For Sochi Olympics, NBC Hires Soviet Union Apologist Who Called Its

December 13th, 2013 9:44 AM
Earlier this week, NBC Sports announced that "Moscow-based TV journalist Vladimir Posner (also frequently spelled "Pozner") will be a correspondent for NBC Olympics’ late-night show with Bob Costas during the Sochi Games." To call Posner's background "problematic" is like saying that Bob Filner, former Democratic Mayor of San Diego, has a bit of a problem with how he treats members of the…

Sesame Street Puppeteer, Alleged Pederast Kevin Clash, Nominated for T

May 2nd, 2013 12:45 PM
"When the Daytime Emmy nominees were unveiled Wednesday, some of the more interesting noms went unreported," the Washington Post's Lisa de Moraes noted in a blog post yesterday afternoon. Interesting is quite the euphemism in the case of nominee Kevin Clash. Clash, you may recall, is the Sesame Street puppeteer who resigned last November after allegations of a sexual relationship with a…

WaPo TV Critic Rewrites History On Late Night Comedian's 1995 Shtick M

February 21st, 2013 6:17 PM
So, I take it that Lisa De Moraes didn’t go through her paper’s archives before she penned today's TV column in which she re-wrote history regarding Conan O’Brien's turn as emcee for the White House Correspondents Association dinner in April 1995. Yesterday it was announced that the late-night comedian would return this year as the master of ceremonies. De Moraes suggested the O'Brien bombed…

'Jon Stewart Shoots Self In Foot' While Talking Gun Control With Bob C

January 30th, 2013 8:31 AM
Washington Post TV writer Lisa de Moraes wrote that Daily Show host Jon Stewart "shot himself in the foot" when interviewing NBC's Bob Costas on Monday night's show. They discussed all the fuss Costas caused by pompously editorializing during a halftime break on NBC about how handguns never accomplish anything good. Costas told Stewart he’d been let off the hook when “Newtown happened.” He…

TV Columnist Bashes Romney for Declining Interview With Kids on Nickel

October 9th, 2012 6:23 PM
Citing time constraints, Mitt Romney has respectfully declined to participate in Nickelodeon's upcoming "Kids Pick the President" special that is scheduled to air on Oct. 15. In her latest column, the Washington Post's Lisa de Moraes attacked the decision, considering it a snub and quoting the reaction from the Obama campaign at length. "First Big Bird, now Nickelodeon," she began. "What’s…

TV Critics Root for NBC's Gay-com With Cruel Callista-Schlafly Villain

September 10th, 2012 7:15 AM
Media liberals are rooting for NBC’s two-gay-dads sitcom The New Normal. USA Today TV critic Robert Bianco made it number two on his favorite new shows: “For the most part, Normal plays like a lovely, small movie, mixing humorous moments with sweet, gentle grace notes.” Alessandra Stanley at The New York Times tries to make the bold statement: "Gay is the new straight." Washington Post TV…

WashPost Adds Up Seven Networks To Insist Clinton Speech Ratings Beat

September 7th, 2012 2:09 PM
Washington Post TV writer Lisa de Moraes made a big deal on Friday about how Bill Clinton’s extremely verbose Wednesday night convention speech (when you add up seven networks) apparently trumped the season premiere of NFL football (which aired just on NBC.) Actually, football beat Clinton, until the Post made a special mathematical effort to include ratings estimates from Current TV and PBS…

WaPo Reviewer Trashes New ‘Bible Challenge’ Game Show on Obscure C

August 23rd, 2012 6:14 PM
“Can’t wait for the stoning-of-adulteresses question,” Washington Post TV critic Lisa de Moraes snarked in a column back in March about The American Bible Challenge, an original game show in development for GSN (formerly the Game Show Network), to be hosted by comedian Jeff Foxworthy. Fast forward to this morning’s Washington Post, and readers would find Hank Stuever’s scathing review on the…

WaPo Fires Snark at Conservatives in Item on Mythbusters Cannon Mishap

December 8th, 2011 7:11 PM
Washington Post TV columnist Lisa de Moraes couldn't resist inserting a poke at conservatives in a sarcastic Thursday piece on a recent cannonball incident involving the Discovery Channel hit Mythbusters. De Moraes emphasized how the popular series is a "darling of conservative Republicans" and overreached to connect right-leaning politics to the wayward projectile that crashed into a house…

ABC, NBC Play Moral Midgets for Access to Charlie Sheen

March 5th, 2011 7:12 AM
The saddest media bias on display this week was the desperate hunger and thirst for that slice of Ratings Heaven known as Charlie Sheen's Continuing Moral Collapse. He's been All Access Charlie, granting high Nielsens wherever he goes, speaking of how he is High on Himself and "bi-winning" with his two "goddesses" camped at his abode. Network interviewers have tried not to alienate their guest…

WaPo, ABC Pay for Poll Question on Bristol Palin's Dancing Skills

November 23rd, 2010 8:04 AM
It's fair game to discuss whether Bristol Palin arrived at the finals of ABC's Dancing with the Stars on talent alone (instead of being judged with telephone voting). But ABC and The Washington Post were Palin-obsessed enough to actually pay for a poll question on the matter. The headline in Tuesday's paper was "Poll numbers suggest Bristol doesn't have 'Dancing' legs to stand on."  (On the…

'Dancing' Fans Want Sarah Palin to Feel Death's Sting

November 16th, 2010 11:06 PM
Washington Post TV writer Lisa de Moraes displayed her typical snark in reviewing Bristol Palin's "journey" on ABC's Dancing with the Stars this fall. The Post writer even sounded a little overwrought in asserting that Sarah Palin's appearances were causing death wishes in the audience, or as de Moraes put it "death where is thy sting-ish comments." (The writer seems to be mangling the…

WaPo Paints the Spitzer-Parker Show as a 'Democrat' and a 'Conservativ

June 24th, 2010 8:36 AM
The Washington Post Style section promised an article on CNN's new Eliot Spitzer-Kathleen Parker chat show with this front-page blurb: "Odd couple on CNN: New show pairs a conservative with a Democrat." Inside, in an article surprisingly shy on her typical snark, TV columnist Lisa de Moraes also described the pairing as the "disgraced/rehabbed former governor Eliot Spitzer, the New York Democrat…

WaPo TV Writer Wanted Biden to Call Hasselbeck a 'Nincompoop

April 23rd, 2010 7:55 AM
Washington Post TV critic Lisa de Moraes was taking after her colleague Tom Shales in hating Elisabeth Hasselbeck, whom she called the "token pretty blond Republican" on ABC's The View. (Shales suggested she resembled an ABC sitcom character who was blond, witchy, and threw nasty tantrums.). Ms. de Moraes wanted to shake her and mock her for asking the vice president  about whispering that health…