Show The Herald Journal Logan Utah Saturday July 13 2002 SHERMANS LAGOON -- 7 B7 Donahue: A talk-shopioneer returns to TV w SH3& W lw CATHY BUT MMT HME OOI MMT1D00? MHAT tX ITWTODO? ZMME? HANE XT WMT I MHO WAE ITT AM SHIMS RERUN 6000 AT IT UMTHWEIMMETT mm BEETLE BAILEY SECAUCUS NJ (AP) — In the beginning there was Phil History reminds us that on Nov 6 1967 “The Phil Donahue Show’’ premiered Then 29 yean and nearly 7000 shows later after a million audience members had passed through his studios in Dayton Ohio then Chicago and New York he taped his final “Donahue" on May 2 1996 By then the genre hie pioneered — the syndicated weekday talk show with audience interaction and viewers phoning in — was jammed with tawdry alternatives “The daytime arena changed the ground moved under my feet" says Donahue with a knowing laugh “and I was glad to leave” Now he’s back ready to start anew Monday night on MSNBC a cable network that wasn’t born yet when he last asked “Is the caller there?” MSNBC has Since its July IS 1996 sign-o- n spun its wheels in competition with CNN and especially Fox News Channel Now it hopes to gun traction with a revamped schedule on which “Donahue” will occupy a key position During die same period Donahue says he was happy learning how to sail and not wearing a necktie He threw in with Ralph Nader’s y presidential bid which in November 2000 received 3 percent of the vote Last September like millions of others he was rocked by the terrorist attacks Soon after that corporate corruption and scandals in the Catholic church began tograb headlines Donahue felt like getting back in die game “There was never a smorgasbord of issues in my lifetime like we have now” he says cocking his silver head for that familiar take with which he highlights a point In his freshly claimed office at MSNBC headquarters he outlines “Donahue” Redux: most often live no studio audi- d ence for him to dash up and down the aisles of It will be he promises “a thoughtful program that we hope will feature lots of voices We’re gonna spend a lot of time on what ails us” as a " A VIKING WARRIOR fb)creouticeatroF8ec Donahue will host “Donahue airing week-nighat 9 pm on MSNBC and will pit the OW Master” against cable-new- s talk champ Bill O'Reilly on Fox PtiH JUST A5 THE BALL 60T TO ME MICHAEL JACKSON HIT A HI6H NOTE ! By contrast conservative pundits are on a winning streak' warm-and-fuz- ed has-be- -- corporate-sponsore- So maybe this is Donahue’s time again 1 SNCN (TIM StCULaUftCSS ABOUT THM TO KPkACC tCX behind the survivors might well envy the dead Sitting through that dragon Armageddon scenario as presented in “Reign of Fire” it’s likely the audience that will be envious of the deceased The idea is a cool variation of the story mythical beasts putting humanity on the ropes And "Reign of Fire” does offer decent visual cities effects of dragons and burned-oBut director Rob Bownum and a gaggle of screenwriters that took a pass at the script plot drowning squander it all on a in testosterone The movie’s basically a weenie roast the weenies hiring die shallow unpleas-ncharacters who alternate between mournful supplication for deliverance from dragons and squabbles among themselves 0vier who’s king of the castle Christian Bale is bland as Quinn leader of a clan of Britons passively hoping to wait out the dragons which halve so ravaged the planet that TO Ml MASK rriABooo 1 irssnuAteoo ACTUALLY ffi OH y TMN6-- IT MAK HM BASF ON half-bak- they’re beginning to starve because the human food supply is running out As American “dragon slayer’’ Van Zan v Win CLOSE TO HOME n THOUGHT JSTART YOU Bv Phillip Alder OOtHG TO 7HS ADDiTOH OH 7H HOMO TODAY? BUH-tUN-G at bridge Matthew McConaughey is swaggeringly repel-lepm outlandish stereotype of John Wayne bluster The best part of the movie is the brief montage that follows rising pseudo-newsre- el footage and headlines to encapsulate two decades of warfare between dragons and humans' ending with the dragons pretty much ' the show running ' Jumping ahead to 