Yeah, those ridiculous blacks and wimmin with their dumb opinions.  Not like the AVClub who never has any bias or spin whatsoever!

I’m not sure how anyone could think it was geniunely disdainful of the folks calling bullshit, especially when you read this bit:

I’m wondering if it exists, and if not then why it was omitted. Again, five months for a strike is near unheard of and right now the studios have the war chests to outlast the unions.

We’ll see if it works, but it seems like Maher’s compromise is trying to address that. The idea is that the show will be advertised as a lesser product because of the missing writers (and he’s not using non-union writers), while the unfortunate (to use your word) byproduct of other workers suffering can be addressed.

‘Wherever there is injustice, you will find him...

It’s a very tough situation.

Fuck no.

He was never respected by anyone who knew shit. He was always a smug nepo boomer asshole; that demo just used to be the audience, and people just don’t care for that bullshit anymore.

Pretty sure no joke gets told unless Maher thinks its funny. That can really winnow down how funny the show could be.

“the government probably should have been called in to arbitrate and force the studios to act in good faith”

Those things are easy to say, but reality is that the workers not part of the strike will still lose income AND they won’t benefit at all from whatever agreements are made.

Also, any person who has been part of a multi-union industry also knows that unless your contract is the one that is striking, you have to go back to work. The networks absolutely can force talk show hosts back. The reason they aren’t is because there are no actors to interview and they’re using it to save money on…

Honest question: does anyone under the age of 40 enjoy Bill Maher? I had a few years where I watched Real Time. Then I saw Bill Maher’s movie Religulous and he came off so smug and unlikable, even more so than on Real Time, that I was rooting for the really chill Jesus impersonator at a Christian theme park in Florida…

All of the Late Night hosts did this last time.

“a bright free thinker who spoke uncomfortable truths without regard to societal proprieties” and “this guy’s just a smug asshole” are the same picture.

I’ll take the hit here. Maher most definitely was that guy for a while, especially when he was the only real liberal who was willing to criticize his own side substantially, and I still watch the show because he still CAN be.

I will honor the spirit of the strike by not doing a monologue, desk piece, New Rules, or editorial, the written pieces that I am so proud of on Real Time.

I love that he thinks that a version of his show that is entirely open panel discussion with all of the tired bits and bloviating monologues removed is somehow worse.

In related news, Real Time discovered to have writers.

To be fair, Maher does not do disappointing things. One cannot be disappointed when the expectations are already zero.