Impeachment Corner!
Welcome to Day Two of the Senate Impeachment Trial of Donald Juniper Trump: The Yam Sham.
Yesterday was the first of three days of the Democrats’ arguments for convicting President PERFECT CALL, and at least to this very partial viewer, the House Managers were organized, meticulous, convincing and at some points devastating. Even Senator Lindsey Graham had to admit that Representative Adam Schiff, in particular, did a good job:
"Graham stuck out his hand and shook his hand and said, 'You did a good job, you're well spoken.'"@GeoffRBennett describes a moment between Sen. Graham and Rep. Schiff after Schiff's closing speech on the first day of arguments in the impeachment trial.https://t.co/PpIX9VTy88
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) January 23, 2020
Though five other House Managers spoke yesterday, explaining the essential Ukraine issue, Schiff was the lead in yesterday’s arguments. He opened and closed yesterday by invoking the founding fathers, laying out exactly what the Ukraine scheme was, pointing out that the Senate can still subpoena any documents they want which 1. will confirm their case against the Con Artist-in-Chief and 2. will DEFINITELY COME OUT ONE DAY, SO DON’T Y’ALL WANT TO BE ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF HISTORY? and finally noting that the Senators should be half as brave as the State Department and National Security employees who all came forward to testify potentially at the cost of their careers because they wanted to do what was right for the country.
“The truth is going to come out,” Schiff said. “The only question is: Do you want to hear it now? Do you want to know the full truth now?”
Unfortunately, the answer to those questions is ABSOLUTELY NOT. While it is clear that the truth will eventually all come out — and with the FOIA lawsuits flying around all over the place, the truth will come sooner rather than later — it sure feels like the Republican senators have decided to bet on the short term rather than the long term. Meaning, the outcome of this Yam Sham is inevitable: the Republicans are going to acquit President Not So Smooth Criminal. This Republican Senate is not going to be the first American Senate in history to remove a sitting president from office, and they certainly will not be removing a REPUBLICAN president, are you crazy?
So knowing what the result is going to be, they appear to have all calculated that it would be better in the short term to avoid hearing witnesses and seeing evidence that might make it harder to defend their vote to acquit. Sure, in the long run (or even six months from now) history will definitely judge them for being cowards lacking any moral principle who were more terrified of a lunatic President with a Twitter account than they were concerned with preserving the Constitution, but they just have to get through this, today, right now. While they do still have another chance to vote to hear from witnesses and to subpoena documents, don’t get your hopes up that Susan Collins and Mitt Romney are going to suddenly become heroes, no matter how eloquent or convincing Adam Schiff and the other House Managers might be.
And I guess here is as good a time as any to point out that many senators weren’t great jurors yesterday, leaving the chamber to go play with their phones and wander around (more Republicans than Democrats did so, but one Dianne Feinstein did peace out with more than an hour left in the day’s presentation). The Republicans also complained that nothing new was being presented (AHEM. YOU COULD HAVE CALLED WITNESSES AND ASKED FOR MORE EVIDENCE.) and that the case being laid out was “repetitive.” As Senator Mazie Hirono pointed out, “It is hard to listen to things you don’t want to hear. I think what the Republicans are suffering from is, the truth hurts.”
As for President Twatter, he broke a record yesterday, tweeting some 141 times, the most since he’s become President. His all-time record is 161 tweets in 24 hours, so he still has a ways to go. Still, the trial has just begun so there’s plenty of time! Also, he’s totally fine. Totally, totally fine.
What is happening today: The House Managers plan to spend today laying out the case for the first article of impeachment, abuse of power and to apply the law and the Constitution. Tomorrow, they will do the same for the second article of impeachment, obstruction of Congress.
Fun fact about obstruction of Congress: earlier in the week, President Moth Brain was asked what he thought of the trial so far, and he replied that he thought it was going well. And then he added, “Honestly, we have all the material. They don’t have the material.”
YOU KNOW, OBSTRUCTION OF CONGRESS.
The second article of impeachment was for obstruction of Congress: covering up witnesses and documents from the American people.
This morning the President not only confessed to it, he bragged about it:
"Honestly, we have all the material. They don't have the material." pic.twitter.com/DPAEFHIDjS
— Rep. Val Demings (@RepValDemings) January 22, 2020
He has no idea why any of this is happening, does he?
In Other TV News
The View made news yesterday, but in a refreshing change, it had nothing to do with Meghan McCain. Patrick Stewart was on promoting Star Trek: Picard, and brought with him a formal invitation for Whoopi to join the cast in season two.
First of all, ain’t no shame in being obsessed with Netflix’s documentary series, Cheer. Our boy J.J. is one of Jerry’s biggest fans:
Kealia: I’ve heard people say CHEER on Netflix is really good, we should watch it.
Me: I guess we can give it a shot.
Me 2 episodes in: JERRY HARRIS IS THE HEART AND SOUL OF NAVARRO COLLEGE CHEERLEADING. IF HE DOESN’T MAKE THE MAT, I WILL RIOT.
— JJ Watt (@JJWatt) January 21, 2020
But second of all, here’s an update on all your favorite cheerleaders.
Speaking of commercials, Planters is killing off (or “killing off”) Mr. Peanut in a Super Bowl ad, and I only mention it because Twitter was going berserk over it yesterday as if this wasn’t JUST A BIG DUMB STUNT TO GET PEOPLE TALKING ABOUT IT. JUST LIKE I AM DOING NOW. Guh.
And one more: hey, remember this 2005 Sylvan Learning Center commercial?
Yeah, that kid is Bachelor Pilot Peter. NO, YOU’RE OLD.
