November 2017

MALE MATTERS
Killing Bill
and what I’m thankful
for on the tube
by Elliot Goldenberg
With another Thanksgiving creeping up upon us, and
as a new holiday season is set to kick off with a flurry
of footballs in Dallas and Detroit, I’d like to once again
share with my readers a few of those things on the TV screen
that have made my bumpy ride through life just a bit more
bearable – the gravy on the turkey, so to speak.
There’s something to be said, after all, for
being able to curl up in my bed, away from the
maddening crowd, grab the remote, and watch my
beloved Dolphins, public television, or the History
Channel.
Call me old fashioned, but
I’d rather spend my spare
time in front of the so-called
“idiot box” and munching on
a bag of chips than, let’s say,
feed an addiction to the aptly
named smart phone.
Okay, so before you label
me a heartless conservative
and a Trump apologist, I’m grateful that I actually got to watch
the controversial Bill O’Reilly – author of the extraordinarily
successful Killing series – for nearly two decades on Fox News
before Bill, himself, was “killed off” by many of his show’s
sponsors following allegations of sexual harassment.
Now, Bill may or may not have been a dog in heat, but with
his intelligence, passion, sense of humor, and, yes, boorish
nastiness, he was one of a kind – and is impossible to replace
on the air.
Still, some things never change. There was, and still is, plenty of
feminine eye-candy on Fox, which may have also been tempting
to the larger than life Bill, who surely had human frailties – just
like many of the larger than life historical figures he wrote about.
Another national treasure I’ve thoroughly enjoyed is ESPN’s
mouthy but articulate sports aficionado Steve A. Smith. His
debates with the more liberal – and more politically correct –
Max Kellerman are classic. Truth be told, there is quite a lot to
like about ESPN, even though much of its best talent lost their
jobs in a cost-cutting frenzy – so, hopefully Steven A. will still be
there by the time you read this.
Of course, one of our greatest national treasures on the tube
is a man who in fact teaches us about national treasures: the
great documentarian story-teller Ken Burns. Burns is a veritable
genius who has mastered the documentary format to explore
who we are as Americans, and the national fabric we are made
of. His Civil War, Lewis and Clark, and Prohibition, just to name
a few, were awe-inspiring. His Baseball and Jackie Robinson
were metaphors for the American soul and spirit as viewed
through the lens of America’s pastime.
Speaking of sports, I also want to thank Miami Heat color man
“Yeah Baby” Tony Fiorentino, who will be leaving the broadcast
booth at the end of this season, for his superb insights and
commentary as he worked alongside the great Eric Reid during
hundreds of Heat games. As Eric would have said when a
Heat player made a three point shot: “Kaboom!” Kaboom, too,
to Warner Brothers TV and the David Wolper Company, which
stuck by me and my partners in our quest to make a TV miniseries
based on two of my books, neither of which had Killing
in the title.
As far as a TV mini-series goes,
however, few were as good as
Genius, which delved into the
amazing life of Albert Einstein
– even though changing some
of the main actors in midstream
was annoying. As we learned,
Einstein was far more than a
brilliant physicist chained to
his blackboard. The Einstein
mini-series appeared on the
National Geographic Network,
which puts on some great TV
that too many of us are still
unaware of. I’m thankful that I
finally discovered it.
All that being said, I’m especially grateful that,
during Thanksgiving, football reigns supreme,
which is exactly how it should be. P
56
NOVEMBER 2017