An open letter to David Letterman, re: Sarah Palin
Jun 15, 2009, 05:32 AM |
by Ken Tucker
Dear Mr. Letterman:
This whole Sarah Palin thing has really gotten out of hand. Did you read the absolutely reprehensible piece written in the Chicago Sun-Times that equated your joke-insults to the anti-Semitic hate-speech of Rev. Jeremiah Wright? The atmosphere has become not merely ludicrous, but in cases like this, poisonous.
So here's my advice, as you begin a week of new shows (and the nice thing about writing a letter of advice to a guy like you is that I'm pretty sure you'll do whatever the hell you want to do anyway, so I can speak freely):
Clam up.
Don't give Gov. Palin any more material to react to. From her Today Show interview alone, it was obvious that no matter how much Matt Lauer tried to raise serious questions about various overreactions to your jokes, she's glowingly happy to be in the national spotlight again and doesn't want to give it up any time soon.
Don't give the TV cable news analysis shows, whether they lean right, left, or "objective," any more fodder for what has been, for the most part, an ever-higher tower of Babel-babble without any useful insight.
Where the first few days of this controversy probably helped you in the ratings, I can't believe that you, a tough but fair competitor, want to win against the Tonight Show on the back of this kind of controversy.
Have a good week. Oh, and on Friday, be sure to ask Michael Cera about the possible Arrested Development movie, will ya?
Best,
Ken Tucker
Dear Mr. Letterman:
This whole Sarah Palin thing has really gotten out of hand. Did you read the absolutely reprehensible piece written in the Chicago Sun-Times that equated your joke-insults to the anti-Semitic hate-speech of Rev. Jeremiah Wright? The atmosphere has become not merely ludicrous, but in cases like this, poisonous.
So here's my advice, as you begin a week of new shows (and the nice thing about writing a letter of advice to a guy like you is that I'm pretty sure you'll do whatever the hell you want to do anyway, so I can speak freely):
Clam up.
Don't give Gov. Palin any more material to react to. From her Today Show interview alone, it was obvious that no matter how much Matt Lauer tried to raise serious questions about various overreactions to your jokes, she's glowingly happy to be in the national spotlight again and doesn't want to give it up any time soon.
Don't give the TV cable news analysis shows, whether they lean right, left, or "objective," any more fodder for what has been, for the most part, an ever-higher tower of Babel-babble without any useful insight.
Where the first few days of this controversy probably helped you in the ratings, I can't believe that you, a tough but fair competitor, want to win against the Tonight Show on the back of this kind of controversy.
Have a good week. Oh, and on Friday, be sure to ask Michael Cera about the possible Arrested Development movie, will ya?
Best,
Ken Tucker
watching-tv.ew.com |
