer of the video. Matrisciana later admitted that it as Jerry’s idea to present him in that manner because he “thought that would be dramatic.”

One of the most bizarre episodes from Falwell’s storied career came in 1999, when he published an article in his National Liberty Journal entitled “Tinky Winky Comes Out of the Closet.”  It focused on disturbing clues that one of the characters in the hit children’s show Teletubbies was designed to promote the gay lifestyle:

"Now, further evidence that the creators of the series intend for Tinky Winky to be a gay role model have surfaced. He is purple -- the gay-pride color; and his antenna is shaped like a triangle -- the gay-pride symbol."

Falwell instantly became the laughingstock of mainstream media for his in-depth analysis of the sexual politics of a show aimed at preschoolers.  It was becoming pathetically apparent that he was running out of top shelf material to keep his hate machine going. 

On September 13, 2001, during an appearance on The 700 Club (in what became his final major act of stupidity on a national stage) Falwell tried to pin the attacks of September 11th on his harshest critics:

“The abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked. And when we destroy 40 million little innocent babies, we make God mad. I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way—all of them who have tried to secularize America—I point the finger in their face and say ‘you helped this happen.’”

I hope all of the people we are going to see praise this fool over the next week remember those words.  You couldn’t find a better quote that sums up the warped sense Jerry Falwell had of the world and his own religion.  Unfortunately such beliefs will hardly die with the man.

I would be remiss if I didn’t discuss the photo you see to the left.  It features Jerry Falwell sliding down the Typhoon water slide at Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker’s Heritage USA theme park.  He was fulfilling a promise to his supporters that coughed up $20 million to save the ailing PTL empire.  It was selected as “The Best of Photojournalism” in 1987 Pictures of the Year book presented by the National Press Photographers Association. In September 1999, The Associated Press selected it as one of the top 100 national photos of the century.  

I have to admit it is a great picture. Who wears a suit (with suspenders) on a water slide? I would like to think of it as a little preview of the trip he is taking down to the place where a water slide would be downright refreshing. 

During a ceremony on the south lawn of the White House welcoming the Queen of England, Bush made this little slip, “You’ve dined with 10 U.S. presidents. You helped our nation celebrate its bicentennial in 17….in 1976.”

Then, as only a fool could do, Bush turned to Queen Elizabeth and winked, a no-no when it comes to regal protocol, and as the laughter died down, said, “She gave me a look that only a mother could give a child.” Ouch!

Bush is no stranger when it comes to awkward interactions with the heads of state from various nations. You may remember that German Chancellor Angela Merkel was not amused when he grabbed her from behind and gave her a quick massage before rushing off at a recent G-8 Conference. 

I am posting this video as a public service to those of you out there that wonder how alcohol affects families.  There is nothing funny about this footage (well….except when his hamburger falls apart.)  It is actually quite sad to see someone this famous dealing with his pain by getting extremely drunk. 

It shouldn’t be too shocking for David Hasselhoff.  He told his sixteen year old daughter to film him the next time he fell off the wagon.  This time Hasselhoff didn’t just fall off the wagon, he did a ‘Triple Lindy’ into a large pitcher of beer.  How it got into the hands of Access Hollywood is unknown (maybe Kim Basinger gave it to them.)  The good news: Hasselhoff is officially in a three-way tie for father of the year with Alec Baldwin and Ryan O’Neil.

Hopefully some good will come from this very public humiliation:

Vacation and indifference have kept my Idol commentaries off of these pages for almost a month.  To date, this season has been a bit of a bore for me, offering very few of what I would consider to be stand-out performances.  I would be lying if I claimed that I did not miss Sanjaya.  That kid brought the kind of excitement one only finds watching videos on a TV show about car wrecks.  Unfortunately, by the time he butchered Bonnie Raitt’s ‘Something To Talk About’, you could tell his heart just wasn’t in it anymore and America happily put him out of his misery.  For those in need of a Sanjaya fix, don’t forget that there’s always the live tour to look forward to…

Then there was ‘Idol Gives Back’ week, which I would prefer to call ‘Idol Makes Me Nauseous’ week.  Not only did they waste my time with pointless performances (Annie Lennox butchering Simon and Garfunkel? An Elvis and Celine Dion duet?) they failed to kick someone off the show.  I cheered like a drunk boob at a baseball game when I mistakenly thought Jordin was going home. Man was I pissed when that didn’t come true.  My only hope (at that time) was that her demise was simply going to be delayed a week.  Oh well…

