Despite Josh’s conspicuous absence, we are very much back in the swing of things here. Look for Your Morning News at the regular time tomorrow, and in the meantime, here’s the odds and ends from the day:
The classic from our youth, where Snoopy… actually, I don’t remember this special at all. And I even remember the It’s the Super Bowl, Charlie Brown! special that I got on VHS from the local Chevron station. Hmm.
9:00 – Bad Lieutenant (AMC)
I hear you. “Thanksgiving and Christmas specials? I need more NC-17 rated Harvey Keitel action. And I’m not talking Life on Mars.” Well, here you go. Keep the kiddies away.
10:00 – A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All! (Comedy Central)
In case you missed the premiere on Sunday night, here’s the repeat of the musical special. Sorry, Stephen, not so sure this one’s going to become a holiday classic – too much green screen, not enough claymation and puppetry. (Quick guide to the musical numbers – Stephen’s: meh, Toby Keith’s: meh, Willie Nelson’s: extra disappointed meh, John Legend: groovy meh, Feist: hilarious, thank God, Closing Number: pretty good.)
Late Night
Reese Witherspoon is spending Christmas with four different talk show hosts! Wait, no she’s not, but she is going to be on Letterman. Once-W and soon-to-be-Jonah-Hex Josh Brolin stops by Leno (as do the Killers), Kanye West and Seth MacFarlane debate which is funnier – Family Guy or Kanye’s singing on 808′s and Heartbreak – on Conan, and Jon and Stephen are still on vacation.
8:30 EST – Monday Night Football: Packers at Saints (ESPN)
Young Aaron Rodgers faces off against Saints stalwart Drew Brees – who, coincidentally, is this week’s member of Jeff’s fantasy impact! All I need is 6 points, Breesy. Hook a brother up.
9:30 – Ricky Gervais: Out of England (HBO)
I can’t say I was a very big fan of Gervais’ other specials (including Animals and Fame), and though this special taped at Madison Square Garden is hardly perfect, it hits more often than it misses. If that’s not a ringing endorsement, I don’t know what is.
10:00 – Boston Legal (ABC)
Gotta love themed episodes – it’s a very David E. Kelly Thanksgiving, as the Crane Poole & Schmidt crew gather at Shirley’s house to argue over who gets to have sex with the turkey. (Spoilers: Shatner chugs gravy.)
Late Night
Nicole Kidman used to be married to Tom Cruise. Compared to that, appearing on Letterman tonight should be a breeze. Kanye West also performs. Meanwhile, Leno begs Ron Howard to take off his ballcap, and Hugh Jackman is charming and Australian on Conan. Stewart and Colbert are taking the week off.
Bailouts Bailouts Bailouts! The federal government agreed Sunday night to rescue Citigroup Inc. by helping to absorb potentially hundreds of billions of dollars in losses on toxic assets and injecting some fresh capital. I am not sure exactly how these things work, but some how the government is going to invest more than the company is worth and still not actually own it. The other key part of this story is that President Bush emphasized how he and President-Elect Obama worked closely on this plan. As I said, I don’t know whether this is a good idea or not but I tend to defer to Paul Krugman in matters like this (what with his Nobel prize and all):
A bailout was necessary — but this bailout is an outrage: a lousy deal for the taxpayers, no accountability for management, and just to make things perfect, quite possibly inadequate, so that Citi will be back for more.
Meanwhile, GM remains in a lot of trouble and is considering bankruptcy if they don’t get a federal bailout. The New York Times has a great article which includes interviews with several bankruptcy specialists about what bankruptcy proceedings would look like for GM and what they could accomplish. If that sounds a little dense for a Monday, then the money quote says it all: “Bankruptcy sucks as a way to achieve real business resolution.”
Twilight, a movie I probably won’t see based on a series of popular books that I have never heard of was the #1 film at the box office this weekend. James Bond took the #2 spot with Disney super-dog epic Bolt coming in third.
SuperbloggerKanye West’s new album drops this week and while we will have a longer review later in the week, the initial reports are that like all of West’s albums he succeeded somewhat in spite of himself.
So President Barry held a press conference, fun was had by all, and the market inched up a bit. Day 3 = win.
(It should be noted that the above line was written after considerable thought on my part about how I would like the Wrapup to really encapsulate the day at large, to try and really keep a record of this new age, and what’s on the national consciousness. And that’s what I wrote. Sigh. Onto the links.)
New Jay-Z track (with lots and lots of lovely station IDs), new Kanye West video (pretty unexceptional, except for the bitchin Jetsons portraits halfway through).
8:30 EST – Monday Night Football: Packers at Saints (ESPN)
So President Barry held a press conference, fun was had by all, and the market inched up a bit. Day 3 = win.