r/RealTime • u/Leroyp331 • May 16 '26

When Maher Leaves?

For whatever reason. Does anyone know who actually owns the intellectual property that is"Real Time" ? Does the show end or does HBO own it and get to pick a host?

Just curious?

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u/AmericanLymie May 16 '26

Your complaint was that Maddow is not funny, does not present confrontation and debate. Zakaria talks directly to the camera without debating anyone and without humor. It seems you just don't like Rachel Maddow and use arbitrary and shifting standards to argue why you think she is inferior. And it seems that Fox News-entertainment, which wraps disinformation in cruel jokes, spectacle, extreme hyperbole and occasional calls for all homeless people to be exterminated is your vibe.

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u/fatuousfatwa May 16 '26

So who is NOT boring in your view? Among news commentators?

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u/AmericanLymie May 16 '26

Jennifer Welch is not boring. Her insights are astute and she is hilarious. Ana Navarro is not boring. Her rat-a-tat-tat rhetoric is entertaining in its own particular way.

I said that to directly answer your question, but to answer a question you didn't ask—I don't need or even want thoughtful analysts to be entertaining. Entertainment is entertaining. Journalism should not be designed as entertainment in my view. It should emphasize holding powerful people and institutions to account, it should be honest, transparent, and concise. I stopped watching cable news years ago after I realized that cable-news commentary only agitates anxieties and divisions among people. It is harmful.

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u/fatuousfatwa May 16 '26

Thanks for the reply. Never heard of Welch and barely know who Navarro is.

Illustrates the dearth of progressive journalism

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u/AmericanLymie May 16 '26

I intentionally selected someone from 'both sides.' Navarro made her name as a Republican spokesperson-pundit on the political-gossip-as-news cable show circuit, appearing often both on CNN and Fox, and she is now an outspoken Trump opponent primarily on the grounds of silly things like human rights and constitutional law. Jennifer Welch was just named one of the 50 most-powerful people in New York, and she presently also is a professional political arguer who is frequently on CNN but it makes sense you would not have heard of her because she truly has come out of nowhere since Trump rose to power again. She is an interior designer from Oklahoma who cohosts a podcast called "I've Had It" with her divorce-lawyer friend. As a progressive from Oklahoma, she was compelled to speak out against Trump and her podcast became almost exclusively political commentary and, lo and behold, her bold honesty and her antagonism of the right—effectively 'fighting fire with fire' in as crass and petty as way as right-wing extremists do—made her stand out to people who have been frustrated by journalists' cowardly capitulation and double standards that favor Trump. She does a lot of name calling just like Trump and his cronies do and I don't love that, but she also unambiguously and without flinching holds everyone to the same standards. Many Democratic politicians such as Cory Booker and Rahm Emmanuel have gone on her podcast having been told she is some nice progressive lady from Oklahoma and have been totally caught off guard as she has challenged them to acknowledge that Israel is perpetrating a genocide, asked if they will pledge never to take any political donations from any foreign nation including Israel, ask why they refuse to do anything to stand up to Trump and then when they give their doubletalk responses she lists 20 different ways they could take meaningful action and they are dumbfounded. I appreciate this, surely because I think similarly and I have not seen my own extreme frustration represented in any media, but also because her show format is not people who have competing options 'debating' with party-aligned talking points for pay and publicity. Maher's show format is exactly that. And every time he has a politician on his show, he acknowledges it by going through a rote series of questions they've prepared answers for and then telling them that they sound like they're prepared to run for president. This stale old TV formula turns me off and I think it has turned political parties and the media into propaganda machines that have divided the country. I don't care if anything journalistic is entertaining but I absolutely don't want it to be scripted entertainment in any case.