Free Republic

The BBC is adapting John le Carre's novel The Night Manager for a new six-part series. The book, published in 1993, is about a former British soldier who ends up going undercover as part of a sting against a black market weapons dealer. Hugh Laurie and Tom Hiddleston are set to star, according to the Hollywood Reporter, but the BBC said that was just speculation. US networks are also looking to pick up the series, the magazine reported.

Meredith Bragg and Nick Gillespie have another edition of ReasonTV out this week and it should be near and dear to the hearts of all of you libertarians in the audience. They previously generated a list of the best television shows for libertarians (which may or may not hold true for some of you) but now they’ve come up with their list of the worst. How does one judge television programs on this criteria? I suppose it should be based on the most nauseating examples of the nanny state being portrayed as a force for good as they meddle in the lives of...

A software bug has resulted in TV ratings being allocated incorrectly among broadcast and syndication programming since March, according to executives at Nielsen, the measurement service whose rankings form the basis of how advertisers pay for TV commercials. At issue is a process used by the company when it moves from its initial survey of national ratings to its final one. When Nielsen calculates its early “fast national” ratings, some sources of viewership are not properly labeled and the data is put aside as “all other television” until they can be identified and tabulated properly. But Nielsen has discovered that...

Hooks didn't barrel into your consciousness with catchphrases..... ...she was a team player who helped make SNL bigger than the sum of its cast list, by being week in and week out one of its best comic actresses ever. ....Hooks could turn herself into celebrities from Sinead O’Connor to Tammy Faye Bakker to Diane Sawyer. Born in Atlanta (where she had an early role on TBS’s Bill Tush Show), she had a special knack for channeling brassy Southern women..... Hooks could turn herself into celebrities from Sinead O’Connor to Tammy Faye Bakker to Diane Sawyer. Born in Atlanta (where she...

FNC celebrates a quarter with the most-watched primetime across the cable dial, while MSNBC slides below CNN in the demo. No one would say the summer of 2014 suffered any shortage of breaking news. From the crisis in Ferguson, Mo., to the cultural impact of Robin Williams' and Joan Rivers' sudden deaths and all the way up to recent round-the-clock coverage of U.S. strikes on ISIS, cable news has been heavily occupied. The last three months have been so big, Fox News Channel just clocked its first quarter with the most-watched primetime across all of cable in more than a...

Monday on CNN's "The Lead," host Jake Tapper said the man who beheaded his co worker in Oklahoma on Thursday, Alton Nolen, was "clearly an Islamic extremist." Tapper said, "Some call this a case of workplace violence. The suspect's devolution into the world of radical Islam is hard to ignore."

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)The conservative co-host suggested she didn't enjoy working for Palin during a segment about the former VP's bar brawl scandal.“The View” co-host Nicolle Wallace explained on Monday how she was struck with fear after she heard Sarah Palin was speaking out for the first time since her family was allegedly involved in a bar brawl. “I worked for Sarah Palin,” Wallace said. “I have the political staffer version of PTSD, so whenever I hear that she's breaking her silence, my heart stops.” Whoopi Goldberg led off the “Hot Topic” segment by referring to Palin as a “crazy politician,” and the...

The First Secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia described the reforms which resulted in the Prague Spring as “socialism with a human face.” The New York Times calls Madam Secretary, CBS’s extremely expensive prime time contribution to the Hillary campaign, “Hillary with a human face.” A network series can cost between $3 and $4 million an episode. Assuming that Madam Secretary runs even one season, instead of being canceled ignominiously like Commander in Chief, the 2005 attempt at giving Hillary a human face, it will cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $100 million. That’s double the $46 million that...

For a long time before I became a reporter, I never paid attention to bylines — the announcement of who wrote a given article. That all changed for me one day when I was sitting at Jimmy T’s Diner in Washington, D.C., reading a hate-filled “fashion” column that was nothing more than the projection of angry liberal political views. It was so awful that I wanted to know who wrote it. The author, Robin Givhan, of course went on to win a Pulitzer. I’m part of a profession that rewards liberal political views above most all else. Along similar...

