Air America's "The Lionel Show"......holy moly this show sucks...

[Postman]

Mark Green dumped Sam Seder for this? Oh. My. God.

Sam Seder's show absolutely destroyed this repetitious, hackneyed dumbing down of information, introspection of the obvious, totally boring show.

Using a baseball analogy (it's not perfect, but hey).... ..

Air America is like a manager fielding one of the best teams to ever play the game (let's say it's the Yankees even though I hate them) then benching them and in the process bringing up a bunch of second rate scrubs from the minors to take their place. When the fans complain the coach says, what's the problem? They're wearing the same uniform, they're still the Yankees...

Maybe they're on the same team but the quality of play is a joke compared to what we had.

[RethugAssKicker]

1. Agree... Lionel sounds like Hannity !

[mwb970]

6. I hate the way Lionel attacks callers.

I used to catch Lionel occasionally back when we had liberal radio here in Columbus. His rants were OK, usually, but as soon as someone would call in he'd start attacking them, making fun of everything they say, etc. I turned him off every time I heard him do that, which was a lot.

[Postman]

8. his "comedy" is anachronistic.

sometimes he'll have a funny line but it's really getting old now.

[tridim]

2. I still can't figure out why they keep Randi around

Her show must make tons of money.

It's pretty obvious that AAR's board sucks. Every decision they make is 100% wrong.

[Hieronymus]

29. Randi has the facts but she is does have a mean streak ..

She regularly attacks people who agree with her .. just too much of a hair trigger. She takes more "sick days" than anyone, ever.

[Chimichurri]

3. He's the worst I'v ever heard. He had the audacity last week to

say he took the less paying job at AAR to teach young men how radio is done.

Oh brother :eyes:

[hlthe2b]

7. Every morning is a disappointment until Hartman...

I can stand Young Turks in SMALL doses, but this morning Cenk was being an oblivious ass, going on and on (for reasons I still can not fathom) about (and very nastily discounting) the career of Bob Barker on the Price IS Right...Now, I'm not a fan of gameshows, but geez, the guy did have his place and who gives Cenk the right to decide whether or not Barker's "life was a waste?!" He even made fun of Barker's spay and neuter campaign, as though acting to address the horrendous problem pet overpopulation was nothing. But, why the hell were they talking about this for the first hour at all?!


But, damn, Lionel is so horrendous, that they had to (inexplicably) insert an oviously pre-recorded interview between David Bender and Sen. Dick Durbin to try to keep us listening (it worked this time for me--because I respect Bender and Durbin), but it only underscores how worthless Lionel is.

[Postman]

9. I mean really. Why not just automaton the whole damn 3 hours???

Why have a live host at all?

Damn this show just blows. Bring back Seder, please.

[NYCGirl]

10. Not inexplicably — it's part of this relaunch schedule (with 30 special interviews

with national leaders):

http://www.airamerica.com/upcoming_shows

Monday May 21, 2007


THE YOUNG TURKS
7am Al Franken

THE LIONEL SHOW
9am Senator Russ Feingold
10am Senator Dick Durbin
11am Attorney General Jerry Brown

THE THOM HARTMANN PROGRAM
12n Governor Eliot Spitzer
1pm David Brooks
2pm Howard Dean

THE RANDI RHODES SHOW
3pm George Stephanopolous
4pm Louise Slaughter
5pm Gloria Steinem

THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW
6pm Senator Barack Obama
7pm Liev Schreiber

THE AIR AMERICANS
8pm Rep. Charles Rangel
9pm Governor Bill Richardson
10pm Robert Redford
11pm Chris Matthews

THIS IS AMERICA W/ JON ELLIOTT
12M Anthony Romero


Tuesday, May 22, 2007


THE YOUNG TURKS
7am Rep. Henry Waxman

THE LIONEL SHOW
9am Joe Trippi
10am Paul Newman

THE THOM HARTMANN PROGRAM
12n Ralph Nader
2pm Senator Hillary Clinton

THE RANDI RHODES SHOW
3pm Senator John Edwards
4pm Senator John Kerry

THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW
6pm Ted Sorensen
7pm Tony Kushner

