Whoopi Goldberg on Iowa Marriage Pledge

I never, ever watch The View. But I really like Joy Behar and especially Whoopi Goldberg. So once in a while, a clip from the show will end up on line and surprise me. This one is on the topic of the rabid religious group "The FAMiLY Leader" (the "i" is silent or something) and their ridiculous marriage pledge. It wouldn't even be newsworthy were it not for the fact that Michele Bachmann (and to a much lesser extent, Rick [don't Google me] Santorum) signed the thing. Not at all surprisingly, there's a bunch of crazy shit in the pledge, and it's causing some equal and opposite reaction. Take it away, Whoopi. . .

Joy Behar and Whoopi Goldberg Walk Out on Bill O'Reilly on The View

The only time I see The View is when there is a confrontational clip floating around on the interwebs.  Still, I love Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar as performers, and find Bill O'Reilly's schtick hard to stomach. So good on them.

Glenn Beck, Lying Sack of Dog Mess

Earlier, I said "No one but no one deserves a skewering more than Rush Limbaugh." I may have spoken too soon. Limbaugh has been around for 20 years after all, and there is probably nothing that could be said about him that would even make an impact. Glenn Beck is a much more recent creation, or rather, his popularity has ascended recently. We are in real danger of Beck filling Rush's enormous chair if his bubble isn't popped.

Leave it to the ladies at The View to show what a clod he really is. I'm not a fan of the show at all (though I love a few of the ladies individually). And how close do you think Whoopi Goldberg came to full-on Tourette's when she called Beck a "lying sack of dog mess?" I'll fondly remember a scene from Jumpin' Jack Flash while you watch this. . .

Comic Books & Soap Operas: Nobody's Ever Really Dead

Image from source, Bam! Kapow!

There's a great scene in the old Sally Field movie, Soapdish, where a soap opera writer (Whoopi Goldberg) is tasked with bringing back a character who had been killed off. The character had been decapitated. "You know what that means? It means he doesn't have a head. How am I supposed to write for a guy who doesn't have a head?" But bring him back, they did.

Just a little while ago, I wrote a post about Laura Leighton's return to the resurrected Melrose Place, as the same character she played in the nineties. Leighton's character, Sydney, was run down and killed by a car on her wedding night. In her wedding dress. It was the motivation for another character, who tried to take his revenge. But they're bringing her back (and I'm sure it will be fabulous).

Soaps are notorious for this of course, and nobody's surprised by it. But comic books are even worse. Nobody stays dead in comics, nobody. Even when we're assured that they're really, truly, completely dead. Even when twenty-plus years go by and they're still dead, sure as shootin', if they're anyone of consequence, back they will come.

Barry Allen, the silver-age Flash was dead for more than twenty years. He's back. His wife was killed off "permanently," but returned long before he did. Superman died in a very famous multi-part series. Stayed dead for a couple of months. But he came back (with a mullet). Batman and Captain America are currently dead, but they'll be back. Count on it.

We can cut them a little slack, though. Unlike soap operas, superheroes are already fantastic, utterly unbelievable. If a character can push around planets (or in some cases, eat them), why not defy the finality of death? I suppose it could be a challenge to some really creative writer out there to create a death so spectacular, so absolutely final, that another writer couldn't possibly resurrect them. But I wouldn't count on it.

[Excerpt]

Death And Resurrection In Comics

. . .Why can’t characters STAY DEAD? Well the answer is simple really. Economics. There’s money to be made in big, sloppy storylines like Final Crisis or Batman R.I.P. or The Death of Superman. There’s money to be made by killing iconic characters and just as much money to be made in the return of those same characters. Artistic integrity can just be damned. Does anyone think Bruce Wayne won’t be Batman again before the end of 2009? Did anyone think Superman wouldn’t return back in 1993? . . .

Read more at: Bam! Kapow!

Rachel Maddow on The View

You know the drill. I don't watch The View, though I love Whoopi Goldberg. And I love Rachel Maddow too, so two reasons to inflict the other ladies of the show on you now.

Ladies of The View Talk About Rush Limbaugh

I hate to subject you to The View, a show that wasn't even on my radar until conservatives started railing against it. But one of the members of the show--Whoopi Goldberg--is a favorite of mine. And try as I might, I cannot write off my fondness for her because she is on questionable program.

Here, Whoopi--a sort of moderator on the show--frames the current tit-for-tat war of words between President Barack Obama and drug-addled gas-bag Rush Limbaugh. First, she reads his words. Then, the other ladies discuss them: Joy Behar from the liberal side and Elizabeth Hasselbeck from the blonde bimbo conservative side. Barbara Walters provides the gentle middle ground. Sherri Shepard doesn't know what's going on, and is mercifully silent. And then Whoopi whoops ass. It's toward the end, if you want to zoom through it.



And for absolutely no reason, other than I'm talking about Whoopi, and that this is one of my favorite movies (which I recently re-watched for like the 85th time), here is a clip from Jumpin' Jack Flash. Whoopi (Terry Dolittle) is trying to decipher the title song by the Rolling Stones, to figure out a spy's password. Just watch.

Ann Coulter on The View

I haven't watched this clip yet, but it dovetails nicely with the previous post about pundits. And the combination of the ladies from The View and poisonous harpy Ann Coulter was just creepy enough to inspire morbid curiosity. Watch at your own risk. . .

