Friday, September 09, 2005

Sunday Chat & Chews

Are you ready to rumble!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Sunday Chat & Chews think they are. The shows air on broadcast TV, check your local listings for air times.

NBC's Meet the Press is thrilled, to the point of breathless, with their "Exclusive!"

It's true, they don't overlap guests with This Week . . . this week. And good thing the John Roberts, Jr. hearings were postponed, otherwise Meet the Press couldn't have done their only in depth look at the nomination of someone to a lifetime appointment. The motto appears to be, "Give us time . . . we may get around to it."

Here's the line up:
New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin
author John Barry & Dr. Ivor van Heerden on Hurricane Katrina's aftermath.
Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA)



What's ABC's This Week to do in the face of such an extreme "EXCLUSIVE!" throwdown from Russert & co. at NBC? Did you guess bring on the Dalai Lama? No? Well that's why you're not in charge at This Week!

His Holiness will try to attemp to stop the slap fights between the Georges during the roundtables. Lots of luck, Dalai. (That was a joke. Dalai Lama will speak of 9/11, he's not taking part in This Week's roundtable because His Holiness is prevented from participating in the smarmy and snarky.)

They'll also have Thad Allen to discuss Hurricane Katrina (he's coordinating the Hurricane Katrina Federal Relief Efforts) and Senator Barack Obama. (How many chat & chews, do you think, were this close to booking Brown himself before he got dumped today?)

But let's face it, people watch This Week for one reason and one reason, the ___ing sex appeal of that roundtable! Yet again, This Week does not disappoint! Along with the Georges, you get juicy beefcake from hot hot hot Newt Gingrich and Fareed Zakaria! Is your heart thumping? Your head reeling?

George Steph is quaking his loafers, no doubt, trying to figure out how to up the ampage on the sexual heat when confronted with such a trinity of hotties.

But here's a thought. George Steph is really supposed to stay in his role, even in the roundtable, as host. Which leaves George Will (who more and more comes off like a caustic Sally Rogers after yet another date bails on her in front of Rob and Laura) to do what he does (I didn't say "well"), pontificate. So the first George is neutrel and the second, the oddball, is advocating for the right-wing. Now you've got Fareed who thinks of himself as a reporter (others beg to differ) and isn't really supposed to be an advocate. Will's blind date this weekend is Newt and Newt's right-wing.

So, for those needing the quick & easy (I have no idea if that's truly George Will's nickname by the way -- in the words of Mama Cass, "Shhh, no rumors") you've got two people who shouldn't be partisan advocates chat and chewing the week's events with two people who are partisan advocates from the right. Check the tires, This Week, the hoopty's veering hard right.

Which brings us to CBS' Face The Nation. At half the length of the other two, it's surprising how much more it can pack in when it wants. Who's on? Is it another game of Mystery Date?

No, they actually have announced this week:

Host:
CBS Evening News Anchor Bob Schieffer
Topics:
The Aftermath Of Hurricane Katrina; Supreme Court Nomination
Guests:
Lt. Gen. Russel Honore
Commander, Joint Task Force Katrina
Sen. Mary Landrieu
Democrat - Louisiana
Sen. Susan Collins
Republican - Maine
Chairman, Committee On Homeland Secutiry And Governmental Affairs
Jan Crawford Greenburg
The Chicago Tribune
Carin Pratt is the Executive Producer of Face the Nation.


"You're going to pick Face, aren't you?"

Yes. I don't watch any. Sometimes they'll be a guest on the other two that would make me select one. But Face is a half hour, it takes itself more seriously and Bob Schieffer handles the host duties better than the other two.

Note also that if you're looking for something other than a 100% male line up, you have to turn to Face. Why, on the other two shows, both of which last twice as long as Face, aren't there any women? I don't know. (And no fair calling George Will a female. Besides making him cry, possibly the term you're looking for is "capon." Possibly not.)

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