Television

By now, POTUS has enough roasts under his belt to deliver a smooth comedy routine most every time. So, we all knew he would nail it. The real pressure was on the outsider, Jimmy Kimmel. You never know what you’re going to get. There was the uncomfortable, biting commentary of Stephen Colbert and then the blandness and desperation of Rich Little. Last year’s performer, Seth Myers, scored high marks, so the bar was set high for Kimmel. Though the reaction ranges from great to lukewarm to awful, he could have chopped a few minutes off his set. Kimmel devoted a section to Keith Olbermann and his unfriendly departure from Current TV. Naturally, the ultra-sensitive Olbermann took to Twitter to weigh in. We turned to Twitter to storify Kimmel’s performance.

Erik Wemple, media blogger for WaPo, was called out last night on the “O’Reilly Factor” by author and media critic Bernie Goldberg. The topic: media bias. Goldberg was responding to a short post by Wemple questioning the conclusion reached by FNC’s Bill O’Reilly and Goldberg that “media bias doesn’t matter.”

“Last week Bernie and I were talking about media bias and organizations that are in business not to inform anymore, they’re just pushing an agenda,” O’Reilly said on last night’s show. “The Washington Post weighed in on their blog and you [Goldberg] want to say something about that?”

Goldberg cocked his gun.

“Erik Wemple… this fella ended his piece by saying ‘if the impact of media bias is so trivial, why do these guys’– you and me– ‘why do these guys harp on it each week?’ Well first of all, we don’t harp on it. We talk about it.”

Aim.

“Secondly there are many smart, thoughtful, serious people who write about the media,” Goldberg continued, “but Erik Wemple, sadly, is not one of them.”

Fire!

Goldberg went on to lecture Wemple and “everybody else” why media bias does matter.

“Those words really hurt,” Wemple told FBDC in an email last night shortly after the segment ended. “After all, not long ago I’d credited Bernie for raising an interesting point about the NYT, one that I had followed up with my own reporting. In the case of the media-bias thing, I do believe that both Goldberg and O’Reilly on that [previous] program glibly dismissed the impact of alleged media bias and I am glad that Goldberg finished out his argument [in tonight's edition].”

In a follow-up post this morning Wemple wrote:

“It’s fine that Goldberg thinks something I wrote was dumb, less fine that his rebuttal rests on insulting my intelligence. Though I have criticized Goldberg in the past, I have also credited him. What I hope is consistent across all my mentions of Goldberg is an unwillingness to reach conclusions about where his opinions situate him along the continuum of media-critic IQs. That doesn’t seem relevant to anything.”

If nothing else, Wemple can be grateful that Fox News producers used a photo of him looking kind of bad ass. Maybe even a little dangerous.

This weekend’s edition of “Paul Wharton’s Style,” the new TV show airing Sundays at noon on DC50, opens with Paul’s TV team preparing for a blowout party. Paul Wharton is seen breezing through his offices with heads turning as he passes by. When he meets with the team planning his blowout, he finds out that the soirée will be catered by his favorite Washington restaurant, Georgia Brown’s. Paul is so excited and squeals, “I think this is going to be the closest thing I’m going to have to a wedding.” While they finalize plans, Paul sachets away to get his “hair right and outfit tight.”

Cut to the evening of the party where Paul says, ”I was right on time..  If my party started two hours late.” It looked to be an exciting time and everyone was having fun. And then Paul’s “best friend”, Omaraso Manigault, from “The Apprentice,” showed up. We’re sure the cameras missed the eye rolls of party-goers when they saw one of TV’s greatest villains walk into the room. It was hard to tell who was wearing more makeup: Paul or Omarosa. (But, I can tell you who wore it better – Wharton Whins.)

All-in-all, the party seemed like a success. Mini-banana cream pies were passed around the party because it’s his favorite dessert. It’s not terribly surprising that a dessert featuring bananas and cream is favored by one of Washington’s more flamboyant entertainers. Partiers were entertained by 10 flat-screen televisions with the face of Paul Wharton on each one.

After a commercial break, we meet Paul in New York City where he sits down with ABC “The View’s” Sherri Shepherd. Paul talks to her about how she remains starstruck by Barbara Walters and Whoopi Goldberg. Shepherd is a big bore. More importantly, any second that the camera is off Wharton, we start to hate the show. Wharton is the high-octane jet fuel that rockets the program forward. Keep the camera on Wharton.