THE AIR AMERICANS
8pm Senator Jack Reed
9pm Josh Marshall
11pm Rep. Anthony Weiner


WEEKEND SCHEDULE -- MAY 26-27


7 DAYS IN AMERICA
Saturday, 6-7pm Mayor Michael Bloomberg

CLOUT W/ RICHARD GREENE
Saturday, 8-10pm Sting

SEDER ON SUNDAY
Sunday, 4-7pm Markos Moulitsas & Matt Stoller

[hlthe2b]

11. thanks... I guess I didn't get (or deleted) the email

But, for those listening the interviews do seem to come out of left field, though I wish I could just hear the interviews and not Lionel...

[hlthe2b]

13. Does this mean they are going to interrupt all these shows

with disjointed pre-recorded interviews conducted by someone OTHER than the show host? Whose bright idea was that? :eyes:

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

27. sounds like a dig at Sam

Lionel's an ass

[glitch]

4. They aired a lot of commercials for him during Sam Seder's show Sunday. Tacky.

I really really really hope Sam get's picked up by Nova-M.

[Postman]

5. If Seder goes to Nova M, I will drop my AAR premium in a heartbeat.

the best show on Air America Radio was the Sam Seder Show and before that The Majority Report.

[Chimichurri]

25. Same here. I used to get a lot of use out of it - Malloy, Seder,

and Thom. I've no reason to support them now since I can listen to Thom live.

[fasttense]

12. Lionel's show is designed for people who don't know the issues.

Or maybe it is for former bush lovers who can't think for themselves. Perhaps it is for people with only minimal understanding of politics. He rehashes the obvious established ideas and doesn't bring anything new to his show. At least Sam left me with something to think about every time I listened. This guy just repeats what was on DU two weeks ago but without all the links for further research.

Thank God Thom Hartmann follows him. Hartmann adds so much, well thought out, intelligent analysis to each issue it is like night and day between the two show. And then we have Randi....I wish I could go on her cruise.

I know some of you folks don't like the Young Turks, but even they add to the issues and don't just repeat the same surface analysis you can get on CNN. Lionel is the only boring note on Air America's line up.

[hlthe2b]

14. How embarrassing for Thom to have to follow Lionel

Thom Hartman, the consumate professional, intellectual, and gentleman.

[DancingBear]

15. The entire channel is becoming politically neutered

Why the f%CK* do I want to hear interviews with Kerry, or Clinton, or any of the other hacks?

This was (in theory, anyway) supposed to be a PROGRESSIVE network - although after watching Mark Green's "career" I should have known AAR would come to this.

Read their damn "guest list" of interviews - what a joke.

Gee, I guess Kucinich was busy that week, huh? Oh, but they got Feingold to appease the real left...

Randi will bail on this thing as soon as she can, I'm betting - so will Seder.

Disgusting. I'm not even going to bother with it anymore.

Nova M, Nova M, Nova M....

[davidwparker]

16. I've heard it was bad. I'll not be listening. I heard Sam on Malloy's podcast

last night. Mike was hoping Sam would join Nova M.

[brooklynite]

17. A cautionary "I'll wait"...

I've never been a huge fan of Mark Green, but whatever he is, he's not a RWer, and he was willing to pony up the money to buy a programming network that was failing financially, so I'm going to cut him some slack on reorganizing the operation. None of us know why Sam Seder was taken off weekdays (financials, audience size, personality conflicts), so lets give the new operation a month or two to try out the "re-launch" before raking them over the coals...

[Postman]

18. okay Lionel's' mom.....

juts kidding...

You're probably correct. I liked Lionel when he was on at night, on a "mainstream" (i.e.rightwing) radio station (WOR)...He was a good fit for that type of format. You know, the knee-jerk, right wing reactionary radio listener. His views tended to fall left of center in that kind of format. Kind of gave some of those listeners a minimal dose of reality based thinking....but,

On a supposed hard-core, issues oriented, reality based, truth seeking radio format such as Air America's, he falls far short of the mark and is boring to listen to for the average, well-informed Air America listener.

