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Al Barger and MoreThings - getting people's goats since 1998.
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January 26, 2004
Dennis Miller's first CNBC show
Dennis Miller just did his first CNBC show. Overall, he made a pretty good start.
He set the tone with an opening monologue trying to explain his basic underlying political thoughts. He's a comedian with a show on a news network. Thus, it made some sense that he gave his first introduction on the show as a fairly serious, sincere explanation of his basic political outlook while bouncing a chimp on his lap. Among other things, he apparently intends to have Ellie the chimp scampering across the stage at random intervals wearing shorts corresponding to the current national terror alert level.
His most striking comment of the night was in the midst of the opening explanation of his now somewhat more generally conservative outlook. Paraphrasing, he said that he was no longer confident enough of his own guesswork to be a good liberal. Chew for awhile on the implications of that.
Overall, he seems to have a pretty strong idea of the tone he's looking for, somewhat distinct from his former work. Essentially he seems intent on a serious show, actually talking about issues of the day in a thoughtful manner- but with a lightness of tone. To put it differently, he had plenty of funny remarks, but except for a brief Weekend Update type section, the discussions were distinctly NOT just setups for the jokes.
His first guest was Governor Schwarzenegger. They chatted amicably (Miller worked on his campaign- and said so first thing in their interview). They were talking about the upcoming bond issue and a little bit about immigration. There was certainly no gratuitous Democrat bashing.
He also had a panel discussion with David Horowitz, David Frum and Naomi Wolf. Obviously some of this over time will depend on the guest's behavior, but he seems to be trying to set up a sincere discussion rather than a debated. Ms. Wolf, for example, made some reasonable criticism about US intelligence and administration policies.
However, he didn't seem to be interested in generating obvious debate heat. By his choice of guests and general leadership, I don't think he's looking for arguments, nor real adamant partisanship. He seems to be more interested in policy than politics- though obviously that's a major factor the day before the New Hampshire primary.
I'll just say that I don't expect to see Michael Moore as a guest, and I doubt anyone would get far if they wanted to start on some dumb Bush-is-Hitler nonsense. I suspect from his setup here that he would just jump on someone spouting like that with a heaping helping of ridicule. Likewise, though she's obviously very funny, I doubt Ann Coulter would work out here. By way of explaining his intended difference in tone from his earlier work, he said in this monologue that he intends to be a smartass only with the smartasses, but to speak sincerely with the sincere.
Overall then, he seems like a full grown adult wanting to speak basically seriously about the issues of the day, turning away from childish schtick. He's a funny guy, and still has those wild pop culture references that seem to be intrinsic to his basic conversational style, but he seems intent to use them judiciously.
In short, he seems intent on engaging actual political issues rather than merely doing comedy. So far, so good.
Obviously there are a few rough edges, getting the balance just so, but he came across as an outstanding professional. He knows what he's doing, and obviously has a pretty good idea where he's going.
posted by Al at 1/26/2004 11:31:00 PM
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