# It was PAINFUL watching Dick Clark tonight **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 1, 2011, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-painful-watching-dick-clark-tonight/566022 "2011-01-01T05:04:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2011, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-painful-watching-dick-clark-tonight/566022/41 "2011-01-01T18:39:48Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > I haven’t seen Guy in ages-is he still doing New years Eve concerts? Well, he died in 1977, so it’s doubtful. \*beaten by mere seconds. ::shakes fist at **runner pat** :: ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2011, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-painful-watching-dick-clark-tonight/566022/42 "2011-01-01T19:58:12Z")
> [@KennerTheGreat](#): > > At least he got the countdown right this year. He usually flubs it somehow (“eight…six…seven”). He called Ryan “Ron”. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2011, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-painful-watching-dick-clark-tonight/566022/43 "2011-01-01T20:58:56Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > Who’s Andy Cohen? Oh wow, I thought everyone knew him. But if you’re not into Bravo, I guess not. He’s a producer at Bravo but he also became well known for hosting the Real Housewives reunions. And then he later gave himself a live show that comes on after the Housewives shows on Sunday and Thurs called Watch What Happens Live. He’s really fun and adorable. Really watchable. Everyone I know who watches it wishes they could be best friends with Andy. I can totally see him taking over that Dick Clark type role. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2011, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-painful-watching-dick-clark-tonight/566022/44 "2011-01-01T21:58:25Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > Oh wow, I thought everyone knew him. But if you’re not into Bravo, I guess not. He’s a producer at Bravo but he also became well known for hosting the Real Housewives reunions. And then he later gave himself a live show that comes on after the Housewives shows on Sunday and Thurs called Watch What Happens Live. He’s really fun and adorable. Really watchable. Everyone I know who watches it wishes they could be best friends with Andy. I can totally see him taking over that Dick Clark type role. Didn’t recognize name, but INSTANTLY recognized his face. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2011, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-painful-watching-dick-clark-tonight/566022/45 "2011-01-01T22:28:06Z")
Watching the Backstreet Boys and NKOTB try to relaunch their 20 year old careers and fail was sadder. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2011, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-painful-watching-dick-clark-tonight/566022/46 "2011-01-01T22:40:41Z")
> [@etv78](#): > > It may be ACCURATE, but it’s antiquated and insulting. (IMO, obviously YMMV) to you it is. To others its pointless to rename a word because it is negative in context. Any word used in substitution has the same meaning. Whatever politically correct word sounds good in your mind will be challenged down the road by another version of you. He sounds [del]retarded[/del] mentally challenged. He has no more right to the job than a surgeon with advanced MS has a right to perform surgery because he owns the hospital. It’s painful to watch. If he is putting himself in front of the camera because he’s the producer than it’s a selfish act that borders on arrogance. I don’t say this lightly because I like my traditions but at what point is he going to give it up? Are we going to have a bedside Dick Clark special with tubes hooked up to him so he can blink down the numbers? ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2011, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-painful-watching-dick-clark-tonight/566022/47 "2011-01-01T22:55:36Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > Watching the Backstreet Boys and NKOTB try to relaunch their 20 year old careers and fail was sadder. The whole show was a well scripted parody of itself right down to a song about getting drunk. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2011, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-painful-watching-dick-clark-tonight/566022/48 "2011-01-01T23:02:47Z")
I missed the mod note about discussing the word “retarded” so my apologies. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2011, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-painful-watching-dick-clark-tonight/566022/49 "2011-01-01T23:50:08Z")
> [@elmwood](#): > > He sounds retarded. ☹ Also, like a surefire pick for someone’s death pool. Sad, I know. > [@etv78](#): > > elmwood- the “R” word is one of my “beserk button” things. (I know you didn’t know, just an FYI) > [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > The word “retarded” is still used clinically. It’s not an insult if its accurate. > -DtC, Personal Care Attendant for over 10 years. Your first sentence could be read to imply that accuracy demands that it be used in a clinical sense. I’m not prepared to say whether **elmwood** ’s line of work or personal experience make him a likely “clinical sense” user, but in the absence of evidence that he is, I’m going to bet against “clinical,” and in favor of “puerile.” Not that I necessarily have any brief against puerility on the internet, the Dope, or the Pit, but if **etv78** does, at least wrt “the R word,” I don’t have any cause to begrudge him his (actually quite measured) “FYI.” And IMO, neither do you. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2011, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-painful-watching-dick-clark-tonight/566022/50 "2011-01-01T23:52:16Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > He looked so happy to me, that I didn’t begrudge him anything. In 50 years, we might see Seacrest in that same situation. \ 50 **YEARS**!!?? But I want it _ **NOW** _!!! \ ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2011, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-painful-watching-dick-clark-tonight/566022/51 "2011-01-01T23:55:20Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > If y’all want to argue about the usage of the word “retarded,” please start a new thread. > > Thanks, > > **twickster** , Cafe Society moderator My apologies. I broke my own rule and posted as I was reading, instead of finishing the thread and coming back. It won’t happen again. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2011, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-painful-watching-dick-clark-tonight/566022/52 "2011-01-02T00:22:57Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > \ 50 **YEARS**!!?? But I want it _ **NOW** _!!! \ I can’t get the [Futurama](http://theinfosphere.org/Dick_Clark%27s_head)depiction out of my head. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2011, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-painful-watching-dick-clark-tonight/566022/53 "2011-01-02T00:34:22Z")
