JestersTear

Bill needs to get better guests. He keeps packing his panel with extremists like Ann Coulter and Tim Robbins.

Buck Turgidson

Those two are hardly comparable.

Coulter and Amiri Baraka, maybe. (I'd pay to see that...)

lisadoris

I happened to catch this last night (my first time seeing the show) and it was ok. Love McGruder's comic strip but he could barely get a word in edgewise. Hugley is just hilarious all the time. I'm sure the poor conservative woman will never again be flanked by two left-wing black men again in her life (as Maher pointed out at the beginning).

There were some funny moments but it's not a show I can see myself watching every week. I'll just wait patiently for the return of On the Record.

JestersTear

Robins is as much a flaming liberal as Coulter is a radical conservative.

Robins makes for worse TV, though. The only time I saw him on Maher's show, Tim was stoned out of his mind and kept making weird faces, like he thought he was Popeye or something.

Josh-da-man

It would be nice if they could get a little more variety with their guests. Seems like they just have a pool of about seven regulars that they randomly mix.

And bring back Harlan Ellison, goddammit! I want to see him go off on some right wing nutjobs without commercial TV censorship.

BJacks

Give me a break. Coulter may have outspoken political views, but Baraka's a raving, anti-Semitic, racist loon.

JestersTear

"oustpoken political views"????

She's a liar. There's a difference between being outspoken and telling lies. Her books have been shredded to the point where she's taken over the #1 bull***** artist title from Limbaugh, a feat no one ever thought could happen.

And Coulter's not racist? After her post 9/11 claim that we should invade every middle eastern nation, kill their leaders, and convert them all to Christianity at GUNPOINT, you have the ignorance to say that?

From what I can see of Baraka, he and Coulter are identical farkheads at the opposite ends of the political spectrum. Baraka blames whitey, and Coulter blames anyone that isn't white.

wm lopez

Let's see Bill Maher is liberal.
Hughley is liberal.
The Boondocks tool is hardcore liberal.
And the only conservative on the show is a woman in her 50's.
Do you suppose the public picks up on this?
Liberalism today is not the same from the 1960's.
Liberalism today is more like Mike Moore & Al Franken.
Change the truth to make your point of view look like truth.

Frank TJ Mackey

DL Hughley was hilarious as usual.

The Boondocks guy was funny too.

It was interesting just to get to see and hear
Pat Buchanon's wife ramble on.

God, it is scary to be a conservative.
Her best quote of the night
"Kobe Bryant has really damaged that relationship"
(between he and his wife)

Gee, Bay, ya think.

Numanoid

What's your point? It's Bill Maher's show, he can populate it with whomever he wants. At least he makes an attempt to hear from the other side...a big difference between him and the con hosts such as Limbaugh and Hannity. And that "woman in her '50s" is a former Treasurer of The United States (under Reagan - the youngest person ever appointed to the post - you can find her name on some of your money), has headed several presidential campaigns, and is a current political commentator for CNN. So why is she not qualified?

Bay Buchanan is Pat's sister, not his wife.

JestersTear

Please learn the difference between "liberal" and "libertarian."

It's always better to know what you're talking about before shooting your mouth off.

People like you that use political labels like they're dirty words make me laugh.

Saying that Michael Moore represents liberalism is like saying Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh represent the conservatives.

Bobby Shalom

Jesters took the words outta my mouth. LIBERTARIAN!!!

Maher alternates each week. Watch next week, he will have 2 conservatives, and one liberal. The following week he will have 2 liberals and one conservative again.

I liked the Boondocks guy.

Tommy Ceez

Bill Maher is swinging further left than he actually is for the show. DL Hughley is incredibly annoying (I dont care if you have a GED) and has absolutly no knowledge of the topics that are discussed. And sorry jesters' but Bill Maher is no longer a libertarian.

And yes, Maher does weigh the panel to the left, and then weighs the topics. The LA crowd laps it up with a spoon. I think Bay held her own against two comedians and a cartoonist (who I think has good intentions but is still too young to realize that his 60's radical mindset makes absolutly no sence).

BTW I think lopez' point is that Bay's APPERENCE, not her credientials, give the perception that conservatives are old, and white.
I watch Real Time with a HUGE grain of salt.

PS, I missed some episodes last year, can someone name ONE episode where Maher had two conservatives on?

Numanoid

Again...so what, it's his show. Did you make the same complaint about Limbaugh's TV show? Oh yeah, he never had an opposing viewpoint on.

I don't tune in to Maher to get a conservative take on things...I'll watch Fox News for that. I watch because he DOES allow debate, and he mediates the discussions pretty well so that the opposing opinion can get their points made.

Bottom line: it's a comedy/current affairs show, with an emphasis on comedy. It's not a "news" show.

