Has Reality TV Jumped the Shark?

Do we really need 12 shows about Alaska? Or 3 shows about the Amish? And that's just the first letter of the alphabet!

Funny or Die asks the question . . .

I Can't Believe These Are All TV Shows - watch more funny videos

The State of the Union in Pictures

Complete State of the Union Speech Transcript as Delivered












Ted Nugent in the House as GOP "Guest"

















GOP Women NOT clapping for Equal Pay

Farewell, Ernest Borgnine

Oh, this is sad - another favorite actor is gone! :(

ABC News Obituary

Borgnine died of renal failure at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center with his wife and children at his side.

Borgnine, who endeared himself to a generation of Baby Boomers with the 1960s TV comedy "McHale's Navy," first attracted notice in the early 1950s in villain roles, notably as the vicious Fatso Judson, who beat Frank Sinatra to death in "From Here to Eternity."

Then came "Marty," a low-budget film based on a Paddy Chayefsky television play that starred Rod Steiger. Borgnine played a 34-year-old who fears he is so unattractive he will never find romance. Then, at a dance, he meets a girl with the same fear.

"Sooner or later, there comes a point in a man's life when he's gotta face some facts," Marty movingly tells his mother at one point in the film. "And one fact I gotta face is that, whatever it is that women like, I ain't got it. I chased after enough girls in my life. I-I went to enough dances. I got hurt enough. I don't wanna get hurt no more."

The realism of Chayefsky's prose and Delbert Mann's sensitive direction astonished audiences accustomed to happy Hollywood formulas. Borgnine won the Oscar and awards from the Cannes Film Festival, New York Critics and National Board of Review.

Mann and Chayefsky also won Oscars, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences hailed the $360,000 "Marty" as best picture over big-budget contenders "The Rose Tattoo," ''Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing," ''Picnic" and "Mister Roberts."

Ron Howard talks about Andy Griffith

Andrea Mitchell on MSNBC interviewing Ron Howard (my transcript):

Andrea Mitchell: Today people across America are mourning the death of everyone's favorite sheriff, Andy Griffith. He died today and joining me on the phone is acclaimed director/producer/actor Ron Howard, who played of course Griffith's son Opie Taylor for eight years on the TV series The Andy Griffith Show.
Thank you so much for joining us, our condolences. You said in a statement that Andy Griffith Really shaped your life. You were only 6 years old when you first went on the show.

Ron Howard: (crosstalk) Good to talk to you. I was actually 5 when we we did the pilot for the show.

Mitchell: Wow.

Howard: The show, which was a spin-off of The Danny Thomas Show, and Danny was also an Executive Producer on the series along with Sheldon Leonard. He definitely did professionally, and personally a lot of ways because he created an environment on that set that was very creative, very playful yet extremely disciplined, and it was that simple lesson that I witnessed week in and week out, from the very first episode to the very last when I was fourteen years old, which was if you're doing it, you might as well do it well, and this is an opportunity to be involved in something that could be memorable. Just to respect that. It was never spoken that clearly, but like all great lessons it was observed.

Mitchell: How different was he from the character he played? Tell us about Andy Griffith the man.

Howard: I think the character evolved into something much closer to the real Andy. In the beginning it was everyone's design to do something broader, and a little more country-bumpkinish or something, a little closer to some of his monologues, which were broad and kind of hayseed. But as the show went on, he felt very comfortable becoming basically not providing the punchlines, but being the center of the show and became a much greater reflection of Andy.
Andy was a natural leader, extremely intelligent, a thoughtful guy who loved to laugh, who created a very humanistic kind of environment. So there was never a lot of tension on the set but there was always a sense of professionalism.



Mitchell: In what ways have you modeled your own work and life on that example, and how did he stay a part of your life?

