Household work has just lost its horror ...

[Dave W]

There are no unbiased news networks in America.

Absolutely correct.

I haven't watched SNL in years, maybe decades. All the late night talk shows have become infected with political overtones. I am missing Johnny Carson.

I watch Carson reruns on Antenna TV most nights.

[Psycho Bass Guy]

He was pablum for the most part, but Leno had some AMAZING musical guests every now and then. I miss Conan on NBC, likewise for music too. For every SNL band that has (and continues to) sound like garbage, the "A-Team" of NBC's engineers must have been old union guys who knew their shit working late night for the overtime, because I have heard some stunning stuff out of those two shows. Sadly, Conan's show on TBS is a badly forced Fallon wannabe and so far watered down from where he used to be. Fallon has improved from his early days, but he's still irrelevant and boring unless you're a 20-something hipster.  Carson would never be allowed near late night today, or even on the air for that matter, and that's a pretty good indication of how bad it has become.

CNN used to pride itself on objective reporting and was truly just a good information clearing house, but after Rupert Murdoch put Dubya in the White House, they decided to play Fox News' foil and have suffered greatly for it.

[uwe]

A network does not need to be completely unbiased, it probably even can't be. It's ok if media has a certain outlook, may it be conservative or liberal. Almost all media anywhere is either one or the other. Things only get difficult/harmful when a certain perspective becomes blindness for anything that doesn't fit one's own worldview.  When a teenager's MAGA hat is deemed as an indication that he simple must have acted in some racist way against a Native American demonstrator and mocked him though some more journalistic research would have revealed that the incident was much more complex. Or when wearing a mask as a relatively simple measure of doing your share against the pandemic is stamped as un-Republican. All that stuff is simply unnecessary and harmful.

My favorite German newspaper is staunchly conservative and I regularly find myself disagreeing with a lot of its political comments (though their research journalism and factual analysis is of highest quality) - but otoh I don't want/need to read a newspaper that has me nodding in agreement all the time, I like to be challenged in my own thinking. I'm quite happy to wrap my mind around someone else's view. It's called discourse and I come from a generation where we learned how that isn't a bad thing. Stopping to listen is intellectual laziness.

[Pilgrim]

I'm not going to pick on CNN. When the doodie hits the fan blades, they're by far the best place to get up to date news coverage. Uwe makes a good point that no news source is totally unbiased; the best ones recognize their bias and try to maintain fairness in interpreting the news.

We forget that reporting the news is actually a mix of hard facts and interpreting those facts. There is a reason that news items are called "stories," because news is a process of observing, researching, and interpreting reality to your readers or viewers. Of course the person doing the reporting has perceptions affected by their view of reality.

That said, after four years of being vilified and spat upon, CNN owes the outgoing administration no favors and no slack at all. They should feel free to report with brutal clarity and with disregard for the feelings of the outgoing group. They were entitles to call out the lies and misinformation in blunt terms.

Changing topics - I always liked Carson but became a devoted Letterman follower when Carson retired. I was watching Colbert but his decision to run his show from his basement leaves me lacking. I've been watching more Fallon than anything.  Hey, since I retired last summer, I can stay up and watch those guys! .... even if I can never remember whether the guy I'm watching is named Fallon or Kimmel.

[uwe]

Leno is a nice man, but his harmless humor did nothing for me - I guess I need some venom with my jokes, nasty person I am. I really liked Conan because of his off-the-wall, oddball humor. Letterman was brilliant, when he seemed to be off-the-cuff improvising.

[westen44]

Leno is a nice man, but his harmless humor did nothing for me - I guess I need some venom with my jokes, nasty person I am. I really liked Conan because of his off-the-wall, oddball humor. Letterman was brilliant, when he seemed to be off-the-cuff improvising.

I agree.  Leno was nice but just not funny.  Conan can be funny.  Also, I like him because he is a big George Harrison fan.  Letterman has been funny many times and could almost be on Carson's level. 

[Pilgrim]

I forgot to mention Craig Ferguson.  His show was really or extremely funny much of the time. The guy has a real gift for the talk show genre.

I like Colbert, but I would MUCH rather have had Ferguson take over for Letterman.

[Dave W]

I forgot to mention Craig Ferguson.  His show was really or extremely funny much of the time. The guy has a real gift for the talk show genre.

I like Colbert, but I would MUCH rather have had Ferguson take over for Letterman.

I've never thought Colbert was funny. He sure thinks he is, though.

Craig Ferguson IMHO is the funniest guy on the planet. I still watch segments of his shows on YT.  CBS apparently thought his humor was a little too off the wall to take Letterman's spot, and he left b/c his contract included a huge payout if they didn't offer it to him. He took the money and ran.

The best part was his interaction with audience members, either his cold opens or as Sid the Cussing Rabbit.

[westen44]

Craig Ferguson was the best talk show host who ever lived.  He was in a league of his own.  It's too bad his bosses and maybe the public didn't appreciate his genius.  Every show he did was interesting. 

[Pilgrim]

Ferguson is wasted on the game show he's hosting. If he were on one of the big 3 late shows, he'd dominate the time period.

IMO Colbert hasn't been worth watching since he retreated to his basement. At least Kimmel and Fallon found ways to get into some vaguely studio-like setting, which I think works much better. And when Trump is dragged out of the white house, Colbert won't have anything to talk about. Trump has been his salvation by providing an endless stream of idiocy and lies to use as material.

That sounds like I don't like Colbert, but I did - at least until he hit the basement. Now I don't bother to watch.