260 replies to this topic

[NancyEss]

Any thoughts on this new show?

[ChesterhillGirl]

Outstanding. I knew when he subbed for KeithO for several weeks that he was going to get his own show, either on MSNBC or somewhere else, because he is just too good to waste.

[chirealtor]

Finally a thread for this show!

Last night should have been appointment television for everyone. How perfect was it, that Lawrence asked the same set of questions Katie Couric asked Sarah Palin in that infamous CBS interview a couple of years ago. Last night's exchange of Q & A (rather, Qs followed by blank stares and awkward silences) between Lawrence and Levi Johnston was exquisitely painful and endlessly amusing to watch. lol

[teddysmom]

I've been dvr-ing Rachel and watching in the morning, and this morning caught the first couple minutes of L O'D, and kicked myself that I didn't dvr his show.

DVR will be set to MSNBC 10 pm.

[Rickster]

Last night should have been appointment television for everyone. How perfect was it, that Lawrence asked the same set of questions Katie Couric asked Sarah Palin in that infamous CBS interview a couple of years ago. Last night's exchange of Q & A (rather, Qs followed by blank stares and awkward silences) between Lawrence and Levi Johnston was exquisitely painful and endlessly amusing to watch. lol

I saw excerpts of this on Morning Joe and have to say that while I love L O'D, I thought this was sort of a cheap gimmick on his part. It's one thing to ask those questions of a candidate who's going to be a heartbeat away from the presidency but its another to ask them of a kid who's semi running for mayor of a podunk town in Alaska. I agree it was painful, but was it fair? What was the purpose? - everyone knew Levi Johnston was an idiot anyway.

[ChesterhillGirl]

I saw the whole Levi Johnston interview last night and the clip on Morning Joe this a.m. The clip made O'Donnell seem almost predatory because Joe and Mika were snickering and booing all the way through it. Mika pronounced that the interview had killed LJ's candidacy, which I don't think it did. It did show him to be uninformed on national, global issues, but it didn't show him to be unqualified for a rural mayor. Besides, LJ's been beaten up in the media many times, and I think he knew what to expect going on an MSNBC interview.

[BlueSapphires]

You wanna be a famewhore for money? You've gotta play with the big boys. Levi is out if his league and needed a slapdown.

[heebiejeebie]

You wanna be a famewhore for money? You've gotta play with the big boys. Levi is out if his league and needed a slapdown.

All I saw was Larry getting down in the mud with Johnston and then crowing about how dirty he was. What's next? Larry going after Real Housewives or Lindsay Lohan? I thought it was an embarrassment for both of them. And when you go about humiliating Levi Johnston and end up looking like it matters what he does and want to remain credible as a pundit? I think Larry came out the loser in that bit. Less than one week in and he has to go to pathetic famewhores as a cause? Because there isn't enough to discuss that is actually relevant to the nation? I thought LO'D was smarter than all that. If Levi Johnston is such a doofus, why on earth would you feel the need to point it out like that?

All it did was remind me why I can enjoy O'Donnell as a guest host and not a regular. Like many at MSNBC, he seems stuck in the notion that he has to be right on the issue. No wonder, despite the different ideology he can make Scarborough's beady little eyes gleam.

Thank god for Rachel. Larry I'll be passing on unless and until the show has a guest host that I like (i.e. feel should have gotten the spot instead).

[Mary Jane Fields]

On the one hand, okay, we get it that Levi Johnston probably shouldn't be running for Wasilla dog catcher let alone mayor until he gets his GED and starts reading some newspapers on a regular basis. But on the other hand, to be fair, Johnston is only running for mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, so it's really not imperative that he to be up to speed on geopolitics. Now what O'Donnell should have done was grill Johnston on Wasilla trailer park lot fees and meth labs.

But did you notice the daggers Johnston was giving O'Donnell at the end? He knew he had just been made a fool of.

Edited by Mary Jane Fields, Sep 29, 2010 @ 6:43 PM.

[BlueSapphires]

Only mayor? No, Levi is a dummy making a fool of himself, and I laughed my ass off to see him finally treated the way he deserves. Enough with the polite interviews for these idiots (Sarah included)!!

So Larry took his questions word for word from Katie Couric's interview of Sarah .. ha!

[farishta]

I really like Lawrence and I think the Levi Johnston interview was great. I don't think Lawrence expected Levi to be as ignorant as he was--I was so shocked myself to see the extent of his ignorance. I thought that just by being a walking talking human, being connected (however remotely) with newsmakers, and running for mayor for heavensake, a kid that age would have picked up just some minimal information by osmosis, but I was wrong. I think that once Lawrence realized the depth of Levi's ignorance, he actually worried that he might come across as a bully, and he actually threw Levi lots comments to help him save his face. Levi's best off being absolutely silent as he was on the kathy griffin show.