So former Trump White House Chief of Staff, Reince Priebus, has become a political analyst over at CBS News. Cool cool cool cool.
Hmm. So, there are a bunch of upcoming shows that FX developed — namely Devs, Mrs. America, A Teacher, and The Old Man — that will never air on FX, but instead stream on Hulu. They’re calling this “FX on Hulu,” (though I am pretty sure that subscribers to FX, but not to Hulu, will have access to these programs) and according to the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, for Emmy purposes, these shows will be considered FX shows, not Hulu shows. Even though they won’t be broadcast on FX.
This is an interesting post revealing what would have happened on shows that had been canceled had they lived to see another season. Hannibal, Castle, The Exorcist, Dallas, Happy Endings, and Under the Dome are all in here, among many others.
Another Downton Abbey sequel will be in the works soon enough.
20th Century Fox is dead. Long live Searchlight.
Project Runway‘s Karlie Kloss wants you to know that she’s not voting for President DingDong, even though she’s married to a Kushner.
Happy 36th birthday, The A-Team!
Get better and get some help, Tyler Gwozdz!
Renewals
- Red Table Talk has been renewed by Netflix.
- Funny You Should Ask has been renewed for two more seasons.
Cancellations
- Ambitions has been canceled at OWN after one season.
In Development
- Nightmare of the Wolf, an anime series based on The Witcher, is coming to Netflix.
- An Alex Cross series is coming to Amazon.
- At That Age and Echo, two drama pilots, have been ordered at NBC.
- Harlem’s Kitchen, a restaurant drama pilot, has been ordered at ABC.
- A six-part music documentary series from Bill Simmons has been ordered at HBO.
- The thriller His House has been acquired by Netflix.
- Red Table Talk: The Estefans has been ordered by Netflix.
- Brassic, a Sky dramedy, has been picked up by Hulu.
- Gold Digger, a BBC drama, has been picked up by Acorn TV.
- That Liam Hemsworth and Cristoph Waltz Quibi series now has a name: Most Dangerous Game.
- BBC My World, a series designed to help kids spot fake news, is being produced by Angelina Jolie.
- Ovation just announced a bunch of projects. You can read about them here, and here, and here, and here.
Casting News
- RuPaul’s Drag Race has announced the season 12 cast. See the trailer below.
- Dean Norris is going to co-star in The United States of Al on CBS.
- Lily Rabe is joining the cast of Underground on Amazon.
- Jodie Whitaker is going to stick around as Doctor Who for at least another season.
- Johnny Flynn is going to co-star in Ripley at Showtime.
Mark Your Calendars
- RuPaul’s Drag Race returns on VH1 on February 28.
- Reminder: Adam Driver is the host of Saturday Night Live this weekend.
- To All the Boys 2: P.S. I Still Love You will begin streaming on Netflix on February 12.
- Star Wars: The Clone War will begin streaming on Disney+ on February 21.
- Tom Papa: You’re Doing Great! will premiere on Netflix on February 4.
R.I.P.
Jim Lehrer, Longtime PBS anchor, news legend
Jack Kehoe, Character actor
WATCH THIS
Supernatural: While trying to help an old friend, Sam and Dean run out of luck. 7 p.m., The CW
Star Trek: Picard: This is finally happening, my Star Trek nerd friends. Series premiere. 7:30 p.m., CBS All Access
Station 19: A car goes into a bar … is not the start of a joke but a BIG EMERGENCY on the winter premiere. 7 p.m., ABC
Grey’s Anatomy: The whole bar thing is also the set up for the crossover with Grey’s. Winter premiere. 8 p.m., ABC
Outmatched: Like The Big Bang Theory, but with kids and Jason Biggs. Series premiere. 7:30 p.m., Fox
A Million Little Things: Sophie is still SO PISSED at her mother. Winter premiere. 9 p.m., ABC
The Bold Type: Season premiere. 8 p.m., Freeform
Perfect Harmony: Season finale. 8:30 p.m., NBC
Late Night:
- Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon: Noah Centineo, Wendy Williams, Griselda
- Late Night with Seth Meyers: Eric McCormack, Lewis Black, Chelsea Cutler, Adam Marcello
- The Late Show with Stephen Colbert: Chris Cuomo, David Alan Grier, Algiers
- The Late Late Show with James Corden: Greta Gerwig, Noah Baumbach, Demetri Martin
- Jimmy Kimmel Live: Kumail Nanjiani, Sting
- The Daily Show: Kehinde Wiley
- Conan: Pete Holmes
- Lights Out with David Spade: Yamaneika Saunders, Tim Dillon, Andrew Santino
- Watch What Happens Live: The cast of “Schitt’s Creek”
- A Little Late with Lily Singh: Fortune Feimster
| THUR | 7:00 | 7:30 | 8:00 | 8:30 | 9:00 | 9:30 |
| ABC | Station 19 (new) |
Grey’s Anatomy (new) |
A Million Little Things (new) |
| CBS | Young Sheldon (repeat) |
The Unicorn (repeat) |
Young Sheldon (repeat) |
Mom (repeat) |
The Gayle King Grammy Special (new) |
| CW | Supernatural (new) |
Legacies (new) |
News/Local |
| FOX | Last Man Standing (new) |
Outmatched (new) |
Deputy (new) |
News/Local |
| NBC | Super-store (new) |
The Good Place (new) |
Will & Grace (new) |
Perfect Harmony (new) |
Law & Order: SVU (repeat) |
Aloha Therese,
FYI – The link updated that Tyler died. Reality Steve addressed why Tyler was originally was removed from the show. I’m sure he will tweet or post about it soon.
j