The ratings for last night’s town halls are in and I will never stop laughing

by Therese Odell, posted in Uncategorized

We’ve made it through another weird week, kids. Only two more to go before Election Day and then either sweet relief or mass chaos. WHO KNOWS. 18 days.

Here are some goats and one dog in a tiny captain hat.

Political Crap

The competing — and controversial — Presidential town halls aired last night, and they went about how you expected: Biden answered questions from voters in a calm, detailed, sometimes wonky way; President Qanon was combatative, evasive and suggested Democrats are pedophilic baby-eating Satanists.

Biden promoted mask-wearing; suggested that we shouldn’t defund the police, but should demand more transparency; challenged the idea that President Kim Jong Un’s Girlfriend has been good on foreign policy issues; talked climate change; admitted that supporting the 1994 crime bill was a mistake; and promised to reverse anti-trans policies.

One President Tinfoil Hat supporter compared Biden to Mr. Rogers … like that’s a bad thing.

MEANWHILE … President Lunatic refused to say whether or not he was tested for COVID-19 on the day he debated Joe Biden; confirmed that he is $400 million in debt but claims that it is a mere pittance; insisted again that we’re doing a GREAT job containing the virus and that we’re “rounding a corner”; suggested that there’s no problem with retweeting the conspiracy theory that Biden had members of Seal Team 6 murdered to cover up the fact that Osama Bin Laden is not actually dead …

… and refused to denounce QAnon, instead insisting they are brave fighters of pedophilia.

Savannah Guthrie pushed back against President Disinformation’s nonsense, and was praised by journalists:

and was attacked by right-wingers, so you know she was on the right track:

Yes, won’t someone please think of poor President Snowflake?

But the best news is that this stunt didn’t work. President Bombastic clearly insisted that NBC televise his town hall at the same time as Biden’s on the presumption that he would bring in higher ratings, which he could then boast about at his superspreader rallies. The early ratings have come in and they are delicious.

The bottom line about these town halls is that they were unlikely to move any voters one way or another. What matters is that we vote, and we vote EARLY. The polls remain in Joe Biden’s favor, so President Voter Fraud’s only chance to steal the election is if he can stop late votes from being counted at all. If people continue to vote early, we can prevent that.

Let this very informative piece help explain:

This very heavy early Democratic vote is going to make it harder for the President to disrupt, contest or steal the election in at least four ways:

1. Every day which goes on it becomes clearer our voting systems are working as intended, and that people are being able to have their say. The process looks and feels legitimate, and it will just be harder to claim it has been corrupted somehow.

2. Any planned Election Day disruption by the President or his “poll watchers” will have a far more limited impact as few Democrats will be voting on Election Day.

3. In theory, fewer absentee ballots will be arriving after Election Day in those states which allow post-election counting to take place. Trumpian efforts to disallow these late arriving and/or counted ballots will also have a far more limited impact if somehow successful.

4. A majority of the important battleground states count their absentee and early votes before Election Day, and many release those tallies as soon as the polls close. This means that on Election night big states like Florida and North Carolina will be starting the night off with potentially significant Biden leads. While Trump is likely to make it close as the night goes on, he may never actually lead in states which Biden eventually wins and which count ahead. This will make any premature claim of victory by Trump on Election night much more challenging.

The great news is that people are voting early: more than 21 MILLION people have already voted (maybe as many as 22 million):

Here in Texas, two and a half million of us have voted early; and in Harris County, more than 100,000 people voted in the first three days of early voting.

My heart is swelling. But now is not the time to become complacent. If you haven’t voted yet and can, DO IT. DO IT NOW. We have two more weeks to lock this down and make it all but impossible for President Bastard to steal this election. LET’S GO.

Black Lives Matter

I don’t know why it is so difficult for Hollywood to wrap their brains around this (actually I do: racism) but diversity and representation in TV and films PAYS OFF, LITERALLY.

And on that note, more than 270 Latinx creators signed a letter demanding more representation in Hollywood.

Disney+ is adding a 12-second graphic at the beginning of some of their older films including The Aristocats, Dumbo, Peter Pan, and Swiss Family Robinson that reads: “This program includes negative depictions and/or mistreatment of people or cultures. These stereotypes were wrong then and are wrong now. Rather than remove this content, we want to acknowledge its harmful impact, learn from it and spark conversation to create a more inclusive future together. Disney is committed to creating stories with inspirational and aspirational themes that reflect the rich diversity of the human experience around the globe. To learn more about how stories have impacted society, please visit www.disney.com/StoriesMatter.”

Misha Green, the showrunner of Lovecraft Country, admits that she failed the Indigenous charcter, Yahima, by introducing her and then killing her off all in one episode:

George Floyd’s murder changed the shape of the Netflix series Social Distance while they were making it. Spoilers in the article if you haven’t watched yet.

Orlando Jones talks some more about his firing from American Gods and the disrespect shown to his character by the new showrunner. Mr. Nancy truly was a genius creation and one of the best parts of the first season.

This story slipped past me somehow but William Jackson Harper from The Good Place opened up on Twitter last week about how President Grand Wizard’s policy against diversity training hampered an event he was participating in through Arts in the Armed Forces. Basically, he was going to host a virtually screening of Malcolm X and a Q&A, but some students refused to participate because they felt it violated this dumb order. Not OK.

