Don Imus, the politically incorrect curmudgeon who has enjoyed a long career on radio and been a ratings builder in the mornings on MSNBC has been suspended — from the radio and MSNBC: After a career of cranky insults, radio star Don Imus was fighting for his job Monday following one joke that by his own admission went “way too far.â€? CBS Radio and MSNBC both said they were suspending Imus’...

Watch them square off HERE. And be sure to read Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estes’ column on TMV on this issue RIGHT HERE.

I PUT THE CULTURE ON THE COUCH Don Imus And Bernard McGuirk re “Nappy-Headed Hos” ‘Drive your dead over the edge,’ that’s what my elders used to say when people were being the least of what they could be. ‘Take that dead person passing for the living, and just leave them off. It’s your better self that’s most truly alive. In life, don’t be ashes, be the flame…’ One...

And now it’s time for the moment fans of HBO’s “The Sopranos” have long waited for — and dreaded. “The Sopranos,” quite possibly the episode-per-episode finest-acted and scripted single-series drama in television history, will start its final (and creator David Chase MEANS final) 9 episodes tonight with the prevailing question: will Tony Soprano die at the end? Other...

The Democrats in Michigan seem to have lost, well, their sanity. Their latest plan? An iPod for every kid. We have come to the conclusion that the crisis Michigan faces is not a shortage of revenue, but an excess of idiocy. Facing a budget deficit that has passed the $1 billion mark, House Democrats Thursday offered a spending plan that would buy a MP3 player or iPod for every school child in Michigan. No cost...

An illegal alien who is drunk kills a young girl. So is it an immigration issue — or a drunk driving issue? Or both? Reasonable people can discuss it, but go to CROOKS AND LIARS HERE and watch an absolutely livid Bill O’Reilly in a screamfest with Geraldo Rivera. This is a must-view piece of video for several reasons. One is that it underscores how two people who were actually good journalists when...

In our final look at television comedy pioneer Ernie Kovacs, here’s a piece of tape that I alluded to in my first post this week. I noted that he died in a car crash in January 1962 but a few weeks later ABC aired his final comedy special, taped a month earlier, with an advisory at the beginning that Ernie would have wanted it to be enjoyed. Here is the beginning of that show. And, once again, note how...

As we’ve said all week, television comedy pioneer Ernie Kovacs, who died in a car crash in 1962, was WAY, WAY ahead of his time. JUST WATCH THIS one starring Kovacs: You can learn more about Kovacs online at the Encyclopedia of Television. His official website is here. Kovacsland (unofficial site) is HERE. The Ernie Kovacs blog is HERE. And you can buy a collection of his best bits below:

Some new polls have bring good news and bad news for Fred Thompson, the former Senator turned TV actor who could well give the Republicans their first REAL “Law and Order” Presidential candidate. The GOOD NEWS is that his stock is quickly rising among Republican voters. The person who should be most concerned should be former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, whose support is sagging. On the other hand,...

Once again, in response to emails we’re offering you a bit more of television comedy pioneer Ernie Kovacs, who died in a car accident in 1962. Click on the You Tube below and you’ll see two of the superb cigar commercials that the cigar-smoking, moustachioed Kovacs wrote, produced and starred in. He helped turn commercials into high quallity comedy blackouts: You can learn more about Kovacs online...

We got lots of emails after THIS POST about television comedy pioneer Ernie Kovacs asking for more examples of his work. So we’ll run more throughout the week. Click on the You Tube below and see an example of the BRILLIANT closing credits he used on his show during the early 1960s, before his untimely death in an 1962 car crash. No one did what Kovacs did. Note how early television’s comedy genius...

Jib Jab’s latest is a brilliant satire on changing (should be say plummeting?) news values: What We Call the News | Send To Friends | Funny Animations at JibJab

Ernie Kovacs was one of early television’s true underrated geniuses. And a tragic one. I can still remember the sad day of January 12, 1962 when he died in a car accident at the height of his popularity. I was in elementary school and chose that as my current events story to present to Mrs. Quinn’s class. I fought back tears. But I thought: “Surely even though he’s gone, his comedy...

….on The Price Is Right (in 1983 — notice a YOUNGER Bob Barker):

Before you begin to party or cry (depending on your ideology)…Think again…what’s the date today…April Fools’ Day!!! “Many media organizations have either unwittingly or deliberately propagated hoaxes on April Fools’ Day. Even normally serious news media consider April Fools’ Day hoaxes fair game and spotting them has become an annual pastime…” More...

An Internet governing body on Friday rejected a proposal to create a unique set of Web addresses for adult entertainment Web sites. Why? Read on…

The highly controversial art exhibit in New York of “My Sweet Lord,” a naked, anatomically correct chocolate Jesus has reached meltdown: the exhibit has been canceled. Is this a bittersweet moment for those who argue “art” should be broadly defined and protected — or a case of people twisting the concept of art and mocking religion getting their just desserts? At issue is the...

Well, after a long time I read a story that on seeing George W. Bush the journalists did not have the usual scowl and disbelief on their faces…Instead they merrily laughed away as the President regaled them with jokes. A sample: “Noting that he had only 664 days more to go in the White House, Bush told journos critical of the administration’s immigration policy that technically he too was...

Warren Beatty and his sister, Shirley MacLaine , grew up in Richmond, Virginia. Warren Beatty turns 70 today, although you wouldn’t guess it from his well-preserved features – and the fact that he is still as famous for his philandering as his film-making, writes David Usborne in The Independent. “His extraordinary accomplishments were the reason that just this January Beatty was honoured...

TMV tries to keep alive our wonderful comedy heritage by posting You Tube clips of classic comedians of the big and small screen in the hopes that younger readers (particularly those interested in comedy) will watch their wonderful work. W.C. Fields had a bit of a resurgence in the rebellious 1960s, some 20 years after his death (basically, due to liver problems due to his legendary alcoholism). In one of his...

Legendary insult comedian Don Rickles (who once sang out of key while sitting behind me when I attended a Jewish synagogue service in Los Angeles) and some celebrities who were at the top of their fame in the 1970s sing (mostly on key) “I’m A Nice Guy”:

We’ve run several well-received reviews (and poetry) by Dan Schneider, who offers comprehensive and thoughtful looks at films and books. Here’ is his latest. Review of Native Son, by Richard Wright Copyright 2007 © by Dan Schneider Richard Wright’s 1940 novel, Native Son, violates two of the basic tenets of modern MFA dogma. The first is that it starts off very slowly, then builds up a...