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Herc’s Seen ABC’s TRAVELER!! Is It Worth The Journey??

Published at:  May 10, 2007 3:54:09 AM CDT

SPOILER ALERT !!

I am – Hercules!!

It’s a drama, from screenwriter David DiGilio (“Eight Below”), about twentysomething Yale grad students who find themselves framed for a New York museum bombing – sort of - by someone they believed to be their friend and classmate.

Suffice it to say these characters don’t do what I would do – and, I suspect, what many others might do - given the same predicaments. The kids don’t seem Yale smart, the investigating feds don’t seem fed smart and there are about eight things in the show’s first hour that don’t make sense to me.

Still, the pilot offers good pacing and compelling twists, and the perceived tomfoolery did not tempt me to switch off the show between acts. (I could not say the same about the first few episodes of the goofier “Prison Break.”)

Readers are hesitantly encouraged to tune in to “Traveler,” but they are warned to brace themselves for a rough road - one strewn with some long stretches of sketchy logic.

But what matters Herc’s opinion?

The Chicago Tribune says:

… I didn’t find “Traveler” to be a waste of time, though the characters are a bit bland, the dialogue verged on clunky at times, and you have to wonder about two Yale grads (played by Matthew Bomer and Logan Marshall-Green) who can’t figure out that they should probably get new duds or at least trade clothes in an attempt to evade being captured by the authorities. But for fans of “Three Days of the Condor”-type action thrillers, “Traveler’s” first hour is certainly watchable stuff. …


The Los Angeles Times says:

… It's all very tense and fun, underscored by sirens and ominous techno music, shot in that popular, over-caffeinated jumpiness that here at least makes sense, lighted up by the all-American good looks of Bomer and sulky rich-boyishness of Marshall-Green. But it's also undeniably disturbing, and not because someone was trying to destroy an art museum. In plots such as these, the biggest hump is why the innocent don't just go to the authorities — in this case, there is nothing to link the guys to the bombing except the Rollerblading, and any half-decent lawyer could get around that. But the characters are quickly convinced, and convincing in their belief, that there is no justice to be had for a suspect in the bombing of a New York institution.…


The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says:

… After the bomb blast, ABC's apparent lack of faith in "Traveler" becomes more understandable. The show is a serial with a dark theme, exactly like the many shows that flopped in the fall ("The Nine," "Vanished," "Kidnapped"). It's another excellent premise that might work well as a one-shot movie but feels like it may be grasping in its attempts to make it as an ongoing series. …


The Portland Oregonian says:

… just because your plot is almost entirely implausible, and your characters a bit on the threadbare side, and your frantic pace simultaneously familiar and grating, well, that doesn't mean a legion of viewers won't be out to get you.… Everyone's in on it. Don't trust anyone. Particularly a couple of Yalies with such bad judgment and a serious misapprehension of Jack Kerouac. The Yalies I know (not the least of them being Mrs. TV Columnist) would out-debate the FBI so quickly and thoroughly they would not only have to take back everything they said about terrorism, but also apologize for the tone of voice they used while saying it. And then take them out for an expensive dinner. They're really smart, is the thing. "Traveler," on the other hand, isn't.


The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says:

… The pilot's not bad, but it's not so intriguing that I'm itching to see the second episode. I suspect it will run out of gas long before it gets to its destination.


The Boston Herald says:

Kids, don’t Rollerblade in an art museum. You’ll end up accused of terrorism, and how is that going to look on your next job application? … Trapped in an idiotic situation, the boys behave, naturally, like idiots. When agents finally apprehend Tyler after what seems to be the longest chase on a fire escape in TV history, Jay calls in a bomb threat. That’s a way to prove your innocence. As the cliche goes, it’s not the destination that counts, it’s the journey. “Traveler” is a road not worth taking.


