This is pure spite by the network for his win in November. It is also both deeply unfair and unprovoked.

I say this was not resignation it was assisted suicide; enabled by a spineless and ungrateful assemblage of unimaginative, infertile drones eager to please and placate their new owners.

Comcast got clearance to absorb the network on Thursday and in 24-hours one of its most popular hosts is no more.

Coincidence? You be the  judge.

This is a breaking story and details will undoubtedly emerge as the hours progress. I’ll update tomorrow when more becomes known. Meantime, let’s hear your views…

Text © 2009, The Loquacious Limey
All rights reserved.

Keith Olbermann exits MSNBC…or was he pushed?

And their Entertainment President, Nina Tassler says her department’s concerned;

“We have a high level of concern, how could we not,” Deadline quotes her as saying. “On a personal level we are concerned, but he has his job, he does it well and the show is a hit.”

Most of CBS’ output is television for people who think oatmeal’s exciting, but this is just dumb.

Problem: Your network’s single remaining attraction is an alcoholic, borderline drug addict with painfully poor taste in women.

Solution: Drag his ass to rehab, put his dealers in jail – and cancel that god-awful show.

All ‘concern’ shall thus be resolved…

Text © 2009, The Loquacious Limey
All rights reserved.

CBS ‘concerned’ by Charlie Sheen case

Ryan, 36, has been dating ‘Dancing with the Stars’ performer Julianne Hough for less than a year, but people close to the pair say he’s ready to make it official and has an impressive ring ready in case she accepts;

“Ryan already has the ring – and it’s a rock: Four to five carats,” HMG quotes one source as saying. “He’s had it for a while and is planning the engagement. It’s going to happen in the next few months.”

So why not tell us then – when it actually happened? Simple – because the new season of American Idol starts on January 19th and leaking this story now will get lots of free press…And more ratings.

Asked to confirm these transparent rumors, another source even tried to play it coy;

“If Ryan was planning to propose, why would I spoil the surprise?” they mused. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen him like this over a girl before; they fit perfectly.”

I say this whole tale is yet another patronizing, insulting publicity stunt orchestrated by Simon Cowell, then spoon-fed to the media just before the new season to make more people watch so he and his egocentric associates can make far more money.

What do you think?…

Text © 2009, The Loquacious Limey
All rights reserved.

American Idol insults viewers with Ryan Seacrest rumors

On Sunday’s edition of the award-winning show a Fox News helicopter is seen carrying a banner that reads “Fox News: Not Racists, But #1 With Racists!” It deposits a Fox executive on the Statue of Liberty, then goes into a tailspin on take-off and crashes, causing this remark from the pilot;

“It’s not fair, we’re unbalanced!”

The executive then holds a secret meeting in which he and several fellow network bosses plot to spread news of a fake health care scare to increase their ratings, and thus make even more money.

The snag is ‘The Simpsons’ is aired by Fox’s broadcast network, and Rupert Murdoch’s ‘News Corp’ owns both them and Fox News. And that seems to have rather upset little Billo;

“Continuing to bite the hand that feeds part of it, Fox broadcasting once again allows its cartoon characters to run wild,” O’Reilly complained on yesterday’s show. “Pinheads? I believe so,” he sneered.

This man couldn’t find his own butt with Google Earth and a TSA screening. He’s now attacking cartoons for being politically biased.

If you watch the show or can even abide dear little Bill, what’s your response to his latest outburst?…

Text © 2009, The Loquacious Limey
All rights reserved.

Bill O’Reilly blasts the Simpsons for political bias

Now we can suppose NBC will spend the next six months telling us how smart, funny and bitingly relevant the show still is – which is a lie – and how those who don’t watch it clearly need help. But let’s get one thing clear up-front:

If an 88-year old can give teen-focused SNL its best ratings in two years, that only proves what a tired, humorless, self-absorbed corpse the show has become.

For me, it’s a fail. I’m just glad this incessant and patronizing NBC-driven PR stunt is over.

Text © 2009, The Loquacious Limey
All rights reserved.

Betty White doubles SNL ratings, both new viewers amused

When the now 39-year old actor first appeared on the screen in 1998 as Will’s constantly unemployed neighbor, Jack McFarland, speculation soon grew that no straight guy could play ‘gay’ so well. But Sean was then in public denial.

“When you see me play Jack, I want you to believe that’s a gay character. And when I play a straight character, I want you to believe that, too,” he explained to the press when the show ended its eight-year, 16-Emmy winning run in 2006.

But now, faced with an imminent Broadway debut opposite the sparkling Kristin Chenoweth in ‘Promises, Promises’ a 1968-vintage musical based on the Jack Lemmon film, ‘The Apartment’ Sean has finally decided he’s a gay Emmy winner, and proud of these facts.

