Free Republic

Almost as if Lou Dobbs had taken over the network, ABC plans to debut a series in the fall about aliens who come to Earth promising "hope," "change" and universal health care, but who actually want to infiltrate our government and our businesses and, to that end, have rallied the country's youth behind their nefarious campaign. Morena Baccarin plays the good-looking, charismatic leader of the Visitors, one remarkably knowledgeable about human culture and media manipulation. The series is called "V" and it's a re-envisioning of an old miniseries... "V" is debuting on Nov. 3...a.k.a. the one-year anniversary of Barack Obama...

The 60 Plus Association, a 17-year-old nonpartisan senior citizens advocacy group often referred to as the “conservative alternative to the AARP” today released a TV ad warning the elderly that the healthcare proposal touted by the Obama Administration “means massive Medicare cuts in order to pay for healthcare ‘reform’.” See the ad at www.60plus.org. “This strikes at the heart of the debate over the value of our seniors’ lives versus the cost of expensive treatments they need to stay healthy or get better,” said Jim Martin, President of 60 Plus. Entitled “Sacrifice,” the ad states that seniors today, The Greatest...

Weekly Sci-Fi Thread (08/09/09) This week in Scifi: Sun: 8/9 -- Merlin -- NBC 9/10 -- Defying Gravity -- ABC Tue: 9/8 -- Warehouse 13 -- SyFy Fri: 9/8 -- Eureka -- SyFy Also there are variety of scifi shows on www.fancast.com

In the days before President Obama's last news conference, as the networks weighed whether to give up a chunk of their precious prime time, Rahm Emanuel went straight to the top. Rather than calling ABC, the White House chief of staff phoned Bob Iger, chief executive of parent company Disney. Instead of contacting NBC, Emanuel went to Jeffrey Immelt, the chief executive of General Electric. He also spoke with Les Moonves, the chief executive of CBS Corp., the company spun off from Viacom. Whether this amounted to undue pressure or plain old Chicago arm-twisting, Emanuel got results: the fourth hour...

Did anybody watch that horrible horrible miniseries called Meteor? Never in my life watching B rated made for TV movies have I seen one so bad. The entire script must have been two pages and to make it stretch into a 4 hour movie they just redid those two pages over and over and over again. Let's not forget the total ignorance of the laws of physics or the fact that they blew a 30 mile round meteor out of the sky when it was just out of our atmosphere. And then a second meteor had entered our atmosphere and...

President Obama will hold a primetime presidential news conference from the White House on Wednesday at 9pm EDT.

The much anticipated list finally arrived. Many hard working producers, writers, and actors waited with baited breath to hear the possibly career-changing announcement; hoping that their dedication to their craft and the constant effort to produce quality television had paid off. And then they realized, "Oh wait, the Emmys have ignored us for years..." It's a point driven home this year with the surprise (but not really) nomination of "Family Guy." Family Guy has been nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. Unlike previous years, these nominations were decided by popular vote. Essentially,...

"Art can never exist without naked beauty displayed," said William Blake. But the moral guardians of daytime TV take a different view. The Channel 4 programme Life Class caused conniptions last week by showing a woman sitting very still with no clothes on. The point of the programme is to replicate a real life class, with the viewers at home encouraged to pick up a pencil. The camera stays fixed on the model from one angle, only occasionally cutting away to take a peek at what the "tutor" – one of a series of distinguished artists – has drawn. It...

For those of you who aren't yet familiar with "The Goode Family," it is an animated sitcom by Mike Judge that satirizes our obsessively politically correct, religiously "green" culture. It airs at 8:30/7:30c Friday nights on ABC. This show is worth momentarily lifting your boycott on ABC, because it is one of few that actually makes fun of liberalism instead of preaching it. Check it out: http://abc.go.com/primetime/thegoodefamily/index

Political analyst and Republican Party strategist Roger Stone tells Newsmax.TV that he disagrees with the chattering class in Washington and believes the only way Sarah Palin could remain a viable presidential candidate in 2012 or beyond was to leave the governorship of Alaska. ““First of all, her administration is mired down by these nuisance lawsuits and ethics complaints from every garden variety left-wing nut paralyzing the state government,” Stone says, noting Palin is governor at a time when the drop in oil prices is contracting her state economy. “There’s no plus in Sarah Palin staying as governor of Alaska.” Stone...

Welcome to the GLENN BECK television thread...Shake the cobwebs out of your brain...We are another day closer to the REVOLUTION! All comrades, infidels, sick twisted freaks and lurkers are welcome and are encouraged to participate in the thread!

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The Girls Aloud singer has been chosen by her co-presenter on the British hit show, Simon Cowell, to host the show, it is claimed. The revelation came as the Newcastle-raised star celebrated her 26th birthday with friends in an attention-grabbing Alexander McQueen dress with her husband, the footballer Ashley Cole, at her side.

UTAH state officials are warning people there to resist the temptation to go Elvis on their old, obsolete TV sets.

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Gale Storm, whose wholesome appearance and perky personality made her one of early television's biggest stars on "My Little Margie" and "The Gale Storm Show," has died at age 87.

A   Tampa police say Billy Mays, the television pitchman known for his boisterous hawking of products such as Orange Glo and OxiClean, has died. He was 50. Authorities say Mays was pronounced dead this morning after being found by his wife at home. There were no signs of a break-in, and investigators do not suspect foul play. The coroner's office expects to have an autopsy done by Monday afternoon.

(IsraelNN.com) U.S. Federal Judge Richard M. Berman sentenced on Tuesday a New York resident who broadcast satellite television programming of the Hizbullah terrorist organization to more than a year in prison. Saleh Elahwal pleaded guilty to providing material support to the terrorist organization's Al Manar news network between September 2005 and August 2006. He was sentenced to a year and five months. Israel, the U.S., and many European countries define the Lebanese-based Hizbullah organization a terrorist organization, prohibiting any transaction with a terrorist organization. Elahwal's sentencing comes two months after the main defendant, Javed Iqbal, was ordered by a federal...

WHDH Boston didn't expect to still be paying the electrical bills for two transmitters come late June 2009. Like many U.S. broadcasters, the Sunbeam Television station and NBC affiliate had already exceeded its original transmission budget when the government pushed back the turnoff date for analog signals from Feb. 17 to June 12. WHDH Engineering Director Jim Shultis looked forward to shutting down high-powered digital broadcasts on UHF Ch. 42 and launching digital signals on VHF Ch. 7, the station's former analog assignment. But as of last week, WHDH was still running transmitters for both Ch. 42 and Ch. 7....

Supernanny is all new tonight on ABC, and Jo is brought to tears by the angry outbursts of the family’s father, Phil Davis. Debbra Davis, the mother, is expected to shoulder all of the “women’s work” after working all day at her full time job, and the only time Phil gets involved with household duties is to bully the children. The Davis family has four children. Morgan is the oldest, at 15, and is the stepdaughter. “The first thing a wife should do, is have the house clean before she leaves,” Phil says. He leaves for work before 6 am,...

One of the more thought-provoking columns I make sure I read every week is called Spiritual Wealth. It's written by my good friend Alex Green, who is Investment Director of the Oxford Club. Alex gave me permission to share one of his columns with you, with the request that I also tell you about his new book. I'm delighted to do both. See the end of today's column for details on how you can receive his column every week and learn about The Secret of Shelter Island, his inspiring and informative new book. According to A.C. Nielson Co., the average...

For the 77th consecutive month, FNC finished first in total day and prime time ratings during May. FNC was the sixth highest rated cable network on all of basic cable during prime time for the month (CNN and MSNBC finished 19th and 26th) and the seventh rated network in total day (CNN and MSNBC were 19th and 27th). FNC also had 11 out of the top 13 programs in cable during the month in Total Viewers. The O'Reilly Factor was the #1 program in cable news for the 90th consecutive month, and saw gains in Total Viewers year-to-year (26%).

