Yeah that's an astoundingly bad interpretation of what Real Time is.

So you're saying the intent is more to inform than to entertain? Get real.

I'm not saying the quality of Real Time is down at the level of Jerry Springer.

To be fair, the Mormons believe that upon leaving the faith nobody you have ever known should ever talk to you again. It's not death, but it is a death knell of any semblance of previous social life.

Just because Maher often takes a comedic slant on the issues does not mean that he isn't a scholar or a pundit. The guy obviously spends a ton of time reading up and researching.

You seem to have this idea that because his intention sometimes is to make people laugh, that the views that he is expressing aren't really his views and we shouldn't take him seriously.

I respectfully disagree. This is absolutely a news/discussion program.

There are entertainment segments like his opening monologue and new rules etc., and obviously Bill is a comedian that will make light of many things through normal dialogue, but it's pretty obvious that the discourse on the show is at a pretty high level during the panel and that's a result of the extremely smart and influential guests that he routinely has on the program. Any comparison to Jerry Springer in any way is just insanely idiotic.

Joe Rogan made a similar point on his podcast. I will paraphrase but basically it boiled down to "Bill Maher isn't going to talk about an issue unless he's well read".

I agree. I don't always think he's right (often proved wrong) but he doesn't talk about an issue without getting a good amount of research beforehand.

That is not at all what I said or meant and you must have missed this: Maher himself has said many times DURING THE ACTUAL PROGRAM that the show is entertainment, not news.

Game Of Thrones is entertainment too, does that mean it's also similar to Jerry Springer?

Ummm... wow. Yes, that's a completely reasonable interpretation of what I said. Well done.

From Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_Ti...h_Bill_Maher):

Did he flip his district?

nope: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...78677474,d.cWc

Lol, it was a failure of epic proportions.

http://www.politico.com/story/2014/1...ct-112555.html

Actually when he does that it's a total bs move where he's being charming or making a joke, in order to diffuse tension during a discussion or to change the subject, as if to say, "Hey but what do I know, I'm just a comedian." But he is obviously much more than that, and knows so.

He's a comedian. So is Larry the Cable Guy. But just because by trade they have the same title doesn't mean that it is reasonable to equate them in function.

Just like oh Idunno.... two shows that technically both fall into the genre of entertainment, but clearly deserve to be taken at different levels of seriousness.

Some of Maher's guests are some of the most politically significant people in our country. This is a political talk show. With elements of comedy. It is sometimes for entertainment purposes. But it is also meant to be informative and intellectually stimulating.

This should be pretty obvious to anyone who doesn't have Asperger's.

OK so Maher himself calls it a comedy show, it gets nominated annually for Emmys in the comedy category (without corresponding outrage from Maher or the other producers), but my calling it a comedy show means I have Aspergers. Understood.

Do you think The Daily Show is a real news program too?

This.

There aren't many (any?) shows like Real Time on TV and trying to nail it down into a predefined category isn't going to work. It has a bunch of elements to it Wubbie and you seem to want to focus on one and ignore the rest.

As for the Daily Show, what do you mean by a real news program? The Daily Show certainly provides informs the public about recent news. The show's as many parts comedy as news, but that doesn't invalidate the news portion.

The Daily Shows does more useful informing of the public than any current news program on the air.

Why has joe rogan never been on the show?

And why hasn't maher been on Rogans podcast?

They beefing?

Yes, I agree with both of you 100%, but John Stewart refers to it as a "fake news show". When he was voted as one of the most trusted people in news he went on a rant about how ridiculous that was.

I learned a lot about science from reading comic books and science fiction novels. That does not make them academic textbooks.

Many of his rants about the trust people put in him are directed towards the news channels that he regularly bashes on his program that don't do their jobs properly.

If Maher and Stewart are comic books in your analogy where do I find the academic textbooks? Fox News, MSNBC, CNN?

Rogan is too out there for Bill Maher. There's also this theory.



He's also capable of making Bill Maher look dumb.

No dude. It's because of this little gem of yours:

Agree to disagree I guess, but to say that a political panel talk show that has comedic elements is more similar to Springer than Meet the Press or Face the Nation just because it is officially a "comedy" is preposterous.

Bill Has this right

"I feel bad for the people Democrats are supposed to represent, not the Democratic candidates. They remind me of the Iraqi Army - running when they should fight."

The Daily Show is just liberal propaganda with a bit of comedy.

There is no real news on TV.... you gotta look to the alternative media!

What I was saying was that fundamentally, the purpose of a news program is to inform, and fundamentally, the purpose of Springer and The Daily Show and Real Time is to entertain. That's all. I was not saying that Springer is as good a show as Real Time, and I was not saying that the "real" news shows don't often do a crappy job of informing.

Whether Real Time and The Daily Show also happen to inform (and whether they do it better than news shows) is irrelevant to my point.

At any rate, I'm done with this discussion, I have to move on to New Rules...

Of course not. Those books contain more non-science than science. I'm curious as to what you can learn about science from comics and science fiction novels aside from terminology? And what % of the book contains this information? Real Time is a show that revolves around current events and whose main segment is political discussion.