S20.E05: Brooke Jenkins; John Avlon; Katrina vanden Heuvel

[PrincessPurrsALot]

Quote

This week, Bill interviews Brooke Jenkins, a former San Francisco Assistant District Attorney. For the panel discussion, he is joined by John Avlon, a senior Political Analyst and anchor for CNN, and Katrina vanden Heuvel, a columnist for The Washington Post.

Original air date 2022.02.18

[ichbin]

I hope this was Katrina vanden Heuvel's last appearance on this show.  It's always a mess when a guest confuses being a member of a panel with being an an opportunity to present a monologue.  

[sugarbaker design]

Monologue?  She barely got to finish a sentence before being interrupted by two asshole blowhards.

[DXD526]

Awful episode. Had to FF several times. Vanden Huevel was annoying, but Avalon was worse. I wanted to smack that smug smile off his smug maw. And Bill did nothing but interrupt. 

[iMonrey]

Yikes. This panel was even worse than last week's. Nobody ever got to finish a sentence without being interrupted. Vanden Heuvel was especially egregious in that regard. I just wanted to yell "Shut up lady!" every time she interrupted someone - and she interrupted someone every time. At one point she actually said "You're not going to get a comment out of me on that" and then . . . proceeded to babble endlessly about it. This is where Bill utterly fails as a moderator. (On Overtime Vanden Heuvel was revealed to be an acolyte of P.J. O'Roarke, so that explains a lot.)

The way Bill seesaws from one end to the other gives me whiplash. This stupid incident with the San Francisco school board members is not representative of the entire Democratic party (which Vanden Heuvel attempted to point out but failed to articulate). Yet within 30 minutes Bill is pointing out how many people - Democrats included - watch Fox News. Like, doesn't he make the connection? This isn't a matter of culture wars, it's a matter of info wars. He was the one who said "this is what voters are hearing" (RE: San Francisco incident) and then goes on to point out why that's what they're hearing. {head smack on desk.}

Bright side, at least Bill avoided his usual pet peeves (although he did touch on the Covid thing on Overtime), and I did like the final New Rule about China (and the joke about John Cena: "I thought steroids shrunk your balls.")

[sugarbaker design]

8 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

I did like the final New Rule about China (and the joke about John Cena: "I thought steroids shrunk your balls.")

Yes!  Thoroughly awful panel, but excellent New Rules.  Cena, James et al did not come off well.

[heatherchandler]

12 hours ago, ichbin said:

I hope this was Katrina vanden Heuvel's last appearance on this show.  It's always a mess when a guest confuses being a member of a panel with being an an opportunity to present a monologue.  

Bill seemed to be annoyed with her, so probably will be her last appearance.  I get the feeling she is used to people deferring to her because she’s the editor, owner and publisher of the Nation (??) magazine.  But she takes way too long to get to her point, and you can’t do that on this show.  She expects people to let her ramble, I cannot stand people like that.

Also half the time I had no idea what she was talking about.

I’m very impressed with Brooke Jenkins.  Hello, Chesa Boudin, when 70 people on your staff (intelligent people) quit because of your policies, it’s time to rethink them.

Edited February 19, 2022 by heatherchandler

[Welshman in Ca]

20 minutes ago, heatherchandler said:

.

Also half the time I had no idea what she was talking about.

 

I don't think she did either.

On another note Bill is coming across as someone who in the 40s would have said " it's not our problem" when Hitler invaded Poland after saying he wouldn't.

Edited February 19, 2022 by Welshman in Ca

[ahpny]

7 hours ago, iMonrey said:

(On Overtime Vanden Heuvel was revealed to be an acolyte of P.J. O'Roarke, so that explains a lot.)

She was awful, and will luck, won't be back. And even though I'd never been a fan of P.J. O'Roarke, on this show or otherwise, I was still surprised the Bill didn't acknowledge his passing (or maybe I missed that while I was tuning out all the overtalking). I do recall when William F. Buckley died, Bill Maher made an unexpectedly gracious comment of that, despite Buckley having nothing to do with Bill Maher or any of Bill Maher's shows as far as I recall. Here, PJ had been a guest in this show many times, but still no notice of his death? I didn't get that.

[tessaray]

1 hour ago, ahpny said:

She was awful, and will luck, won't be back. And even though I'd never been a fan of P.J. O'Roarke, on this show or otherwise, I was still surprised the Bill didn't acknowledge his passing (or maybe I missed that while I was tuning out all the overtalking). I do recall when William F. Buckley died, Bill Maher made an unexpectedly gracious comment of that, despite Buckley having nothing to do with Bill Maher or any of Bill Maher's shows as far as I recall. Here, PJ had been a guest in this show many times, but still no notice of his death? I didn't get that.

He did mention him on the Overtime segment.

[ahpny]

23 minutes ago, tessaray said:

He did mention him on the Overtime segment.

Thanks, but I didn't watch (and will not watch) the Overtime segment for this show. I had more than enough of this crew from the show itself.

[The Solution]

52 minutes ago, tessaray said:

He did mention him on the Overtime segment.

That kind and respectful discussion of P.J. O'Rourke almost made up for that trainwreck of a show.

[opus]

35 minutes ago, ahpny said:

Thanks, but I didn't watch (and will not watch) the Overtime segment for this show. I had more than enough of this crew from the show itself.

I say that every week.

[deirdra]

41 minutes ago, ahpny said:

Thanks, but I didn't watch (and will not watch) the Overtime segment for this show. I had more than enough of this crew from the show itself.

Overtime is usually better than the show.  And shorter.

[tessaray]

1 hour ago, ahpny said:

Thanks, but I didn't watch (and will not watch) the Overtime segment for this show. I had more than enough of this crew from the show itself.

The vibe is usually different on Overtime. Because they are responding to viewer questions, they're more focused and they listen. 

[revbfc]

I say this as a regular viewer since 2003: Real Time is a fucking mess.  I’ve never enjoyed Bill’s comedy, but he at least used to have cool panels with interesting discussions.  Watching his dipshit Libertarian side take over in the last 2 years (which was ALWAYS there, don’t let anyone say otherwise) is next level cringe…and he was already cringe.  Now he’s cringe AND puts on a bad show.

 

[iMonrey]

Quote

Thanks, but I didn't watch (and will not watch) the Overtime segment for this show. I had more than enough of this crew from the show itself.

You didn't miss anything. It was Bill rushing through two questions because he had another show to get to.