Free Republic

Today, Shirley Temple will celebrate a very big birthday — her 85th. That's hard to imagine, even for those of us who discovered her movies decades after her fame had peaked. Her name instantly calls to mind a luminously adorable child star with bright blue eyes, ringlet-curled blond hair and charming dimples. Once the biggest celebrity in the world, Temple was the top box office star for the years 1935, 1936, 1937 and 1938 — a beam of sunshine for care-weary Depression-era moviegoers — and a true phenomenon. Today, there's no one quite like her. The closest America has to...

I gave up satellite TV over a year ago now. I get all my news either here, Drudge Report, Breitbart, or my local newspaper has a webpage, as the local TV station,for local news. The wife and I do more things together, We hardly miss the few channels we used to watch some, such as the History channel, Discovery. We were paying over $100 a month to "fund the enemy". Network news,like many posters here have commented, has become nothing but a propaganda tool. Let them preach to their choir, I say. What do others here at FR think?

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is considering whether to loosen restrictions for obscenity on broadcast television and radio. This rule change would allow brief “non-sexual-nudity” and isolated expletives in prime time, while children are still awake and watching TV. The FCC claims that it will consider the public’s sentiment as its members make a decision and has given Americans the month of April to file their comments. Outgoing FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski previously had to order the Enforcement Bureau only to tackle “egregious cases” because of the “backlog” of reported obscenity cases. In the last 6 months, the FCC’s caseload...

Comcast is slowly but surely erasing guns from all its advertising, and shop owners in Georgia are the latest to be told their ads will be pulled if they don’t take out all reference to weapons. Ray Reynolds owns United Loan and Firearms, a pawn shop in Augusta. He told the Augusta Chronicle on Monday he was notified last week that his ads would be pulled from the local Comcast cable station unless he took out all references to guns — including in his shop name.

So I was looking over the wife’s shoulder while she was watching “Project Runway” on Lifetime TV. During a commercial break, Lifetime aired a promo for a new show that debuts tonight. The promo begins with the familiar Aretha Franklin tune, “I Say a Little Prayer,” playing in the background. A young woman, looking like she works for some sort of escort service, is getting dressed. She oh-so-sexily applies her lipstick and mascara before teasingly stroking her hair. She surveys a rack of clothes before deciding upon a dress that looks very much like lingerie. She puts on a pair...

If you stopped watching network television awhile ago because it had gotten so bad, you made the correct decision. It has continued to get worse. A few years ago, network television became dominated by cheaply made reality TV shows and talent contests, sitcoms with hyperactive manic characters, and socially liberal themes. Television has always pushed the edge when it comes to socially progressive themes. But at what point does it go too far? Perhaps when there are no other options left during prime time network TV. The top ten most popular TV shows last fall contained few choices for traditional...

Beyoncé's daring leather ensemble at the Super Bowl last night has sparked anger from some parents who believe it was too racy for prime time television. Several viewers took to Facebook and other social networking websites to suggest that the performer's costume, by fashion designer Rubin Singer, looked a little too 'S&M'. Beyoncé was 'over the top trampy,' according to one mother commenting on the Today show's Facebook page. 'I was embarrassed to watch it with my 9 year old son,' she wrote. Conservative talk show host Laura Ingraham tweeted sarcastically: 'Very family-friendly dancing S&M by Beyonce. What every girl...

NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams joined Jimmy Fallon Monday in another "Slow Jam the News" segment on NBC's Late Night. This time the subject was the fight over the debt ceiling with the target of course being Republicans who were repeatedly hit with sexually-charged attacks (video follows with transcript and commentary): BRIAN WILLIAMS: Hello, I'm Brian Williams of NBC Nightly News and host of NBC's Rock Center, and I too, would like to slow jam this news. JIMMY FALLON, HOST: Hit me three times! WILLIAMS: Less than a month after signing a fiscal cliff deal and narrowly averting a...

Controversial reality show "All My Babies' Mamas" has been canceled by Oxygen after a Change.org petition against the one-hour special received 37,000 signatures. According to reports, Oxygen was planning to highlight Shawty Lo, an Atlanta-based rapper who has 11 children with 10 different women. The show -- which was not being developed as a series, just as a one-time episode -- would have featured all of the women and children moving into one home together. According to an Oxygen press release, the show would "leave the man of the house to split his affection multiple ways while trying to create...

