— A Dec. 27 post by Mark Finkelstein laments that the hosts of NBC’s “Today” have stopped playing along with Ann Coulter’s provocative schtick. The rest of us, meanwhile, lament that the bookers at “Today” take her seriously enough to put her on the show in the first place.
— In a Dec. 28 post commenting on a New York Times article about Christian film criticism, Tim Graham takes issue with one person’s assertion in the article that conservative Christians would have protested showing “Schindler’s List” because of the nudity. Graham wrote: “Some might have protested the necessity of nudity to the storyline, but I doubt anyone suggested it ‘should not be shown.’ Did anyone?”
In so many words, yes. Oklahoma Rep. Tom Coburn attacked NBC for airing an uncut version of “Schindler’s List,” saying that NBC had taken network television “to an all-time low, with full-frontal nudity, violence and profanity” by airing the movie. He said the broadcast should outrage parents and “decent-minded individuals everywhere.” Coburn later claimed that he meant that the film should have been broadcast later in the evening.