While Paul is on his NYC getaway, he drops by Sadie’s Kitchen, a restaurant run by friends. Paul heard they make the best mac and cheese on the East Coast, so Paul wants a taste. The next scene is Paul pounding on the table shouting for Grandma and mac and cheese. We’ve heard of acid flashbacks, but never mac flashbacks. Wharton is served two versions of mac and cheese that declares that it might be the best he’s ever had. He then bellows, “MAC AND CHEESE FOREVER!!!!” as the show comes to a close.

We are being 100 percent un-ironic when we say that “Paul Wharton Style” is one of the most entertaining shows on TV. You should be watching this. If we had one criticism of the show this week, it’s that we didn’t get enough Paul. It was way too much of boring Sherri Shepherd. Any moment that Paul isn’t on the screen, we start getting itchy and anxious for his return.

A piece of unsolicited advice? Keep the Paul in Paul Wharton Style.

The national non-profit organization Childhelp is hosting it’s fifth annual Capitol CAREaoke event tonight. Childhelp puts on the fundraiser, which features media figures performing karaoke to raise money for child abuse prevention and treatment.

Big names include CNN’s Brianna Keilar, FNC’s Shannon Bream (photo at right) and SportsNet’s Michael Jenkins (who tweeted that he’d singing Bel Biv Devoe’s 1990 classic “poison”) are scheduled to perform. ABC7 anchor Rebecca Cooper and Washington Capitals announcer Wes Johnson will emcee the event.

Jordin Sparks is billed as a special guest and will also perform.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) will be awarded as Congressional Champions for Children.

The event starts at 6:30 p.m. at the Ronald Reagan Building.

Yesterday, in the latest edition of “What’s Dana Tweeting,” we brought you the sequined backpack that Fox News’s Dana Perino is wearing “with pride” these days. But it turns out that this is no ordinary backpack. We checked online to see if we could find the sequined satchel. And this is what we found on Nordstrom’s website. An M Z Wallace “Marlena” Sequined Backpack. It looks an AWFUL lot like Dana’s that she tweeted over the weekend. It’s described as having “silver and gold flip sequins sparkle on a sassy backpack trimmed with delectable Saffiano leather and glimmering logo hardware.” It could be yours for the bargain price of…. $425.

So, if ugly, sequined bags are your thing and you want to look like Perino, the search is over. Just find a reputable place to sell a kidney first. We’ve included a side-by-side shot from Nordstrom’s website and Perino’s pic below for comparison.

When Betsy asked me to sit down to watch Paul Wharton Style, the new weekly lifestyle show on DC50 on Sunday at noon, I wasn’t sure what to expect. To be perfectly honest, Paul Wharton was pretty far off my radar. Maybe it’s just a guttural hatred for any boring, gross Housewives of Bullshit County or whatever the TV series is called, but it just didn’t click for me. So, last night, I poured a stiff Old-Fashioned, fired up the TiVo and sat down for an immersion into the Whorld of Wharton.

First impressions – This Paul Wharton lady is kind of hot. Whoever her stylist is should be commended.

Second impressions – Betsy is now telling me that Paul Wharton is a man and this just got weird.

Moving on to the production, the show struggles to hide its lo-fi production qualities. The first 10 minutes is practically a commercial for the Turnberry Towers, which is the setting for Wharton’s gabfest. He enters his suite and is met by the “Glam Squad” that teases his tresses and preps him to meet his guests, which are some of the members of the Real Housewives cast. And that’s where he loses me. This MENSA meeting gaggle of goons gather around to to gab about quantum physics, the duality of man and sustainable farming. Just kidding. They talk about hair and makeup. One of the Housewives reveals that she is in the middle of a divorce. The amount of alcohol consumed over the course of the show is slightly concerning. As they nibble on the world’s tiniest plates of food, Wharton declares that his diet is this simple. “I eat like a 5-year-old!” There’s no real explanation of that statement, so we can only assume that he eats fistfuls of goldfish and chocolate cookies and drops 70 percent of his food on the floor. That must explain his slender physique.

