FEARLESS UNDER FIRE
On the Tube /
At first glance, politically incorrect, D-list celebrity Kathy Griffin and politically connected, A-List journalist Helen Thomas don’t appear to have a lot in common.
But two television programs –HBO’s “Thank You Mr. President, Helen Thomas at the White House” and the season finale of “Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List” – both based in Washington, D. C., illustrate that they both are daring, they both enjoy speaking their minds, and neither of them minds being in uncomfortable situations.
In today’s 10 p. m. season finale of the Emmy-winning reality series on Bravo, Griffin heads to a Washington setting that isn’t exactly conducive to comedy, Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Griffin performs before soldiers who have lost limbs or suffered other serious injuries while serving in Iraq or Afghanistan.
Needless to say, this isn’t a typical “D-List” episode. It goes as much for poignancy and heartache as it does for laughs.
Armed with her Emmy as comic relief, the admittedly nervous Griffin is a real trouper. She enlists a military guide (who is a friend) to give her some advice on how to handle any potentially sensitive topics. Then she calls her pal Joan Rivers to ask if any criticism of President Bush would be deemed acceptable before this audience. To her credit, Rivers tells Griffin to be careful because the wounded soldiers were fighting for him.
Griffin being Griffin, she proceeds to do things her way. She cheerfully and playfully connects with the very young soldiers and determines which ones have an almost anything-goes attitude. Her prized recruit is an outgoing soldier named Nick, who becomes a terrific addition to her act. She also bonds with the soldiers’ wives, many of whom are in their early 20s and face some extreme difficulties ahead that almost certainly will be as moving to the audience as they are to Griffin.
Still, Griffin doesn’t really have a clue about what performance tack she should take. But like any good comedian, when things appear to be going horribly wrong, she ad-libs. With the help of Nick and a few other soldiers, she discovers a way to survive and get laughs.
The episode isn’t the funniest way to end the season, but Griffin deserves some credit for educating her reality show audience to the strength and remarkable recovery powers of soldiers and their loved ones. I wouldn’t be surprised if the episode won her another Emmy.
The tough questions
Thomas’ show premieres at 9 p. m. Monday on HBO. It is a 38-minute film on Thomas, the well-known former wire service reporter who became famous asking the tough questions (and you thought Channel 2 coined that phrase) of nine U. S. presidents over 60 years. Directed by Rory Kennedy, daughter of Robert F. Kennedy, the show is as much a civics lesson, history lesson and media lesson as it is a profile of one of the first females in the White House press corps and eventually one of the nation’s most powerful journalists.
The stories that Thomas has covered, her opinions of all the presidents she has covered, and her reporting philosophy and criticisms of the media are much more interesting than anything she reveals about herself.
The special includes funny footage of Thomas singing an opera parody and some serious footage of Thomas asking many tough questions of several presidents, including the current President Bush. You can understand at times why her sharp wording of combative questions got under the skin of some presidents.
During the interview for the program, she is frequently self-deprecating and appealing because of it. She gets to reminisce about the press corps’ dealing with several presidents. She believes it is much more difficult today to get close enough to presidents to really know them.
In one of her more amusing stories, Thomas said President Reagan once said he couldn’t answer one question because his chief aides had told him he couldn’t answer. Thomas gently reminded Reagan that he was the president.
She said that is only one example of the way that the relationship between the increasingly noisy press and the increasingly guarded presidency has changed.
She has changed, too. After decades as an objective reporter, she became a liberal columnist who isn’t a fan of Bush. Since Thomas doesn’t deny that she once called him the worst president in history, you can understand why he might avoid her questions.
She said that after she asked Bush a tough news conference question about the reasons for going to war in Iraq, she became persona non grata and hasn’t been called upon.
Of course, her question about the Iraq War was a tough but legitimate one. If you need to be reminded why, watch Griffin’s poignant season finale.
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Clarification: As NBC promos have revealed during the Beijing Olympics, the new comedy “Kath & Kim” will air on Thursdays not Tuesdays after “The Biggest Loser” as originally planned.
TV Review
“Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List” ★ ★ ★ ½ (Out of four) 10 p. m. today, Bravo
“Thank You, Mr. President: Helen Thomas at the White House” ★ ★ ★ ½(Out of Four) 9 p. m. Monday, HBO
