"Real Time with Bill Maher" Premieres Tonight on HBO February 17, 2006
Bill Maher is back - on HBO. "Real Time with Bill Maher," Season 4, premieres tonight at 11pm (EST), and continues every Friday thereafter. Continue to expect the polar opposite of that other Bill, O'Reilly. This is the left's answer to the right. (Ha! Ha! We made a joke.) Guests on tonight's premiere include Sen. Russ Feingold, actor Eddie Griffin, reporter Helen Thomas, and Iraq advisor Dan Senor. Expect the fur to fly. Before the show even begins, Wild About Movies is offering you a few goodies from our goodie bag; five copies of Bill Maher's hardcover best seller, "New Rules," and five copies of the upcoming DVD, (HBO documentary), "Left of the Dial," which features Maher and that other leftie, Janeane Garofalo...
The official HBO/Bill Maher "Real Time" website
Bill Maher's "New Rules" - Bill Maher is on the forefront of the new wave of comedians who have begun to influence and shape political debate through their comedy. He is best known not just for being funny, but for advocating truth over sensitivity and taking on the political establishment. Maher first came to national attention as the host of the hit ABC-TV program Politically Incorrect, where he offered a combustible mixture of irreverence and acerbic humor that helped him to garner a loyal following, as well as a reputation for being a controversial bad boy.
Bill Maher's popular new HBO television show, Real Time, has put Maher more front and center than ever before. Particularly one regular segment on the show, entitled "New Rules," has been a hit with his ever-growing legion of fans. It is the part of the show during which Maher takes serious aim, bringing all of his intelligence, incisiveness, wit, and his signature exasperation to bear on topics ranging from cell phones ("I don't need my cell phone to take pictures or access the Internet. I just need it to make a phone call. From everywhere! Not just the places it likes!") to fast food ("No McDonald's in hospitals. I'm not kidding!) to the conservative agenda ("Stop claiming it's an agenda. It's not an agenda. It's a random collection of laws that your corporate donors paid you to pass.")
His new book, the first since his bestselling When You Ride Alone You Ride with bin Laden, brings these brilliantly conceived riffs and rants to the written page. Appropriately titled New Rules, the book will collect some of the best of the rules derived from previously written material and will also contain substantial new material, including some longer form "editorials"--of course with a twist and bite that only Bill Maher can deliver. Click here to enter for your chance at a copy of "New Rules."
"Left of the Dial" - Produced for HBO, Left of the Dial tracks the growing pains behind the nation's first liberal radio network. Longtime Michael Moore associates Patrick Farrelly and Kate O'Callaghan (The Awful Truth) take a "fair and balanced" fly-on-the-wall look at the major players behind and in front of the mic at Air America, established to "challenge the right wing dominance of talk radio." (Moore, surprisingly, turns out to be one of the venture’s harshest critics.) The filmmakers began shooting 12 days prior to the March 2004 launch and kept going for the next few months. They start by aiming their cameras at Evan Cohen, the chairman, and David Goodfriend, the general counsel. Like the duo depicted in Startup.com, theirs isn’t a partnership built to last. Other subjects include hosts Randi Rhodes, Marc Maron, Chuck D, Janeane Garofalo, and Al Franken. Most hadn't worked in radio before and things quickly begin to unravel: Rhodes feels left out of the press coverage, while Maron feels the staff is incompetent. Then Ralph Nader hangs up on Rhodes and there's a scandal regarding airtime payments. What do their competitors think? Sean Hannity (FOX News) opines, "These people are not bright...they really are dull." Fortunately, enough listeners felt otherwise that Air America eventually found their footing and grew out of that awkward stage. Click here to enter for your chance at a copy of "Left of the Dial."
Bill Maher is back - on HBO. "Real Time with Bill Maher," Season 4, premieres tonight at 11pm (EST), and continues every Friday thereafter. Continue to expect the polar opposite of that other Bill, O'Reilly. This is the left's answer to the right. (Ha! Ha! We made a joke.) Guests on tonight's premiere include Sen. Russ Feingold, actor Eddie Griffin, reporter Helen Thomas, and Iraq advisor Dan Senor. Expect the fur to fly. Before the show even begins, Wild About Movies is offering you a few goodies from our goodie bag; five copies of Bill Maher's hardcover best seller, "New Rules," and five copies of the upcoming DVD, (HBO documentary), "Left of the Dial," which features Maher and that other leftie, Janeane Garofalo...
Bill Maher's "New Rules" - Bill Maher is on the forefront of the new wave of comedians who have begun to influence and shape political debate through their comedy. He is best known not just for being funny, but for advocating truth over sensitivity and taking on the political establishment. Maher first came to national attention as the host of the hit ABC-TV program Politically Incorrect, where he offered a combustible mixture of irreverence and acerbic humor that helped him to garner a loyal following, as well as a reputation for being a controversial bad boy.
"Left of the Dial" - Produced for HBO, Left of the Dial tracks the growing pains behind the nation's first liberal radio network. Longtime Michael Moore associates Patrick Farrelly and Kate O'Callaghan (The Awful Truth) take a "fair and balanced" fly-on-the-wall look at the major players behind and in front of the mic at Air America, established to "challenge the right wing dominance of talk radio." (Moore, surprisingly, turns out to be one of the venture’s harshest critics.) The filmmakers began shooting 12 days prior to the March 2004 launch and kept going for the next few months. They start by aiming their cameras at Evan Cohen, the chairman, and David Goodfriend, the general counsel. Like the duo depicted in Startup.com, theirs isn’t a partnership built to last. Other subjects include hosts Randi Rhodes, Marc Maron, Chuck D, Janeane Garofalo, and Al Franken. Most hadn't worked in radio before and things quickly begin to unravel: Rhodes feels left out of the press coverage, while Maron feels the staff is incompetent. Then Ralph Nader hangs up on Rhodes and there's a scandal regarding airtime payments. What do their competitors think? Sean Hannity (FOX News) opines, "These people are not bright...they really are dull." Fortunately, enough listeners felt otherwise that Air America eventually found their footing and grew out of that awkward stage. 
