Althouse: "How do you see a TV show 'by accident'?"

August 10, 2019

"How do you see a TV show 'by accident'?"

I'm curious, how do you see a TV show "by accident"? https://t.co/n5azf6VgFk
— Bill Maher (@billmaher) August 10, 2019

105 comments:

Rockeye said...: Well, he very well can't say that he watches him on purpose. HOW SAD.; 8/10/19, 8:05 PM
Danno said...: Since I don't have cable or even a tv hooked up here in the north, I can easily say I have no clue what will be on when I flip through the cable channels down in Florida during the winter. So I happen to accidentally come across thiings also.; 8/10/19, 8:09 PM
Ice Nine said...: He meant that he came across it by accident and then watched some of it. Obviously.

Now do Biden.; 8/10/19, 8:10 PM
rcocean said...: Easy, Trump was walking by and it was on TV in the room - someone else was watching. Or someone was changing the channel - looking for shark week - and stumbled on Maher's.

But good catch Bill - you're so clever. So, very very clever. Too bad you're an ugly dwarf. (Trump was too kind to say that).; 8/10/19, 8:11 PM
rcocean said...: I've stumbled on lots of things on TV while changing channels and ended up watching for a few minutes.

Was that by "Accident"? It certainly wasn't by design.; 8/10/19, 8:13 PM
readering said...: Still a stupid thing for Potus to write and a funny thing for Maher to write.; 8/10/19, 8:15 PM
rcocean said...: Maher claimed for years he was a "Libertarian" but always ended up voting Liberal Democrat. Was that by "accident"?; 8/10/19, 8:15 PM
rcocean said...: Hey Bill, Trump just called you a liar. Said you got the story completely wrong. And your response is to "nit pick" a word. So, thanks for agreeing with trump.; 8/10/19, 8:17 PM
M said...: Flipping through channels you find stuff you’d never searched out intentionally. Is this supposed to be clever? Because anyone who doesn’t suffer from TDS understands what he meant. It’s this kind of rhetoric that can only be understood in a light of intentional nastiness that has driven me into the Trump camp.

They are not going to recruit anyone who isn’t already a Trump hater with this BS.; 8/10/19, 8:17 PM
gilbar said...: how so reading?; 8/10/19, 8:17 PM
rcocean said...: Anyone who thinks that Maher Tweet is "funny" is a dumbshit or a Bill Maher fan. But i repeat myself.; 8/10/19, 8:18 PM
Rob said...: It was like Fusilli Jerry. A million-to-one shot.; 8/10/19, 8:20 PM
gilbar said...: in verse 3, of the song: Buford come Home; the singer sings:

Woke up this morning, smoked my last cigarette
Flipped on my TV, that i did soon regret
There was Oral Roberts, lookin' like a GOD damn joke;
so i said dear lord, won't ya send me one more smoke

Does ya think that Malice in Wanderland DIDN'T Accidentally see That TV show?
Are you intellectually challenged?; 8/10/19, 8:23 PM
Michael K said...: The only way I see TV is by accident walking past.

Once in a while I will watch Tucker Carlson for a segment. Plus the murder channel at bedtime.; 8/10/19, 8:24 PM
readering said...: What difference does it make how Trump came upon the show if he watched enough to critique it? He is trying to belittle the show by saying he watched by accident, but the comment doesn't work to do that. Sorry you don't see the humor in Maker's short tweet. Sorry you think Maher owes a rebuttal to a stupid tweet.; 8/10/19, 8:24 PM
cf said...: he's so Proud!
@realDonaldTrump tweeted him!
oooooohhhhh, shivers & squeals!
had to tweet.; 8/10/19, 8:27 PM
Anonymous said...: Would it be any different if he saw it on purpose? Maher is so obvious. It's why I purposely never watch him.; 8/10/19, 8:28 PM
rhhardin said...: JL Austin, “Three Ways of Spilling Ink” _Philosophical Papers_

Can we think of a case in which something is done deliberately but not intentionally? Certainly this seems more difficult. However, there are cases.

I am summoned to quell a riot in India. Speed is imperative. My mind runs on the action to be taken five miles down the road at the Residency. As I set off down the drive, my cookboy’s child’s new gocart, the apple of her eye, is right across the road. I realize I could stop, get out, and move it, but to hell with that: I must push on. It’s too bad, that’s all: I drive right over it and am on my way. In this case, a snap decision is taken on what is essentially an incidental matter. I did drive over the gocart deliberately, but not intentionally – nor, of course, unintentionally either…; 8/10/19, 8:29 PM
readering said...: I have tv either. Get to see how the other half amuses itself here.; 8/10/19, 8:30 PM
iowan2 said...: When I get the free trial weekends I keep trying to watch Mahr. I never get more then 2 or three minutes...that stuff is bad reality TV. These people have to reading a script. Informed people are not that stupid.