The traditional TV industry--cable companies, networks, and broadcasters--is where the newspaper industry was about five years ago: In denial. There are murmurings on the edges about how longstanding business models will come under pressure as Internet distribution takes over. But, so far, the revenue and profits are hanging in there, so the big TV companies don't really care. Specifically, the TV industry's attitude is the same as the newspaper industry's attitude was circa 2002-2003: Stop calling us dinosaurs: We get digital; We're growing our digital businesses; We're investing in digital platforms; People still recall ads even when they fast-foward through...

There is little disputing that right now Barack Obama is the world’s biggest celebrity. Movie stars want to meet him. Foreign leaders want his autograph. Americans just want to shake his hand. But lately it seems the popular president has become a one-man stimulus plan for the television industry. Obama did a recent promo for “The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien” during the host's first week on the job. He participated in a skit via video on Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report.” NBC was taking pre-orders for its “Inside the Obama White House” DVD ($19.99) the day after the two-part...

David Letterman insists they're just jokes. But his attacks on Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin are much more than that. Indeed, the late-night comedian managed to anger all sides with his nasty mocking of the Palin family -- particularly his snotty wisecrack that while Palin was visiting New York, her daughter (age 14) was "knocked up" by a Yankees player: Both the conservative Concerned Women for America and the liberal National Organization of Women denounced the remark. Letterman's attempt at humor revealed a sorrowful remnant of the cavalier manner in which society used to regard young women. But something even bigger...

This week in Scifi: Sat: 9/8 -- Primeval -- SciFi Also there are variety of scifi shows on www.fancast.com

Letterman has jumped the shark. The recent bad jokes about Palin and her daughter shows that Letterman has jumped the shark. A term used to describe a TV shows beginning of the end. This usually corresponds to the point where a show with falling ratings apparently becomes more desperate to draw in viewers. In the process of undergoing these changes, the TV or movie series loses its original appeal. Shows that have "jumped the shark" are typically deemed to have passed their peak. Face it if Letterman cannot or will not attack Obama or the Clintons so his show has...

David Letterman is scornful of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, which is certainly his right. That he continues to use the bully pulpit of his late-night talk show to crack wise about the former vice presidential contender is acceptable also, if not exactly cutting edge comedy. Clearly a public figure, Palin is fair game. But Letterman went beyond the pale with his recent jokes about Palin’s daughter being “knocked up” by a New York Yankee player while attending a recent game. Letterman claimed to be referring to Palin’s 18-year-old daughter, Bristol, who had a child out of wedlock. However, Bristol wasn’t...

Now in the good old days this is where Todd Palin, the child's father, gets to walk up to Letterman anytime in the near future and punch him in his foul mouth. http://crosshairs.archangelsandwitticism.com/2009/06/13/hypocrisy-thy-name-is-letterman.aspx

Wyeth Pharmaceuticals is headquartered in Madison, NJ and is one of the largest research-based pharmaceutical and healthcare product companies in the world. It is also, by way of Centrum vitamins, one of David Letterman’s sponsors for The Late Show with David Letterman. Every Centrum vitamin you buy helps keep the lights on in the Ed Sullivan Theater, where on June 8th 2009 David Letterman treated statutory rape as a laughing matter when he “joked” that 14 year-old Willow Palin, the only Palin daughter who attended a baseball game that day, was “knocked up” by 33 year-old Alex Rodriguez of the...

LOS ANGELES - Nearly 700,000 calls were received by a federal hot line this week from people confused about the nationwide switch from analog to digital TV broadcasts that occurred Friday. The Federal Communications Commission said Saturday that about 317,450 calls went into the help line, 1-888-CALL-FCC, on Friday alone, the day analog signals were cut off. About a third of the calls were about federal coupons to pay for digital converter boxes, an indication that at least 100,000 people still didn't have the right equipment to receive digital signals.

