In which our late night comedians have more answers to our gun crisis than our leaders.

by Therese Odell, posted in Uncategorized

Cute animal of the day goes to Lefty and the poster his mom made to protest the NRA convention tomorrow:

All Other TV News

We are still reeling from Tuesday’s school shooting in Uvalde.

And here’s why there will be no bipartisan solution to our gun death epidemic anytime soon: it’s not just the money from the gun lobbies filling their pockets, it’s the messaging the Republicans have been running on for the past 40 years, the “slippery slope” theory. For decades, the Republicans, following the NRA’s lead, have been warning their voters that if they allow any gun regulation at all, if they allow background checks or laws requiring safe storage or smart guns, the next thing you know, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the entire Squad would all be at their door to collect their guns. They can’t back down from that messaging now just because another classroom of children is dead in a completely preventable act. All they can do is repeat “thoughts and prayers” and “mental illness” and “fewer doors” and “don’t politicize a tragedy” until the news cycle moves on to something else and we leave them alone.

However, though pro-gun conservatives are attempting to wait us out so they can change the conversation to something that doesn’t implicate them so obviously and directly, some people are speaking out.

Yesterday at a press conference in Uvalde that was being broadcast live on cable news channels, Governor Greg Abbott, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick and Senator Ted Cruz were confronted by gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke. It was difficult to hear what he was saying because he never screamed or yelled, but he told Governor Abbott that this massacre was “totally predictable” and criticized all the men on the stage for “doing nothing.” Other men on the stage with the Governor started yelling Beto down, one saying, “I can’t believe you’re a sick son of a bitch that would come to a deal like this to make a political issue.” Of course, all of this is a political issue, including the event itself.

Beto left the auditorium and proceeded to take questions from the media in Spanish and English outside:

@nowthispolitics

It took Beto O’Rourke just 15 seconds to rattle off 4 common-sense gun reforms that have been stalled for years despite widespread popular support

♬ original sound – NowThis Politics

I understand the position of those who feel like this was a tacky political stunt, but the thing is? This is a political issue no matter how many times people like Ted Cruz wistfully sigh that we shouldn’t “politicize” tragedy. Politicians are the only ones who can get us out of this mess, and so we need to get into their faces about it, and not let them wait us out once again. Being polite has changed exactly nothing.

From Beto O’Rourke: “This is the only time that we are all focused on what just happened. It’s the only time to call for the action that we need that is going to prevent this from happening again, and I know that there are a majority of us, of good conscience and of good will in the state of Texas, of all political parties, of all backgrounds, who want to do the right thing.”

Speaking of getting into their faces, look how fast Ted Cruz runs away when he doesn’t have an answer to this very simple question. (Well, he does have an answer, we all know what the answer is, he just can’t say it out loud.) Ask harder questions, journalists, and don’t let them weasel their way out of them:

Congress and Gun Rights Money.png

Meanwhile, over on Fox News, they’ve offered over 50 different “solutions,” none of which are gun control, obvs.

https://twitter.com/search?q=fox%20news&src=typed_query

Our late night hosts have some ideas for solutions:

 

Jimmy Kimmel Live!: “While our leaders on the right – the ‘Americans’ in Congress and at Fox News and these other outlets – warn us not to politicize this. They immediately criticize our President for even speaking about doing something to stop it. Because they don’t want to speak about it. Because they know what they’ve done. And they know what they haven’t done. And they know that it’s indefensible. So they’d rather sweep this under the rug.

“And here’s the thing – I don’t believe Ted Cruz doesn’t care about children. I don’t. I refuse to believe he is unaffected by this. He’s a father. I bet he went to bed sick to his stomach last night. It’s easy to call someone a monster. But he’s not a monster – he is a human being. And some people might not like hearing me say that, but it’s true.

“So here’s the thing I would like to say to Ted Cruz, the human being, and Governor Abbot, and everyone: It’s OK to admit you made a mistake. In fact, it’s not just OK, it’s necessary to admit you made a mistake when your mistake is killing the children in your state.

“It takes a big person to do something like that. It takes a brave person to do something like that. And do I think these men are brave people? No, I don’t. I don’t.

“But man – I would love it if they surprised me.”

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert: “There is a simple if extremely difficult solution: reduce the number of guns. We’ve done it before and it worked.”

Late Night with Seth Meyers: “Entrenched powerful forces have perpetrated a monumental, decades-long fraud in convincing large numbers of people that it is their constitutional right to own arsenals and military-grade weaponry. And they’ve invested large sums in convincing people that that made up right — a right five Republican justices essentially invented out of whole cloth not that long ago — is constantly under threat.”

