ryan-anderson If you've ever watched one of the many talk shows that litter cable and wondered: "Who would give this person a show?" Rest assured: you are not alone. 'Real Time' is just about the rock bottom of them all. But as if the premise isn't bizarre enough (i.e. a 61 year old bachelor who curses just about every other word and practically brags about his cannabis use), the treatment of some very important political issues is even worse. Like the rest of the opinion shows out there: there is no restraint on the demonization of the opposition and the applause lines are endless. And if all that isn't bad enough: the time wasted talking to some really fascinating people with all that. Some of them even play along with it. For example, he had Jane Goodall on there during Bush's Presidency. And he brings up Bush's intelligence and then they start comparing him to a monkey. (This is coming from a guy who has pleaded for more civility in politics.) This is not to mention all the other lowbrow stuff he brought up. (And this guy went to Cornell?) I think I'd rather ask Goodall about Bigfoot than to waste anyone's time with that. As a southerner, I get a kick out of the frequent targets against my region. Once I saw some sort of contest (similar to the NCAA Final 4) where he named the "stupidest state". Of course, just about all of his selections were southern states. Something he misses though: just about all of them had some of the highest concentrations of African-Americans in this country. (Mississippi for example is 37% black, the highest in the country.) That's an interesting stance to take. I wonder if he thinks all the dumb people are white republicans? And as someone who lives here I can tell him: if your definition of stupid is someone who believes in creationism.....then there are a ton of stupid people here who aren't white. As a engineer, I also laugh at the notion that we southerners are "anti- science". (Coming from a guy with degrees in English & History.) I'd like him to go to any of the major engineering hubs in the southeast (i.e. Houston, Atlanta, Greenville, Raleigh, etc.) and tell all of them they hate science. Of course, he has admitted on this show that he really doesn't know many southerners to start with. (No kidding.) And I'd pay some real money to see a evolutionary biologist give him a pop quiz (and him fail it spectacularly). The point being: he doesn't have any more of a knowledge base to accept evolution than those who reject it.One infamous moment (for any thinking person who saw it) had to be the time he sent Alexandra Pelosi down to Mississippi to get a taste of "real Americans in the south". Maher made it a point to say (in the intro) that she did not "cherry pick" these people. That she just got "off the plane" and this is what she saw: a bunch off toothless hicks sitting 'round the shack. Baloney. First off, everyone they talked to was white, and secondly one big giveaway that they didn't just get off the plane and see this was the fact one person they talked to had a "Vicksburg Toyoda" tag on his work shirt. Almost everyone who flies to Mississippi routinely goes to Jackson-Evers. I don't believe for one minute that a bunch of out-of-staters flew directly to Vicksburg (which is about 40 miles west of Jackson). (The background of where they shot was a bunch of shacks. If anyone thinks downtown Jackson looks like that.....they've got problems.) So obviously it's a total lie to claim this is what they saw when they got off the plane and these people were not cherry picked.And that's not the first time I've seen him tell a blatant lie. In one of his "New Rules" segments some years back he called Ronald Reagan "the original tea bagger". Among his many false and misleading claims in the segment included the claim that Reagan just "made up" the Chicago welfare queen. "That woman never existed" according to Maher. Well, that's news to Illinois state officials: She did exist, and her name was Linda Taylor. The original accusations of the multiple IDs, addresses, what she stole, etc.....were made in a AP article in 1977. (Quoting a Illinois state official named Joel Edelman.....not Ronald Reagan.) So as usual, this guy doesn't know what he is talking about.  The other thing that has always grabbed me about this show is the way he plays to his audience. (Either that or all his writers are in the 17-27 age bracket.) As mentioned before: a 61 year old man cursing his way through every show (not to mention all the vulgar sex jokes) trying to make political points is pretty strange. (Tim Russert he isn't.) I will give him credit though: he's dropped the libertarian facade.......and he finally woke up to the fact that radical Muslims getting nuclear weapons is a far greater threat than just about any fundamentalist Christian. I also give him credit for speaking out against the drug war and his work with PETA.....but that's about it.I guess probably what this show reflects most of all is what it says about our society. This is sort of like Jerry Springer on politics. A generation or two ago, this guy would have been lucky to get a 2am show in Vegas. Today? He has a platform to discuss serious political issues with millions. That's about as depressing as it gets. We'll just have to continue to hold out for better.

scottsplain-13718 There is a small faction of my generation who grew up watching Chris Matthews and Hayes. Can't forget Rachel Maddow. Hearing your story, going to college for 8 years and constantly watching your show. It continues to be refreshing.The hysteria the hysteria. Gun violence and terrorism can be triggered by a text message from a big fish upstairs who got an email. Hysteria is manufactured and timed. But not on this show. Serious issues get a block. But so does everything else. Smart people also get a chance to explain themselves in paragraphs, usually without being yelled at by an @Orielly character.Mainstream media spews the same footage in loops -or from such a distance that it doesn't matter unless something horrendous happens. When I turn on this show I laugh and then engage in the political thought process. Can't wait for reruns on VICE.P.S. This show, is what political discourse should look like, probably what it used to look like.

tjdercks I watched Bill Maher when he was on ABC ... and loved him. He was like Saturday Night Live / David Letterman with wacky guests (e.g. Christine O'Donnell). It was thought provoking, yet very funny! He went to HBO, which I did not subscribe to ... so I stopped watching ... but people still thought, my thoughts were enough like his, they would give me his books as gifts, and suggest I get HBO to see him.I finally got HBO ... and started to watch him again, but something had changed. His wacky guests, are now mostly people selling books, and his political satire under Clinton and Bush, has turned into a bitterness under Obama. Maybe Maher is uncomfortable making fun of a Black President, or maybe he had more 'Hope' for Obama ... but the show has turned ugly, and boring, as he lashes out at the Republicans to compensate.I am an Independent, and a Libertarian, and I always thought Maher was too ... but maybe I found him much funnier on ABC, because I could see by the faces he made, he was constrained by the Network in what he could say, and maybe I just filled in the blanks with what I thought he would say if he could ... and now that he is on HBO, and says what he wants, I no longer like him? ... that, or he has alienated so many groups, he now is just a brown nose to the only one he has 'left'? Rachel Maddow was on his show tonight, and I kept thinking ... If you like Rachel Maddow, you will love Bill Maher P.S. the only times his show is worth watching anymore ... is if he has a couple strong opinionated Conservatives/Republicans. Then the bitterness seems to ebb, and the Old Maher reappears ... but it rarely happens any more, and is mostly 'group think'

dexium Bill Maher has a good sense of humor, but this show just doesn't work. Bill seems to want to avoid any serious, intelligent social commentary, instead going for immature, ignorant chatter or argument. He has this air of someone who doesn't really get it - thus explaining why the media powers put him on screen. Sometimes he even sounds like a republican in democrat's clothes. But that's just my opinion.A lot of his guests are just an another level, and you can see their frustration when dealing with this guy. The audience will laugh and clap at anything at random. I think they spike their kool aid before they start taping.*sigh* If only Hicks DID stop smoking :(