Variety says:

… one of the better hours that the Alphabet network has unleashed in an otherwise-mediocre development season. …


The Hollywood Reporter says:

… an adrenaline-fueled thrill ride that supplies a feast for the gut while leaving the brain mostly malnourished. You have to suspend an awful lot of disbelief to buy into this premise, and even at that the protagonists aren't nearly compelling enough to care a lot about. … Over the course of the ensuing 45 minutes in creator/co-exec producer David DiGilio's opening teleplay, we're treated to a series of unlikely events. The least-plausible scenario unfolds at every turn to keep the boys out of custody (trust me, noting this doesn't really spoil anything). But even at that, the element that's wholly confusing surrounds why a couple of guys on Rollerblades should be considered the chief suspects, anyway. If you were going to blow up a building, would you be sure to draw maximum attention to yourself by racing through your target of choice a minute before detonation?



10 p.m. Thursday. ABC.










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    Readers Talkback

  • May 10, 2007 2:54:01 AM CDT

    Messed up the Variety link

    by oozer3993

    And first? Maybe? I might check this one out. Sounds interesting enough.

    Reply to Talkback

  • May 10, 2007 3:17:05 AM CDT

    and who among us wouldn't frame our classmates?

    by newc0253

    especially Winthorp, that cad: he has all the manners of an uncouth Yalie.

    Reply to Talkback

  • May 10, 2007 3:23:23 AM CDT

    Reshoots

    by newkie brown

    Didn't they do boatloads of reshoots on this?

    Reply to Talkback

  • May 10, 2007 3:30:36 AM CDT

    Place your bets...

    by tomthumbstallywhacker

    how long before this is pulled? (you know, for not getting "Heroes" or "Lost" type figures for its first ep?)
    You knows it.

    Reply to Talkback

  • May 10, 2007 3:35:32 AM CDT

    I heard they are

    by rokurgepta

    only airing one episode for now, the series won't actually get a chance to possibly air till the fall. So basically it's a lost cause

    Reply to Talkback

  • May 10, 2007 3:43:54 AM CDT

    ABC's "officially" going to air the series on May 30th

    by filmcritic3000

    It had a 13 episode order but that was scaled back to 8.

    So I'll check this out but ABC's pretty much just burning this thing off.

    Reply to Talkback

  • May 10, 2007 5:31:47 AM CDT

    This years little miss adreneline fueled thrillride

    by napoleon park

    This years lLittle Miss Adreneline Fueled Thrillride Of The Summer... On Ice! ****** -- TRAVELER --
    ***
    The series is about two Graduate (Dustin Hoffman) students, Jay
    Burchell (Matthew Bomerand) and Tyler Fog (Logan Marshall-Green), who on a dare from their long time friend Will Traveler (Aaron Stanford) skate around a museum for a prank. After they leave the museum it explodes and the FBI are called in when it appears to be terrorist related. The two friends soon become suspects and it appears that Will set them up to make it look like they did the bombing. Fog and Jay tell the FBI (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.) about Traveler but they are told that no one called Will Traveler ever existed. The boys find they have no proof as they never have a clear photo of him as he always hide his
    face, and he never spoke of his home life. Realizing that they only
    way to prove their innocence is to find Traveler and find out why he's
    trying to frame them, so they go looking for him and soon find
    themselves involved in a Manhunt (Victor Jory) by the FBI.
    *****
    The Yahoo! listings give no details, but here's what TV Guide and MeeVee say:
    "Pilot Episode" New episode
    ABC Thu May 10 2007 10:01pm 0:59 hr. Debut: College friends go on the lam after becoming suspects in a terrorist bombing. First up: Three pals embark on a cross-country road trip. After pulling a prank in a museum, two become suspects in a bombing.
    Jay Burchell: Matthew Bomer, Tyler Fog: Logan Marshall-Green, Will
    Traveler: Aaron Stanford, FBI Agent Jan Marlow: Viola Davis
    Scheduled to run 8 episodes.
    -----------------------------------------------------------------
    The dreadfully attractive young cast also features Stephen Culp
    (Bree's husband on Desperate Housewives) and William Sadler (Jaye's dad on Wonderfalls) plus Pascale Hutton (various TV guest roles including Raya on Smallville)
    *****
    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0805668/
    http://whoiswilltraveler.warnerbros.com/
    --------
    This can't miss: America loves a series about terrorism with a character whose name sounds like "F*g". Or not.

