Talk:Real Time with Bill Maher/Archive 1

Archive 1

start?

When did the show start?

In the box it says: 21 February 2003. feydey 00:30, 11 April 2006 (UTC)

POV concerns

I'm not (yet) going to put the NPOV warning up, but the statement "Maher is also fair to his conservative guests" is getting dangerously close to POV, since I'm sure many conservatives would disagree with this statement.

Whether conservatives, liberals, or little green men would disagree with that sentiment does not make it POV. It is, instead, POV in its own right as it's a judgement that a wiki editor made on their own. It's someone's take on the show, which may indeed be 100% true, but we're also abutting the area of No Original Research here. If we were to make a general statement about conservative guests being defended by Maher, I think we're on safer territory as it's generally true and easier to verify.

My point being, if you want to add a POV tag, do so. Your first inclination is probably correct. Just please cite your reasons here and we'll get a discussion going on how to fix specific issues you bring up. --ABQCat 08:48, 29 August 2006 (UTC)

That line is POV. Don't call him fair, describe how he tries to be fair. I'm taking it out. Mathiastck 16:23, 30 August 2006 (UTC)

That's good reasoning, and I agree 100%. Good job, Mathiastck. --ABQCat 07:36, 31 August 2006 (UTC)

Alternating audiences?

the article should mention exactly how the show manages to alternate audiences with differing viepoints. Lue3378 17:56, 10 June 2006 (UTC)

The statement that declares that Maher is a liberal and not a libertarian and its posting location makes me question its veracity. I don't think this should be a part of the article, especially since the article on Maher contains two sources with him describing himself as a libertarian.130.13.131.118 05:04, 29 June 2006 (UTC)

Bill Maher's are overwhelmingly LIBERAL, and he always attacks Bush and his conservative guests. This is show is an unfair and unbalanced as it could possibly be. Overwhelmingly liberal, show me 1 show where conservatives outnumbered liberals on it. Or where Maher himself took 1 conservative position and talked about it. He also frequently attacks Reagan and Karl Rove and acts like just because Republicans win these elections their the only ones using negative ads, both parties do that and any American would agree.

• • WAAAAAAAH WAAAAAAAAAAH I DON'T LIKE THIS SHOW I'M TELLING MOM!

It's not too hard to proves his political views, he states them often enough. ~~

His stance is generally against the conservatives, but that doesn't mean he's a liberal. Libertarians also oppose the current administration. And yes, he does have mostly liberals on the show, but he also has conservatives on and lets them argue their point-of-view. Most recently Pat Buchanan argued for immigration reform and Bill let him explain his position. As it is, the article looks fine. It currently states Bill has liberal and libertarian views. --Kevin L'Huillier 22:11, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

He's called himself a liberal several times on his own show... Shadowrun 00:04, 29 June 2007 (UTC)

Can I point you to the discussion page on Bill Maher himself? I think we hashed through a lot of those issues about a year ago. I'd love to see a similar discussion here or continued there if WP folks have more to say. As I recall, Maher was labeled liberal simply and outright on his own article's page, and my bone of contention was that such a label by a WP contributer is POV in its own right. Citing Maher himself, his stated beliefs, his documented actions, or even a newscaster reporting on Maher's politics would probably make the point you intend just as well without clouding the issue with POV arguments. --ABQCat 07:02, 30 June 2007 (UTC)

Location

Does anyone have any idea where the show is shot? The geographical location of the studio etc? Alamandrax 17:44, 13 October 2006 (UTC)

Yep. The the CBS studio in Los Angeles. [1] (See the tickets question.) Is there a proper place for adding this info, such as in the info box? --Kevin L'Huillier 19:45, 13 October 2006 (UTC)

stage message

Just as the show started I noticed there seems to be a phrase (probably latin) written on a step in the stage. Anyone know about this or know what it means? --David Youngberg 23:35, 24 October 2006 (UTC)

Latin, "Id tenendum verum". See [2]. feydey 08:45, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

Overtime

I didn't realize the show continued Overtime - in the fall, the announcer would say 'tune in for Overtime'. At the point of introduction, it was an actual 15 minute segment where the guests stayed on and answered a couple of questions picked from the forum that was open during the first forty-five minutes or so of the show.

In the Spring, the announcement was no longer made. In looking at it (now that I'm aware it continued) the time was shortened as well. So it became more of a Web-only bit.

Now that Maher is mentioning it again at the end of the closing monologue, I'm aware of it again - at least from the TV perspective.

Should these changes in the Web clip session (Overtime/Ask Bill, whatever) be mentioned? I was wrong about the discontinuing, but I would think that tinkering/changing/evolution should be mentioned. Pejorative.majeure 21:44, 25 August 2007 (UTC)

9/11 conspiracy theorists

Do y'all reckon a mention of the schism with 9/11 conspiracy theorists who occasionally heckle him would be relevant? --Ezeu (talk) 20:27, 20 November 2007 (UTC)

Crackpots bully him trying to get on his show - why should that be relevant. --IceHunter (talk) 10:24, 29 December 2007 (UTC)

The segment was mentioned on national news the following weekend, as well as appearing in a number of prominent blogs, such as the Huffington Post. Pejorative.majeure (talk) 07:47, 16 January 2008 (UTC)

Apatheist?

It seems to me that the number of times Maher has referred to himself as an atheist and has actively argued against the existence of god suggest that apatheist is not a better term to use than atheist. The term is fairly obscure, and would seem to only be warranted if the individual was a clear example of it. What's the reasoning behind using apatheist here? --P4limpsest (talk) 16:15, 25 January 2008 (EST)

Despite his claims and admissions, I feel it's inappropriate to point out someone's religious beliefs unless they are a religious figure or something of that nature. Note that the articles for most political talk show hosts do not have their religious beliefs mentioned. Atheism is in fact a religious belief. Apatheism, however, is more of a political world view so it's reasonable to describe Maher as such since he's been very outspoken against religion.71.106.48.105 (talk) 18:59, 25 March 2008 (UTC)

Atheism is a skeptical and/or philosophical viewpoint, not a religious belief. If you define "religious" as imbued with belief in and exhibiting reverence for a supernatural agency that has control over the universe in general and over human activities in particular, then there's no way on Earth you can call atheism religious. Of course, religious it can also mean conscientious, but it has absolutely nothing to do with acceptance of supernatural phenomena whatsoever. Moreover, I've never heart of "apatheism" before. It's not in my dictionary, my favorite online dictionary, Google's definition search, or any other significant reference book related to linguistics. Oh, yes, it's on Wikipedia. Then it must be true, right?

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=apatheism

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/apatheism

http://www.google.com/search?q=define:apatheism

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=apatheism

http://www.abc.net.au/newsradio/txt/s1620158.htm

So, not only it's a new word that may not live to see its 10th birthday, it also that doesn't seem to describe Bill Maher's views on religion at all. Maher is not apathetic toward religion. In fact, he's highly critical not only against any forms of religious organization, but against most of religious views as well. Taking into consideration that Bill himself prefers the term atheist, I just see no reason to use any other description for this article, sorry. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Rankiri (talk • contribs) 21:31, 25 March 2008 (UTC)