Washington, DC — I really liked Dennis Miller on Monday Night Football, and I liked his show on CNBC, until he started dissing people for their weight, their appearance, their nationality and other inexplicable moronic putdowns. The more Miller let his personality come through, the less likeable he became.
For a while, it was a hip new show to showcase Republicans, and the show hit paydirt by booking Dick Cheney and other Administration stalwarts. The show seemed to peak towards the end of the 4th quarter of 2005, and then… dullsville. Perhaps it was the vacuous guests on the "Varsity" panel with manufactured pop political credentials. I kept watching, but only because of no other remotely decent cable programming options in that time slot.
The one who deserves his own show is Mike Murphy, Dennis Miller’s production consultant, and an intriguing, likeable personality himself. Besides being one of the best GOP operatives in the country — perhaps the best when you consider his total skill set package — he was the one who helped give the show a little edge, and a little coolness. Murphy, a former Georgetowner, moved to L.A., and has ’08 presidential aspirants beating down his door.
Now its just Donny Deutsch on CNBC for my cable programming enjoyment — and that’s just great. His show is getting stronger week by week.