If so, please post it. Thank you.

The shocking thing about the late-night comic’s “joke” about Willow Palin isn’t just that he told it, but that he would never have considered doing the same about the daughter of a Democrat. When I first read about David Letterman’s comments about Sarah Palin and her 14-year-old daughter, Willow, I twittered that his remarks were “disgusting and sexist.” That is still how I feel, and I thought his rebuttal was borderline insulting. After claiming to never have made a joke about raping a 14 year old, which he essentially had, he then invited Sarah to come on his show, which...

The week-long scuffle between Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and late-night comedian David Letterman has given many on the political right something they've lacked in recent months — a tasty target. By cracking wise with references to Palin's "slutty flight attendant look" and her imaginary need to keep her daughter away from Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez, the "Late Show" host set off a significant political tempest. Experts and observers of politics and the media see two larger expediencies present: the funnyman's need to break through the late-night giggle chamber, particularly with Conan O'Brien's new gig on "The Tonight Show," and conservatives'...

Television commercials are too loud, as most viewers know, and members of Congress want broadcasters to turn down the volume. A bill sponsored by U.S. Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., would require the U.S. Federal Communications Commission to "preclude commercials from being broadcast at louder volumes than the program material they accompany." That idea is hard to resist, but it might be difficult to mandate. "Many different entities are responsible for producing and distributing the content consumers see and hear," U.S. Rep. Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., said Thursday at a hearing of the House Energy and Commerce Telecommunications Subcommittee.

After a year of nasty infighting, members of the Screen Actors Guild decided by a large margin that the show must go on. The Guild said Tuesday that 78 percent of voting members decided to ratify a two-year contract covering movies and prime-time TV shows made by the major Hollywood studios.

David Letterman is near a deal to read Top 10 lists on CBS for another three years. The network is about to re-sign the Emmy-winning talk show personality to continue hosting "Late Show With David Letterman" through the 2011-12 season, sources said. The agreement would mark a two-year extension of his current contract, set to expire in 2010. The decision comes as NBC makes dramatic changes to its late-night lineup, moving top-rated host Jay Leno to 10 p.m. in the fall and installing Conan O'Brien behind the "Tonight Show" desk. O'Brien bested Letterman in the ratings during his first week...

You would think that a show about a telepath in this day and age would be somewhat of a downer. You might even presume the lead character has had enough of his curse and become jaded and negative, perhaps even turning to alcoholism in an attempt to shut the voices up. Take the show Cold Case, for example. First let me say that I love it. Cold Case is a first class production with really good stories. But let's face it people - (clip)

Millions of households will lose television reception next week when about 1,000 broadcasters around the nation shut off their analog signals and complete their conversion to digital programming, federal officials say. The government has spent more than $2 billion to ease the transition to digital television, and in the last few months has cut in half the number of households that are unprepared for the final conversion on June 12. But the latest survey by the Nielsen Company indicates that as of the end of May, more than 10 percent of the 114 million households that have television sets are...

It’s official: Nadya Suleman and her brood of 14 are coming to a TV near you. After weeks of meetings and negotiations, Suleman’s attorney Jeff Czech confirmed exclusively to Usmagazine.com that Suleman signed a deal Thursday night to star in her own reality series. "[Nadya and the producers] are hoping to have an arrangement whereby several events in the children's lives would be filmed in a documentary series," Czech told Us. “One of the events in the children's lives might be their first birthday.”

Patti Blagojevich Heads to JungleFormer Gov. Rod Blagojevich's wife is off to the Costa Rican jungle for a TV reality show. Patti Blagojevich is appearing on NBC's "I'm a Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here." She's competing because a federal judge barred her husband from going while he faces federal corruption charges. Blagojevich family spokesman Glenn Selig said Wednesday that the show will be challenging for the "big city girl." The show premieres June 1. Others set to appear include actor Stephen Baldwin and "American Idol" contestant Sanjaya Malakar.

