Talk Show Updates

Maury-You know, Maury Povich has been a friend to me and this blog. When I started out, he always gave me literary and fashion advice. Those were good times. My favorite "Maury" story is when he left for Borneo, threw me his keys and told me to keep his wife Connie "company." I sure did. It's with great sadness that I report that Maury Povich's show is still hot "gabage."


While this was never Donahue, Maury has continued to descent into the bottom feeding chit-chat wreck that typified the early '90s nadir. The sad part? Maury clearly is reveling in the decline. Like other hurl-worthy programs like The Steve Wilkos and The Jerry Springer Show--Maury moved to the Stamford Media Center in Connecticut. Away from the maddening and demanding crowd in a bigger media city like New York, Maury has turned more insular and perfunctory. In the laser discs given to me by Maury himself, I've seen him descend into a tragic failure, wearing dreadful pullovers as this show seems more scripted than Cheers.


Grade ***

 Part 2: When you go to the YouTubes, all you see is old clips from Maury. There's not many new clips. Nobody curr....

 Katie- Now there's an inventive title. When I first saw this, I thought this was going to be a sitcom where a maid (Katie Couric) turns up on the doorstep of a family and teaches them lessons about life. No such luck. What we have is another horrible talk show. Even the debut was doomed. The first scene was a bedroom scene with Katie and mascot for end times Matt Lauer. Hee hee, I hated it and the show wasn't any better.

The Problem: I find Katie very phony and this is such a dated medium. The problem with all of the shows is simple: The guests. So far I saw Sheryl Crow on here talking about her head tumor. I also saw those oracles of wisdom Demi Lovato and Jessica Simpson. That list alone made my testicles shrink to the size of BB pellets. What am I doing watching this show?

Part 2: I caught a show where Katie filmed from her apartment. This was all access, they even showed Katie's chamber pot. Too much info!

Grade **

Live with Kelly and Michael- You know, I miss the days of those hosts who were boring. You know, Adam Wade, Bob Goen, Bert Convy. Despite their jack of all trades ethos, they pushed a show along with a comfortable blandness. Clearly those days are over. After a search that almost had Anderson Cooper, Nick Lachey and Mario Lopez taking a seat, Michael Strahan gets the gig.

 Although we're supposed to be in a post-racial society, you know people are shaking their TV's loose trying to make that black man go away. It's not happening for a while. And even worse? Regis didn't really leave on his own volition, he was "pushed" after asking for too much monies. He can talk food and Joey Bishop on his own time. As far as the producers are concerned, Strahan is the best choice. Is he really? Probably.

Despite the undeniable chemistry between Strahan and Ripa, Strahan brings little to the table. He's an ex-football jock and a sports commentator. This isn't Mensa material. Also, he's goofy, he lifts people and he's not especially bright? But guess what? Neither was Regis so in that way, Michael's like Regis, corny and dopey.. It's a success!


Grade ***