Howard: As a kid I was unbelievably fortunate in that I was really allowed to witness this collaborative creative problem-solving process that Andy allowed. It was amazing - I was allowed to sit around listening to he and the writers talk about fixing the script and improving jokes, and which jokes were appropriate for characters, and which jokes were perhaps undercutting the integrity of characters. The other cast members were also a part of this discussion, and it was just the most spectacular education. But I think I do try to create an environment on the films that I direct where people feel safe, they show up confident, and it's a place to excel. The expectation is we're all there for a reason, and to try and do good work.
So again, without getting up and making speeches, I try to create that environment as Andy did.

Mitchell: It's extraordinary because he had such a big influence on all of us. but to know he had this long and creative and productive life, the person behind all that, is very reassuring.

Howard: I hope he's remembered not only for the Andy Griffith Show but for Matlock, and "A Face in the Crowd," and his music, and even going way back to his first monologues which he did on the radio and the recording studio which are still hilarious. And take a look at the overview, and whether it was comedy or drama, there's a reason he's so impactful on so many different mediums and styles. That's because he cared about what was doing.

Mitchell: Ron Howard, thank you so much. Thanks for joining us today to share your memories of someone with such an important influence in your life. Thank you.

Howard: Well, thank you, pleasure.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Andy Griffith Dead at Age 86

RIP. It's so sad to see another great actor from my childhood pass away.
People Magazine Obituary

UPDATE: President Obama on Andy Griffith ~ so sweet! Yes, our generation has lost a father-figure. :(
Via TPM

Michelle and I were saddened to hear about the passing of Andy Griffith this morning. A performer of extraordinary talent, Andy was beloved by generations of fans and revered by entertainers who followed in his footsteps. He brought us characters from Sheriff Andy Taylor to Ben Matlock, and in the process, warmed the hearts of Americans everywhere. Our thoughts and prayers are with Andy’s family.

He was probably the best Southern actor because even when we thought he was being cornball, it still had a ring of authenticity and dignity, and he never had to fake his accent because he was from Mt. Airy, NC. He was the everyman Southerner - witty, clever, and sometimes profound.  His great gift was the ability to be straight man and let other comedians shine. And let's not forget he was also a talented musician, as well as a dramatic actor in Elia Kazan's "A Face in the Crowd."

In heaven, Andy and Don Knotts (Barney Fife) are down at the Snappy Lunch having the special -

BARNEY: I don't know how they do it for 80 cents.

ANDY: I don't either, I tell you.

BARN: Three Vienna sausages-heavy on the tomato puree, slice of bread, and butter on a paper dish.

ANDY: And more than an ample portion of succotash. Don't leave out the succotash.

Then they'll drive the police car to Wally's Filling Station where George Lindsey (Goober Pyle) will offer them a coke or a nectarine crush from the cooler, and they'll set around talk about their next fishing trip or something funny Howard McNear (Floyd the Barber) said. Oh, and he'll show up too after a while, and they'll meet Aunt Bee, Thelma Lou, Helen, and Opie at the picture show. The movie playing is either something with Gregory Peck or "The Monster from Out of Town."

RIP, dear Andy Taylor.

   

Paul Krugman Demolishes the Ryan Plan

Remember Eric Fehrnstrom, the hapless surrogate for Mitt Romney who made the etch-a-sketch gaffe? Well, today he was out of his depth once again on ABC's "This Week" trying to debate economics with the master, Paul Krugman, who deftly squashed the idea that the Paul Ryan budget makes economic sense, referring to it as a "fraud" and "imaginary."




And what's so delicious is that George Will also pushes and gets Fehrnstrom to admit that Romney backs the scorched-earth Ryan Plan. You'll recall that last weekend, the conservative Will expressed frustration with Romney for cozying up to "bloviating ignoramus" Trump, for which The Donald called him the "most overrated journalist alive." George got a little revenge today, helping to put Fehrnstrom on the hot seat so that Krugman could move in for the coup de grace. Politics really does make strange bedfellows these days. Who knew that George Will and Paul Krugman could be a tag-team?




Read and learn, children. This is how we do it:
Transcript from Crooks and Liars:

KRUGMAN: Well, the economy is weak. It's not terrible, but it's weak. The bitter irony here has to be for Obama, certainly for people like me, is that if the Republican answer is "let's slash spending, let's have low taxes," that's actually the policy we've been following. It's amazing, actually. Especially if you look at the last couple of years, what we've actually seen is sharply...

