S19.E08: Annabelle Gurwitch, Scott Galloway, Larry Wilmore

[PrincessPurrsALot]

Guests: Annabelle Gurwitch, Scott Galloway, Larry Wilmore

Original air date 2021.03.12

[Liamsmom617]

  Finally, an episode I didn’t absolutely cringe the entire hour. Of course Bill had to put in his whole solar panel complaint section in there, but at least he did it at the very end of the show.

Edited March 14, 2021 by Liamsmom617

[Gothish520]

Scott Galloway's getting some new fans out of this for sure. 

Bill rails against Communism and then lauds China in his final New Rule. Easy to get things done when you're a one-party state. Sure, that airport is great-looking in a futuristic, sterile kind of way, but I'll stick with less flash and my freedom, thanks.

[Robert Lynch]

I was too busy being looking  at Bill's tearing eye. 

[SG429]

9 hours ago, Robert Lynch said:

I was too busy being looking  at Bill's tearing eye. 

I've been distracted by his constant throat clearing since this season started. I thought it might have been allergy or something but it's persisted.

[iMonrey]

I suppose you could call this "ironic" if you're being generous. First Bill whines about the Burger King ad because people only read the headline and were outraged. Then he turns around and does the exact same thing with the Dr. Seuss books! No, the government did not ban the Dr. Seuss books, nor did liberals or whoever he thinks got them cancelled. The copyright owners made the decision themselves to stop publishing those books. And maybe China, en masse, doesn't care about the racial stereotypes depicted in those books, but Bill does not speak for all Asian Americans. Nor did he mention the far more (IMO) heinous depiction of Africans in one of those books. So basically, he can shove it.

But yeah, Steve Galloway was on fire and made the episode more or less worthwhile.

I saw Amy Holmes in the closing credits as one of the writers. Is that the same Amy Holmes he's had on his panel numerous times over the  years? If so, that would explain a lot about the direction this show has been going in.

[Frisson]

I found it funny that one of Galloway’s points is that social media companies thrive on our outrage, while he is on a show hosted by a guy who thrives on the same. 

[BrownBear2012]

3 hours ago, SG429 said:

I've been distracted by his constant throat clearing since this season started. I thought it might have been allergy or something but it's persisted.

It's probably from all that vaping he does...worst thing you can do for your lungs, especially for a 65 year old.

[BrownBear2012]

2 hours ago, iMonrey said:

I suppose you could call this "ironic" if you're being generous. First Bill whines about the Burger King ad because people only read the headline and were outraged. Then he turns around and does the exact same thing with the Dr. Seuss books! No, the government did not ban the Dr. Seuss books, nor did liberals or whoever he thinks got them cancelled. The copyright owners made the decision themselves to stop publishing those books. And maybe China, en masse, doesn't care about the racial stereotypes depicted in those books, but Bill does not speak for all Asian Americans. Nor did he mention the far more (IMO) heinous depiction of Africans in one of those books. So basically, he can shove it.

But yeah, Steve Galloway was on fire and made the episode more or less worthwhile.

I saw Amy Holmes in the closing credits as one of the writers. Is that the same Amy Holmes he's had on his panel numerous times over the  years? If so, that would explain a lot about the direction this show has been going in.

Sounds like Bill doesn't do much research before speaking out on something. The family of the writer and orginator of the Seuss books also had a hand in not wanting to print these six books anymore. The publisher and the family were united in this decision. And though Bill doesn't think the Asian stereotype and the Africans as monkeys isn't offensive then I really have to question where Bill's head is at these days. Especially with uptick in violence against Asian Americans recently. John Oliver covered this "controversy" on his last show and it was brilliant. Bill would be wise to watch John's show sometime and see how you thread the needle in a funny but intelligent way.

If that is indeed, the same Amy Holmes that he seemed to have soft spot for when she appeared on the panels regularly, then that definitely explains the libertarian/conservative slant this show is taking now.  A google search showed that she is indeed a writer for Real Time...Wow...just wow.

Edited March 13, 2021 by BrownBear2012

[Lifesabeach]

A little more Larry would have been nice.

[Winston Wolfe]

Probably one of the better episodes of the season, overall. Scott Galloway is everyone's favorite professor from college, the one whose enrollment quickly fills up. Intelligent and thought-provoking - a "woke" guy with real facts to back-up his argument. You gotta love it!  The Annabelle Gurwitch chat was another opening segment I didn't get - Bill seems to use this spot now just to shoot-the-shit with old buddies. As he himself said, most of us had cheap, shitty apartments right out of college, Annabelle's insights weren't exactly epiphanies.

[wknt3]

I agree with most of you that this was a pretty decent show, more in spite of Bill than because of him.

The one thing I haven't seen mentioned is that his guests were a bit too polite when he started yammering about "Communism". They got things back on track, but I wanted someone to ask him who the fuck he's hearing talking about communism as a viable alternative in a positive light? I was almost screaming that at my TV. I mean I've heard a lot of advocacy for socialism, anarchism, and social democracy, but absolutely nobody mentioning communism. And I remember Bill in the past talking about how labeling any progressive ideas as communism or attempting to eliminate instead of reforming capitalism is BS.

 

On 3/13/2021 at 2:43 PM, BrownBear2012 said:

Sounds like Bill doesn't do much research before speaking out on something.

Yeah that's been his SOP for quite awhile now. He doesn't want to do any of the work that hosting this kind of show entails, rather it's trying to punch up the writing and pushing to try new things or doing the homework necessary to have an informed take on the news of the week. And then he whines and wonders why others get the Emmy and the critical praise...

[Hanahope]

On 3/13/2021 at 1:53 AM, Gothish520 said:

Scott Galloway's getting some new fans out of this for sure. 

Bill rails against Communism and then lauds China in his final New Rule. Easy to get things done when you're a one-party state. Sure, that airport is great-looking in a futuristic, sterile kind of way, but I'll stick with less flash and my freedom, thanks.

Just like it’s easy to take  whatever land you want to build your high speed lines and not worry about paying people fair market value.  China is ahead because it is able to control its citizens and the government can do what it wants without opposition.

 

[One Imaginary Girl]

I just read that Annabelle Gurwitch has advanced lung cancer. At 10 on Friday I can be pretty tired, but I don't remember that being mentioned, and I wish it were since it would affect hearing her thoughts on downward mobility. Plus I remember watching her going back toTBS's Dinner and a  Movie in the late '90s/early '00s, so it's sad news.

[tessaray]

On 3/16/2021 at 8:39 PM, One Imaginary Girl said:

I just read that Annabelle Gurwitch has advanced lung cancer. At 10 on Friday I can be pretty tired, but I don't remember that being mentioned, and I wish it were since it would affect hearing her thoughts on downward mobility. Plus I remember watching her going back toTBS's Dinner and a  Movie in the late '90s/early '00s, so it's sad news.

10:00 is Eastern Time, they film at 7:00 in CA. 

But yeah, it's sad. I vaguely knew who she was and liked her articles over the years.  But I'm glad she was on, because I hadn't heard of her podcast, Tiny Victories and am enjoying catching up with it.