If the goal of bringing him over to Air America was to steer his following over to Air America in the hopes that they'll discover other points of view, such as Thom Hartmann, Randi Rhodes, etc., etc.. then I think they could have done it in a better way. As the saying goes - you don't cut off your nose to spite your face.

They couldn't have provided Sam Seder a daily show? Not even a return to the night gig? My God, even Robert F Kennedy said Mark Green doesn't know what the hell he's doing by relegating such a powerful voice for progressivism to the equivalency of radio Siberia...late Sunday afternoons.

Lionel was impressed with the loyalty that Sam garners from his listenership.

Newsflash to Lionel: It's not the messenger (completely), it's the message.

[disndat]

19. It may not have been

Mark Green's decision. He is not exactly the owner of AAR. His brother, a real estate tycoon, might have something to do with Lionel. Two people in the same family can have different political views. Anyway, this new AAR format is a hash.

[Poiuyt]

20. I heard some of the show this morning and didn't think it was THAT bad

I was still in bed, so I was kind of half listening. I heard his interview with Sen Feingold which I thought was pretty good (he tried to get Feingold to run). After the way everyone has been criticizing him I was expecting a lot worse. I can do without the whiney voice though.

[librechik]

21. Whose Boyfriend is Lionel?

when all attempts at rational explanation come up WTF, you have to return to the Old Reliables:

Why does that idiot get the job when he's SO BAD at
it?

Cuz he's somebody's boyfriend who was in a position to get him that job.

[bunkerbuster1]

22. I really think it's about the ratings.

Like Lionel or not (and I don't dislike him nearly as much as a lot of DUers) he does have a national following, and AAR is gambling that he'll contribute to the bottom line.

I take it you haven't heard of him prior to his appearance on AAR, but he's been around for awhile.

[librechik]

23. I've heard Lionel a few times previously

and was not impressed. And I'd like to see the numbers on Sam v Lionel. I've only heard second hand that Lionel has a following.

And what the hell do I know? I'm just sayin. I've been around a long time and I can spot the signs. (not enough to testify to--just have my suspicions.

[bunkerbuster1]

24. It's not a great apples:apples comparison

...and so maybe I shouldn't read too much into this, but Talkers magazine's "Heavy Hundred" listing has Lionel at #23, and Sam is, um, not on the list at all.

http://www.talkers.com/main/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=19&Itemid=44

Point is, Lionel would have to have some kind of following to rate placement above fairly well-known personalities like Bill Bennett (eww) and Clark Howard.

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

26. He sounds like Matt Drudge doing a Buddy Hackett impression

covuluted, but that's what it comes off as to me

[Hieronymus]

28. I agree, Lionel is a disaster. He's been carried here for some time

before he signed with Air America, and I've written both places to express my disgust. :eyes:

[Stuckinthebush]

30. Yes, and the Ed Schultz show isn't much better

I used to love listening to AA and now I find it's a chore.

Oh, and don't get me started about the 10 minutes of commercials for every five minutes of programming.

[jgraz]

31. Continue letting AAR know how much this decision sucks

Listen to Sam's new Sunday show and tell me it isn't one of the best things on radio. Sam is a true talent and one of the best political analysts on the air. Maybe Green will wake up if he hears from enough people.

[Aquaturd]

32. Have to disagree...

First timer here and I'm sorry but I'm going to have to disagree--I find the Lionel Show very entertaining, and believe me, I wish he didn't join Air America.

He's off our Progressive Talk affiliate in Rochester, NY so I have to download his podcasts to listen to him and now we have to suffer through Thom Hartman. From what I gather, you're fans of his...I find him dull and boring. I've tried for a couple weeks now but I find myself falling asleep at the wheel whenever his show is on. Just my opinion, though!

Different strokes and all that but I'm just throwing my hat in support of Lionel. I agree though, I don't like when he goes after callers but I think he's got good insight on a variety of topics.

I like hosts who aren't afraid to give point-on political talk and make it entertaining.

All I can say is, give him a bit of time. Air America has a way of taking the legs out from good talk show hosts. From what I've heard so far, the production values have been way off from what he's used to but once things get in a rhythm, the level of his show should rise.

[WA98296]

33. I tried to tell you guys before, Lionel is the MOST BORING show I ever heard.