"McLaughlin Group" to return to PBS

[Bob Jersey]

After resurfacing on Wa(r)shington's ABC7 last year, Maryland Public TV picks up production in September, then in January comes national distribution from American Public TV... Tom Rogan remains alongside Buchanan, Clift, and Page...

https://deadline.com/2019/08/the-mclaughlin-group-returning-to-pbs-in-january-1202667082/ (link)

B

[Kevin M.]

“Thank God we will be able to see more Pat Buchanan on TV” said no one ever. 

I mean, for f*ck’s sake, the last thing that is needed is another show featuring a panel of bloviating pundits. I get it... it is cheap and easy to produce. But so is p*rn. 

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Kevin M. (RPCV)

[Tom Wolper]

On Tue, Aug 13, 2019 at 1:46 PM Kevin M. <drunkba...@gmail.com> wrote:

“Thank God we will be able to see more Pat Buchanan on TV” said no one ever. 

I mean, for f*ck’s sake, the last thing that is needed is another show featuring a panel of bloviating pundits. I get it... it is cheap and easy to produce. But so is p*rn.

I'm trying to imagine who the intended audience for this would be. I can't think of anybody under the age of 80.

[Tom Wolper]

On Tue, Aug 13, 2019 at 3:27 PM Tom Wolper <two...@gmail.com> wrote:

I'm trying to imagine who the intended audience for this would be. I can't think of anybody under the age of 80.

I also came across this thread on Twitter from Recode's Kara Swisher, which starts, "I worked at the show the 1980s when I was in my early 20s and my recollections were quite not as sunny. Besides ushering in scream punditry that ruined substantive news analysis of important issues, its late host was embroiled in some of the first serious #metoo incidents ..."

https://twitter.com/karaswisher/status/1161368379271385088

[Steve Timko]

I guess I will be a dissenter here. I don't doubt McLaughlin personally was a creep. Christopher Hitchens allowed some show -- Michael Moore's news show? -- to record as they provided the questions in advance, something they said they didn't do. McLaughlin deserves credit for keeping the topics focused. And the shows panelists were usually strong, most notably David Broder. Even Morton Kondracke and Fred Barnes made valid arguments before they evolved into cable news gas bags.

It almost seems quaint when the extreme right wing was defined by Pat Buchanan.

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[Kevin M.]

You can be a dissenter, but whatever the show was or whatever purpose it served, it is redundant in an arena where every supposed news program features a panel of blowhards. 

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAH5J8yzzpv0PTA-YTTG3f3FHhORvuD0XT%2B65tWisO5vLJW0hLw%40mail.gmail.com.

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Kevin M. (RPCV)

[Tom Wolper]

On Tue, Aug 13, 2019 at 9:18 PM Kevin M. <drunkba...@gmail.com> wrote:

You can be a dissenter, but whatever the show was or whatever purpose it served, it is redundant in an arena where every supposed news program features a panel of blowhards.

I was in no way doing a critique of The McLaughlin Group of back in the day. In the intervening years there have been sea changes in the institutions of the federal government, the political parties, and journalism, and bringing out fossils of those old days to yell at each other does nobody a service.

[M-D November]

This feels like as good a reason as any to post this link:

https://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/the-sinatra-group/n10008

[Dave Sikula]

This show died in 2013 with Jack Germond.

--Dave Sikula

[Melissa P]

Ah, nostalgia!

I was hoping someone would mention Jack Germond.  He claimed the show put his daughter through medical school.

McLaughlin Group was must-see TV, first for me and my college roommate, and then, later for me and a boyfriend.  But when it lost its Saturday timeslot on Channel 9, I lost track of it and never discovered if it was still being broadcast.  One highlight -- much later -- was Eleanor Clift speaking at my agency for Women's History Month -- about how she happened to be at Newsweek at the right time.  I could identify with her story -- but I wasn't so lucky.

Recently I learned that another show from around that era is going to get a tribute next year in the form of a stage production.  My dad loved watching Buckley's program and got me to watch with him.  Later, at college, I got to attend a taping of the show and ask Buckley a question afterward:  What he thought of David Frye impersonation of him.  He didn't dislike it.

Inherit the Windbag | Mosaic Theater Company of DC
https://www.mosaictheater.org/inherit-the-windbag  

[Marti Lawrence]

I was trying to remember when Saturday Night Live started doing the parodies of McLaughlin Group, and was surprised to see that it had multiple actors who portrayed him. We watched the actual show for years, and found the parodies to be pretty accurate at pointing out the foibles of the panelists. Here is a round up of the SNL segments:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2016/08/17/you-havent-appreciated-john-mclaughlin-until-youve-seen-dana-carveys-version/?noredirect=on

Marti