    Reply to Talkback

  • May 10, 2007 6:13:02 AM CDT

    Did you say Dustin Hoffman is in this?

    by rokurgepta

    So October Road was canceled? I really liked it, and thought it was some quality story telling, the only reason I was able to watch it was because I recorded it though. It wasn't marketed that well, and it was on at 10pm on thursday nights, the same time slot they seem to be putting Travler into. 10pm on a thursday seems like a shitty timeslot to broadcast this virgin show.... Seems to me ABC is just as fraked up as FOX is.

    Reply to Talkback

  • May 10, 2007 6:13:44 AM CDT

    I'm guessing this isn't based on the McLarty novel, huh

    by chrth

  • May 10, 2007 6:24:53 AM CDT

    btw, I was just kidding

    by rokurgepta

    I did recognize your reference to the movie the graduate... :P

    Reply to Talkback

  • May 10, 2007 7:24:04 AM CDT

    Luke warm reviews?

    by mowgliworf

    That means it won't get cancelled. If it was actually a good show (Drive, Firefly, E-Ring, Kidnapped, etc), then it would only last a few episodes. But as we've seen, total shit will last forever. ah...em Jericoh

    Reply to Talkback

  • May 10, 2007 7:37:28 AM CDT

    stupid critics

    by bizarrojerry

    Even the ones who like it say, "Sure the characters are idiots and their behavior defies all logic, but it's not bad." Those problems are exactly the kind of flaws that ruin a TV show or movie. But it's a "thrillride" so who cares if it makes no sense. Idiots. Oh, and the characters think they can't get out of being accused of a terror related crime? Hmm. I'm guessing we've got an anti-Bush admin, the government is too out of control and fear-spreading over this terror stuff kind of theme going. Although, I'm probably wasting my time blabbing on about this, since they lost me with the critic's mention of the leads all-American good looks and sulky rich-boyishness. Will the rich boy be spoiled and evil or will he be rebelling against his evil, wealthy parents? Ugh.

    Reply to Talkback

  • May 10, 2007 8:05:47 AM CDT

    :P?

    by napoleon park

    Glad you got the Graduate Joke. Did you catch "Efram Zimbalist, Jr. as The FBI"? Did anyone get the reference to Victor Jory in the 1959 TV series "Manhunt"?

    Reply to Talkback

  • May 10, 2007 8:10:09 AM CDT

    If George Bush's Presidency was a TV Show

    by rokurgepta

    It would have been canceled long ago

    Reply to Talkback

  • May 10, 2007 9:31:00 AM CDT

    Yale smart???

    by tvguy returns

    Have you ever met someone who went to Yale? Smart isn't the first adjective that comes to mind.

    Reply to Talkback

  • May 10, 2007 9:34:47 AM CDT

    I only listen to Variety anyway.

    by supermarch

    Who cares about some small town rag's opinion?

    Reply to Talkback

  • May 10, 2007 12:28:01 PM CDT

    After Drive, Invasion, Smith, and Surface

    by modlight

    Some of which were great, others not so much... I'm laying of high Concept TV shows for a while. They have a way of getting killed, and I leave unfulfilled

    Reply to Talkback

  • May 10, 2007 1:17:23 PM CDT

    Bush's Presidency WAS a TV show...

    by charon

    ...called "That's My Bush," which was cancelled pretty quick "due to budgetary concerns" or some such nonsense. Heavy-handed and made Bush look like the total fool he's come to be known. At least Parker and Stone still have South Park to unleash subtle satire on us all.
    Looks like they did actually finally release the episodes on DVD, ending with Cheney taking over and title of the show changing to "That's My Dick!" Fucking hilarious. No wonder it got yanked right quick. "Budgetary concerns," my ass!

