It's not so much hate-watching as being in on the joke. Most of the particularly egregious stuff is put in by younger writers who think it's funny. The NCIS writers room actually got asked by the network to cut it the fuck out because they were worried about it becoming an issue.

Thatcher never appeared in an episode, it was a live show, and while there's not a straight 1:1 relationship between Thatcher and Hacker, he does have many of her mannerisms.

On the other hand, it depicted the conservative party as venal and corrupt, and Thatcher herself (Hacker is a stand-in for Thatcher. That's why he does the Churchill Voice thing) as an incompetent glory-seeker.

Interestingly, when they were seriously talking about a fifth season, none of the characters were actually going to related to their predecessors and pretty much everyone was going to be on the same socioeconomic level.

this but unironically

Yeah but his stuff was too personal and confessional and too much of it leans on his work in Hollywood. I just can't see him constructing the topical monologue or any shit like that.

There's a reason he was the most frequent guest host for Carson in the eighties: dude was actually pretty funny. It doesn't really hold up today, admittedly, mostly thanks to the mainstreaming of alternative comedy.

That's pretty much straight off of a Buddy Cole monologue though, isn't it? The one about penis length?

I dunno, see, for every marriage ref, there's a Whose Line and a Hollywood Game Night. By which I mean, those are the only three notable US panel shows in recent memory. I don't think there's enough for it to be a trend.

How did I not notice that Roy's wearing a Wigu shirt in this?

Scott's a filthy, filthy man.

Or hey, another idea for Craig: why not import Weekly Wipe? After reading his autobiography I really think he has the chops to switch between comic topical material, serious material, and joking with guests.

Young people prefer the Stewart/Colbert lineup to anything on network. Plus Ferguson has historically been up against Coco on NBC.

Oswalt would make a terrible late night host. His schtick just isn't suited.

Three things:

The fact that Thompson looks that good after cancer treatment is especially damning.

I dunno if QI would work in the US. It's much slower paced and more conversational (IE, what every panel show aspires to be) and it's very nakedly brainy and nerdy and borderline educational. Americans like comical nerds, nerds who are either self-deprecating or are the butt of jokes. A self-consciously brainy series…

You know, if anything I'd expect you to be more sympathetic to Foley. I mean, you know a thing or two about pesky wives…

I'm going to assume that you're trolling, but you have a long history of similar posts on different sites, so I'll try to explain:

First off, it's not alimony. It's child support. His wife is a successful columnist who waived all spousal support during the divorce, despite what Foley's said since.