It reminded me of an interview Lawrence did with a Tea-party woman who had held up an Obama = socialist/ nazi sign during one of those summer townhall meetings. Lawrence did a really smart interview with the woman, who was just terrified of socialism, and had no idea that nazisim, even if it called itself socialism, was a far-right movement and in that sense not to be confused with left-oriented moments such as socialism. He showed her or at least us the viewer that some of the things that were bedrocks in her life, eg social security for her grand parents, were outcome of "socialist" thinking. He is not holding these people up to scorn as much as showing how and why they got so confused in their thinking. He comes across at least to me as someone who is not shaming the interviewee or simply scoring points, as Keith might, but instead doing a teacherly demonstration of how people arrive at some of their most mystifying notions.

Anyway, I really like the show so far. I don't want him to be interviewing too many bigwigs though--eg Biden and Bloomberg (sp?)--but do hard edge analyses. IHis background with West Wing might either drag down this news show, or help it, and I'm curious to see which. I hope he's getting good ratings.

Edited by farishta, Sep 30, 2010 @ 11:48 PM.

[ProgLib]

I'm surprised to see how many people (in general) are not viewing the interview LOD had with Levi for what it was... just a comical and entertaining discussion. He was clearly toying with the kid while chatting it up in side conversations here and there. And, when Levi answered some of the questions (stating that he doesn't know), LOD gave him full credit for being honest instead of bunching up some words together to try and sound smart like Palin did with Couric.

Plus, the fact that he took those questions from Couric's interview with Palin just further proves that O'Donnell was trying to make him look better than his former future mother-in-law, which he did. So, why all the hate for putting the poor kid on a pedestal? He could have completely ravished him if he wanted to, but he was nice, cordial, friendly, and still gave him REAL questions that real people in politics should be able to answer. Maybe not someone who's half-running for Mayor, but still.

By the way, I, for one, love the show. I love the graphics, the segments (like "Re-write"), and LOD's interviewing skills. He's very systematic, like Rachel, but cunning like Keith. They really hyped the show, and it's, so far, living up to the hype. By the way, I don't know if anybody knows this, but LOD's show is Monday-Thursday, because MSNBC is still deciding to run that "Lock-up" documentary crap on Friday's. They still show Keith, Rachel and the others, but it goes straight into documentaries after Rachel.

Edited by ProgLib, Oct 1, 2010 @ 6:19 AM.

[u dwoos]

The Re-write segment last night blasting McMahon was excellent!

[chirealtor]

I also loved the way he set up the question to Mayor Bloomberg about minimum wage...showing the TV audience the answer and the asking the Mayor. LOVED how Bloomberg knocked his answer out of the park by breaking it down to annual vs. weekly vs. hourly for minimum wage. Guy's done his homework.

About the Levi/Palin/Katie Couric Q&A. I really think there was no malice aforethought on O'Donnell's part. He seems to have an ironic and playful sense of humor (also with very big teeth when he's battling Morning DoDo). I got the sense that he just thought it would be interesting and perhaps fun to ask the same questions, knowing full well that Levi wouldn't know the answers.

I think Levi is primarily concerned with staying in the media spotlight, regardless of how it makes him look. I've noticed that JUST when we think Levi is gone for good he finds a way to jump back into the headlines. So what if he looks stoopid? He's famous. And that? Is what counts in his tiny little undereducated, myopic, backwoods brain.

[Lisette]

You wanna be a famewhore for money? You've gotta play with the big boys. Levi is out if his league and needed a slapdown.

Sometimes I feel like the only person in the world who really likes this kid.

I was very disappointed in the L'OD interview. First, I kind of liked Levi for telling the truth (I feel) about Sarah P. The media spin machine on her behalf is so annoying. She gets a pass on being a total bitch (imo) about her daughter's engagement to LJ. I wouldn't want either one of them a heartbeat from the presidency, but I wouldn't be surprised if Levi would be a more caring, fairer, and more ethical small town mayor than she was.

L'OD planned a hit job. Why? Are small (really small) town mayors deserving of such an attack? Especially when they aren't preaching anything bad--hatred, gay-bashing, etc.

I want to like Lawrence, but he's so smug. I like to think KO would have given LJ a fairer shake. (And when bullies like Mika and Joe are cheering you on, you should -know- what you're doing's not right).

I want to like his show but it hasn't happened yet.

[BlueSapphires]

Levi is a high school dropout (seriously, why did the GUY have to drop out because of pregnancy?), gun-toting, famewhore dumbass. I have zero empathy for him getting slammed on what he SHOULD have known was a news program and not The View. Just because he likes to pick the scab that is the Palins, doesn't make him a good "kid". I too enjoy seeing what tidbits he throws out about Sarah, but that doesn't make him a good guy.

[Lisette]

Levi was very likable (to me) and didn't seem dumber than Sarah P. (just for comparison) on "D-List" with Kathy Griffin. He was kind of funny at times and seemed more tolerant than Sarah--gotten past the gay-bashing of his family, community, etc. and seemed like a decent enough person.