PeMo

I can think of 2 off the top of my head: Dennis Miller was on twice, once with Monica Cowley and once with Ann Coulter. And Larry Miller was on probably 3-4 times, and who knows what party he claims to have an affiliation with?

Tommy Ceez

Larry Miller is a conservative. He writes for Bill Kristols mag.

Bobby Shalom

Going to the HBO website, they partially list the roundtable guests

1st episode - it just says Chris Rock, and Ann Coulter (1 liberal, 1 Conservative)

2nd episode - Ted Rall, Monica Crowley, Larry Miller (1 L, 2 C)

3rd Episode - doesn't mention roundtable guests.

4th episode - Arianna Huffington, Monica Crowley, Dennis Miller (1 L, 2 C)

5th Episode - Connie Rice, Larry Miller, Tim Robbins (2 L, 1 C)

6th Episode - Janeane Garofalo, Michael Graham, Larry Miller (1 L, 2 C)

7th Episode - Michael Graham, Arianna Huffington and Aaron McGruder (2 L, 1 C)

8th Episode - Doug McIntyre, Arianna Huffington, Michael Eric Dyson ( 2 L, 1 C)

9th Episode - Ann Coulter, Michael Eric Dyson and Dennis Miller (1 L, 2 C)

10th Episode - Clive Barker, D.L. Hughley and Ann Coulter (2 L, 1 C)

Okay, not everyone mentioned is a true blue liberal, or a true blue conservative, but ya get the point. He does a pretty standard job, of switching the numbers each week, so that the roundtable guests are mixed, 2-1.

wm lopez

The host is liberal and a fair minded liberal.
Because he at least lets his guest speak instead of interrupting just as when the conservative is about to prove they are correct.

I used to be a liberal.
Then when I how todays liberals act when they are pitted againest conservatives. And the L.A. Times & N.Y. Times and their reporting, CNN over the years.
It's their actions that said to me they are wrong and are out just to have this country run with their views no matter the cost.

dolphinboy

I thought that she was both his wife AND his sister?

Tommy Ceez

I BELIEVE it was Arriana Huffington and Chris Rock did a walk in. As a matter of fact, Larry Miller was the third guest with AC and AH.
Ted Rall counts as two! Seriously, this guy is so far left that he even lost the Hollywood crowd! (This was the episode where he proposed that the WTC be rebuilt as low income housing...crickets from the crowd) My favorite Ted Rall theory... the US went to war with Afganastan in order to take over the country and build a natural gas pipeline.
Thats the one where Aaron McGruder apologised to Michael Graham after basically labeling him a racist the whole show, Graham shot bach with being attacked by the KKK when he was a kid.
Clive Barker was suprisingly moderate...this one was a tie.

The funny thing is that the first episode last year Bill Maher talked about how on HBO he was going to do the show he wanted with all the extra features...so what happenes? The show comes back sans the ending comic, the newsbreak commentary, and the callers and audience questions. But they kept the gawdawful NEW RULES segment.

das Monkey

• Quoth JestersTear •<HR SIZE=1>Bill needs to get better guests.<HR SIZE=1>

I stopped watching for this reason. I've always defended guys like Maher and O'Reilly for cutting through a lot of the bull even when I don't agree with them, but Maher's guests have been a parade of extremist nutjobs. The excuse that crazy people like Moore or Coulter use is that it's all in the name of comedy, but I honestly don't find their rantings funny. To me, humor comes from intelligent observation and insightful commentary, not simply casting stones at the other side and making huge generalizations to unfairly label half the country as evil monsters. The whole thing just bores me. There's a lot of humor in Maher's monologues, but once the guests start arguing, I can't seem to maintain interest. Even the comedians on the show are recycling old material (like when Rock showed up and delivered a 3 year old routine).

I want to see Maher succeed, but this show's just not doing it for me.

das

RoQuEr

Maybe his priorities changed. Notice that he kept his monologues and new rules, both of which he does himself, and got rid of the others?

Thankfully they got rid of the audience questions. The intelligence level of the questions made me sad to be american.

JestersTear

The host is a libertarian. Please learn the difference.

And by seeing your reasons for not being a liberal anymore, can I assume you're not a conservative either, since they act just as bad as you feel liberals do?

Tommy Ceez

Jesters, like I said above Bill Maher is ABSOLUTLY not a libertarian. Just cause he legaly wants to smoke weed doesnt make him a libertarian. Maher is what I consider a liberal realist. He goes where it makes sence to him but he leans left. But dont believe his libertarian bull******

JestersTear

I'm sorry, I missed the press release that told everyone that Tommy Ceez is the person that gets to decide who is what.

The man is libertarian. He espouses many libertarian values. He votes libertarian (with one recent exception where he voted green). Sorry if you don't like it, but that's your problem, not his, mine or anyone else's.