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Sunday, August 7

How does Maury Povich sleep at night?

by Mike on Sun 07 Aug 2005 01:41 PM EDT

For those of you who think that it was Jerry Springer who finally succeeded in dragging daytime television into the toilet, I respectfully submit that Maury Povich is making sure that it stays there. I have been catching a bit of Maury in the afternoons when I am changing clothes after work. To be honest, I am not so sure that Maury ever came anywhere close to being a "respected" journalist or television host. Like Bill O' Reilly, Maury spent some time amongst the ranks of "tabloid television" when he hosted "A Current Affair." When he finally got his own show, I don't think he necessarily went all to hell right off the bat, but rest assured that Maury is definitely a bottom-feeder these days.

From time to time, Maury features shows on cheating spouses, shocking makeovers and a few of the other standard talk-show topics. But these days, it seems the focus of his show has shifted to paternity testing. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this spectacle, the Maury show regularly (I think 2 or 3 times per week) invites women onto the show who are unsure as to the identity of the father of their child (or children). The alleged fathers also appear on the show. After the stage is set, a confrontation ensues between the two parties but this is quickly quashed by Maury who announces that he has the results of paternity tests in hand. Once Maury announces the results of the test, one of the two outcomes listed below follows:

(1) Maury announces that the alleged father is indeed the biological father of the child/children in question, at which time the father takes back everything he said about how ugly the woman's kids are and he pledges to be a "man" and pay child support, et cetera.

(2) Maury announces that the alleged father is not the father of the child/children in question, at which time the vindicated man jumps up whooping and cursing at the now disgraced woman, calling her every name in the book as she runs off the stage crying and screaming...while being chased by Maury and his camera crew.

It's all good and well for Maury to say that he's giving tons of free paternity tests to people who might otherwise be unable to afford them. Then again, paternity testing might just as well be covered under a national healthcare plan, which is something I'd prefer over Maury Povich any day of the week.

The obvious answer to the question "How does Maury Povich sleep at night?" is that he sleeps with his wife, the once-respected television reporter Connie Chung. Perhaps the better question would be: "How does Connie Chung sleep at night?"

Further Reading
Maury Show (official site)
The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State by Frederick Engels

Comments (5) | Permanent Link | Cosmos

Friday, August 5

Bob Novak: The Filth and the Fury

by Mike on Fri 05 Aug 2005 07:09 PM EDT

I run hot and cold with my feelings towards Media Matters for America. For one thing, MMFA is hopelessly entrenched in the defense of the Democratic Party. This often compromises their mission to remain "dedicated to comprehensively monitoring, analyzing, and correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S. media." In many ways, MMFA epitomizes the classic critique of American liberalism as articulated by the late, great American leftist Phil Ochs:

"In every political community there are varying shades of political opinion. One of the shadiest of these is the liberals. An outspoken group on many subjects. Ten degrees to the left of center in good times. Ten degrees to the right of center if it effects them personally."

That having been said, one of the most redeeming qualities of MMFA is its continued archival of transcripts and clips that might otherwise vanish into the "memory hole" at the hands of right-wing censors and the mainstream media. My favorite recent example of this is the MMFA posting "Pressure Getting to Novak?" in which they include laugh-out-loud video footage of conservative pundit Bob Novak cursing and storming off stage during a live CNN broadcast. Novak was apparently upset by some ribbing he was receiving from Democratic strategist James Carville. Say what you will about Carville, he seems to have accomplished what special prosecutors and grand juries alike have failed to do thus far — Carville has gotten Bob Novak crack under pressure. CNN has apparently suspended Novak for his liberal (pun intended) use of profanity on the air.

If you ask me, there are many things that are worse than saying the word "bullshit" on television. But I mentioned above, Novak is a conservative pundit...One who caters to the likes of the same folks who raise hell over pop culture controversies like Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction" and SpongeBob and Patrick holding hands. One has to wonder if Novak's nasty language will likewise make him a subject of scorn from his holier-than-thou brethren.