Bon Jovi week? Noooooo! If this is what is considered ‘rock and roll’, I can’t begin to imagine what we will have to settle for next year (I hear Michael Bolton has some gaps in his schedule.)  I didn’t like Jon Bon Jovi in the eighties, when he first set girls’ panties ablaze, and I certainly don’t like the garbage he has managed to release in recent years.  Obviously that makes him the perfect choice for an entire episode of American Idol.  At least Richie Sambora was smart enough to avoid the coaching segments.  Reluctantly, I moussed my hair, slid into a pair of acid-washed jeans, and prepared myself to be overwhelmed with boredom.  

Surprisingly there were at least two excellent performances for the night.  Melinda delivered like she often does by actually turning one of Bon Jovi’s recent hits (Have A Nice Day) into something listenable.  Blake decided to wake up from the fog of boring ballads and (as Randy would say) ‘did his thing’ with ‘Living On A Prayer’.  Even beat-box haters found themselves at a loss for critical words.  I don’t believe Blake can win the big prize, but a couple more home runs like this will guarantee his place in the finals.

That brings me to Lakisha and Jordin–or as I like to call them, ‘Hit’ and ‘Miss.’  Ms. Kiki made a smart choice by going with a syrupy Bon Jovi ballad.  It was a little shaky at the start but she saved herself nicely by the end.  Ms. Sparks , on the other hand, was a train wreck from start to finish.  It is a damn shame so many people are smitten with her because any other performer would have been completely dragged over the coals and kicked off the show.  Instead we got the, ‘Everyone has a bad week…I guess this one was mine’ excuse from Jordin and three judges who barely tried to criticize her.   Let’s all quit fooling ourselves and get rid of her before we regret it.  If things continue down this path, Jordin will be playing ‘Diane Degarmo’ to Melinda’s ‘Fantasia’–if you know what I mean.

Finally we come to our losers for the week: Justine Timberfake and Bat Boy.  I will give Phil credit for being halfway decent, at least until he started to act all ‘rock star-ish’ while striking his cheesy poses and making some embarrassing facial expressions. ’Blaze of Glory’ is a stupid song, tied to a stupid movie franchise, but it was an excellent final song for him to sing.  I never tire of contestants singing songs appropriate for their final performance.  My greatest fear of Phil somehow making it to the finals was happily laid to rest.   

Poor Chris Richardson, on the other hand, really had no chance to redeem himself.  It made perfect sense to me that the most overrated male performer sang one of Bon Jovi’s most overrated songs. The only redeeming part of the original tune is Richie Sambora’s backing vocals. For some reason they always evoke drunken college party sing-a-longs (sorry Richie.)  Chris’ version was his typical nasally, pseudo-boy band tripe.  Even the ladies that find him adorable couldn’t muster the strength to dial his number this week.  I will say the camaraderie displayed between Chris and Blake as they awaited their fates (as if anyone really expected Blake to go) was genuinely sweet.  Of course, I didn’t really think either one of them was truly willing to switch places with the other, but it was good TV.

With four contestants left, we have just a couple weeks before America’s newest idol is crowned.  My opinion that a woman is destined to win this year hasn’t changed.  I knew they would push the show in that direction simply because the women who have won have been more successful than the men.  Taylor Hicks’ poor record sales guaranteed the top spot would go to a lady this time around.  Now the question remains, which one? 

I doubt Lakisha will make it to the end.  The fact that she still remains in the competition is actually better than I would have expected from her.  Blake deserves to be there, but as a guy, he has no chance.  He may still pull out an upset and make it to the final two.  It won’t matter, I foresee success for him regardless of where he finishes.  You don’t have to look any further than Chris Daughtry to understand how that could happen.

So it comes down to Jordin and Melinda.  One is an obvious choice for the best overall performer this season, the other appeals to a more commercially favored audience.  I have a hard time believing that Melinda won’t win this year, no matter how much propping up Jordin receives from the judges.  The ‘neck-less wonder’ has consistently delivered the goods week after week and shows no signs of letting up.  The fact that she seems a little too humble at times shouldn’t prevent her from reaching the top spot.  It is her competition to lose.