The Late Late Show with James Corden: “When I drop my kids off at school in the morning and kiss them goodbye, it doesn’t cross your mind that that could ever be the last goodbye. The thought of that phone call — that your child is the victim of a mass shooting — is beyond comprehension as a human being.

“I’m so deeply sad for the families of these children, the trauma of the survivors and for the future, these kids will never see.”

An interesting note on Jimmy Kimmel’s comments: Dallas’s ABC affiliate WFAA interrupted his emotional monologue with commercials. Kimmel stopped short of accusing the station of doing it deliberately in a tweet, but they responded that it was a technical SNAFU.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, CBS pulled their season finale of FBI, as it dealt with a school shooting. Lifetime has also pushed the release of The Bad Seed Returns in response to the tragedy.

And please, for the love of God, stop asking Quinta Brunson for a school shooting episode of Abbott Elementary, what is wrong with you people?

Indeed.

Goodbye, Ellen.

If you are a fan of The Godfather as my entire family is, I can not recommend The Offer on Paramount+ strongly enough. The portrayal of Robert Evans alone is genius. Also, I would love to know if Francis Ford Coppola is watching.

Apparently, there is a new animated series based on Better Call Sal and it’s not the only one? How am I just learning about this?

BBC is shrinking its workforce, and shuttering some channels for a number of reasons, including moving more towards digital. That’s the future, kids.

Good for them:

Renewals

In Development

  • A live-action Speed Racer series is in development at Apple TV+.
  • Demimonde, J.J. Abrams’ sci-fi drama, is in danger of not going forward at HBO, and in fact, his entire deal with Warner Bros. is being reevaluated by the new bosses. I’m not saying this is worrisome for the creative output of HBO, except OH WAIT, YES I AM.
  • The Big Breakfast is returning to Channel 4.

Casting News

  • Seth Green is replacing Jim Gaffigan as the voice of Thunderbolt on DC’s Stargirl on The CW.

Mark Your Calendars

  • Man Vs Bee will premiere on Netflix on June 24.
  • Snowflake Mountain will premiere on Netflix on June 22.
  • Love & Anarchy will return on Netflix on June 16.
  • The Barking Murders will debut on BritBox on June 6.
  • Baby Fever will premiere on Netflix on June 8.
  • Rhythm + Flow: France will premiere on Netflix on June 9.
  • As the Crow Flies will premiere on Netflix on June 3.

R.I.P.

Ray Liotta, Legendary actor most famous for Goodfellas, but also many other film and TV roles, including Hanna and Shades of Blue

John Zderko, Actor in Criminal Minds, The Mentalist, 9-1-1: Lone Star and Bosch: Legacy

Lee Lawson, The Guiding Light actress

Morton “Mort” Janklow, Literary agent

WATCH THIS

Shoresy: FUCK YOU, JONESY. Series premiere. Hulu

That Damn Michael Che: Season two. HBO Max

Grey’s Anatomy: Grey’s Sloan Memorial faces a blood shortage in the two-hour season finale. 7 p.m., ABC

Welcome to Flatch: The Flatch Christmas celebration is a disaster in the season finale. 8 p.m., Fox

Bull: Bull goes to trial one last time in the series finale. 9 p.m., CBS

Carpool Karaoke: This is back. Season two. Apple TV+

Late Night:

  • Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon: Machine Gun Kelly, Harry Kane
  • Late Night with Seth Meyers: Jon Hamm, Julio Torres, a performance from the musical “Six”, Ulf Mickael Wahlgren
  • The Late Show with Stephen Colbert: Beto O’Rourke, Karl Urban
  • The Late Late Show with James Corden: Terry Crews, June Diane Raphael, Amos Lee
  • Jimmy Kimmel Live: Rose Byrne, The Miz, Sebastián Yatra
THUR 7:00 7:30 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30
ABC Grey’s Anatomy
(new)		 The Rookie
(repeat)
CBS Young Sheldon
(repeat)		 United States of Al
(repeat)		 Ghosts
(repeat)		 How We Roll
(repeat)		 Bull
(new)
CW Walker
(repeat)		 Legacies
(repeat)		 News/Local
FOX MasterChef Junior
(new)		 Welcome to Flatch
(new)		 News/Local
NBC Law & Order
(repeat)		 Law & Order: SVU
(repeat)		 Law & Order: Organized Crime
(repeat)

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