(CROSSTALK)

STEPHANOPOULOS: Let me show you -- we have a chart in your blog this morning.

KRUGMAN: Yeah, this is...

STEPHANOPOULOS: We created it. It shows the point you're making.

KRUGMAN: Yeah, this is real government spending, so it's federal, state and local combined, deflated, you know, adjusted for population growth and inflation, and it is plunging. It's plunging mostly because of cutbacks at the state and local level, because the aid that they were receiving in the stimulus has run out, but also because unemployment benefits have been expiring because Congress won't -- you know, Republicans in Congress won't extend them.

So in effect - and, by the way, if you extend that chart backwards, there's been nothing like this since the demobilization after the Korean War. We're actually practicing government austerity on a scale that we haven't seen in 60 years. It's not the president's policy. In effect, we've already got the policies that Republicans say they will impose if they take the election, and yet, of course, it may lead to the defeat of this president.

STEPHANOPOULOS: And that's the point Stephanie was making, so bringing it back to you, what would Governor Romney do right now -- not in the future -- right now, to get the economy moving again?

FEHRNSTROM: Well, it's not just, as Paul says, tax policy. That's part of it, of course, but it's also spending policy, it's regulatory policy. It's confronting China on their unfair trade practices. It's -- it's a whole -- it's labor policy, George.
The governor has laid out very detailed plans. People can go to mittromney.com and learn about them for themselves. But I think what we really have here...

(CROSSTALK)

KRUGMAN: ... ...I know from detailed plans and there is nothing there. There is not...

CUTTER: ... he's going to deregulate Wall Street, which we know how that turns out. We're going to go back to risky financial deals that crashed our economy. And on China, you know, we've been hearing this blustering on China for quite a while now. What exactly is the governor going to do? There's...

(CROSSTALK)

STEPHANOPOULOS: ... I want to bring in George Will.

FEHRNSTROM:  He'll do what this president has failed to do in China, which is to declare that China is a currency manipulator. Look, we're all in favor of free trade. In fact, we don't think this president has done enough to reinvigorate trade talks -- trade talks with our friends, but China is -- is robbing us blind. They're stealing...

(CROSSTALK)

KRUGMAN: I was very much for that. I've been demanding that we declare -- but the window for that has passed. Right now, the Chinese economy is tanking. So if you were thinking you were going to get a big boost out of beating up on the Chinese now, two years ago I thought was really a good time to do that. But my god, now that is totally out of date.




WILL: On another matter, I didn't hear a robust answer to George's question. Where does the governor stand, Governor Romney, on the Ryan plan? Does he endorse it?

FEHRNSTROM: Oh, he's for -- he's for -- he's for the Ryan plan. He believes it goes in the right direction. The governor has also put forward a plan to reduce spending by $500 billion by the year 2016. In fact, he's put details on the table about how exactly he would achieve that. So to say he doesn't have a plan to -- a plan to restrain government spending is just not true.

KRUGMAN: Can I say, the Ryan plan -- and I guess this is what counts as a personal attack -- but it isn't. It's not an attack on the person; it's an attack on the plan. The plan's a fraud. The plan is a big bunch of tax cuts, some specified spending cuts, basically for poor people, and then a huge magic asterisk which is supposed to turn into a deficit reduction plan, but, in fact, if you look what's actually in it, it's a deficit-increasing plan.

And so to say that -- just tell the truth that there is really no plan there, neither from Ryan, nor from Governor Romney, is just the truth. That's not -- if that's -- if that's being harsh and partisan, gosh, then I guess the truth is anti-bipartisanship.

FEHRNSTROM: So may I ask you, Paul, do you prefer the president's plan? KRUGMAN: Oh, yeah. I mean, the president -- at least it's -- you know, I don't approve of everything, but there are no gigantic mystery numbers in his stuff. We do know what he's talking about. His numbers are -- you know, all economic forecasts are wrong, but his are not -- are not insane.

These are -- these are just imaginary.