A Certain Point of View: Writing, Film and Stuff

Did ABC do the right thing in canceling “Roseanne” after her attack on Valerie Jarrett? Honestly, yes, and here is why. Ever since Donald Trump won the 2016 Presidential election, large numbers of people with animosity toward other people (liberals, people of color, immigrants, religions other than Evangelical Protestantism, and LGBQTs) have shed whatever cloak of civility they used to wear and now feel able to say whatever they like, whenever they want, consequences be damned. Apparently, Roseanne Barr, the one-time stand-up comic and star of the ABC’s hit comedy show that bears here name, is one of those individuals who feel that now that Trump is President, she can make any comment she likes on fora such as Twitter with no fallout whatsoever. Barr, of course, has always been a controversial celebrity. Several years ago, Barr posed in a Hitler disguise, standing in front of an oven with a baking pan of human-shaped cookies. It was a satirical photo taken for a...

How did A&E Network's History, aka The History Channel, fall into disrepute with history buffs, historians, and TV critics? Essentially, History, which was originally named The History Channel, followed the same path as its parent network, A&E. It was seduced by television’s version of the dark side of the Force: “reality programming.”  And it was consumed by it. First, though, a little history about, well, History. Back in the 1990s, A&E started out as the Arts and Entertainment cable channel. I didn’t watch it much back then, but it used to be the “go to” channel for viewers who wanted to see programs about fine arts, music, travel to exotic places, and documentaries. Eventually, as it often happens with cable channels, the owners of A&E, which include ABC and Hearst, decided to create a separate channel devoted to historical content, primarily documentaries. And in an inspired burst of creativity, A&E named the spin-off “The History Channel.”...