    Reply to Talkback

  • May 10, 2007 1:37:17 PM CDT

    Hesitantly encouraged =

    by trader groucho 2

    avoid like the plague???

    Reply to Talkback

  • May 10, 2007 1:55:45 PM CDT

    If The Democrats Were A TV Show...

    by uss cygnus

    It would be called "Americans Who Hate America", "We Own Defeat", "My Wacky Uncle Osama" or "50 Ways to Betray your Armed Forces".

    Reply to Talkback

  • May 10, 2007 2:26:39 PM CDT

    uss cygnus

    by trader groucho 2

    Best way to "support our troops"? How about following the Powell Doctrine from the first Gulf War in the early '90s? Limited objective, overwhelming force, go with REAL allies, achieve your objective, get the fuck out. Oh, and heed Machievelli's lessons on the problems with using mercenaries. The US has 120,000 of them on the ground in Iraq as I type this, draining treasure (AKA our tax dollars), way more than this nation has EVER used before. And before you accuse me of being a left-wing nutjob, I hasten to remind you the only people I quoted in the post are a REPUBLICAN and an advisor to a MONARCH. Get yourself schooled before you open your trap dude.

    Reply to Talkback

  • May 10, 2007 4:36:45 PM CDT

    no doubt...

    by jimmy rabbitte

    ...the Iraq war has become a total mess. The problem seems to be that the objective got lost in all the activity. The taking of Saddam was a true victory; but since then it seems like the Iraqi people have not been on board with the whole concept.

    If they don't want to do for themselves, at some point they'll just have to be S.O.L. , because it's time to give our troops and our country a break from being constantly kicked around for defending itself and trying to do the right thing by the Iraqi people. Free elections and the arrest, trial and execution of the oppressive dictator are about all America can likely do over there.

    Trader Groucho 2, if you consider yourself left of the aisle then I'm someone who would tend to be more on the right who thinks what you said makes a lot of sense. Something needs to done about Iraq, just like something needed to be done after the 9/11 attacks. It definitely feels like it's time for us to withdraw the heavy occupation force, in the near future. However, overt partisanship will just bring the process to a grinding halt.

    Reply to Talkback

  • May 10, 2007 8:56:45 PM CDT

    damnit herc!

    by v1cious

    why couldn't you just say it sucked? now this show is doomed.

    Reply to Talkback

  • May 10, 2007 9:29:52 PM CDT

    Matthew Bomer

    by docbosch

    was to be Ratner's Superman.

    Reply to Talkback

  • May 10, 2007 9:36:07 PM CDT

    Im not sure the pilot is done airing yet......but

    by tristeele

    I'm pretty sure this will be canceled by the end of the hour. Seriously I have NO faith in tv anymore to keep anything on. Id kinda like to watch this but after Drive bahhh. My wife and I DVR'd Drive, started watching the pilot a few days later. I paused it before a commercial about 40 minutes in and said... I better check the ratings. Sure enough it bombed in its first 2 airings. We just erased it right then....didnt even finish watching it. Fuck the networks.

    Reply to Talkback

  • May 10, 2007 9:51:55 PM CDT

    Van Buren

    by jimmy rabbitte

    ...or we could do nothing, let every terrorist nation on Earth think they can level our buildings and kill our citizens consequence free. If the result of 9/11 was their country became hell on Earth... well the streets of Lower Manhattan looked rather hellish on September 11, 2001... but that's supposed to be just overlooked.

    Reply to Talkback

  • May 10, 2007 10:04:18 PM CDT

    that was great

    by charlie murphy

    if there's a god people will watch this. fuck abc for giving this the summer slot and making people wait weeks before the "premiere", fuck the american public for probably not watching this, and fuck herc because this pilot was twice as good as the best moments of the DRIVE pilot (but yay herc for still recommending the show). and, there were only four things i noticed in the pilot that didn't make sense to me. and wow, david nutter can direct! this cat is great! how about that offscreen car crash?!? i'm watching on the 30th for damn sure

    Reply to Talkback

  • May 10, 2007 10:31:32 PM CDT

    Cancelled after four eps, on DVD by August

    by osmosis jones

    Drive redux.

