S19.E10: Christopher Krebs; Caitlin Flanagan; Bret Stephens

[PrincessPurrsALot]

The Interview:

Christopher Krebs is the former Director of the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and founding partner at Krebs Stamos Group.

The Panel:

Caitlin Flanagan is a staff writer at The Atlantic who authored the April cover story, “Private Schools Are Indefensible: The Gulf Between How Rich Kids and Poor Kids Are Educated In America is Obscene.” Her latest book is “Girl Land.” 

Bret Stephens is a columnist for The New York Times and an MSNBC contributor. 

Original air date 2021.03.26

[arachne]

Hopefully, this is the last time we hear about Bill's solar panels!

Evidently, Bill thinks all mass shooters are just fanatical religious guys who can't get any sex. Not only is that oversimplified, but it de-personalizes women. 

Similarly, Bill's final New Rule fell short. I'm sure that drug laws are partly to blame for whatever trouble we have on the southern border, but that can't be the whole story. And Bill can't understand why 1920's Prohibition happened? If I remember my history, some people were concerned that alcohol made men (mostly men) lazy, abusive and violent. Never happens today, right? 

[iMonrey]

First of all, Caitlin Flanagan's crooked glasses were driving me to distraction. Second of all, the interview with Christopher Krebs was utterly pointless. The guy has about as much personality as a piece of toast and had virtually nothing to say. 

The first fifteen minutes of the panel were fairly good, and then the back half of the show devolved into the usual "kids today are coddled snowflakes" diatribe. Is it Bill or is it his writers? This show is officially out of material. Can't they think of something new to discuss?

[Mr. R0b0t]

Going into the night I thought hearing from Krebs would be the most interesting part, but then it wasn't all that interesting.  Based on previous appearances I expected to like Stephens the least but then he was the "best" part of it for me.  I am not very familiar with Flanagan, but there were at least 3 times where she said something so outlandish to open her comments that I could feel the air sucked out of the room.  For example, her all sides are terrible take about news organizations possessed zero nuance.  She strikes me as someone who makes their bones being a literary firebomber just for the sake of attention. 

How can we mention private school failures and not bring up Bart O'Kavanaugh, Tobin and Squee?

[BrownBear2012]

3 hours ago, arachne said:

Hopefully, this is the last time we hear about Bill's solar panels!

Evidently, Bill thinks all mass shooters are just fanatical religious guys who can't get any sex. Not only is that oversimplified, but it de-personalizes women. 

Similarly, Bill's final New Rule fell short. I'm sure that drug laws are partly to blame for whatever trouble we have on the southern border, but that can't be the whole story. And Bill can't understand why 1920's Prohibition happened? If I remember my history, some people were concerned that alcohol made men (mostly men) lazy, abusive and violent. Never happens today, right? 

It is amazing that someone with a show like this doesn't take the time during the week to do some research and actually read up on a topic he is going to cover on Friday. The problem on the border is complex and multi faceted...any moron can pick a reputable newspaper or even Google it and get a pretty comprehensive bullet point type analysis of what is going on. Climate change and several devastating hurricanes last fall decimated crops and crippled the agro economy in Central America. There is very serious issue of food insecurity there coupled with a weakened economy overall, poor governmental response and the hold the drug cartels and gangs have over average working class and poor people there. Bill has become incredibly lazy in prep for his shows.. I guess it's easier to let his writers take the reins so he can sit back and smoke doobies.

[iMonrey]

I totally forgot about the closing reference to Allen v. Farrow. Was Bill actually trying to defend Woody Allen? That would only surprise me because at the time the whole thing played out in the press, Bill was still doing Politically Incorrect (I think) and I distinctly remember him saying he could never watch a Woody Allen film again. Has he actually become just that obsessed with the idea of cancel culture? Because this isn't an situation you want to step into and play devil's advocate or try and do the "both sides" thing.

[bobbyjoe]

Saw the guest list, said “Not today, Satan.” Caitlin Flanagan and Bret Stephens?  Ooo, I wonder what their surprising take on the issues will be (is something I would never say).

Has the show had budget cuts this season?    

I ask about this because looking back at the guests even last year during the pandemic there are so many more interesting people thrown in, everybody from Willie Nelson to Jane Fonda to Nancy Pelosi (you can scroll down the guest lists by looking at past forums on this site).  But since January, these guest lineups keep being either seriously uninteresting or stacked even much more than usual with the same old, same old.  Pretty much the biggest name Bill’s had since he returned this year is..., uh, Jimmy Kimmel?  Kellyanne Conway?

Again, it can’t be the pandemic.  They managed last year, under harder circumstances, to get some more interesting guests.  I feel like one of two things is happening:  either HBO has cut his budget or Bill’s ego has gotten so out of control he thinks his schtick is all the audience needs anymore and is mainly just stocking the guest pool with guests who he either completely agrees with or who he knows exactly what they’ll say so he doesn’t have to face the possible discomfort of being surprised.  

