Guest JMA Report post Posted January 15, 2004 Commercials for Joe Scarborough's "Scarborough Country" (on MSNBC) have seemingly been on every channel lately. In case you're not familar with the douchebag in question, he's basically a poor man's O'Reilly. The similarities are eerie (he even has Bill's facial mannerisms down). Ever since Fox News has become so popular, MSNBC has been doing everything in their power to beat them in the ratings. They tried giving Phil Donahue a liberal based talk show to counter Fox's rampant right-winged themed shows. Needless to say, it didn't work. Then they tried pandering to the same people Fox does, by hiring talk radio pundit (and former hippie) Michael "Savage" Weiner. This bit them in the ass because Savage was too far right to be allowed on TV. Trying to go for a more moderate position, they hired former Govenor Jesse Ventura. The show was sabatoged from the start and hasn't done well. Now they have Joe Scarborough. A loud Irish man who claims to be a moderate but clearly lends to the right. Remind you of anyone? But it goes deeper than that. MSNBC has gone out of its way to make Scarborough act almost exactly like Bill. He has the same facial movements, uses similar words and tactics, and has his own "witty" catchphrases. The commercials go something like this: "Somewhere between the left and the right lies the soul of America..." We're then bombarded with images of middle America and blue-collar workers. Scarborough's past accomplishments are mentioned and also mentioned is how he's "not afraid to stick up for regular working-class Joes." Clearly, MSNBC is desperate in continuously showing these commercials. It's quite sad, actually. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lando Griffin 0 Report post Posted January 15, 2004 I like Joe, except that he's against separation of church and state. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jobber of the Week 0 Report post Posted January 15, 2004 Now they have Joe Scarborough. A loud Irish man who claims to be a moderate but clearly lends to the right. Remind you of anyone? But it goes deeper than that. MSNBC has gone out of its way to make Scarborough act almost exactly like Bill. He has the same facial movements, uses similar words and tactics, and has his own "witty" catchphrases. Have you actually seen his show? He starts it off the show by saying "You're about to enter Scarborough Country! No passports required." And then makes a cute joke regarding the main topic of the day. Like "no P.C. Police allowed." Or "no border jumping!" Where have we heard this before? Spoiler (Highlight to Read): "Hold on tight, you're about to enter the No-Spin Zone." Then he goes into a segment called Joe's Real Deal, where he sits and rants about something while the chyron on the right side of the screen paraphrases what he's saying. I guess you could say he's hitting some Talking Points? He also used to run a segment called something like "A Miserable Disgrace", where he talked about The Stupidest Item Of The Day. He fucked himself over here, though, as he featured a company he was suing in that space and didn't mention his involvement to the viewer. I honestly think that Joe is just Al Franken fodder that has yet to reach fruitition. Taking down Scarborough is easy pickings because he's made himself such a clone. Hell, I'm suprised O'Reilly himself doesn't try to take the guy down on the air, except that he risks boosting Scarborough's ratings by doing that. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Vyce 0 Report post Posted January 15, 2004 Describing him as the "poor man's O'Reilly" is accurate on so many levels. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Vern Gagne 0 Report post Posted January 15, 2004 Trying to go for a more moderate position, they hired former Govenor Jesse Ventura. The show was sabatoged from the start and hasn't done well. Ventura's has liberal has Scarborough's conservative.His first show was about the recall and his two guest where Gray Davis, and Arianna Huffington. A real balanced looked, you jerk Ventura. Also the show wasn't sabotoged. Ventura was such a moron and failed in like 4 different formats. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jobber of the Week 0 Report post Posted January 16, 2004 I liked Jesse on paper. Never watched his show, but fiscal conservatism + social liberalism = win. I'm guessing and hoping Arnold will do it better though as he has better paid people surrounding him than Ventura did. You have to feel for Jesse, though. He didn't have a recall to take advantage of, and thus he had to run as an independant while claiming to be a populist. This meant that both parties were tearing him apart. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
NoCalMike 0 Report post Posted January 16, 2004 Ventura's show was decent, but the format was kind of bleh. Trying to do too many different things with not enough time to properly delve into each topic. Oh and Scaroborgh's country is crap. "Not afraid to stick up for the blue collar worker" eh? Could of fooled me. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rob E Dangerously 0 Report post Posted January 16, 2004 http://www.allhatnocattle.net/congressman_...scarborough.htm "Joe Scarborough, the only talk show host not afraid to have an aide die in his office!" and he looks like Matthew Perry Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Styles 0 Report post Posted January 16, 2004 "Country Gear" just doesn't have the same ring to it... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest JMA Report post Posted January 16, 2004 and he looks like Matthew Perry He looks like the retarded lovechild of O'Reilly and Hannity. That's not an exaggeration either. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Vern Gagne 0 Report post Posted January 16, 2004 Ventura's show was decent, but the format was kind of bleh. Trying to do too many different things with not enough time to properly delve into each topic. Oh and Scaroborgh's country is crap. "Not afraid to stick up for the blue collar worker" eh? Could of fooled me. Ventura's never been great hosting talk shows. His old radio shows would consist of him reading lines from Dirty Harry, reading Redneck jokes, and talking about the Kennedy Conspiracy. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Cerebus Report post Posted January 16, 2004 He does look like Matthew Perry...the same non-existant chin. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lando Griffin 0 Report post Posted January 16, 2004 I've never seen O'Reilly's show, so I can't comment on Joe's cloneness. I was annoyed when he took credit for MCI dropping Danny Glover as a spokesman. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bobobrazil1984 0 Report post Posted January 17, 2004 ^ Dude, you guys weren't kidding. I'm watching the replay of Scarborough Country right now... its scary how much of a facsimile it is. He's even got his dialect down to match O'Reilly's. but OH, his window caption was on the opposite side!!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Vern Gagne 0 Report post Posted January 17, 2004 It's has bad has advertised. Heard a radio spot, and I was cringing hearing how blatant a ripoff the show was of O'Reilly's. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Art Sandusky 0 Report post Posted January 17, 2004 The funny thing is that he really does stick up for the average working Joe by being right-wing. Your average Joe is really quite conservative. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lando Griffin 0 Report post Posted January 17, 2004 I like that he always tries to get the word out about how the troops are being mistreated. And then I want to punch him for having people like David Limbaugh and James Dobson on the show. Leave them for the 700 Club. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites