Incorrect to the End

Incorrect to the End

It's bye-bye brains as Bill Maher and Politically Incorrect sign off

The Toronto Star
June 26, 2002

Goodnight gorgeous.

Okay, so Bill Maher isn't exactly a hunka-hunka burning late-night love but it's fitting to bid him adieu the way he greeted his female guests, with a don't-try-this-at-the-office term of inappropriate endearment.

Which is why Maher's show is called Politically Incorrect.

Friday night at 12: 05, after some 1,600 shows that began on Comedy Central, Maher gets kicked off ABC, where he's been since 1997 ... ostensibly for being politically incorrect. Maher says - and Disney-owned ABC hasn't denied it - that his show was cancelled because of what he said after Sept. 11. Reacting to U.S. President George Bush's condemnation of the hijackings as "cowardly acts," he said, "We have been the cowards, lobbing cruise missiles from 2,000 miles away. That's cowardly."

Although reporters were at that taping, they made no mention of his remarks. In fact, all of the subsequent coverage focussed mostly on the empty chair that Maher reserved in memory of frequent guest Barbara Olson, who died in the plane that struck the Pentagon.

But a radio shock jock picked up on Maher's words and made much of them. Sponsors and affiliates were outraged. White House spokesperson Ari Fleischer chillingly said: "There are reminders to all Americans that they need to watch what they say, watch what they do."

As I wrote then: "ABC, to its credit, is still airing the show. But for how much longer?"

Obviously, not much.

Maher told Reuters last month: "I guess (ABC) thought all those years ago when I said Politically Incorrect was the name of the show that I was kidding. But I wasn't kidding. And I'm proud of that. I'd rather lose the show than who I am."

Sadly, Maher did lose who he was. He came on ABC like the loud-mouthed liberal-libertarian comic he had been to much acclaim on cable. Politically Incorrect was not only the first late-night talk show to forsake the familiar format of guy-behind-the-desk sucking up to the celebrity pushing their latest project, it was also one of the pitifully few programs to tell it like it is. It would pit right-wing senators against rappers and let them mix it up. Sometimes it was brilliant. Sometimes it was stupid.

Indeed, until his show was cancelled, it often felt as if he was phoning it in, squandering his precious network forum and allowing idiots to rave on about trivia. But lately, Maher's mostly been acting like he has nothing to lose. Last Friday, for example, he let loose a lacerating torrent in response to the media's opting to mark the 30th anniversary of the Watergate break-in with a national guessing game of "Who was Deep Throat?"

"It's how you define scandal; it's how you define outrage. It's what pisses you off," he fumed. "That's the bond I felt with a lot of our viewers these nine years. We're mad at things most people aren't that mad at but should be ...

"Mad that even in wartime one in four Americans say 'It's okay to cheat on your taxes.' Mad that we still trust our health care to the wisdom and compassion of corporations - the same guys that made Enron and Global Crossing such a big success. Mad that whether priests should be allowed to molest children is something the Church had to vote on ...

"Remember: The truth will set you free. It'll get you fired but it'll set you free."

On July 8, ABC will replace Maher with an extension of Nightline, which will do - just what we need - celebrity profiles, starting with David Letterman. In January, a talk show with Jimmy Kimmel (The Man Show) will bow. And then ABC will learn the true meaning of politically incorrect: Hooters girls and fart jokes. But then, that's what the beer and truck advertisers want.

So it's not just goodbye gorgeous. It's bye-bye brains.

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