“I feel I’ve contributed monumentally to the success of the gay movement in America, and if anyone wants to argue that, I’m open to it,” he rashly declares.

But Sean also tells Qweerty the years of suspicion and whispers really hurt;

“Why would you go down that path with somebody who’s done so much for the gay community?” he asks. “That’s the thing about celebrity – It sets you up to fail because the expectation is so high. What more do you want me to do? Stand on a float? Then what? It’s never enough!”

For me, all that’s really required is to drop the pretense and admit who you are. Especially when you then plan to claim ‘monumental’ contributions to the struggle endured by those you coldly denied as your peers for more than a decade.

This entire admission is entirely self-serving and too long overdue. I remain unimpressed…

Text © 2009, The Loquacious Limey
All rights reserved.

Will and Grace co-star, Sean Hayes drops the last veil

Since he began tweeting on February 24 the 46-year old host has garnered 555,441 followers – and counting. But he’s followed no-one – Until now.

“I’ve decided to follow someone at random,” he tweeted yesterday. ”She likes peanut butter and gummy dinosaurs. Sarah Killen, your life is about to change,” read Conan’s newest tweet – only his tenth in two weeks.

And he was right – In 24-hours the formerly anonymous Michigan resident saw her account‘s followers rise from 3 to 11,730 – all due to Conan.

But unlike most of the celebrities Coco could have followed, were he that dumb, Sarah is using the overnight fame to help other people – She’s planning to walk 60-miles in 3-days to raise funds for the Susan G. Komen Foundation and asked her new fans to donate to the cause.

And true to the spirit of Conan’s disciples, they did – RBR says she’s raised over $1,200 in one day.

Herself a long-time fan of Coco, Sarah’s also planning a wedding in September, and would love her feathery friend to drop by;

“We were only going to invite, like, twenty people. So if he came it could be as big as he wanted,” she told MTV. “He could bring anyone he wanted. He could have more people there than I do.”

She was also asked by the scribes if she thought Coco should start a new show?

“He definitely needs to. Definitely.” she enthused. “He has no idea what he did for me. Just the one day, this is the most awesome day ever!”

Now that’s a charming story, don’t you think? Whatever your views on Conan’s exit from NBC, the man has real class. Most people would have given withering interviews to anyone who would listen [and pay,] bemoaning their treatment, threatening lawsuits and demanding redress.

But not Coco – He picks a random tweeter and changes her life, and she in turn is using that fame to benefit others. And that’s a rare and very welcome event.

As for Conan’s own future path, Ticketmaster’s computers are now buckling under the influx of orders for his newly-announced live show in Phoenix on April 30th, with a nationwide tour after that. So the man is by no means out of the game.

And if he could choose a few more people like Sarah, the result could truly show NBC for the clueless, brainless, ratings-bound droids all his fans now know they are…

Photo by Orky

Text © 2009, The Loquacious Limey
All rights reserved.

Conan O’Brien picks a feathery friend on Twitter

The Hollywood Reporter, meanwhile, says that story’s hokum and no deal has been reached.

So, who to believe?

The whole tiresome spat began over ratings, but if NBC could put something even remotely this interesting on their airwaves more often the two hosts would not have bad ratings in the first place!

What I want to know is, the way this fiasco is leading it looks like Leno gets his old job back, and Conan quits his – Yet the meddlesome mouth-breathers who caused the whole mess all get to keep theirs.

…What’s wrong with this picture?

Text © 2009, The Loquacious Limey
All rights reserved.

Jay Leno regains Tonight Show…or does he?

Having been up-rooted from the Tonight Show in May – which he had made one of NBC’s few successes - reports are now floating the 59-year old host will be given a break from his primetime show during the Winter Olympics, then resurface in March – back at his old show.

“Jay Leno is one of the most compelling entertainers in the world today,” said NBC in a statement. “His show has performed exactly as we anticipated. It has, however, presented issues for our affiliates. Both Jay and the show are committed to working with them to improve the performance.”

The desk-bound intellectual midgets who uprooted Jay for no explicable reason other than a childish desire to break all their toys are now said to have met with both Jay and Conan O’Brien to discuss undoing their blunder, and while denying any firm decision has been made they did not refute TMZ’s reports that a change is in play.

Other than to cover their own asses and thus save their own jobs, the main motive for this overdue reboot is clearly the only other fact NBC ever cares about – The ratings are bad; Conan has been losing 2-million viewers a night to David Letterman, and to the NBC suits that’s a major red flag – Numbers like that might get them fired…at last.

Conversely, when Jay had the desk, Dave’s show was never more than a dot in the mirrors.

