Friday, June 24, 2005

Sunday Chat & Chews

The Sunday morning Chat & Chews.

We'll start with Face The Nation (CBS) because Brent e-mailed to point out that it always goes last. Last doesn't mean least important at this site (as Vanessa Williams notes, you can "Save the Best for Last"*) but thanks to Brent for catching that because it shouldn't always go last. Face The Nation airs Sundays on CBS, check your local listings. Here's what they have planned:

Host:
CBS Evening News Anchor Bob Schieffer
Topics:
Iraq, Supreme Court
Guests:
Gen. John Abizaid
Commander, U.S. Central Command
Jan Crawford Greenburg
Chicago Tribune
Lara Logan
CBS News Correspondent


On NBC's Meet the Press, Tim Russert will be chatting and chewing the scenery with:

DONALD RUMSFELD
Secretary of Defense
BONO
Lead Singer, U2
Co-Founder, DATA (Debt, AIDS, Trade, Africa)

Rumsfeld and Bono -- only on this Sunday's "Meet the Press with Tim Russert."

I'm not sure how brag worthy that is but since Rummy also chats and chews on ABC's This Week, they have to offer some tagline promotion. Meet the Press airs Sundays (mornings in most areas) on NBC, check your local listings. (Bono's recent book -- forget the title, it's one long interview with Bono -- will also be reviewed at The Third Estate Sunday Review in the upcoming "Five Minutes, Five Books" feature. And the book I mentioned earlier today but couldn't think of the title is U2: The Rolling Stone Files -- edited by Elysa Gardner.)

Here's the lineup for ABC's This Week:

Guests:
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld
L. Patrick Gray Former Nixon FBI director and boss of "Deep Throat" (former FBI Deputy Director Mark Felt)

[. . .]
Finally, Fareed Zakaria, editor of "Newsweek International" and ABC News' Martha Raddatz, who's just back from a reporting trip to Iraq, join George Will for a panel discussion on the situation in Iraq, Karl Rove's comments on liberals and 9/11, and the Supreme Court's eminent domain ruling. And we'll remember an inventor who's had a profound impact on our lives and a liberal journalist famous for her jousts with a conservative sparring partner.

Shana Alexander is the liberal journalist remembered (FYI). For that reason only (she was a strong writer at Life magazine with a unique voice for then and now). Expect them to trot out the Saturday Night Live skits where Jane Curtain and Dan Ackroyd spoof, the Point/ Counterpoint (the 60 Minutes thing she did). I'm not really sure that's the way to honor her, not that anyone asked. To reduce her to "she inspired an SNL skit." (One famous for the line "Jane, you ignorant sl*t . . .") In fact, that's honestly rather insulting. Oh let's chortle over the profanity, the anti-woman attack, while we remember Alexander. But we have fewer and fewer people in this country who read so it's hardly surprising that a journalist would be noted for what a comedy program did as opposed to the writing she herself did.

Were I to watch one of the shows (I won't be watching any), I'd watch This Week to see how they choose to remember Alexander. Something tells me it will fit perfectly with their "Sunday Funnies" and that's not a good thing.

The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.

[Note: "Save the Best for Last" was written by Wendy Waldman, Jon Lind and Phil Galdston. It can be found on Vanessa Williams' album The Comfort Zone as well as on Vanessa Williams' Greatest Hits: The First Ten Years. I'd recommend the latter but that's my preference and others may disagree. If it helps you figure out which one to seek out, I think Williams' finest moments as a singer are to be found on the album Next. And also note that I generally don't recommend a greatest hits.]