2020 Quinn and his lieu- tenant (Gerard Butler) struggle to hold together their shabby band of survivors Then the Yanks arrive militia leader Van Zan and a convoy of armored vehicles and a helicopter with a plan to annihilate the hearts by slaying the lone ' alpha-mal- e dragon whose seed spawns the entire race The story is thin and overloaded with manly men bellowing at one another always ready to duke it out' Half the time the characters shout incoherentiy And McConaughey is almost ‘ incomprehensible nt ed nt REAL LIFE ADVENTURES con- - Movie review : ut AMD lib- eral standand all t “I feel a lot of pressure to perform” he ‘Reign of Fire' lacks heat i HUMS : en talk-sho- w ng 1M zy ut If dragons decimated our world leaving ashen ruins and a few pocketfuls of people MANS' ASSUME COME TO YOU YOU Chan- d self-avowe- By David Germain AP Movie Writer X of the Fox News Witness the success nel personalities who like their rv’work overall have scored with a “fair and balanced” claim that by implication demonizes other outlets for leaning to the left If liberals woe celebrated instead of suspect wouldn’t scads of them already be on the air? “How would we know?” Donahue shoots back “We’ve never really given anybody a chance have we? (Paul) Begala (James) Carville” he says citing the designated liberals on CNN’s weeknight “Crossfire” talk show — “these are centrists!” How then will Phil TV’s face of liberalism fare against “The new-ol“no O’Reilly' Factor” and its host's hard-nspin” populism? ' Maybe Donahue will be TV’S next Or maybe just maybe he will be the beneficiary of an enduring cultural truth: Everything old is new again Of course Donahue’s participation in the Nader campaign isn’t necessarily a plus as he is the first to admit “That’s not a hot launchfaces at this moment in ing pad for our national life” Or is it? “For those who said to us during the campaign that we didn’t appreciate the capitalist system that we were whining we have three words: Enron Tyco WorldCom This is HUGE this business scandal” he declares “One after another!” Donahue is on a mellifluous rant “Many people told me T agree with everything Ralph says burl wouldn’t vote for him’ What’s the point of What are we a free and open democracy if it’s gonna be con- d trailed by two (political) parties?” society Airing weeknights at 9 pm the new “Don- ahue” will pit the Old Master against cable-netalk champ Bill O’Reilly on Fox and CNN’s recently acquired marquee talent Connie Chung So here he is a TV veteran who in December will turn 67 reprising his act on a medium usually beholden to the next new splashy thing And most intriguingly of all he remains a d linapologetic liberal— not exactly commonplace on TV however vilified by some the media may be for its supposedly lib- eral slant “Much buzz!” says Donahue " ‘Here comes the liberal Will he be fair? Will he be messianic?’ I don’t think conservatives have to take this test They’re not scary Liberals are scary Liberals challenge the present order and we cannot be surprised that they’re not very cele- - MOTHER GOOSE AND GRIMM FOXTROT ts brated” news-base- PEANUTS 3 AP Photo talk-sho- w pop-ey- :Q1 fev third-part- HAGAR THE HORRIBLE Wj£s- - - ' - i the spade 10 yoti or I would his partner’s ace fdt two s down Gawiys’ defense gained have won with thejack cashed the spade ace and a'trick! 02002 NEA ' tried the dub ace: one down North y v Gawiys however knew that ' 6 4 2 declarer was 6 or 7 in the ' T s2 majors Perhaps South ha$lno D a ' was there so And if clubs 1 0 9 ’V only one chance Playing his partner for the king Gawiy s 4 A J '' 4 Q 7 5 A3 won with the spade ace ami 8 V V 9 3' returned the spade jack 6 3 2 Q 10 9 4 " cham-pio- n Declarer AI?7-V6¥(4 ' Paid Soloway won with South A his king apd drew trumps If 4 If (109 V KQ J10 7 4 V he had nbw led a dub he I 7 would have enticed hom1 V m if: i However Soloway couldn’t I' Dealer belief that Wert would i 'Vuliierab1 defend like this if holding the ? 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