Whenever I get the chance, I like to watch "Real Time With Bill Maher" on HBO. The concept of the show isn't all that original-- Bill Maher and his panel of 3 or 4 guests discussing the biggest news stories of the week-- but the show always features a robust conversation with differing viewpoints. For those who have never seen the show, the main portion features Bill Maher, the host, and a panel of guests, usually a liberal, an independent, and a conservative commentator. While the panel may be "fair and balanced", Maher himself is unabashedly liberal.
What makes Maher's show different from a program like "Hannity", which would probably be the conservative equivalent to "Real Time", is that the people on the show have their opinons respected. A few weeks ago, one of Maher's guests was Grover Norquist, who is the president for "Americans for Tax Reform", which is a very conservative political lobbying group. While Maher completely disagreed with virtually everything Norquist said, he always gave him the opportunity to speak his mind and never interrupted or cut him off from speaking. Compare this with Sean Hannity, who claims that Barack Obama used to be affiliated with known terrorists and probably has never had a non-conservative view on his show.
Granted, I sometimes feel that Maher can take it too far. Last season he did a show where he said that those who go to college and are getting a degree in something other than computer science or engineering are doing "bullshit." I got his point about how some college degrees don't necessarily prepare students for work in the 21st century, but his argument rang totally false when I found out that he got a degree in English from Cornell. Despite this one complaint, the show is informative, intelligent, and immensely entertaining.
Sources:
-Bill Maher and Grover Norquist
-Bill Maher on College
What makes Maher's show different from a program like "Hannity", which would probably be the conservative equivalent to "Real Time", is that the people on the show have their opinons respected. A few weeks ago, one of Maher's guests was Grover Norquist, who is the president for "Americans for Tax Reform", which is a very conservative political lobbying group. While Maher completely disagreed with virtually everything Norquist said, he always gave him the opportunity to speak his mind and never interrupted or cut him off from speaking. Compare this with Sean Hannity, who claims that Barack Obama used to be affiliated with known terrorists and probably has never had a non-conservative view on his show.
Granted, I sometimes feel that Maher can take it too far. Last season he did a show where he said that those who go to college and are getting a degree in something other than computer science or engineering are doing "bullshit." I got his point about how some college degrees don't necessarily prepare students for work in the 21st century, but his argument rang totally false when I found out that he got a degree in English from Cornell. Despite this one complaint, the show is informative, intelligent, and immensely entertaining.
Sources:
-Bill Maher and Grover Norquist
-Bill Maher on College
This definitely seems like an interesting show to watch at the very least. My main pet peeve about these kinds of shows is the host. I always enjoy watching these shows much more when the host is liberal because I can relate and get to hear what the guest has to say as well. If the host is one like Sean Hannity, the viewer only gets to hear his views on everything and that just makes the show that much less enjoyable.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love watching real time. Unfortunately I do not get HBO at Penn State but it is such as a good such show. Personally I favor it more than Stephen Colbert because the show tends to be more political and less satirical. However I think sometimes he gets himself carried away in himself and his extremely liberal views. I remember one episode where he brought on the great granddaughter of Herbert Hoover, Margaret Hoover for the sole purpose to bash FOX News and her conservative news.
ReplyDeleteThis show seems very interesting and I think it is funny how hypocritical he was about getting "worthless degrees" whereas his degree was not a concreate one as well. I think a lot of the time these TV shows are more for entertainment than actual "proper" news information and views.
ReplyDeleteI just want to say that Sean Hannity's comment is very uneducated and he is a true dickhead. But I know on shows where there is a panelist type format, a lot of people don't have an organized format or people who are willing to follow it. I believe that one cannot have a respected show if they cannot respect an opinion. When people like the sound of their own voice, they block out everything else that is irrelevant-hence the cutting someone off, etc.
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