Lena Dunham, creator of the HBO sitcom "Girls," has stated that the character she plays would view dating a black Republican the same way as dating a Nazi. The show's second season premieres Sunday night, and Dunham's character Hannah has found a new love interest in Donald Glover of NBC's "Community," whose character is a Republican. In an interview with New York Magagazine, Dunham explains what his character's politics mean for her character, Hannah. Why make him a Republican? We liked the idea of a Republican entering their universe. And Hannah doesn’t really have a clear sense of why you...

Note: This is NSFW. The article, and especially the video, contain profanity.KDOC Los Angeles Had The Most Spectacularly Disastrous New Year’s Special In The History Of Television Okay, so lots of things have been said about this year’s batch of New Year’s Eve TV broadcasts — mostly about Kathy Griffin bending down to kiss Anderson Cooper‘s crotch on CNN’s air. But forget that. Just forget it. It wasn’t important. After you read this post, none of those other faux-NYE messes will be relevant. Why? Because independent local Los Angeles station KDOC’s New Year’s Eve special was the most glorious train...

Angus T. Jones is pleading with his fans to STOP watching "Two and a Half Men" ... claiming it's nothing but "filth" that contradicts his deep Christian values. 19-year-old Jones -- who makes $350k AN EPISODE playing Jake on the show ...

ABC has cancelled Last Resort and 666 Park Avenue. Both shows will not be receiving orders for additional episodes beyond their first thirteen. Despite a lot of critical support for Last Resort, it struggled on Thursday nights on ABC. 666 Park Avenue meanwhile was the clear ratings weak link on ABC’s Sunday night lineup. Variety reports that both shows will at least air all thirteen episodes.

It began with traditional newspaper circulation about a decade ago, and now the phenomenon has spread to television: Like millions of Americans who shun the daily paper, many are voting with their remotes and are turning off network TV.

UPDATED: Telepictures said Monday that the current season of the recently retooled series will be its last. Telepictures, the syndicated arm of Warner Bros. studio, announced Monday that it will not be renewing Anderson Cooper's daytime talk show, Anderson Live, for a third season. A result of continued soft ratings, despite a rebrand at its recent sophomore launch, the decision was first reported by The New York Times. The series will continue to air through summer 2013. "We are extremely proud of Anderson and the show that he and the entire production team have produced," read a statement The Hollywood...

Ann Romney will visit the women of ABC’s “The View” solo Thursday, her husband no longer available to appear on the show he once referred to as “high risk.” Co-host Barbara Walters announced on the show this morning that she was told over the weekend Mitt Romney could no longer make the appearance. “Governor Romney was supposed to be on with us this Thursday with Ann Romney,” Walters said. “We were looking forward to it. Over the weekend, his people have said that he had scheduling problems, and would not be coming on with us, nor did not feel that...

NEW YORK — The number of gay and bisexual characters on scripted broadcast network TV is at its highest-ever level in the season ahead, according to the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. The total on cable television is also going up. ABC has the highest amount with 10 out of 194, or 5.2 percent, of their regular characters identified as LGBT.

On Monday's taping of ABC's "The View," President Obama said he was just "eye candy" after Barbara Walters kidded Michelle Obama about bringing him as her "date," Reuters reported. "I've been told I'm just eye candy here," he said. The program is set to air on Tuesday, Reuters added, noting that it "marks the first time the Obamas have appeared together on the one-hour show, which features four female hosts, including Hollywood icon Whoopi Goldberg, and is popular with middle-income women voters." A post at Twitchy called his statement "false" and "sexist," and observed that conservatives on Twitter expressed their...

"The Odd Couple" gets a 2012 makeover with a pair of gay-straight best friends and a familiar cast -- courtesy of the team behind "Will & Grace." 1. It has the magic time slot! Before you get bogged down with silly elements like the "story" or the "cast," just know that CBS likes it enough to put it on at 8:30 p.m. on a Monday. 2. Make that business partners. There's a barrage of gay-related series heading to the broadcast networks this fall...

“Honey Boo Boo, ” Red Neck TV’s latest hot reality show, pulled up even with ratings from the DNC on the night that Bill Clinton bent our ears and tired our eyes for his 50 minutes on camera. The “Hollywood Reporter”(HR) tells the story this way: “Still, Honey Boo Boo tied CNN’s coverage of the Democratic National Convention-including a speech from President Bill Clinton–and syndicated Big Bang Theory encores among18-49-ers on cable and trailed only NBC’s NFL season opener on all of television during that hour.” But did anyone in our lame stream media tell you that their darling Bill...