    Reply to Talkback

  • May 11, 2007 12:00:52 AM CDT

    Matthew Bomer would've been a better Superman!

    by boomers_lips

    than that robot Brandon Routh!

    Reply to Talkback

  • May 11, 2007 6:19:57 AM CDT

    ABC is the worst network for shows like this

    by useridgoeshere

    I don't even start watching shows on ABC any longer. They're way too trigger-happy. If, by some chance, it turns out to be a hit, I can catch up later on the web.

    Reply to Talkback

  • May 11, 2007 6:52:13 AM CDT

    WTF Will Traveler

    by napoleon park

    WTF Will Traveler?
    ***
    First, "Traveler" will "debut" in a couple of weeks in the Wednesday 10:00 pm est time slot after "Lost" has finished it's third season run in that time slot. ABC says that airing will be the series "debut" and tonights episode, which served as an 'origin story', established the series premise and introduced the cast, was a "preview". I scoff at this misuse of semantics. I did not care for such nonsense in the '90s when the comic book industry was enamoured with publishing "zero issues" (prequel stories set before the start of an ongoing series) and I do not care for it now.
    ***
    The show's tag line is "Who Is Will Traveler?". Will Traveler is a young man who meets two college students, Jay and Fog, and shares living quarters with them. They bond through a mutual interest in a Chicago sports team. In the same conversation it's established that Traveler checked up on his new roomies before he met them, so he could have learned of the baseball connection and bought a t-shirt to initiate the friendship. That may seem suspicious or paranoid, but the character inspires distrust: he is a joker-type who always raises him hand in front of his face when a camera is pointed his way. He is the groups activist or leader, organizing their summer road trip and initiating a "in line skating in a public museum" prank. Then, once Jay and Fog are clear of the building he calls them on a cell phone, says he's sorry, and the museum explodes.
    ***
    Because Jay and Fog were filmed by security cameras quickly leaving the building pursued by security guards right before the explosion, the FBI 'logically' assumes they are terrorists responsible for the explosion. Because a political candidate's personal art collection was destroyed, it's assumed the act of extreme vandalism may have a political motivation. When we learn one of the boys has an incredibly rich father who was implicated in the Iran-Contra affair, it's hinted that the true motive may have been both political and personal. (Other possible motives are hinted at as well.)
    ***
    Other than Daredevil #1 where Matt Murdock becomes legal partners with "Foggy' Nelson, I've never seen a fictional character called "Fog". I have commented elsewhere that this is only one letter off from a homophobic slur (also British slang for cigaret) . I mention this fact because this show seems to have a strong gay subtext. The two young, attractive, male charactes have a strong bond, are on the run together, have a secret, can trust no one but each other. And we're treated to such brokeback dialog as "I don't want to get 'out' without you."
    Of course they are depicted as straight - there's the whole bonding over sports teams thing. And one of them has a girlfriend. Though in the scene they share theris so little sexual tension or chemistry between them that I assumed they were brother and sister - so that when they finally kissed it just seemed nasty. Euw!
    ***
    The show also has a hazy political message about the atmosphere of suspicion and paranoia a" war on the noun terror" environment breeds. Two kids on skates are assumed to be terrorists and identified as "enemy combatants". They run for their lives from the US Government for fear of being thrown without due process of law into a Guantanamo type containment facility and tortured indefinitely.

    Jay's rich dad gives him the pin number to an emergency 'black credit card' giving him access to unlimited ATM funds and the location of a used car dealership that takes cash. How conveeeenient...