We reached out to Wharton to get his impression on the first show. He told FBDC, “Loved it! I would’ve liked to have gotten more personal and candid, they are classy ladies and I respect them. F’n chivalry ”

Considering our low, non-existent expectations, we were blown away by the energy of Wharton. The man is an whirlwind of guffaws and feathered hair. Combine that with the train wreck aspect of the whole production and we may have an instant classic on our hands.

We second radio producer Seb Sears who says this is “perhaps the best BBC caption you will ever see.” Sears, who attended the University of Westminster, is the Breakfast Show producer at Smooth Radio.

The caption reads: “Writer/Wizard/Mall Santa/Rasputin Impersonator.”

(A Sprinkling of Things we Think you Ought to Know…)

Politico Takes It Personally – In a Breaking News alert this afternoon, Politico emails news that the Justice Department plans on filing suit against Apple computers over eBook pricing. It’s important to note that their breaking news email came in WELL before anyone else did. I don’t suppose it had anything to do with the fact that Mike Allen and Evan Thomas have a new eB0ok called “Inside the Circus.” We can’t help but wonder if they are taking it personally.

Red Versus Blue – Livingsocial has a unique deal available this week that is distinctly Washington D.C. It’s a chance to enter a Republicans versus Democrats dodgeball tournament later this month. Teams of 8 will be split up according to party lines and they will unleash their fury upon each other. Considering how competitive this town is, we fully expect lost teeth and bloodshed. Just make sure to leave NJ Gov. Chris Christie and filmmaker Michael Moore at home. This is dodgeball, after all. No need to have easy targets out there.

Cooper Can’t Handle Pussy – If you watch one thing today, watch this video of CNN’s Anderson Cooper. He is doing a story on Dyngus Day. It’s a Polish-American Holiday that takes place after Lent with some very strange rituals. Included is one in which men sprinkle water on women and women rub men with the branches of a pussy willow. Cooper finds this story so “stupid” that he can’t contain his laughter and giggles uncontrollably, much like a 7-year-old schoolgirl. The episode culminates in a snort. You cannot miss this. Watch the video below.

Politico‘s reality TV show is happening tonight at 7 p.m. for the Wisconsin, Maryland and Wisconsin primaries. We’ll see some of our favorites, Juana, Ginger, Maggie and Jim, who will inevitably order them around and make fun of no-tie J-Mart for looking wrinkled. No doubt we’ll hear talk of Executive Editor Jim VandeHei‘s “VandeHomeland” (Wisconsin if you haven’t heard) as Mike Allen (a.k.a. “Mikey”)  likes to refer to it.

And now the formal announcement from Politico PR…

“Tune into POLITICO LIVE for instant results and analysis beginning at 7 p.m. EDT on C-SPAN and at politico.com/livestream. The show will be hosted by POLITICO’s Jim VandeHei, Maggie Haberman and Mike Allen and feature special guests, including RNC Chairman Reince Priebus, and appearances from POLITICO’s Charlie Mahtesian, Jonathan Martin, Lois Romano, Joe Williams, Juana Summers, Reid Epstein, Ginger Gibson, Alexander Burns, James Hohmann and Abby Phillip.”

Note to readers: @FishbowlDC may live tweet some of the show — no promises though.

Ever since FNC’s Greta Van Susteren helped get Louis C.K. scrapped from the Radio & TV Congressional Correspondents’ Dinner, people have been wondering who will replace him. The comedian dropped out last month saying that he “just didn’t want to do it anymore.” Among other things, Van Susteren had called him a “pig” for using “filthy” language about women in his routines.  She cited the C-word.

The new host is Wayne Brady. We noticed that CNN’s Peter Hamby reported it on Twitter this morning.

Brady is known for improvisational comedy. He can also sing, so this ought to be interesting. Of course, not as intriguing as Louis C.K. would have been.

“Fresh off three nights of sold out shows at The Kennedy Center, we are thrilled that Wayne Brady will return to DC as the featured speaker for this year’s RTCA Dinner” commented Jay McMichael of CNN in a subsequent release we received. McMichael is the first photojournalist to chair the black tie event. “This is an evening you’ll want to experience. We’re shaking things up, showcasing the unexpected, and delivering lots of laughs.”