Two Cents

"In some respects, when UPN and The WB elect to do a series about African-Americans, we still get these sitcoms. We still wonder, when we see some of the African-American male characters, how far we've really come. We aren't being taken in a new direction."

-Social commentator Donald Bogle on the continuity of African-American stereotypes in mainstream TV, as quoted in the New York Daily News.

"Kids are bombarded with the same commercial over and over again. But it doesn't take repeated exposure; [the effect of advertising] can happen from just a single exposure.''

-The findings of research by Dina L. G. Borzekowski, of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine (NYC), and Dr. Thomas N. Robinson, Stanford Center for Research in Disease Prevention, that children as young as 2 years old may be influenced in their subsequent food choices by a 30-second television commercial.

"This is a testament that should shock, in order to defend and protect women against the aggression of men. I hope this report will help suppress this shocking phenomenon."

-Rafik Halabi, head of Channel One (Israel), defending the state television's transmission of a segment of a home video of a rape, taped by the perpetrator.

"Miami Vice: Paranoid undercover narcs battle the politics of blow in the Reagan-Bush '80s. Gets extra points for being presciently set in Florida, the most paranoid (and paranoia-inducing) state in the Bush '00s."

-Salon.com's Joyce Millman on the 10 most paranoid shows of all time.

"You had to wonder which contained less reality: Survivor: The Australian Outback or the network news program constantly promoting it?"

-Howard Rosenberg, The Los Angeles Times, on CBS' shameless plugging of its ratings bonanza as a newsworthy item.

"According to The New York Observer, former Vice President Al Gore has accepted a job at the Columbia School of Journalism. Apparently, the journalism school has hired Gore as a podium."

-Conan O'Brien, from NBC's Late Night.

"This is really a satire of the American sitcom. They're making George out to be this wonderful, likable guy."

-Comedy Central spokesman Tony Fox on the cable channel's new presidential sitcom, That's My Bush!

"Ripping on George Bush is not hard-it's like shooting fish in a barrel."

-Matt Stone, co-creator of Comedy Central's That's My Bush!, to Emily Chenoweth of Brill's Content. Stone emphasizes that political satire is not the point of the show, family is.

"I didn't want to be wheeled in with my teeth in a cup and selling jewelry at age 81."

-Kathy Levine, Former QVC host, to The Philadelphia Inquirer on why she left the shopping network a year ago.

"Considering the current political climate of yahoos and yapsters, you might feel a deeper wistfulness while watching PBS' Abraham and Mary Lincoln: A House Divided. In remembering one of our most transcendent presidents, the film reminds us how far down the political evolutionary scale we have come."

-Monica Collins, Boston Herald, in her glowing review of the new PBS Lincoln documentary.