Austin360 blogs > TV Blog > Archives > 2006 > November > 07 > Entry
Dan Rather joins ‘Indecision 2006’
It may have been a last-minute, why-the-heck-not kind of decision, but Dan Rather is joining Comedy Central’s election coverage tonight.
No, I’m not making this up. Rather will provide analysis for the anchor team of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert on the hour-long “Indecision 2006: The Midterm Midtacular,” starting at 10 p.m.
“It’s a risk, I guess,” Rather told the Philadelphia Inquirer. “J. Stewart and company offered the chance, and I’ve taken it. I don’t do comedy. I do politics, but sometimes that’s one and the same.”
It’s unclear whether Rather, 75, will do his trademark election-night “Ratherisms” (“This race is hotter than a Times Square Rolex!”), but we’re fairly sure the former CBS anchor will spice up the hour.
And speaking of election coverage, the big suspense story the networks will be spinning tonight is whether the Democrats will be able to capitalize on the unpopularity of President Bush and take back the U.S. House and Senate from Republicans.
That means we’ll be gazing at big red-and-blue maps a good deal of the night.
When did colors come to signal political divisions? According to a lexicographer for Oxford University Press in New York, it all started in the hotly contested 2000 presidential election. Red denoted Republican George Bush, blue denoted Democrat Al Gore and the divisions were stark on the map during the long night — and following days — of the divisive election. The colors had been used before, but they didn’t take on iconic significance until 2000.
Now the term “purple state,” indicating a mix of red and blue is coming into favor. If we ever get a major influence from the Green Party, we could be forced to turn the electoral map into a color wheel.
KLRU wants your help — and not with a checkbook!
When was the last time a local TV station asked you what you’d like to see on their air? Does never sound about right?
Well, PBS station KLRU wants to know. The station, like most local stations, has additional bandwidth on its digital tier now, where high-definition and other PBS programming streams have been carried called KLRU-P, KLRU-B and KLRU-S.
As the station plans for the future, KLRU is asking how Central Texans would like those additional digital channels to be filled. Do you want HD programming all the time, several channels with standard definition programming (standard-def takes up less bandwidth than HD) or a combination.
To register your opinion, KLRU invites you to fill out their online survey:
http://support.klru.org/site/Survey?SURVEYID=2940&ACTIONREQUIRED=URIACTIONUSER_REQUESTS
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: News coverage
Comments
By austinights
November 7, 2006 04:07 PM | Link to this
I'd RATHER not watch politics, even on comedy. Sometimes just finding out the next morning in the newspaper is the best way to take the bad news. Republicans and Democrats.....sounds like the same coin to me. I'm starting to think that the Libertarian Party might be a really good idea. I'm starting to think we need a constitutional amendment to allow Aaarnold to run for President. How'd you like to be at a summit on nuclear arms talks with The Terminator!!!
As for Studio 60 -- bury it! If the best Sorkin can whip up is John Goodman (is he really that huge??) and a really lame storyline as a "to be continued....", then I just shut the lights for good on that show. I'd rather watch SHARK with James Woods or even The Nine. Where the heck is Jack Bauer to save TV? I just watched the trailer and I'm hooked.