THE TV WATCH High Noon on the Set: Cramer vs. Stewart By ALESSANDRA STANLEY March 14, 2009
It wasn't "Brawl Street" or a thrilla in vanilla. It wasn't a "Daily Show" friendly feud or even much of a discussion. Mostly, the much-hyped Thursday night showdown between the comedian Jon Stewart and Jim Cramer, the mercurial host of "Mad Money" on CNBC, felt like a Senate subcommittee hearing. Mr. Stewart treated his guest like a C.E.O. subpoenaed to testify before Congress: his point was not to hear Mr. Cramer out, but to act out a cathartic ritual of indignation and castigation. "Listen, you knew what the banks were doing, yet were touting it for months and months," the Democratic senator from Comedy Central said. "The entire network was. For now to pretend that this was some sort of crazy, once-in-a-lifetime tsunami that nobody could have seen coming is disingenuous at best and criminal at worst." Congress has - belatedly and showily - gone after the leaders of banks, auto companies and insurance companies for their complicity in the financial crisis. Mr. Stewart has always had a messianic streak to his political satire, as when he ripped into Tucker Carlson and Paul Begala on "Crossfire" for "hurting America." He is now focusing on business news cable networks like CNBC, which not only failed to foresee the credit crisis, but also, in his view, sided with the bankers and helped inflate the bubble. And while it's never much fun to watch a comedian lose his sense of humor, in an economic crisis it's even sadder to see supposed financial clairvoyants acting like clowns. ... http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/14/arts/television/14watc.html *********************************** * POST TO [email protected] * *********************************** Medianews mailing list [email protected] http://lists.etskywarn.net/mailman/listinfo/medianews