Agree or disagree with Bill, the show at least used to have its own mojo.  Watching this show anymore is like watching a balloon deflate.

Edited March 28, 2021 by bobbyjoe

[iMonrey]

Quote

Again, it can’t be the pandemic.  They managed last year, under harder circumstances, to get some more interesting guests. 

There may be fewer of them that are willing to be physically present in the studio. Calling in on Zoom is way easier/safer.

[Pike Ludwell]

As to the opening guest - IMO maybe the most pointless one recently. Waste of ten minutes. I nearly fell asleep and can barely remember wht they talked about. Tucker Carlson would have even been better despite his insane views.

Edited March 28, 2021 by Pike Ludwell

[ottoDbusdriver]

17 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

There may be fewer of them that are willing to be physically present in the studio. Calling in on Zoom is way easier/safer.

And the strange thing is that Bill used to do satellite interviews with the first guest pretty regularly pre-covid.

[BrownBear2012]

13 hours ago, bobbyjoe said:

Saw the guest list, said “Not today, Satan.” Caitlin Flanagan and Bret Stephens?  Ooo, I wonder what their surprising take on the issues will be (is something I would never say).

Has the show had budget cuts this season?    

I ask about this because looking back at the guests even last year during the pandemic there are so many more interesting people thrown in, everybody from Willie Nelson to Jane Fonda to Nancy Pelosi (you can scroll down the guest lists by looking at past forums on this site).  But since January, these guest lineups keep being either seriously uninteresting or stacked even much more than usual with the same old, same old.  Pretty much the biggest name Bill’s had since he returned this year is..., uh, Jimmy Kimmel?  Kellyanne Conway?

Again, it can’t be the pandemic.  They managed last year, under harder circumstances, to get some more interesting guests.  I feel like one of two things is happening:  either HBO has cut his budget or Bill’s ego has gotten so out of control he thinks his schtick is all the audience needs anymore and is mainly just stocking the guest pool with guests who he either completely agrees with or who he knows exactly what they’ll say so he doesn’t have to face the possible discomfort of being surprised.  

Agree or disagree with Bill, the show at least used to have its own mojo.  Watching this show anymore is like watching a balloon deflate.

Or...people are opting not to go on his show anymore. Five years ago his show was hot and he was able to get just about anyone on it...hell, even Barbra Streisand came on it! Now...not so much. His magic has worn off and his repetitive rants along with recent move towards the right has probably had an impact too. His show has a worn out and dated format...honestly, I think we are all inundated with so much news and information and panels of talking heads all day long on cable news channels that watching his show on a Friday night just seems like more of the same. And now, he's spouting right wing talking points...ugh. His lack of prep for the show and not doing his homework on the subjects he will be covering is a sure sign of him checking out and phoning it in. Also...in the last few seasons he has insulted a number of guests with personal jabs or scoldings...I've noticed none of those people have ever returned...in short...Bill has become a curmudgeonly old guy now.

[RealHousewife]

4 hours ago, Pike Ludwell said:

As to the opening guest - IMO maybe the most pointless one recently. Waste of ten minutes. I nearly fell asleep and can barely remember wht they talked about. Tucker Carlson would have even been better despite his insane views.

Damn! I'd personally rather fall asleep than have my blood pressure rise.

I agree with you all that Bill's show used to be better even though I still record and enjoy it. I don't know if it's Bill's age, him getting caught up in controversy himself, different writers, a combination of it all or what. Maybe I have a soft spot for him because some of his old work was so good. 

[Hanahope]

But really, aren’t we all just glad Bill FINALLY GOT SOLAR!!!

that’s  it.

[iMonrey]

Quote

But really, aren’t we all just glad Bill FINALLY GOT SOLAR!!!

And despite the weeks of ranting about it I still have no clear idea why it took him so long to get it up and running. 

[aghst]

On 3/28/2021 at 8:49 AM, ottoDbusdriver said:

And the strange thing is that Bill used to do satellite interviews with the first guest pretty regularly pre-covid.

I think those were done in studio on both ends, so like satellite uplink instead of using Zoom.

The guest would still have to go into a studio somewhere.

I wouldn't mind having more of that.  The less people have to fly right now the better.

 

I think I still prefer the 3 guests on the panel.  When he first started Real Time, he talked about just having the best guests instead of having the same guests from PI.  So for a period, there would only be 1 or 2 people in the panel and then it evolved to 3 in the panel.

But then the panel members didn't get to speak enough because they were talking over each other to get their time.  Then they brought in the mid-show guest who was usually some celebrity plugging something.

I wanted more of the panel and more of the prepared bits.

So now they don't have a mid-show guest, just the opening guest and the 2 panelists.

Still doesn't seem like they can sustain a good discussion for long.

