Bill Maher loves Fishbowl!

…so much that he’s ripped our pretty moniker for his own cheap Amazon infomercial, “Amazon Fishbowl.” True, it’s very cool that Amazon is mounting a live, original half-hour of programming on the internets. Less cool is the fact that it will be an INFOMERCIAL. As our canny brother at GalleyCat, Ron Hogan, said:

Oh, they call it a “weekly talk show,” but let’s face it, when you’ve got “buttons that will let viewers instantly buy the book, DVD or CD they are discussing, as well as links to pages with their other works or those by similar artists,” right there adjacent to the content, you’ve got yourself an infomercial.

Other indicators: Amazon chooses the guests, Maher will “steer clear of politics” (you know, politics? His bread and butter?) at Amazon’s request, and he wasn’t available for comment on his exciting new starring venture. Yep. Infomercial.

p.s. Would Alanis call this ironic? I actually think the name bites.

Heeeere’s Bill Maher, Live on Amazon [NYT]
Bruce Jenner, Call Your Agent [GC]

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