Crooks & Liars posts 20 year old "thirtysomething" clip of model fired for attending peace protest

http://crooksandliars.com/nicole-belle/sunday-morning-bobblehead-thread-72

Sunday Morning Bobblehead Thread
By Nicole Belle Sunday May 02, 2010 5:00am



It's hard for me to believe, but this scene from the last season of thirtysomething is more than 20 years old, and yet I remember it so distinctly. Deeply nestled in the yuppie years of the late 80s, we were pulling out of Iraq after our "victory" in the first Gulf War, though questions remained as to why we needed to be there at all. Series protagonist Michael Steadman, the creative director of an ad agency run by Miles Drentell, also in this scene, is shocked when a client demands a spokesmodel for a national campaign already launched be fired--damn the expense--for participating in a peace protest. Listen carefully to how Miles describes the job of advertising to the perpetually anguished Michael.

It occurred to me that in these convening two decades, this is EXACTLY what "news" has morphed into. No longer responsible for accurately informing the public, what passes for "news" now is a mixture of soothing the public into believing all is well and scaring the public into believing that the end of civilization is nigh, often simultaneously. Case in point: last night was Nerd Prom, otherwise known as the Radio and Television Correspondents Dinner, where the likes of Luke Russert got to flirt with Anna Kendrick and CNN's Ed Henry rubbed elbows with the Jonas Brothers, Kim Kardashian and the guy from The Hangover. In fact, if you're so inclined, Joe and Mika are holding a special post-Nerd Prom Morning Joe, with all the good gossip (we heard Rachel Maddow was mixing some awesome drinks at the MSNBC afterparty) this morning.