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April 16, 2009 7:03 AM   Subscribe

Blago to face "fun and comedic challenges" in a reluctant celeb reality show Thank God for Rod Blagojevich. The Energizer buny of political buffoonery. This must have been what he was referring to when he quoted Tennyson in that press conference. Cuz it surely didn't make sense then.
posted by njbradburn (28 comments total)
 
He's poisoning the jury pool.
posted by Ironmouth at 7:13 AM on April 16, 2009 [2 favorites]


Some people have such all-consuming egos, so little capacity for self-reflection or seeing how they appear to others, that it goes right past obnoxious and into fascinating...




..and then right back into obnoxious.
posted by The Whelk at 7:15 AM on April 16, 2009


NBC has not released the names of other Z-list celebrities who have agreed to participate.

Just a few months ago, Rod was in the Governor's office orchestrating shake downs. Now he's openly ridiculed in the press and preparing to eat bugs on camera like a carnival geek.

How the wheel turns.
posted by Joe Beese at 7:15 AM on April 16, 2009 [3 favorites]


Now he's openly ridiculed in the press and preparing to eat bugs on camera like a carnival geek.

There's just something so ...so ... American about this, isn't there?
posted by The Whelk at 7:16 AM on April 16, 2009 [1 favorite]


Some people have such all-consuming egos, so little capacity for self-reflection or seeing how they appear to others, that it goes right past obnoxious and into fascinating...




..and then right back into obnoxious.


Story of my life.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 7:25 AM on April 16, 2009


$80,000 week a source said - this upsets me so much. i don't know, its just fucking wrong. he was a corrupt politician and he can no longer be governor, instead he'll make ~$1M this year acting a buffoon.

make my skin crawl
posted by askmehow at 7:34 AM on April 16, 2009


‘Fyodor Pavlovitch, this is unbearable! You know you’re telling lies and that that stupid anecdote isn’t true. Why are you playing the fool?’ cried Miusov in a shaking voice.
‘I suspected all my life that it wasn’t true,’ Fyodor Pavlovitch cried with conviction. ‘But I’ll tell you the whole truth, gentlemen. Great elder! Forgive me, the last thing about Diderot’s christening I made up just now. I never thought of it before. I made it up to add piquancy. I play the fool, Pyotr Alexandrovitch, to make myself agreeable. Though I really don’t know myself, sometimes, what I do it for.

posted by jpdoane at 7:37 AM on April 16, 2009 [4 favorites]


I sure hope he doesn't catch Chagas disease while he's there!


Ok, I actually do.
posted by orme at 7:37 AM on April 16, 2009


If I were king for a day I'd shave half of Blago's head and one of his eyebrows just to see which way his narcissism took him. With any luck he'd turn out to be some sort of Two Face-type thing.
posted by Inspector.Gadget at 7:39 AM on April 16, 2009


Blagojevich would need permission from the federal judge presiding over his corruption trial to fly to Costa Rica, where the show will be filmed. Blagojevich's attorney told the judge Tuesday that the ex-governor soon would be making a request to loosen travel restrictions placed on him as part of his bail.

He wouldn't be a flight risk--only in America could he find so many cameras willing to pay him to be his moronic self.
posted by njbradburn at 7:40 AM on April 16, 2009


There's just something so ...so ... American about this, isn't there?

"The show, inspired by a popular British program of the same name, ..."
posted by Reverend John at 7:42 AM on April 16, 2009 [4 favorites]


Some people have such all-consuming egos, so little capacity for self-reflection or seeing how they appear to others, that it goes right past obnoxious and into fascinating...




..and then right back into obnoxious.


Reality TV is precisely what people like that should be doing.
posted by louche mustachio at 7:43 AM on April 16, 2009


"The show, inspired by a popular British program of the same name, ..."