This is one of Chef Robert Irvine's best episodes of "Restaurant Impossible." Its hard not to get choked up over him saving the "Green Beret Club" in Ft. Bragg, Georgia. I have a lot of respect for those who serve our country and those who feed them. Not to be missed!

It's over: whether due to the complete domination of centrally-planned markets by a few central banks, whether as a result of HFTs forcing out all human traders and investors, whether due to volatility plunging to record lows and complacency at record highs, whether viewers simply aren't impressed by the new young, female faces that are increasingly taking over the primetime financial TV slots, because people are tired of Cramer's endless "caffeine" high and endless attempts to justify a record disconnect between manipulated record high "markets" and a stagnant economy in which some 53 million workers are "freelancers", or simply because...

Controversial former baseball relief pitcher John Rocker will be playing along with his girlfriend, spray-tan business owner Julie McGee. Rocker pitched for the Atlanta Braves in the 1999 World Series against the Yankees. But later that year, Rocker became embroiled in controversy when he was asked in a Sports Illustrated article whether he would ever consider playing in New York and was quoted as saying, “I’d retire first. It’s the most hectic, nerve-racking city. Imagine having to take the 7 train to the ballpark looking like you’re [riding through] Beirut next to some kid with purple hair next to some...

Firefly, Twin Peaks, Jericho, Carnivale, My So-Called Life, Undeclared, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip; Pushing Daisies, Veronica Mars, Heroes

The longtime NBC announcer who did the voice-over on Saturday Night Live since its launch died today. Don Pardo’s daughter Paula confirmed his death to CBS Radio News. He was 96. Pardo was NBC’s staff announcer for more than 60 years. His voice was familiar to generations of Americans on radio and TV, commercials and game shows, news and sports. On the original version of Jeopardy!, host Art Fleming would start the show with “Thank you, Don Pardo” and tease winners with, “Don Pardo, tell him what he’s won!”

Current TV co-founders Al Gore and Joel Hyatt have launched a fraud and breach-of-contract lawsuit claiming that Al Jazeera is withholding money from its $500 million purchase of the cable news network.

jimmy fallon ✔ @jimmyfallon After spending yesterday at the beach, Obama said, “This has been fun, but I should really get back...to the golf course.”.... Never, ever insult the Lightbringer. (Especially if you work for NBC and don’t already have a new gig lined up.)

As he stepped out on stage last year to hawk his big TV comeback in front of advertisers, comedy great Robin Williams joked it was 'nice to have a job where the checks will clear.' After making his name as the eccentric and beloved alien on 1970s TV hit Mork and Mindy, Robin transferred his attentions to Hollywood with a stream of box office hits. But after acclaim and an Oscar, the movie career started to dry up and the actor signed up for CBS show The Crazy Ones, a small-screen comedy about a 'renowned and slightly unhinged' advertising genius/madman....

It is one of the hottest gigs in daytime television. And MailOnline can reveal that producers of The View will surprise audiences next season, when they replace departing hosts Jenny McCarthy and Sherri Shepherd with two relative unknowns. Political commentator Nicolle Wallace and October Gonzalez (wife of NFL star Tony) are expected to join Whoopi Goldberg and Rosie O'Donnell in September. Wallace, 42, is a novelist and political commentator for MSNBC who has appeared as a guest on The View. The former communications chief to George W. Bush, she will fill its 'conservative' hot seat vacated by Jenny McCarthy. She...

When Ideology Trumps Science: Neil deGrasse Tyson and Cosmos on Global Warming Jay W. Richards August 6, 2014 1:15 PM | Permalink I finally had a chance to watch the twelfth, penultimate episode of Cosmos, "The World Set Free." I was out of the country in June when it originally aired, but since there's no doubt the series is headed into the schools and remains relevant, I'll take this opportunity to comment. The episode stands out from most previous installments. Just when we've grown accustomed to circuitous narrative threads with obscure segues from one topic to the next, we get...

An Indian journalist appears to have captured the lifecycle of a Hamas rocket on camera, from clandestine construction to launch in a crowded area. In a video report posted to YouTube Tuesday, Indian news outlet NDTV shows what appears to be a portable rocket construction site.