But he accident thing is real. Men call it channel surfing.; 8/10/19, 8:32 PM
readering said...: Not sure the title of that paper is improved by adding Harry Potter tot the front.; 8/10/19, 8:34 PM
Fen said...: Trashy Maher: "How do you see a TV show by accident"

By channel surfing, you pos.; 8/10/19, 8:44 PM
Rory said...: I've never seen any piece of him except by accident. We should be working round-the-clock on replacing all show biz people with CGI.; 8/10/19, 8:46 PM
Rosalyn C. said...: "Got to see by accident" -- is not the same as seeing by accident. Maher is too clever by half, meaning not really.; 8/10/19, 8:46 PM
Drago said...: readering: "Still a stupid thing for Potus to write and a funny thing for Maher to write."

I wonder how "stupid" Trump's comment was compared to someone who claimed the Soviet Union invaded Poland from the east in 1939 ONLY because Hitler invaded Poland from the West?

Any comments on that?

Better yet, how "stupid" is Trump's comment compared to those who literally posited Brett Kavanaugh was a gang rape leader in Maryland for decades?

LOL

No. Comparison.

Everyone knows how you can be flipping channels and come across something you didn't expect.

Poor readering. Always seeking and never finding that silver bullet.....; 8/10/19, 8:48 PM
Drago said...: readering: "What difference does it make how Trump came upon the show if he watched enough to critique it?"

LOL

Deep Deep Questions...by Jack Handey.; 8/10/19, 8:49 PM
Ken B said...: Presumably with time and a team of writers that was the best and most cogent response Maher could come up with.

Of course we all do lots of things by accident all the time. I have read a book by accident. I thought the author had written another particular book but was mistaken.; 8/10/19, 8:50 PM
Lucien said...: It was right next to the Gorilla Channel on the Presidential Tuner.; 8/10/19, 8:50 PM
Drago said...: rcocean: "Maher claimed for years he was a "Libertarian" but always ended up voting Liberal Democrat. Was that by "accident"?"

We see alot of that on the fake libertarian and fake LLR left.; 8/10/19, 8:50 PM
Daniel Jackson said...: Who is Bill Mayer?; 8/10/19, 8:50 PM
readering said...: How stupid to tweet Maher about the El Paso visit when news reports convincing that all 8 victims of the shooting still at the hospital refused to meet with him (although several discharged patients returned or were brought back)?; 8/10/19, 8:52 PM
readering said...: At least POTUS under stress. What explains an obsessive repeat comment here?; 8/10/19, 8:53 PM
cf said...: yeah, somewhat like Michael K, my opportunities are rare. our tv is down in a bedroom where we watch movies over roku. my main injection is when we stay at old friends in SoCal, the TVnews is on All. the. waking. hours. unfortunately, in turn, it gives them the jitters when they come up here, so Quiet! too Quiet! what's happening?!!!

sigh haha. so glad, despite the distance, our different lifestyles PLUS undeniably deep political cleavage, with humor "y cuidarse el uno al otro", our friendship carries on. i find that rare, so these guys are a sweet treasure.

a bit off the trail i go, salud.; 8/10/19, 8:55 PM
narciso said...: Scaramucci was on, for reasons passing understanding, maybe that's why he stopped and looked; 8/10/19, 8:55 PM
chuck said...: Harry Potter and the Accident.; 8/10/19, 8:57 PM
readering said...: Catherine Campbell. He should find her kinda cute.; 8/10/19, 9:00 PM
readering said...: Rampbell. I hate autocorrect.; 8/10/19, 9:01 PM
readering said...: Rampell. One of these days.; 8/10/19, 9:02 PM
Drago said...: readering: "At least POTUS under stress. What explains an obsessive repeat comment here?"

LOLOL

Too funny.

Looks like readering is NOT responding well to record employment numbers for African-Americans and hispanics.

I'm sorry readering. Perhaps Great Economy Counseling is available at reasonable rates in your neighborhood.

And if you neighborhood is particulary democrat-leaning and full of garbage and heavily African-American, perhaps more of those "racist" "white supremacist" Trump supporters will come along at their own expense and help you clean it up.

Just like Hitler.....; 8/10/19, 9:02 PM
Drago said...: Lots of typo's and obsessive follow up comments by readering.

Does Althouseblog offer a Blog 25th Amendment option?; 8/10/19, 9:04 PM
narciso said...: I suppose, but shes a ditz like lithwick,; 8/10/19, 9:06 PM
Drago said...: Meanwhile, back in reality, Biden is now claiming to have been Vice President during the Parkland shooting.