I discovered a great site that fit one of my desires perfectly.

I'm layed off and I've had to drop my satalte service.Is there a free, online site where I can watch live, streaming FOX and other stations?

Watch all three trailers and decide for yourself if the new "V" remake is an allegory for the Obama administration. Watch Trailers Here...

Jimmy Kimmel Demolishes ABC’s Upfronts By Dave Itzkoff If Jimmy Kimmel still has a job at ABC on Wednesday, he is either a very lucky or very deft comedian, or he has great blackmail photos of the network executives.

Time-Warner Cable will no longer carry Mark Cuban's HD Net, which broadcast Ring of Honor, beginning on or around May 31 in the New York City area. There had been talk of the cable provider pulling the channel its lineup a few months ago, but those plans were temporarily but on the back burner as talks between Time Warner and HD Net progressed.

FOX PRIMETIME SCHEDULE: FALL 2009 (All Times ET/PT) MONDAY 8:00-9:00 PM HOUSE 9:00-10:00 PM LIE TO ME TUESDAY 8:00-10:00 PM SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE Performance Show WEDNESDAY 8:00-9:00 PM SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE Results Show 9:00-10:00 PM GLEE THURSDAY 8:00-9:00 PM BONES 9:00-10:00 PM FRINGE FRIDAY 8:00-8:30 PM BROTHERS 8:30-9:00 PM ‘TIL DEATH 9:00-10:00 PM DOLLHOUSE SATURDAY 8:00-8:30 PM COPS 8:30-9:00 PM COPS 9:00-10:00 PM AMERICA’S MOST WANTED 11:00 PM-Midnight THE WANDA SYKES SHOW (working title) Midnight-12:30 AM ANIMATION DOMINATION ENCORES SUNDAY 7:00-8:00 PM THE OT (NFL post-game) 8:00-8:30 PM THE SIMPSONS 8:30-9:00 PM THE CLEVELAND...

After losing some $30 million from advertisers while they covered President Obama's three primetime news conferences in recent months, the major television networks are likely to follow Fox's lead and turn down the White House when it asks them to preempt a primetime time period any time soon, the Hollywood Reporter reported today (Friday), citing several unnamed network executives. "We will continue to make our decisions on White House requests on a case-by-case basis, but the Fox decision gives us cover to reject a request if we feel that there is no urgent breaking news that is going to be...

"We will continue to make our decisions on White House requests on a case-by-case basis, but the Fox decision gives us cover to reject a request if we feel that there is no urgent breaking news that is going to be discussed," said one network exec, who, like all, would not speak for attribution fearing repercussions from the administration.

You’ve all seen them. Those ubiquitous TV ads where a simple little pill transforms a man suffering from erectile dysfunction, or ED, into a virile tiger who puts a smile on the face of his now beaming wife. Well, Representative Jim Moran (D-VA) has seen them too, and you’d be hard pressed to see a smile on his face when he talks about the ads. “A number of people,” he says, “have come up, including colleagues, and said I’m fed up. I don’t want my three or four-year old grandkid asking me what erectile dysfunction is all about. And I...

A measure that would prevent radio and television broadcasters from airing advertising between 6 a.m.-10 p.m. related to erectile dysfunction has popped up again in Congress. Jim Moran, the left-leaning Virginia Democrat who first introduced the Families for ED Advertising Decency Act in Congress in 2005, along with fellow Democrat Robert Brady of Pennsylvania, reintroduced the measure on April 29 with the aim to "prohibit as indecent the broadcasting of any advertisement for a medication for the treatment of erectile dysfunction and for other purposes." The prohibition would apply to all "pioneer and generic drugs that are medications for treatment...