mfrerkes

Jon Stewart and the Daily Show crew are masters at taking bland, idiotic political bickering and turning it into some of the funniest comedy on television. Stephen Colbert has shown a similar talent with respect to political punditry. Commentators like Bill O' Reilly undoubtedly have their hardcore followers, but to most Americans these type of politically-driven TV personalities come off as obnoxious blow-hards. Colbert does an excellent job capturing the pomposity and intellectual dishonesty of what, unfortunately in this age, is referred to as political commentary. For example, he teased an upcoming segment about the Intelligent Design debate by stating: "Coming up, I'll ask a leading expert in evolution why he hates The Lord." Parody such as that is not only hilarious, but is an eerily accurate depiction of what you find on the cable TV news "debate shows." Highly recommended to anyone, especially those who think the political arena in the United States has become a sad, pathetic three-ring circus.

Almost every great sit-com is regarded as such because it pushed the envelope and took TV comedy into previously uncharted territory. "Married With Children" certainly did that, becoming one of TV's longest running sit-coms in the process. The show began at a time when "The Cosbys" dominated the ratings and many people were growing weary of its sugary-sweet portrayal of family life. Al, Peg, Kelly, and Bud were the perfect antidote. Their characters were very easy to relate with for most people who grew up in a dysfunctional, lower-middle class family. Al's shoe store stories were the best. Kelly and Bud's verbal jousting was classic. Peg's inept and lazy approach to life was as pathetic as it was funny. Even the secondary characters like Marcy, Steve, and Jefferson all added immensely to the show's unique character.