LOL

But its all good.; 8/10/19, 9:06 PM
Drago said...: By 8am tomorrow, Biden will be claiming to be the President who accidentally came across the Bill Maher show.

No one in the "media" (democrat PR club) will ask a follow up.; 8/10/19, 9:07 PM
bagoh20 said...: I do it everyday, and I say it that way all the time. Every show you watch is "by accident" unless you went looking for it. Then there is the whole thing of seeing a show that someone else put on and you just happen to walk by or be there. I really see a lot of things on line "by accident". Man, what is so hard about this stuff. People need to stop trying to turn everything Trump says into a negative. They sound deranged, and they are driving people to support Trump just out of disgust.; 8/10/19, 9:17 PM
bagoh20 said...: At least Hitler kept the human feces off the sidewalk... I think.; 8/10/19, 9:20 PM
readering said...: You mean Trump should stop with the stupid tweets? that somehow drive people to support him? What does that say?; 8/10/19, 9:21 PM
bagoh20 said...: Both men lied. Victims refused to see Trump, but Trump also visited with some others who wanted to. Guess which part of that the media chose to report. This is why Trump does and absolutely must go directly to the people with Twitter, although I wish he would use some less biased service, and make them rich.; 8/10/19, 9:28 PM
bagoh20 said...: Trump did the right thing and visited them. If they did not want to see him, that's on them. They should have no beef with him, unless they're illegal. The guy who shot them was no Trump fan.; 8/10/19, 9:31 PM
William said...: The only show I've watched intentionally in the last ten years was Game of Thrones, and I was disappointed and betrayed by the last season. It doesn't pay to make any kind of commitment to a tv show. They always let you down. Best to channel surf. If you hit on something you like, watch it for a few minutes and then move on. Keep your options open. Life's too short to watch all ten seasons of The Office.; 8/10/19, 9:32 PM
Achilles said...: readering said...
You mean Trump should stop with the stupid tweets? that somehow drive people to support him? What does that say?

Why should Trump stop? He provokes obvious stupidity out of democrats and is leading them around by their nose.

They make themselves look stupid saying things like:

"Still a stupid thing for Potus to write and a funny thing for Maher to write."

I think even you know how dumb you look right now. But you just can't let yourself or anyone else think Trump obviously got the better of that exchange.

Even Bill Maher wants his tweet back at this point.

One of Trump's greatest gifts is getting under the skin of people and making them act stupid.; 8/10/19, 9:33 PM
bagoh20 said...: Trump also supports the police who saved their lives and the private citizen who carry guns and might have saved many more if they were there. His opponents don't support either. The victim's animus is misplaced.; 8/10/19, 9:34 PM
bagoh20 said...: No readering, check the polls. People are getting disgusted with all the attacks on everything he says. The attacks are always knee jerk and usually wrong factually. His approval ratings are slowly rising despite 24/7 attacks. Keep it up. I like the results.; 8/10/19, 9:40 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: Waiting areas, other people's homes, etc.; 8/10/19, 9:49 PM
readering said...: Yeah I comment for the benefit of my loyal followers here!; 8/10/19, 10:08 PM
effinayright said...: bagoh20 said...
Both men lied. Victims refused to see Trump, but Trump also visited with some others who wanted to.
*****************

If either had used the qualifier "some", this would have been a non-story, which it is in any case.; 8/10/19, 10:29 PM
Ambrose said...: Everything I have ever done has been by accident.; 8/10/19, 10:33 PM
Lurker21 said...: readering said...

Still a stupid thing for Potus to write and a funny thing for Maher to write.

As well as a funny thing for Potus to write and a stupid thing for Maher to write.; 8/10/19, 10:36 PM
narciso said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 8/10/19, 10:41 PM
Drago said...: I'll bet readering is still pissed off at how Trump fed the goldfish in Tokyo.......; 8/10/19, 10:43 PM
Drago said...: You know what is really a stupid thing to tweet?

That Michael Brown was murdered by Officer Darren Wilson.

And yet that is precisely what readering's hero dem's are doing.

# of posts by readering complaining about these obvious lies which only inflame people and create more violence remains at an even "0".; 8/10/19, 10:48 PM
MadTownGuy said...: Psst...Joe...it's called channel surfing. All the youngsters are doing it.; 8/10/19, 10:52 PM
MadTownGuy said...: Whoops. I meant Bill. Can't even blame that on autocorrect...; 8/10/19, 10:54 PM
Matt Sablan said...: I didn't know Bill Maher was on the Gorilla channel.; 8/10/19, 11:02 PM
walter said...: Whole lotta accidental viewings of CNNN at airports; 8/10/19, 11:07 PM
Seeing Red said...: Flipping channels.; 8/10/19, 11:19 PM
Quaestor said...: readering wrote: I have tv either. Get to see how the other half amuses itself here.