Some potentially good news: Alameda County is going to reopen the shooting of Oscar Grant, the Black man who was murdered by Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) police officer Johannes Mehserle at Frutivale Station, and whose death inspired the movie Fruitvale Station.

GOING VIRAL

Bad news: We had more than 65,000 new cases yesterday, the most since July.

Good news: Might we have a vaccine by the end of next month? It’s possible.

All Other TV News

Curb Your Enthusiasm‘s 20th anniversary is today. Happy anniversary, you misanthrope!

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? paid tribute to Regis Philbin in last night’s premiere.

In the world’s least breaking news: Jon Favreau is open to making a Mandalorian movie. OH? IS HE? HOW SURPRISING.

Renewals

  • The Vow has been renewed at HBO.
  • Locke & Key has been renewed for a third season on Netflix.
  • The Outsider is probably renewed for a second season at HBO, at least according to Stephen King. 

In Development

Casting News

Mark Your Calendar

  • This Is Us returns on NBC on Ocotber 26.
  • The Osbournes: Night of Terror will debut on Travel Channel on October 30.
  • 30 Coins will premiere on HBO sometime in 2021.
  • Sylvie’s Love will debut on Amazon on December 25.
  • Behind Every Man will debut on OWN on November 7.

R.I.P.

Bob Shanks, Television producer who helped create Good Morning America and 20/20

Vaughn McClure, ESPN NFL reporter

Paul Frank, Producer of shows like V.I.P. and Wilfred and part of the production team that briefly gave All My Children and One Life to Live new lives online

Joan Barnett, Producer of the 1983 TV movie Adam

WATCH THIS

FRIDAY

The Trial of the Chicago 7: An all-star cast, including Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Sacha Baron Cohen, Daniel Flaherty, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Michael Keaton, Frank Langella, John Carroll Lynch, Alex Sharp, Jeremy Strong, and Eddie Redmayne star in this film about the seven anti-Vietnam War protestors who were charged with conspiracy and the intention of starting riots. Premiere. Netflix

Helstrom: The son and daughter of a notorious serial killer track down bad guys in this new Marvel series. Series premiere. Hulu

What the Constitution Means to Me: An adaptation of Pulitzer Prize-nominated play in which author Heidi Schreck discusses the beauty and pitfalls of our founding document. Premiere. Amazon

The Perfect Weapon: A look into cyberwarfare and cyber spying. Premiere. 7 p.m., HBO

Bad Hombres: This documentary follows the Tecolotes de los Dos Laredos, the only bi-national professional baseball team. Premiere. 8 p.m., Showtime

Shark Tank: Season premiere. 7 p.m., ABC

SATURDAY

Saturday Night Live: Issa Rae hosts with musical guest Justin Bieber. 10:30 p.m., NBC

David Byrne’s American Utopia: Spike Lee directed this version of David Byrne’s critically-acclaimed Broadway show. 7 p.m., HBO

Ghost Nation: Steve, Jason, and Tango are back to poke around in haunted places. Season premiere. 8 p.m., Travel

SUNDAY

Lovecraft Country: “Full Circle” is the name of the season finale, so. 8 p.m., HBO

The Vow: GO DIRECTLY TO JAIL, “VANGUARD.” Series finale. 9 p.m., HBO

Supermarket Sweep: Leslie Jones hosts this reboot of the classic game show. Series premiere. 7 p.m., ABC

America’s Funniest Home Videos: Season premiere. 6 p.m., ABC

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?: Season premiere. 8 p.m., ABC

Card Sharks: Season premiere. 9 p.m., ABC

Late Night:

FRI. 7:00 7:30 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30
ABC Shark Tank
(new)		 20/20
CBS The Greatest #AtHome Videos
(new)		 Undercover Boss
(new)		 Blue Bloods
(repeat)
CW Masters of Illusion
(new)		 Masters of Illusion
(repeat)		 World’s Funniest Animals
(new)		 World’s Funniest Animals
(new)		 Local
FOX Friday Night Smackdown Local
NBC American Ninja Warrior
(repeat)		 Dateline

—

SAT. 7:00 7:30 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30 10:00 10:30 11:00 11:30
ABC College Football
(live)		 News/Local
CBS College Football
(live)		 News/Local
FOX The Masked Singer
(repeat)		 I Can See Your Voice
(repeat)		 News/Local
NBC Weakest Link
(repeat)		 Ellen’s Game of Games
(repeat)		 Saturday Night Live
(repeat)		 News/
Local		 Saturday Night Live
(Issa Rae & Justin Bieber)

—

SUN. 6:00 6:30 7:00 7:30 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30
ABC America’s Funniest Home Videos
(new)		 Supermarket Sweep
(new)		 Who Wants To Be a Millionaire?
(new)		 Card Sharks
(new)
CBS 60 Minutes Ferris Bueller Mom
(repeat)
The CW Local Pandora
(new)		 Whose Line Is It Anyway?
(repeat)		 Whose Line Is It Anyway?
(repeat)		 Local
FOX The OT
(live)		 The Simp-sons
(new)		 Bless the Harts
(new)		 Bob’s Burgers
(new)		 Family Guy
(new)		 Local/News
NBC Sunday Night Football
(live)

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