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Can the Dennis Miller Show Be Saved?
Posted by Ira Simmons
Sunday, February 08, 2004
The new ''Dennis Miller Show'' is seen on CNBC weeknights at 6pm
Pacific
and repeated at 9 pm and 1 am. Miller debuted last week and many early
reviews
indicated that the hour-long nightly show "needs work." That is a gross
understatement.
Here's a review Miller's career. He has demonstrated by his
nine-year
profanity-laden run on HBO, his earlier stint on Saturday Night Live, and
a few
''rant'' books, that he was basically another obnoxious liberal
comedian. He
achieved the most fame when he joined Al Michaels and Dan Fouts for a
nondescript two years calling ''ABC Monday Night Football'' plays.
Then came the attacks of 9/11. Dennis Miller discovered
''religion''
and became a ''George Bush conservative,'' although he professes to be a
liberal on social issues. For example, Miller likes to say that he has no
problem with two men getting married but would be seeking revenge if an Al
Qaeda attack ''interrupted'' their wedding ceremony.
My guess is that his change in politics helped grease the skids at
HBO
where Miller was essentially replaced by Bill Maher, another long-time
liberal
who did not change ''religion'' after September 11. Quite the opposite:
Maher
recently joined Michael Moore and other MoveOn.org-types in accusing
President
Bush of being a draft dodger. And Maher is actually serious!
Following his demise at HBO and Monday Night Football, Miller was
hired
by Fox News Channel and for about six weeks in late 2003 provided a sharp
Friday night two-minute commentary. Then along came CNBC, attempting to
boost
its nearly invisible primetime ratings with a show that they hope will
challenge Hannity and Colmes on Fox News Channel and Larry King on CNN,
and
also keep viewers around for its sagging daytime business programming.
Big
Brother NBC may not be all that happy so far: early ratings returns
indicate
that Miller is only beating the new Deborah Norville show on MSNBC, which
like
CNBC is also owned by the Peacock.
The quick and dirty format of the Miller Show consists of an
opening,
closing, and sometime middle-of-the-show monologue mostly supported by
visuals
and sometimes augmented by an overweight monkey. Although the comedy is
not
unlike what Miller did best on Saturday Night Live and HBO, one
significant
difference is that Miller does not play to a live audience and--except for
the
giggles of a few stagehands--the jokes are greeted by silence. There are
interviews in the first half of the show with such politicos as California
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani,
and
Georgia Senator Zell Miller. Another interview or guest commentary is
placed
near the end of the show such as with rocker Jon Bon Jovi. The middle
features
a ''Varsity Panel'' consisting of three analysts being questioned by
Miller!
And it is this soggy middle that is the real problem because
rather
than the ''McLaughlin Group'' or ''Crossfire,'' the Varsity Panel is as
about
exciting as the group on the PBS ''Washington Week'' or the authors
hawking
their books on C-Span2. Miller has demonstrated that he is no John
McLaughlin
as a moderator and even seems a tad intimidated when discussing current
issues
with seasoned political pros or authors. In nearly all of the initial
shows,
the Varsity Panel has consisted of two liberals and one conservative,
usually
David Horowitz. While Horowitz is often a brilliant thinker, he does not
shovel the manure around like a Pat Buchanan or Sean Hannity and has
clearly
been overshadowed by the likes of former Democratic operative and current
MSNBC
analyst Lawrence O'Donnell and black radical Henry Louis Gates Jr., among
others. With little verbal opposition, even soft-spoken extreme-feminist
Naomi
Wolf was able to dominate the panel. Similar to the women on ''The
Apprentice,'' the liberals have gotten the early victories on the Varsity
Panel. Maybe Miller should fire all the conservatives.
Or maybe fire himself! While there is some promise, the ''Dennis
Miller Show'' needs something of a major overhaul. I say, shorten the
show to
30 minutes, bring in a live studio audience, tell a few jokes, have a
guest or
two, and most important, eliminate that boring and ineffective Varsity
Panel.
And maybe shoot the monkey!
Ira Simmons
February 8, 2004
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