Somehow, I doubt it...

Recommended Listening
"Love Me, I'm a Liberal" Phil Ochs
"I Dreamed I Saw Phil Ochs Last Night" Billy Bragg

Comments (2) | Permanent Link | Cosmos

Wednesday, August 3

True Confessions, Part 2

by Mike on Wed 03 Aug 2005 09:47 PM EDT

In the previous installment of this series, I shared some details regarding some of the more "uncool" selections from my record collection...and I received a bit of ribbing from some of you kind folks afterward. This time, I'm writing a bit on a different (and slightly more embarrassing) matter...It's time to talk a bit about my fondness for professional wrestling.

Now, I am not talking about the corporate monolith known as WWF/WWE (although I must admit that this too was a passing fancy for me back in the early to mid ‘90s). What I am referring to are the regional pro wrestling outfits that were prominent when I lived in central Kentucky back in the early ‘80s. 10 year-old kids find a lot of weird stuff entertaining anyway...But I had never really seen anything comparable to the spectacle of professional wrestling until 1982 or so and it was really exciting. The two biggest promotions in the Lexington area were Memphis-based Championship Wrestling and International Championship Wrestling (ICW). Championship Wrestling was home to Jerry "The King" Lawler around the time of his infamous feud with Andy Kaufman. A lot of other big names came through Memphis (like Dutch Mantel, Bill Dundee, Austin Idol, etc.) and quite a few of them made it to the "big time" WCW and WWF promotions years later. Championship Wrestling had a one-hour show that was on every Saturday when I lived in Lexington. From time to time, I made audio tapes of the episodes (this was long before we had a VCR) and I listened to them over and over again. Every so often, the Memphis promotion featured a jam-packed card at Lexington's Rupp Arena but most of the big events were held at the Mid-South Coliseum in Memphis. I was lucky enough to make it to one of the Rupp cards and I think I still have the original program from that event.

I have heard ICW referred to as an "outlaw" promotion. I think this may have something to do with the fact that they resisted selling out to larger promotions for a long time. ICW was run by the legendary Angelo Poffo, the one-time record holder for consecutive sit-ups and the father of Randy "Macho Man" Savage and Lanny Poffo. I think ICW aired on Sundays in Lexington and the show was very gritty and low-budget. I never made it to an ICW card, but the television show aired a lot of footage from the Rupp events. One of the best matches ever was a much-anticipated steel cage match between Savage and the super-evil heel Ratamyus. ICW aired the entire one-hour match on television about a week or so after the match had taken place at Rupp and it was absolute gore and insanity. What I mean to say here is that it was a classic match. It's been over 20 years since I saw this match and it still stands out in my mind as a wrestling masterpiece. I have been searching high and low for video footage of this match for years, but no luck yet.

This was all high entertainment back then. There seems to be some resurgence of interest in the "old school" independent wrestling promotions of the '70s and '80s on the Internet these days. In the recent past, I have been fortunate enough to acquire some VHS and DVD recordings of old Championship Wrestling and ICW broadcasts. One of the DVD sets is 12 discs altogether...That's 40 to 50 hours of wrestling, folks. I still haven't made it through that set despite the fact that I have had the discs for a while now. The footage is really choppy, grainy and downright miserable in some places, but these programs really take me back (Not to mention the fact that it's a lot better to watch old crappy video than to listen to an old audio tape of a wrestling match...yeesh!) I have long since lost those old audio tapes anyway, so I was pretty excited to find that I had scored some of the same episodes on video some 20 years later.

About once a year, I get the urge to get the videos out and watch my favorite parts. I am back in the thick of my annual wrestling frenzy as I write this. It's proof that no matter how old I get, there are just some things that I won't outgrow. In fact, I still get all giddy when I see the old clip in which Jerry Lawler beats Nick Bockwinkel for the AWA title.