MovieChat Forums > Real Time with Bill Maher (2003) Discussion > The thing that was good about this show,...

The thing that was good about this show, and why is isn't so good anymore ...

posted 2 years ago by brux (14724)
8 replies | jump to latest

The best thing about Real Time is the format of the show. It WAS light, informative, comedic, and serious all at the same time. The thing that made it work was that although Bill Maher expressed himself at the end in New Rules, funny and seriously and very well, he did not dominate the show or intimidate the guests or in general behave like a boor.

Somewhere in the last two or more years Maher began crapping all over his own show. By that I mean he would get angry at the audience, and he would focus on certain issues like wokeness or politically correctness, but in a way that was not from the everyman's perspective, but filled with his own feelings that started getting really weird about the time he turned 60, or started talking about how he felt old.

Instead of letting the guests talk it was all about finding common ground with the guests, which turned into and really meant finding ways to get the guest to agree with him, and he would get quite nasty about it too. You see, the show worked because Maher, I thought, recognized that everyone has their own reality, their own "silo" as they are called today, and he would bring people together do that the audience could get the benefit from the guests' perspectives - and it worked really well.

Somewhere along the time it became all about him expanding his silo so instead of the guests feeling free to express their different points of view, it became about Bill approving or disapproving of what was being said, and week after week pushing his own repetitive and often boring and factually incorrect ideas. The show has become a irritating experience now and I only end up watching it because of habit and to see what might be echoes of its former glory.

Also an odd think seems to have happened since Trump. Although Bill makes fun of Trump and insults him, over time he has taken on unabashedly Trump-like characteristics. I think Maher is cracking up or has early onset dementia to not be able to recognize this ... or maybe he does and just doesn't care.

[–] CaptainCrozier (607) 2 years ago

Although Bill makes fun of Trump and insults him, over time he has taken on unabashedly Trump-like characteristics.

How has Maher become Trump-like lately?

[–] brux (14724) 2 years ago

One thing I used to really like about Real Time was that the show centered around the guests. Now it is all don't ruffle Bill's feathers and listen quietly to his goofball medical and health care theories, and his hatred for young people, marriage, babies, etc. He constantly interrupts the guests with blatantly false comments - and has taken to these attacks on the Left. His narcissism is the key ingredient.

So, you don't notice that huh?

[–] Satan2016 (25525) 2 years ago

Well deserved attacks on the Left!

[–] brux (14724) 2 years ago

There is no well-deserved attacks on the Left. You can criticize the Left, or whatever you think the Left is, but if there is substance to it, even the Left will criticize itself.

The Left is not like the Right which is like an internal military force at war with the US. Your general even said a day or two ago he wants to rip up the Constitution, and W. Bush said the Constitution is just a piece of paper. They know - their elite running the country does whatever it wants and expects trolls like you to justify it.

[–] CaptainCrozier (607) 2 years ago

Now it is all don't ruffle Bill's feathers

He doesn't seem to want anyone to upstage him, and he started in that direction long before Trump got elected, let alone 2020. Although a turn-off, I would hardly say that makes him "Trump-like".

his goofball medical and health care theories

Such as?

his hatred for young people, marriage, babies, etc.

How exactly is that "Trump-like"? And Maher doesn't necessarily hate young people, rather he has disdain for today's young people, the Millenials and especially the Gen-Zers for being such coddled wussies and ignoramuses. And it's not like those assessments are inaccurate.
He's always made no bones about how he is not cut out for married life and having a family. Doesn't make him a bad person. And since Trump is a married man with a family himself, I would say Bill's shunning of that life makes him if anything very un-Trump-like.

He constantly interrupts the guests with blatantly false comments

He does get his facts wrong from time to time, and is guilty of lapses in judgment. That's called being human.

[–] ebhaynz (3688) 2 years ago

I think it became old hat to Bill. Politically he's seeing how screwed up the "new" left has become..he knows where the funny is and the left ain't it..he freely admits this is why Gutfield is easily winning the late night ratings. What has kept his head above water is his long term writing staff, a nice investment on his part. I liked it when he did little skits like the echo chamber and everything must go sale..I've become tired the formula, 1. Monolgue 2. Uninteresting first guest 3. Panel of nobodies ..then 4. New Rules.

Still, Bill has found out, just like Dennis Miller did back in the 90's, that a once a week Friday night gig on HBO is a great way to make a living. All the other guys have to work so much more.

[–] brux (14724) 2 years ago

> Politically he's seeing how screwed up the "new" left has become.

That's BS. There is no such thing as the new Left, it is Fake News by the right to discredit democracy - period. The Right hates democracy. They prove it every election when they try to cut out millions of voters across the country, not to mention they never do anything for the majority of Americans but yammer and spew vitriol.

Gutfield is a moron.

Real Time is a great format ... I think they just need someone new. Bill has early onset.

[–] Guitar King (4890) 2 years ago

You are afflicted by the Woke Mind Virus, even your cult leader Maher can't talk sense into you.