    A large part of a museum was blown up and we're told one dead body was found. One! Because ten square inches of fabric on one sleeve are inexplicably unburnt (while the rest of the remains are charred to a cinder) the FBI ignores everything we've learned from CSI, Jordan, Bones, Cold Case, NCIS, etc and, taking the word of someone they suspect of terrorism (because why would he lie?) they assume the body is the mysterious Will Traveler.
    Because how could anyone else in New York City have a blue nylon track jacket? Or how could Traveler knock someone out or kill them and them put his jacket on their body? Of course they don't believe there even is a Will Traveler, but if there is, they 'know' he's dead and this is him.
    ***
    Since Jay and Fog are not identified as athletes, gymnasts or track stars, in order to elude capture for even as long as they do, they have to be pursued by middle aged men and slightly out of shape women. One is captured. The other then calls the FBI and negotiates his friends release by implicating himself as the terrorist they think he is and claiming to have placed a second bomb. (This is college graduate level logic skills at work?) Giving up the location of the non-existant bomb, they honor the agreement and release the friend. And are both immediately captured again. And a mysterious man rams the FBI van and kills both agents, then frees them.
    Is their mysterious guardian angel a terrorist? Does he work for Rich Dad? Did Traveler work with or for him, voluntarily or through coercion? And when Rich dad tells someone on the phone "They'll be heading here", is he cooperating with the FBI, or the terrorists, or the mysterious man, or some fourth party? Tune in next time and... well, nothing will be revealed, except very gradually, one tiny detail at a time; such is the nature of these modern mystery-concept shows. a story that would have taken 12 pages to tell in a Golden Age comic book is padded out to a season long story arc.
    ***
    Or this might be a closed loop premise show. If the fugitive catches the one armed man, Dr. Kimble is vindicated and freed. If we learn the meaning of "Coronet Blue" the mystery of the amnesiac KBG defector is solved. If our boys discover "Who is Will Traveler" (and "why is he framing us for a bombing"), the show is resolved.
    ***
    It's an 'on the run' road trip series - like The Fugitive or The Hulk - and if they get their car, it may have elements of "Route 66"
    It has a muddled political message about living in a paranoid reddish-orange alert level society. It has a strong gay subtext about male bonding with the two inseparable leads who can only depend on one another.
    ***
    It has a cast of mostly unknowns, with Jaye Tyler's dad, Bree's husband and Carlos from Third Watch the only recognizable faces, in supporting roles.
    ***
    And as has been pointed out, the network is debuting the 8-episode run after the end of the May Sweeps ratings period and after they have announced their Fall schedules, so how it does in the Neilsens may not matter unless it's a break-out hit (which seems unlikely) So the odds are the network lacks faith in the series and is just burning off the episodes to recoup what they paid for them in advertising revenue. don't count on seeing it in the Fall. But since this was intended as an ongoing series, not a mini-series, don't count on all or any of the mysteries to be answered by the end of the 8 episode run.
    ***
    So if this kind of life still seems interesting to you, pop in a blank 8-hour cassette and snag them for free, and save yourself the expense of picking up the inevitable "complete series" DVD set that's will probably trickle out unheralded in a year or two.
    *** -- Napoleon.Park --


    Reply to Talkback

  • May 11, 2007 9:03:20 AM CDT

    Bomer

    by sid 8.0

    Matthew Bomer would have been a better Superman by far. The funny thing is while I was watching it that was my only thought, not about the show. The opening was one of the best I've seen of any show. Definite plot holes but some nice twists, should last a season.

    Reply to Talkback

  • May 11, 2007 12:01:30 PM CDT

    Sucked.

    by evilwizardglick

    Sucked big time.

    Reply to Talkback

  • May 11, 2007 1:44:07 PM CDT

    Liberal Democrats=Surrender Monkeys

    by uss cygnus

    You know, it's going to take one of our cities getting nuked before people finally, once and for all wake up and smell the coffee. We are in a war for the survival of civilization as we know it. The left in this country is convinced we are the cause of all evil in the world. The planet would be perfect without America. It's indoctrination of and by the Stalinist left in this country that is absolutely terrifying. I guess it's going to take a nuclear explosion, or a chemical or biological attack, or a sequence of bombings and attacks that make 9/11 look miniscule by comparison to wake up and unite this country once and for all against the enemy within and outside this country.