Assuming TMZ is correct [which has been known,] this means Jay will disappear in three weeks, be gone for a month, then return to a set from which he dominated the ratings for seventeen years. And the profit-driven pin-heads who caused this debacle will present their desperate reversal as creative success.

…Then they’ll go right back to wondering why no-one will watch…

[by: The Loquacious Limey.]

Text © 2009, The Loquacious Limey
All rights reserved.

Jay Leno returns to Tonight Show?

This potential downside of this deal is not far short of a nightmare – The people so underfunded with brains they moved Jay Leno from his throne on the Tonight Show to a deathwatch in prime-time have sold out to the people whose boss gave his girlfriend, Chelsea Handler a job, then expected the nation to call her a ‘star.’

The deal, which will see Comcast pay $6.5-billion in cash and $7.25-billion in assets and debt values NBC at about $30 billion. The implications, however, value its dwindling audience and their remaining intelligence at a far lower rate.

In return for saving NBC’s over-staffed rear from inevitable Chapter 11, Comcast will get a 51% stake in NBC’s cable streams – USA, Bravo, SyFy, CNBC, Telemundo and MSNBC.

NBC itself, and even Universal Studios are regarded as ‘only a small portion’ of the network’s gross value, so says their release.

Jeff Zucker, the current head of NBC-Universal will remain as chief executive, but would be answerable to Comcast’s Chief Operating Officer, Stephen Burke. And Mr. Zucker, the chief architect of NBC’s deliberate down-market slide and the hemorrhaging ratings his choices then caused, calls the decision “the start of a new era” for NBC.

Presumably one in which they don’t make shows that would insult a plank and attract audiences that could get lost in a phone booth?

But it could have been worse – Comcast tried to inhale the Walt Disney Company in 2004, but thankfully failed. And the word is that even Rupert Murdoch had considered a bid.

Can you imagine?? NBC’s whole stable of channels corrupted to be as ultra-right wing and malfeasant as Fox?

NBC once held a proud place in this nation’s fabric, but its recent self-inflicted malaise has since faded that luster. Comcast’s new broom could be just what it needs, but as long as Jeff Zucker and the over-paid suits who both caused and presided over its recent illness are allowed to remain, the wounds will not heal – and nor will the ratings.

NBC’s sale may be over, but its illness lives on. It might not be fatal, but let’s watch and see…

Post by: The Limey. Photo by BoucherMedia

Text © 2009, The Loquacious Limey
All rights reserved.

NBC’s Comcast deal could still spell the end

The New York-born actor, who turned 44 on September 3rd, has just released a fictional transcript in which he ‘interviews’ President Obama and asks him to re-open the 9/11 case.

“The official 9/11 story is a fraud,” says the ‘Two and a Half Men’ star, who earns $850,000 a week from that long-stale show.

According to Mr. Sheen’s most pressing delusions, the attack on the Towers was ‘used as an excuse to disregard the Constitution and the Bill of Rights,’ and the 9/11 Commission was an implausible sham.

The real meat of this rambling and frequently self-serving piece [it takes just takes four lines of the 'interview' for Mr. Sheen's fake President to confess he's a fan,] which you can read here, boils down to these points:

• The US Government was directly behind the 9/11 attacks
• The 9/11 Commissioners were not told the truth, and thus don’t know what happened
• The Pentagon and Bush administration either changed or hid all vital facts
• The US Government was actually cooperating with Osama Bin Laden until the big day
• The Obama administration still follows illegal Bush-era practices and don’t realize why

Although most of these allegations have been simmering in the cauldron of internet conspiracy-theorists since 2001, Mr. Sheen has summoned a firestorm, not merely because of how dosed-up he sounds, but due even more to his crass, tasteless choice of when to put such groundless psychosis in print.

To further his case, the Golden Globe-winning actor has now appealed to the current President – in a video you can see here – to meet for debate and invoke a new inquiry so we can all know the truth.

Mr Obama has yet to respond, but feel free to leave us your views…

Photo: Ultimate Graphics

Text © 2009, The Loquacious Limey
All rights reserved.

Charlie Sheen declares 9/11 a fraud

This tasteless new travesty is proudly seen by the MTV suits as a spin-off from its reprehensible parent, ’16 and Pregnant,’ and will follow four of the girls who first appeared on that show as they face the mountainous challenge of becoming a mom before you reach graduation.

No air dates have been mentioned, but Variety reports that MTV has ordered a season of eight, hour-long shows which should join their schedules sometime early next year.

Since its debut on June 11th, ’16 and Pregnant’ has scored quite a hit, attracting tens of thousands of female fans in the 18-34 range. And to MTV”s advertisers, that group is pure gold.

If you needed a reason why MTV have okay’d an even more tasteless sequel, that is a good place to start.

Text © 2009, The Loquacious Limey
All rights reserved.

MTV plans new teen pregnancy show