> [@Sateryn76](#): > > Diane Rehm is an excellent example of someone who needs to hang up the towel. I’m sorry, but someone who has the voice/speech issues she has developed no longer belongs as the host of a radio talk show. Even though her brain is fine and she’s still a good journalist, she needs to get off my radio. That’s the thing. Diane Rehm is still 100% lucid, and her voice seems a lot better than it was a few years ago. NPR is also (in)famous for its on-air talent with odd voices. Dick Clark, though, well … you know. I know it’s tradition and all, the “world’s oldest teenager” counting down the seconds until the New Year, but still, how far can it go? [This?](http://basicinstructions.net/ask-capt-pike/) Where do they draw the line? ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2011, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-painful-watching-dick-clark-tonight/566022/54 "2011-01-02T01:27:56Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > I’d rather see Dick Clark on TV struggling to speak clearly than see Dick Clark shut away in a room away from the public so as not to offend those unused to disability. He’s still Dick Clark, and strokes that cause disability do, unfortunately, happen to people. Such people have as much right to appear in public as the able-bodied. > > But then, I’m weird - I married someone handicapped so obviously this sort of thing doesn’t bother me as much as some other people. That’s bs, nobody is offended by his disability he simply can’t do the job anymore. If Lebron James lost his right arm in an accident he wouldn’t have a job anymore, and it wouldn’t be because it offended anyone it would be because he’d just be making a fool of himself if he stepped on a basketball court. ---
**Author:** ![TheTerribleTako](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@TheTerribleTako](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheTerribleTako)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2011, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-painful-watching-dick-clark-tonight/566022/55 "2011-01-02T01:39:29Z")
Dick Clark looked and sounded a whole lot better than last year. He seemed to be in good spirits instead of the zombie-like shell he had been the past few years. I don’t know, it cheered me up to see him improve so much. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2011, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-painful-watching-dick-clark-tonight/566022/56 "2011-01-02T01:51:04Z")
> [@DigitalC](#): > > That’s bs, nobody is offended by his disability he simply can’t do the job anymore. If Lebron James lost his right arm in an accident he wouldn’t have a job anymore, and it wouldn’t be because it offended anyone it would be because he’d just be making a fool of himself if he stepped on a basketball court. I understood that comment last year, when he got the numbers out of order. But when he says them in order, what proof do you have that he can’t handle it? You guys make it sound like he did horribly, but I listened to the clip, and he was perfectly fine. And, anyways, the basketball reference is silly. Basketball is a team competition. Keeping a handicapped player on the court would hurt other people. I’m not evne sure anyone is competing for Dick’s job, but, even if they are, no one is being hurt by letting the old man have his sentimental moment. It would be more like if they wouldn’t let the handicapped James make a ceremonial shot. ---
**Author:** ![dhkendall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9adbd/32.png) [@dhkendall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dhkendall)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2011, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-painful-watching-dick-clark-tonight/566022/57 "2011-01-02T02:22:02Z")
> [@Death\_of\_Rats](#): > > I would prefer Dick Clark, even as a vegetable counting down the numbers with eyeblinks, then to ever have to suffer through yet another New Years with Ryan Seacrest or Jenny McCarthy. Ironically, that’s how Dick Clark got the job in the first place - in 1972 the big draw was Guy Lombardo. The young generation didn’t want any of that, they wanted to see contemporary stars on NYE. Enter Dick Clark (well, not exactly “hip” even for 1972 youth, but a hell of a lot better than Guy Lombardo). I wonder if now the kids say “Dick who? He’s old! We want to see Ryan Seacrest and Lady Gaga and anyone else whose IQ is under 35!” ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2011, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-painful-watching-dick-clark-tonight/566022/58 "2011-01-02T02:42:13Z")
Well they certainly undercut the IQ age by about 30 years. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2011, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-painful-watching-dick-clark-tonight/566022/59 "2011-01-02T02:46:55Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > It would be more like if they wouldn’t let the handicapped James make a ceremonial shot. It would be more like James producing the game and making himself the center of attention. ---
**Author:** ![Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brown_eyed_girl/32/3574_2.png) [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brown_Eyed_Girl)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2011, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-painful-watching-dick-clark-tonight/566022/60 "2011-01-02T03:08:35Z")
> [@DigitalC](#): > > That’s bs, nobody is offended by his disability he simply can’t do the job anymore. If Lebron James lost his right arm in an accident he wouldn’t have a job anymore, and it wouldn’t be because it offended anyone it would be because he’d just be making a fool of himself if he stepped on a basketball court. Tell that to Rick Allen. Sad, maybe, but I didn’t think it was nearly as painful watching Dick Clark as it was watching that vapid bitch Jenny McCarthy. My favorite part was when she asked the Marine who he was celebrating with and he replies with the names of the couple next to him, then she proceeds to ask them nothing but…their names. Brilliant! And Ke$ha? Bleeech! Next year, give me Dick Clark and a computer-generated voice, if necessary, but please take those two twats and dump them in the East River. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-painful-watching-dick-clark-tonight/566022.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-painful-watching-dick-clark-tonight/566022.md?page=4)