"Real Time with Bill Maher" (2003) More at IMDb Pro »TV series 2003-????

I never saw Bill Maher's previous show "Politically Incorrect", but I know that it got canceled when Maher stepped outside the party line in discussions about 9/11 (of course I consider it a credit to have gotten canceled for challenging the zeitgeist). So, I have been watching "Real Time with Bill Maher" - and seen one of his stand-up bits - and I love it. If absolutely nothing else, it's good to hear left and right be able to have an intelligent conversation, although I especially liked hearing Sean Penn's story of going to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina*. One of my favorite comments from Maher was right after a Republican debate held in the Ronald Reagan Library, and the candidates were talking as much as possible about Reagan: Maher said that it sounded more like gay men talking about Barbra Streisand. You gotta admit, his guy knows how to do satire.

And now it's time for New Rules: 1) They can't give obnoxious movies like "The Poseidon Adventure" and "The Towering Inferno" special edition DVDs while cool movies like "The Corrupt Ones" and "The Treasure Seekers" remain available only on video. Because I know that Elke Sommer hasn't got much besides her looks, but the only part of disaster movies that I consider a disaster is having to watch them, and Elke Sommer's movies are quite pleasant.

2) Celebrities can't try to vindicate themselves from embarrassing situations by saying that they've found Jesus. Because if a tabloid-level scandal is the only thing that gets you interested in religion, then I only hope that all sensible religions will see through your game and reject you so that you can get involved in more scandals and continue making a fool of yourself.

3) Critics can't give musicals glowing reviews just because they're musicals, while slamming certain movies for being too "controversial". Because "Oklahoma!", "Mary Poppins" and "The Sound of Music" are so full of themselves that they just beg to get mocked; "Sweet Sweetback's Bad-ass Song", while dealing with ugly subject matter, at least told the truth about things.

All in all, I wholeheartedly recommend this show.

*For the record, it's been almost two years since Katrina hit and large numbers of people still haven't been able to move back to New Orleans.