 

[deirdra]

20 hours ago, Hanahope said:

But really, aren’t we all just glad Bill FINALLY GOT SOLAR!!!

He'll probably be whining during brownouts in summer when his solar cannot keep up with the demands of airconditioning his house.

[Hanahope]

On 3/29/2021 at 1:03 PM, iMonrey said:

And despite the weeks of ranting about it I still have no clear idea why it took him so long to get it up and running. 

well, another celebrity i follow on various social media  who lives in CA (LA area) reported it took nearly 3 years to complete some remodeling/construction at her house.  I have the feeling that the LA area just has a lot of building/code regulations and it takes time.  

[wknt3]

On 3/28/2021 at 2:56 PM, BrownBear2012 said:

Or...people are opting not to go on his show anymore. Five years ago his show was hot and he was able to get just about anyone on it...hell, even Barbra Streisand came on it! Now...not so much. His magic has worn off and his repetitive rants along with recent move towards the right has probably had an impact too. His show has a worn out and dated format...honestly, I think we are all inundated with so much news and information and panels of talking heads all day long on cable news channels that watching his show on a Friday night just seems like more of the same. And now, he's spouting right wing talking points...ugh. His lack of prep for the show and not doing his homework on the subjects he will be covering is a sure sign of him checking out and phoning it in. Also...in the last few seasons he has insulted a number of guests with personal jabs or scoldings...I've noticed none of those people have ever returned...in short...Bill has become a curmudgeonly old guy now.

 

On 3/28/2021 at 3:54 PM, RealHousewife said:

Damn! I'd personally rather fall asleep than have my blood pressure rise.

I agree with you all that Bill's show used to be better even though I still record and enjoy it. I don't know if it's Bill's age, him getting caught up in controversy himself, different writers, a combination of it all or what. Maybe I have a soft spot for him because some of his old work was so good. 

I think that there are two, possibly three factors at play which both of you touch on in different ways. The biggest is that Bill has reached that stage in the talk show host life cycle where he has found a formula that he is comfortable with and is determined not to change anything no matter how bored the audience gets. It happens to most hosts. Carson, Letterman, and Conan all come to mind. It is probably a bigger problem for him than most, because the show relies on him more than most (he doesn't do sketches, and the panel format really relies more on the host than a one on one interview show). The other factor at play has been there for quite some time and that's Bill's laziness. Even five years ago we were complaining about Bill not doing any sort of prep for the show. He can get away with it to a degree when he's talking about something that is omnipresent such as a presidential campaign, just by being smart and perceptive (I'll remind everyone once again that he was the only topical comedian to get the 2016 election right from the start) but not so much otherwise. He has also checked in and out of the show on a fairly regular basis, but it seems like the periods of phoning it in last longer. And it's really obvious with the smaller panels that require him to participate more - instead of him phoning it in meaning one of the guests filibusters while the rest try to interject,  we end up with listless discussions that never get going or Bill just deciding it's easier to share his personal pet peeves and the guests ending up as mostly bystanders.

Edited March 31, 2021 by wknt3
fixed typos and accidental deletion.

[wknt3]

On 3/28/2021 at 9:27 PM, Hanahope said:

But really, aren’t we all just glad Bill FINALLY GOT SOLAR!!!

that’s  it.

Not really. Yes I was bored with it. Yes he never went anywhere with it. (See below) But every week he was beating this dead horse was a week he wasn't devoting full time to the evils of wokeness. Or moving on to something worse. I mean wasn't this better than his whole Islam phase? At least we didn't have to watch him actually invite a solar panel contractor on the show, have them explain to him how he was oversimplifying things, missing all sorts of nuance, was right and Bill was wrong about all the particulars and then declare that in the end he wasn't going to change his mind one bit...
 

On 3/29/2021 at 1:03 PM, iMonrey said:

And despite the weeks of ranting about it I still have no clear idea why it took him so long to get it up and running. 

On 3/30/2021 at 1:21 PM, Hanahope said:

well, another celebrity i follow on various social media  who lives in CA (LA area) reported it took nearly 3 years to complete some remodeling/construction at her house.  I have the feeling that the LA area just has a lot of building/code regulations and it takes time.  

Without getting off topic CA is ground zero for NIMBYism and excessive building code/zoning regulations. And there are other factors that may come into play. It's the sort of thing that could probably make for some actual interesting interviews if Bill actually wanted to do the work. It's not like I couldn't see Samantha Bee or John Oliver or Seth Meyers or any of the other late night hosts actually going on their shows and complaining about it. But we would probably have learned something about the subject and gotten some actual jokes. The real shame of it is he wouldn't have to do any prep. Just find a guest and ask them WTF was going on. I mean surely it would have made for better TV than some of these recent opening guests?

[Pike Ludwell]

So Bill is taking Easter off? LOL I'm sure he has some other reason for being off this week, but I hoped he'd make a point of having a show on Good Friday just for the principle of the thing. LOL