Fremde Frau

@maculae, you needed to warn us about that "sexual tension with Bill O'Reilly" headline. I'm glad I read on, anyway, because that was a fantastic interview. Jon was on HuffPost Live today. It's a great interview spanning several topics, including his thoughts looking back now on the rally. EDIT: Maziar and Jon had a short interview with HitFix. Jon had another short interview with the anchors of WGNTV (Chicago), and it contains probably my favorite of his reactions to the Meet The Press question. When he's asked if he regrets turning it down, he just emphatically and silently shakes his head while the anchors start laughing.

Oh, man, and they were so close, too, since John Cleese was in New York last week.

This is a hilarious interview of Jon and Maziar, with Red Eye Chicago. Anyone who dislikes Jon's interview style should appreciate this bit.

That sounds awful, @Victor the Crab! Why would they do that? It seems counterintuitive. I was feeling quite sick and feverish last night, so I had a hard time getting into the episode, as well. The only part that I even vaguely remember is the Springsteen/Caruso interview, which I might be misremembering, because it felt like a three-way lovefest that only did not involve cuddling by virtue of the table that separated Jon from his idol. The body language at the beginning was hilarious; that much I do remember. Jon wanting a bear hug, Springsteen allowing a mild one, and Caruso off in the corner getting a distracted handshake.

I need a gif to adequately express how I feel about that second quote, @maculae. That has to be the cutest thing said about their friendship thus far. Yep, my heart has turned to goo. It makes me think of the slightly-less-cute quote below, from Maziar's really brief chat with Boston Globe. I'm going, too, @peeayebee... thanks to maculae!

But isn't that a great problem to have? In my opinion, TDS and TCR have maintained an extraordinarily high standard for a very long time, and LWT is their worthy little sibling. By the time John returns next year, Larry will be hosting his own show, too. Think of how spoiled we are that they all fumble so rarely! I'll take that problem for as long as it lasts. ;)

I'm sure it was coincidental, but I love that Jon was the first victim in their montage. Salmon always return to their birthplace.

Jon has such a level-headed understanding of how the media (both online and traditional) works.

I think my favorite reaction was Stephen's. He immediately looked so over it, which is precisely what anyone should feel if slapped in the face by a flying salmon. R2-D2 was a pretty close second, though.

To say that they hit a home run with their first season is an understatement. It's rather like a collage of scenes from The Natural, but with Roy Hobbs intentionally targeting clocks, light fixtures, reporters, evil shadow men... Anything in their way was left in shambles. Enjoy your break, LWT. You deserve it.

A Night at the Newseum With Jon Stewart as Our Guide "Newseum" makes me think of this interview with Brian Williams. I wonder when he's going to visit the show again. I don't watch NBC Nightly News, so I have no thoughts on his work as a journalist, but I enjoy Williams as a television personality. Aren't they good friends, like Jon is with Gervais or Leary? They sure don't shy away from playing up their chemistry. EDIT: Maziar will be interviewed by Brian Lehrer tomorrow. (So will one of Jon's unfavorite politicians. Heh. I can't tell which one Lehrer is excited about.)

Loved the salmon cannon. How did they get all of those people to participate? (@purist, I've only studied German for two years, so I'm no expert, but I've seen both albern and dumm used in the context of "silly.")

Damn, that New York real estate is something else. It made me sad to listen to Jon talk about his parents' divorce. I wonder if he ever reconciled with his father; I read somewhere that they were estranged for a long time. I respect that it's something he's reticent to talk about publicly. EDIT: Here's an interview with Yahoo that covers the Mets, Star Wars, the voting joke, etc., in addition to the movie.

Thank you, Lantern7! I hope they post all of it on YouTube.

Some TV appearances for Jon and Maziar: CNN Reliable Sources today at 11am EST CBS Sunday Morning today (the show starts at 9am EST) Al Jazeera America on Tuesday at 8pm EST He also had an interview with The Daily Beast.

He's absolutely right. There's no reason at all not to make election day a federal holiday that is binding on all states. It's absurd that we have turned one religion's holy day into a national holiday, but we would leave something like election day to an employer's discretion.

Either that or Arizona's Proposition 122 would be the perfect lead. Wasn't the subsidy nonsense a bit on the show a while ago, about how this could all be fixed by just adding "or HHS" to one sentence in the bill?

Oh, great finds, @maculae! That review was heartbreaking to read; it really brings home Jon and Maziar's point that it's not just about one journalist's isolated experience. The LA Times article was great. I love reading about their friendship.

I think part of the problem is probably how the media covers midterm elections and non-presidential politicians in general. Everyone (or most everyone) cares about the presidential elections. And the way that the media frames (and allows politicians to frame) debates over big issues such as healthcare, immigration reform, marriage equality, ISIS, Ebola, wars, etc., always makes it seem as though it's the President alone in a fight against the opposing party. I can't recall whether or not it was that way when Bush was in office, but certainly now with the GOP dictating the dialogue and the media sensationalizing everything--as well as how the Democrats have tucked their tails in and acted as far removed from Obama as possible--there is no sense of overall urgency being expressed to the general public about midterm elections. Unless one is informed and/or interested in politics already, the only issues at stake in these elections might seem to be whether this or that politician will remain in office or get ousted. It seems very localized and minimally important to the general public--to take a hyperbolic example, like the difference between referring to a war or genocide by name or marginalizing it as an "ethnic conflict." There is no urgency expressed that these are building blocks for present and future legislation.

For John's sake and for the sake of the show, I'm enjoying the almost unanimously positive coverage while it lasts (and trying my best to ignore the accompanying dismissals of TDS/TCR) because the "shut up, John; you're a journalist because we say so, and you are the champion we've been waiting for" has already begun, and I imagine it will only get uglier. That tension seems to be the legacy of TDS. But it's been so exciting to see LWT leap to must-watch-TV status almost instantly. I don't think they're likely to take the coverage too seriously, but I do hope John and his crew enjoy all of the appreciative warmth that the fans and the media express. It's hard to believe we're already at the last episode of the season! I hope there is some way to purchase the show in DVD format.

I hope that means a special 45 min episode, rather than a 15 min one. D:

Republicans seem to be okay with the concept of access to food, but making it an actuality seems to be a step too far.

I saw that story online and couldn't believe it. Note to self: never live in Florida.

What with the continued critique and condemnation of that throwaway voting joke exacerbated by the Republicans' triumph this week, I feel as though I'm getting a very small taste of what it must have been like to be a fan of Jon's back after the 2010 midterms. I appreciated Jon's caustic tone on that second segment last night. That and Jordan's segment on "Hope and Change" were my favorite moments of the show this week, outside of the joyful Cleese interview. It's also good to have confirmation that McConnell is literally a tortoise.

Some links: Deadline has a nice Q&A with Gael. The New York Times has an in-depth article about Jon, Maziar, and the movie. And Variety interviews Jon about some of the specific people involved, like production designer Gerald Sullivan and composer Howard Shore.