Here’s another view on DM: Link
Eric Alterman was being a jerk?
Dennis asked Eric to set the agenda on his own fucking show. He kept dozing off when Eric was speaking. He didn’t bother following up on anything Eric said. It is Dennis’s fucking job to steer the conversation to where he wants. He asked Eric a question about the 9/11 conspiracy theory hoping and praying that Eric believed in it. But, when Eric denied his belief, he had no material left!
Nitpicking the OP: Not all charges against R. Kelly were dropped. From the BBC
Thanks for the update. I was merely closely paraphrasing what Miller had said. Obviously he’s not a good source of comedy or information.
His rants suck on CD. He sounds like he’s talking to a wall–Miller needs the audience.
You can’t have been that big a fan if you didn’t realize that Miller was always a conservative. Maybe you were a “I’ll laugh at the rant and then change the channel” kind of fan, rather than a “Watch the show through” kinda fan.
Did you never watch Dennis Miller Live? Before he was conservative and funny, now he’s just conservative, but he’s not presenting markedly different views. He’s just presenting them in a different manner.
And he’s not as rabidly conservative as you’d make him out to be–a scant two weeks ago he was endorsing higher taxes for the wealthy–calling progressive taxation “patriotism.” This isn’t a view generally associated with closed-minded conservatives.
I’m with you on this one, Miller’s almost becoming a real news anchor, and that kinda defeats the purpose of watching Dennis Miller–it’s be like giving Jon Stewart an anchor position on CBS.
Miller’s making something of a transition–from a polemical comedian, to a polemical news anchor. The problem isn’t that he’s anymore conservative, or any less open-minded, than he was before, the problem is that he’s doing Dennis Miller Live anymore, which–as you implied repeatedly–is what you’d like him to be doing.
Regards.
According to Alterman: “Dennis Miller called my cell to apologize and to say that he was in the wrong and he is sorry. I accepted his apology.”
Why? 
I caught his show last night, seemed to be quite current in its topics. Got the feeling that he was figuratively shaking the audience, while screaming, “I’m still funny, dammit, why aren’t you laughing?” It’s also apparent he’s having trouble reading cue cards, this started while he still had his old HBO series. Perhaps the light bulb will go on for him one of these days, and he can re-evaluate what’s happening to his career.
I’ve been watching the show regularly, and I have to say… Most of the people here are right. And that Alterman ‘interview’ was embarassing. Miller was an ass. Apparently, he knows it since he apologized.
However… There are bright spots. I like his ‘varsity panel’. He seems to be pretty good at mixing up the panel with actors, liberals, conservatives, etc. And he actually lets his guests speak. I get so sick of hosts who invite guests on and then force them to speak in sound bites by interrupting every freaking sentence. Chris Matthews, for all his other strengths, is really bad for this. Miller tends to let his guests talk until they’ve said what they want to say.
Miller can also be a very good interviewer when he wants to be. The interviews on his old show were surprisingly good.
So here’s hoping he finds his ‘voice’ and his show survives, because at least it’s a change from the other pundit shows out there.
But so far, I’m not all that impressed. Flashes of good comedy and interviews mixed in with a lot of stuff that has fallen completely flat. The only thing saving him right now is that he’s on CNBC, and they had no audience in the first place.
Miller was, in the past, very funny. Now he is just a “hip” Limbaugh. He is a joke.
I’m glad someone started a thread on what a fuckhead Miller has turned into, ever since I saw him act like an ass in the Alterman interview. I have been a Miller fan since he was on SNL, saw him live, and thought he was insightful, esoteric, and witty. Now, however, he’s a bore and a boor.
For those who have criticized Alterman’s topic of conversation: what did he THINK Eric Alterman would want to talk about? Miller must have previewed the guy’s CV before he came on. Then he baited Alterman with the Dean quote, and got all sulky when Alterman answered with his opinion, strongly but reasonably. Next we have the inexplicable mockery of Alterman’s posture, which seemed just fine to me. It ends with Miller swearing and losing his temper. My god.
IMO, Miller lost his shit in this interview, and that’s not putting too fine a point on it. It was really a pathetic display. Can he really brook no opinion that deviates from his party line? When and why did this hideous transformation occur?
I am through with Dennis Miller. Where’s that barfing smiley when you need it?
I was a big fan of Miller, and I didn’t really hold it against him when he became political in pretty much the opposite direction I’m at, but that Alterman interview was pathetically terrible. At least he apologized for it, though, gotta give him a bit of credit for that.
Did he apologize on the air? Or are you talking about the phone call?
What a disappointment Miller’s new show has been, even since the retooling. I can’t respect a comedian who takes certain topics or people off the table as subjects of humor, especially someone whose whole act is based on topical humor and current events like Miller. The Varsity panel is uneven, being dependent on who turns up. But seeing Denny throw some work Martin Short’s way by having him on with Naomi Wolf and David Horowitz was pitiful. I admire loyalty, but that unfunny twit was less than useless.
Miller and I seem to be headed in different directions politcially as time passes, so what. My main problem with him now is he seems to be falling into the same trap that Bill Maher did, letting his ego override his sense of humor. Those painfully unfunny monlogues are starting to remind me of the ones Maher used to do before they were dropped from being a regular part of Politically Incorrect. Keeping the “Dean Scream” button around for as long as he has is proof to me that his comic instincts are going or he is just really desperate.
But what else could we expect from CNBC for night time programming? They bump Kudlow & Cramer (which wasn’t great but at least it could be interesting) to earlier in the day to make way for this crap, that Tina Brown name-dropping fluff fest, and whatever ad guy Donnie Duetsch’s show is supposed to be. I’ve tried to watch it at least three different times, and I can’t remember one second of anything I watched. It made absolutely no impression on me good or bad.
I meant the phone call.
It is obvious that conservatives were trying to come up with an “answer” to Jon Stewart and The Daily Show. Jon Stewart worries Republicans. He is hip. He appeals to young audiences. He exposes conservative hypocrisy. He wins converts to the Democratic Party.
And it is painfully obvious that not only has Dennis Miller lost any hipness he may once have possessed, but he doesn’t have the wherewithal to carry on political debate that runs any deeper than name-calling. He may be able to sit down and compose a long-winded rant that (by incorporating obscure allusions) at least sounds intellectual. But he doesn’t have the quick wit necessary for the parry and thrust of humorous political debate.
The Alterman interview was close to a total meltdown. It looks like Miller has thrown in the towel, and is silently begging to be yanked off the air.