Jordin is great with ballads and slower songs, but she absolutely falls apart once the tempo in picked up. Simon probably loves the idea of a Jordin Sparks victory because he knows her records would sell better to a younger audience.  Just because record executives see dollar signs doesn’t mean she deserves to win.  Simon certainly doesn’t need the money so it shouldn’t matter what he thinks.  Even if Jordin is capable of delivering impressive performances for the rest of the season, too many people will remember the bad ones.  Whether she wants to believe it or not, they started long before Bon Jovi week.  

Next up is ‘Bee Gees Week II.’ As long as they bring in the real Barry Gibb, and not that unfunny hack Jimmy Fallon doing one of his week-assed impersonations, I won’t be completely turned off.  At least Phil is gone!

I can can think of at least 3000 reasons why this picture is completely wrong. 

back in the days of shock and awe
we came to liberate them all
history was the cruel judge of overconfidence
back in the days of shock and awe

back in the days of “mission accomplished”
our chief was landing on the deck
the sun was setting on a golden photo op
back in the days of “mission accomplished”

thousands of bodies in the ground
brought home in boxes to a trumpet’s sound
no one sees them coming home that way
thousands buried in the ground

thousands of children scarred for life
millions of tears for a soldier’s wife
both sides are losing now
heaven takes them in
thousands of children scarred for life

we had a chance to change our mind
but somehow wisdom was hard to find
we went with what we knew and now we can’t go back
but we had a chance to change our mind.

SHOCK AND AWE  by Neil Young

Wednesday was the big announcement I had been expecting to hear from Rosie O’Donnell.  It was becoming increasingly apparent to me that she was not going to be able to sustain the level of commitment to The View that ABC Television wanted from her.   They tried to paint her into a corner with a three-year contract that she ultimately could not accept.  Why would anybody want to guarantee three more years of intense scrutiny from media pinheads (mostly from the right) when they know that one more year would barely be sustainable?  

I must give credit where it is due. Rosie was able to breathe a lot of life into the (now stale) format that had initially distinguished The View from its competitors.  There had always been four or five women sitting around an ugly table, chirping away on issues,  but the conversation seemed a little too safe and predictable (especially towards the end of Meredith Vieira’s tenure.)  Rosie changed all of that with her presence and ever-changing moods.  She served as the ‘true voice’ (even in her most deluded moments) of the variety of people that watch daytime television.  Without her presence, even with some sort of pale substitute occupying her seat, the show is going to suffer.

What bugged me most on Wednesday, were the idiots (like Trump and O’Reilly) that ran around after the announcement, proclaiming it as some sort of victory for their side (you know, idiots.)  I don’t buy into this idea that Rosie was fired or unwillingly forced out.  ABC Daytime decided to play hardball with someone with more than a little experience negotiating these kinds of matters and common ground couldn’t be reached in realistic terms. In the end, Rosie wins and ABC loses because there is absolutely nothing stopping her from coming back with her own program (on her own terms and for more money.)  She has a year’s worth of impressive ratings to shop around to other venues.  Whether or not she will actually do that is a different matter.  Executives would be foolish not to lure her somewhere.

The View is doomed to become a parody of itself when the 2007-2008 season rolls around.  Ratings are bound to shrink and all of the attempts that they will try in order to recapture the lightening in a bottle that Rosie provided are just going to hasten the ugly ending that awaits the program.  I have no idea how much time remains on Joy Behar’s contract.  As far as I know she may be in the middle of renegotiating things.  If ABC manages to keep her around I will be shocked.  Like an old rock band with only one original member, I believe we will be left with clueless Elisabeth Hasselbeck and three horrible replacements, with an occasional visit from Queen Barbara.  I may be completely wrong in my assessment, but I do not see The View lasting much longer–nor should it, for that matter.

Rosie has (roughly) six weeks left to entertain us and anger her critics. I hope she goes out in a blaze of glory.  She definitely has nothing to lose if she chooses to do so. Then we will just be left with reruns (that don’t hold up very well) and our memories.  This unfortunate development with The View and Bob Barker’s departure from The Price Is Right (both scheduled to happen around the same time) are going to put the final nails in daytime TVs coffin.  You just can’t go out on hire quality replacements for crazy lesbians and dirty old men these days. 

What a shame, what a shame.