    Reply to Talkback

  • May 11, 2007 3:30:12 PM CDT

    uss cygnus

    by magnum opus

    Why do you hate our troops and want them all to die on foreign soil?

    Reply to Talkback

  • May 11, 2007 3:55:33 PM CDT

    Magnum Opus

    by jimmy rabbitte

    That's quite a leap you took. This country's public doesn't come close to reflecting the spirit of those who died protecting it in World War II. The main stream media wants us to believe American patriotism is dead. Post 9/11 American flags and red, white & blue were everywhere... until the Christmas lights went up. Then the holiday season passed and the spirit of patriotism seemed to vanish with it. But I feel most common people in America believe we are the greatest democracy in the world. That is something to be both treasured and guarded. We have enemies outside our borders and (unfortunately) living within them. That's just a fact of the world we live in today. We should acknowledge the fact that those enemies desparately want to destroy us, by any means possible. Our armed forces will either fight this war on foreign soil; or we can ignore the problem for now and end up fighting in our own streets.

    I don't believe uss cygnus hates our troops or wants them to die... I don't either; but they *are* our defense and I hope they manage to win the fight, even if growing numbers and factions in this country think the U.S. is the villian.

    uss cygnus, I hope you're wrong about what it'll take to wake the slumbering masses; but my fear is that you're absolutely right.

    Reply to Talkback

  • May 11, 2007 4:54:23 PM CDT

    Oh, you silly neocons!

    by obsd

    Yes, let's just start bombing the shit out of every country that had nothing to do with 9-11. Next stop, New Zealand! They have Sheep of Mass Destruction. Plus, all those Hobbits are giving us the evil eye. Here's a question: how do you define "win the fight" in the quagmire that is Iraq? Nobody can answer that. The US is not the villain, but the current administration certainly is. Lying about WMD's, allowing Bin Laden's family to escape the US after 9-11, not attacking Saudi Arabia (where 16 of the hijackers were from), rampant cronyism, outsourcing the hunt for Bid Laden to Afghanis and allowing him to bribe them and escape, calling everybody that didn't agree with the illegal Iraq war with a traitor, Katrina, "Mission Accomplished", Forcing our troops to fight without the proper body and vehicle armor, Outsourcing most of the reconstruction of Iraq to Haliburton ( a company that Cheney still collects a check from) in no-bid contracts, Bush's private mercenary army (Blackwater), losing 1 billion dollars in cash, Abu Ghraib.... just because one is against this administration, does not mean that one is against the country. Plus, "greatest democracy" is not the same as "biggest democracy". There are democracies in this world where corporations have not bought every single politician, but the US is not one of them.

    Reply to Talkback

  • May 11, 2007 5:34:04 PM CDT

    Really?

    by jimmy rabbitte

    It's all Bush and Cheney's fault? They didn't attack this country on 9/11. Nor did they lie about WMD's... they followed wrongful intelligence... there's a big difference...

    There are democracies in this world where corporations have not bought every single politician?

    What are they?

    George Soros owns a huge number of the politicians in America; but that's not helping anything... neither is the current "we'll fix everything" congress.


    I love it when people level their morality scope on this country and let the rest of the world off the hook.

    Bomb New Zealand??? enjoy the Kool-Aid...

    Reply to Talkback

  • May 11, 2007 5:55:23 PM CDT

    So nobody actually watched the show?

    by napoleon park

    I write a review that mentiones the show has subtext content about gay male bonding and living in paranoid times, and the next thing I know the Libatives and Conservaterals are jarking off to see who can come farthest. Isn't there some sort of political discussion group you people can go to whack each other off at? *** Oh. by the way, this "war" everyone talks about ended on May 2nd, 2003. There were no WMDs, we succeeded in overthrowing the tyrant's regime and the Mission Accomplished banner was raised. Eventually we located the spider-hole occupant and later still he was executed. It was on YouTube. Setting up a new government to replace the one we knocked down is not our problem. It's all over except fot the part where we allow our all-volunteer army to provide their widows and orphans with a pension.