Ah yes, a fine American tradition.
posted by The Whelk at 7:44 AM on April 16, 2009 [2 favorites]


reluctant celeb reality show

Ain't nuthin' reluctant about his celebrity one bit.
posted by mkultra at 7:49 AM on April 16, 2009


Yeah, should have put "Reluctant" in quotes. Show's title, "I'm a Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here" screams "No puleeeeeezzzzz! Not in the Briar Patch!"
posted by njbradburn at 8:01 AM on April 16, 2009


PLEASE make it so. This is like a 21st century version of the Stocks. Anyone have their rotten vegetables ready?
posted by leotrotsky at 8:02 AM on April 16, 2009 [1 favorite]


If NBC actually goes through with this, I will be taking free time out of my schedule to write to its advertisers and explain that I am boycotting their products and those of their subsidiaries. I suggest you all do the same. Political corruption should be rewarded with the guillotine. Fuck NBC.
posted by Optimus Chyme at 8:03 AM on April 16, 2009 [4 favorites]


I want to see a show where he has to live in a house with Bill Janklow, Michelle Bachman, Alan Keyes, Rick Perry, Sarah Palin, and Kwame Kilpatrick.
posted by louche mustachio at 8:05 AM on April 16, 2009 [2 favorites]


They really shouldn't be exploiting this clearly mentally ill person.
posted by Henry C. Mabuse at 8:06 AM on April 16, 2009 [4 favorites]


one didn't get 80k/week for getting put in the stocks, not even the 17th century equivalent
posted by askmehow at 8:08 AM on April 16, 2009


Former Gov. Rod Blagojevich couldn't survive an impeachment trial, but perhaps he'll fare better in a Costa Rican jungle...

I read this far and got really excited, because I had high hopes that my dreams of a bloodsport involving corrupt politicians had finally come true:

[announcer voice] "You watched him betray the trust of his office, now you can watch him run for his life as trained hunters stalk Blago and nine other tainted former office holders across Costa Rica's densest jungles. If he can make it to the border, he might be able to talk his way to freedom... if not, there'll be Blood On the Wheels of Justice! Tonight on Fox!"
posted by quin at 8:34 AM on April 16, 2009 [2 favorites]


Ideally his winnings would also be confiscated. Isn't there some law against profiting from one's crimes? (granted, he hasn't been convicted yet)
posted by leotrotsky at 8:35 AM on April 16, 2009 [1 favorite]


i know if he's not convicted he's not guilty. i get that. maybe one shouldn't be allowed to profit off of crimes for which one has been indicted but not yet tried.
posted by askmehow at 9:21 AM on April 16, 2009


reluctant celeb reality show

I'm thinking the first word here probably should have been redolent. Or repugnant.
posted by kittyprecious at 9:41 AM on April 16, 2009 [1 favorite]


"The show, inspired by a popular British program of the same name, ..."

Here in the UK we've been mixing politics and embarrassing reality TV for years now. IACGMOOH has featured Carol Thatcher (daughter of ex PM Margret Thatcher and possible racist) but by far the most entertaining was george Galloway MP on Celebrity Big Brother. Our US friends may know him best for his sterling performance in front of the US senate hearing, but thanks to CBB we now remember him more for pretending to be a cat.
posted by ciderwoman at 10:01 AM on April 16, 2009


If I were king for a day I'd shave half of Blago's head and one of his eyebrows just to see which way his narcissism took him.

Hell, you don't need to be king for a day. For twenty bucks, he'll shave it himself.
posted by steambadger at 11:42 AM on April 16, 2009 [2 favorites]


And yet, he wouldn't live in the governor's mansion because he wanted to be 'close to his kids.'
But oh, yeah, he'll split to an island to film this crap and insure his kids will have to change their names or go through the rest of their lives in shame.
Man, being a corrupt politician is, at least in Illinois, maybe forgivable. Rostenkowski had a career saying "They're doing it wrong" as a commentator. (Well hell, he still gets a $100K pension off the public even though he went to jail)
Making a major league ass of yourself on top of that? Why doesn't he just join a side show and bite the heads of chickens.
posted by Smedleyman at 11:51 AM on April 16, 2009


I can't imagine any federal judge loosening travel restrictions so an indictee could make money on a reality TV show in Costa Rica. I'm sure Rod's lawyers know this, but I'm having a hard time understanding their play here. Is it to make him into a clown so he can't be seen as an evil mastermind?
posted by mediareport at 7:24 PM on April 16, 2009


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