My feeling isn't that he's the greatest person in America, but that if Sarah Palin was okay to be mayor of Wasila, Levi should be -at least- as capable as she was. (Secondary point is that I don't think being a small town mayor is significant enough to have deserved the LO'D beat-down. That, imo, was just mean, a total waste of his ability to dish out public humiliation on television. Levi Johnston? Really? It's like kicking a puppy, Larry.)

[ProgLib]

Very heartfelt apology by Lawrence on tonight's show. He showed what a class act he is. People will certainly continue to tune into his show with that kind of attitude.

[chirealtor]

Wow. That was a pretty stunning interview with Lou Dobbs.

[jjj]

What did he apologize for on the 6th? I missed it.

[u dwoos]

Very heartfelt apology by Lawrence on tonight's show. He showed what a class act he is. People will certainly continue to tune into his show with that kind of attitude.

What did he apologize for on the 6th? I missed it.

Huffington Post - Lawrence O'Donnell apologises to Michael Steele

[farishta]

It was a good apology and actually Michael Steele came off pretty well too in the whole exchange. Class act all around.

That Lou Dobb interview was cringeworthy; I was so embarrassed on behalf of Lou, whom I cannot stomach btw, I couldn't watch. Lou is such a slimy turd of an arsehole. He just has no shame even when he's caught doing the skankiest things, just keeps talking through that disgusting smile of his. Talking of which, Lou really needs to lay off the Rembrandt tooth whiteneing paste. It's positively blinding watching those chiclet teeth of his send out white glares into the screen.

Lawrence always has been a good interviewer, and I'd really like to see him take on someone like David Frumme (who had a hissy fit on one of Rachel's early shows, and also very conservative, but at least smart and focused,) in contrast to Lou the dribbling hatemeister.

[chirealtor]

I'd really like to see him take on someone like David Frumme (who had a hissy fit on one of Rachel's early shows, and also very conservative, but at least smart and focused)

Rachel pretty effectively spanked Frum on that appearance. I think he got the message because imho Frum has been far more reasoned and respectful on other MSNBC shows since the Maddow appearance. I'm a screaming liberal so of course I love LO. But I do have one issue. Sometimes he goes a little too "Hardball" when he's interviewing -- asking guests questions and then just barreling ahead before giving them a chance to fully respond.

Ditto on the comments about Lou Dobbs' fluorescent teeth. Almost had to put my sunglasses on!

[rhys7]

I tried to watch the Dobbs interview but, shallow me, I got distracted by Isabella's wonky eyebrows. I'd start to listen, then the mind went right to her brows. So apparently I can't listen and watch at the same time. Thus my question: was Dobbs saying something akin to: "I had a landscape company come to my house to work. It's not up to me to know if my contractors have hired only legals." ??

[Lisette]

was Dobbs saying something akin to: "I had a landscape company come to my house to work. It's not up to me to know if my contractors have hired only legals." ??...

I think it was pretty much that, except instead of "only" illegals, "any" illegals.

"Not my responsibility to know" seemed to mean, "It's not really important to me where work on my own property is concerned."

[rhys7]

I don't see it that way. If I'm understanding, it seems as tho Dobbs is of the opinion that he is not going to vet a business he hires to groom horses or mow the lawn. If that's what I understand, I agree with him. If I buy an item at my grocery store, I don't know if illegals were part of the meat chain, for example, to get the steer from farm to me. That's kind of what I think Dobbs is saying. Now, granted, I really wasn't paying good attention.

[ProgLib]

Lawrence always has been a good interviewer, and I'd really like to see him take on someone like David Frumme...

LOD spoke to Frum when he was guest hosting Countdown a few months ago. They had a civil discussion, as most Countdown interviews are. I don't know if it would be different with him on LW, but you never know. I enjoy watching Mr. Frum. His blog is, also, pretty interesting. A lot of well-reasoned people who don't care for the tea parties and the fringe of the Republican party. Frum himself can't stomach that crowd. He has even criticized Fox News very openly.

[Bigwheels1971]

...But I do have one issue. Sometimes he goes a little too "Hardball" when he's interviewing -- asking guests questions and then just barreling ahead before giving them a chance to fully respond.

Preach It! That's the biggest reason why I stopped watching Ed Schulz regularly and don't watch CM. To me, it would be more effective if he could keep rebuttals short but powerful. Interrupting just makes him look bad.

He also sometimes asks questions that I can't actually believe he expects people to answer. For example, on a couple of occasions, he asked the VP something like, If President Obama had taken your advice on __________, do you think things would be better today for Democrats?" My initial reaction was, "How the f*** is he supposed to respond to that, considering that's his boss?" That being said, I'm enjoying the show.

re: Ron Paul: I really want to know what LO's staff told him about his interview because RP basically accused LO of lying to him about the interview focus. I'm hoping RP is in the wrong

Edited by Bigwheels1971, Oct 12, 2010 @ 10:52 PM.

[InnerCanuck]

Oh, my. So moved by the Ft. Worth councilman's story - yes, it does get better. Thanks to Last Word for airing so much of it.

[sloopster]

I never thought I'd cry over a Ft. Worth city council meeting.