    Reply to Talkback

  • May 11, 2007 6:17:27 PM CDT

    wah... why won't anybody...

    by jimmy rabbitte

    ...kiss my ass; and tell me what a great review I wrote ( with like footnotes and everything ) for a half-assed show that the network didn't even bother airing until the real prime time season was already over.

    Maybe a little verbal sparring about Iraq was the only way to make this thread ( sort of ) interesting.

    "the show has subtext content about gay male bonding and living in paranoid times"...
    and you have the nerve to accuse *other* people of "jarking off".



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  • May 11, 2007 7:05:04 PM CDT

    Thanx Jimmy

    by napoleon park

    high praise indeed coming from you. Those wern;t footnotes, though, I just use the asterisks because I still haven't figured out the whole paragraph line spacing thing yet. You're right about the show being flawed and the network burning off the episodes after Sweeps. I was trying to make those same points but you got to them much more concisely. I love these talk-backs where hardly anyone actually mentions the topic supposedly being discussed (this one and the Spike Fereston article that got noting but comments about Mad TV). What I hate is polly tickle name calling. Speaking of "Mad", as Gopo Gossum once said, "learn parlor tricks and go join a party". Peace out.

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  • May 11, 2007 9:39:01 PM CDT

    Napoleon Park

    by jimmy rabbitte

    No real harm intended... I was just feeling like being a wise-guy earlier.

    For a new paragraph you type the "less than" symbol then type "p" then type the "greater than" symbol. Hit return a couple of times...

    ...and you've got a new paragraph.


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  • May 12, 2007 1:59:10 AM CDT

    No offense taken, JR

    by napoleon park

    You made a valid point. I wrote up that review for one of the groups I moderate since someone brought up the show and asked if anyone was going to watch it. so I checked it out. Then when I saw an article here I decided to repost it here and see if it got any response.


    Apparently not many people actually watched it. Sometimes it's hard to switch out of "moderator" mode, and political brouhaha is verboten in my playgrounds. But this is not one of my ballywicks, I'm a guest here, and I have no business telling people what they should or should be discussing.

    I mean, it seems logical they'd be discussing the show mentioned in the headline, but if things skew off topic, that's out of my control. Here.

    Thanx for the info, I'll give that a try. If I am going to repost lengthy essays (my way of being a wise guy, and yes, clamoring for attention), I should at least learn to bust them up and format them to make them easier to read.

    Guys gotta be a jarkoff once in a while, otherwise you can develop prostate troubles. Peace out.

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  • May 12, 2007 10:37:04 AM CDT

    o_O

    by david lazarus long

    Meh...
    I'll check it out. No promises though.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Jul 18, 2007 10:36:16 PM CDT

    Yalies aren't smart?

    by dennismm

    Maybe the characters in this program didn't have to be especially smart. Maybe they're just as smart as Yale grad George W. Bush, who got in because he was a "legacy" -- the child of a Yale graduate (George H.W.) -- and likewise got into Harvard Business School by riding the family's financial and political coattails. That is all.

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  • Jul 18, 2007 10:37:41 PM CDT

    Paragraph breaks

    by dennismm

    jimmy, thank you very much. I've always wanted the code!

    Reply to Talkback

  • Mar 12, 2009 8:27:00 PM CDT

    no subject

    by dr. chim richalds

    asd

    asfsd

    Reply to Talkback

  • Mar 13, 2009 8:29:36 AM CDT

    What the hell was that?

    by orcus

    Orcus sees all. Kinda like Santa Claus, but with horns and and scaly skin

    Reply to Talkback

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