Elizabeth Hasselbeck vs. Melissa Etheridge on The View

Thankfully, most of the contestants on CBS's Survivor do not go on to greater fame. Some of the million-dollar winners go on to have a minor splash (like original winner, Richard Hatch, who was in a movie or two, and um. . .went to jail for tax evasion). Most are forgotten as soon as--or even before--the next edition of the show comes on.

Why couldn't that have happened with Elizabeth Hasselbeck? How did this non-winner get a spot on a national TV show, cluelessly espousing half-baked conservative "values?" Here she is arguing why it's OK to vote against minority groups' civil rights. I knew there was a reason why I don't watch The View. . .

[Excerpt]

Keith Olbermann Looms Over Ladies on The View

I can't stand The View. But I love Whoopi Goldberg. And I love Keith Olbermann. What to do, what to do?

Keith Olbermann & Elizabeth Hasselbeck Skewered on SNL

I'm a big fan of Countdown with Keith Olbermann, but don't say I can't have a sense of humor about Keith's eccentricities. Ben Affleck did a fantastic job lampooning him last night, though I don't think the writing kept pace with his impersonation. What's with the girly-girly cat?



I am not a big fan of The View, though I do love Whoopi Goldberg. I've had a bit of a hard time understanding Elizabeth Hasselbeck's "hero" status on the right. Apparently just being an outspoken conservative on TV is enough to earn that, even if the Survivor survivor comes off badly much of the time.

The View: Is the World Flat?

Daytime TV stinks. On those rare occasions I've been home sick, I'll turn on the set, and find relentlessly awful programming, from soap operas, a stream of judge shows, Jerry Springer and yes, The View. I've never watched the program outside of the occasional YouTube clip. Some of the Rosie stuff was good, and anything with Kathy Griffin. But it seemed to me that it fit squarely into that daytime TV stink-fest. I had no interest.

Through all of the Star Jones controversies, I never was interested enough to watch. Then the daily Rosie drubbing from FOX "News" (and others) ignited national interest in the program. I still didn't really care. I thought the Rosie vs. The Donald thing was just one more ridiculous thing for the news to focus on that wasn't news.

Rosie left, and the news was out that Whoopi Goldberg--one of my all-time favorite personalities--was joining the show. She's funny, shares my politics, and radiates thoughtful intelligence. But then I thought, "oh great, another lightning-rod for Sean Hannity." So far, only a slight blip.

Shortly after Whoopi's start, another woman was brought in, Sherri Shepherd, a person I have no knowledge of. But apparently, she's got Star Jones' former zaftig figure, Elizabeth Hasselbeck's religion, and the brains of a doorknob. I still don't watch the show, but this clip caught my eye: Sherri Shepherd The world is flat

Democrats Delay Contempt Vote

Photo from source, TPMMuckraker.com

Grrr. For anybody who might think I'm a knee-jerk Democrat, with nothing bad to say about the party you'd be wrong. This news angers me. This current crop of Congressmen and Senators will never attain any measure of respect, and may well do lasting damage to Congress as a whole if they do not address this issue, and do it forcefully.

They were on vacation for a month. They had all that time to think about what to do about this situation. The White House willfully ignored Congressional subpoenas. They didn't merely refuse to speak, some of them refused to even show up. That is contemptible, in the rhetorical sense, and in the literal. If Congress ignores this, or issues some meaningless condemnation with no action, what relevance do they have? And what will this and future Presidential Administrations be able to get away with, having such a precedent set?

I'm starting to agree with Whoopi Goldberg, when she said of Congress, "there's not a ball between them." And I'm not just talking about Nancy Pelosi.

[Excerpt]

Dems Delay Contempt Vote on White House Officials

Today, John Bresnahan over at the Politico reports that the Democratic leadership is unlikely to push for a full vote in the House until late September at the earliest. The reason, he reports, is that Democrats haven't yet "briefed lawmakers on what it would mean and how the controversy would play out, both legally and politically":

“I don’t think anything is going to happen on that for a while,” said House Democratic Caucus Chairman Rahm Emanuel (Ill.). “When you decide to do that, you have to make your best case. You want everyone to understand what’s happening and why.”

Read more at: TPMMuckraker.com

Whoopi Goldberg to Join "The View"

I must make a confession. I have never watched ABC's morning program, The View. I have managed to catch some of the funny clips on YouTube, featuring Rosie O'Donnell and Kathy Griffin, but that's about it.

That said, I think it is amazing news that Whoopi Goldberg is joining the show! Whoopi is one of my favorite Hollywood personalities. She simply killed in "The Color Purple" and "Ghost," and "Jumping Jack Flash" is one of my top 10 80s movies. Her political views are right on my page, and her fearlessness is to be respected (even from the likes of Bill O'Reilly). Not to mention the contortions Bill (and Hannity, and Abrams, and Scarborough, and Tucker will go through).

First up, an [Excerpt]

Friday, Jul 27

Whoopi To View

Mark it down: Whoopi Goldberg will be named the new co-host of The View, FishbowlNY has learned. Sources close to the decision say the announcement could come in a matter of days. The move has been rumored since Rosie's departure in May, while boldfaced names from Paris to Perez have been tossed around as possible replacements. Barbara Walters told FishbowlNY recently at Michael's that a decision would be forthcoming: "We have to decide by the end of the month [July] because we're off in August, so, soon."

From: MediaBistro.com

And, because I just can't help it, the scene that taught me what "Tourette's Syndrome" means: (Warning: Strong lanugage and hilarity ahead)