Did you accidentally or deliberately forget to include the auxiliary verb that would make that first sentence intelligible? And if accidentally, please explain how one can possibly type something accidentally. One assumes you employ your keyboard deliberately, that you do not have a million monkeys chained to a million keyboards randomly pounding until one produces something akin to your thoughts.; 8/10/19, 11:21 PM
rehajm said...: Yes- stuck in a waiting room or the gate at the airport. Not that we’ll ever see that clarification in the CNN fact check footer. Fact check the question Smopes...; 8/10/19, 11:34 PM
Lewis Wetzel said...: When you don't plan on doing a thing, and do to circumstance, it is called an "accident."
In philosophy, and "accident" is a property that is not essential to the form in which it appears. Hair length is an accident of the human form. Hair can be long or short, or missing altogether, without altering the fact that your form is human.; 8/10/19, 11:35 PM
Seeing Red said...: Maher is the one who sounds clueless.; 8/10/19, 11:40 PM
readering said...: I left out a not by accident.; 8/11/19, 12:01 AM
readering said...: No matter what Potus says, writes or does, this where I come to read WHATABOUT.; 8/11/19, 12:02 AM
walter said...: More proof he's Hitler incarnate.; 8/11/19, 12:09 AM
Drago said...: readering: "No matter what Potus says, writes or does, this where I come to read WHATABOUT."

LOL

readering thinks channel surfing is equivalent to the left's/LLR-lefts serial efforts to foist hoax conspiracies onto us using federal and state govt agencies against domestic political opponents

Awesome take readering!!

Super hot!!

Almost covfefe!!; 8/11/19, 12:31 AM
Drago said...: Maybe Brett Kavanaugh gang-raped Trumps remote control.

Whaddya say readering? That one has the added benefit of leveraging some of your previous all-time great lies!; 8/11/19, 12:33 AM
Quaestor said...: readering wrote: I left out a not by accident.

Ergo deliberately typing but getting an accidental result.

QED

Quaestor wins again.; 8/11/19, 12:35 AM
Crazy World said...: Rendering 8:15 well that scumbag Bill recently said he would like the economy to crash and burn cuz Trump. So he can just FO; 8/11/19, 12:45 AM
readering said...: Okay . . . .; 8/11/19, 12:46 AM
Quaestor said...: Everyone occasionally gets accidental results from deliberate actions, but not everyone has the mental agility to maneuver through the maze of logical corollaries descending from that trivial fact, Bill Maher for example, and possibly readering, who probably didn't give as much time to composing his initial comment than Maher gave to his lamebrained tweet.

Maher is a familiar type, i.e. one who is so impressed with himself that he hasn't learned anything new or had an original thought in forty years.; 8/11/19, 12:49 AM
readering said...: POTUS issued lamebrained tweet. Maher's witty, pithy remark generates lots of pained comments on accident and tv viewing.; 8/11/19, 1:03 AM
Fen said...: The only show I've watched intentionally in the last ten years was Game of Thrones, and I was disappointed and betrayed by the last season. It doesn't pay to make any kind of commitment to a tv show.

I'm with you on that one. Still pissed off about Teh Stupid.

Winter Is Coming! for 7 seasons, then all that ditched in 1 espisode too dark to see.

The directors moved on to the next Star Wars trilogy. I wasn't going to watch it anyway because it got too Woke, but why would anyone invest in Part 3 of a trilogy by the idiots who either perverted or left hanging 30 plot threads from 7 seasons? Fuck em.; 8/11/19, 1:03 AM
Fen said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 8/11/19, 1:07 AM
Fen said...: Maher is on the Lolita Express list. Nice crowd you suck up to, readering.

Fucking sicko.; 8/11/19, 1:07 AM
readering said...: Unless you are commenting from PRCgoogle free and available.; 8/11/19, 1:18 AM
Drago said...: readering: "Maher's witty, pithy remark..."

LOL; 8/11/19, 1:30 AM
Drago said...: readering is just going to keep slathering the lipstick on that pig...

Too funny.; 8/11/19, 1:31 AM
readering said...: Drago is going to keep following me around like a barking puppy dog; 8/11/19, 1:34 AM
Quaestor said...: POTUS issued lamebrained tweet. Maher's witty, pithy remark generates lots of pained comments on accident and tv viewing.

I was hoping reading would exhibit fixable ignorance, but the lesson I strove to teach him/her/it about deliberate actions and accidental results using his own fucking mistake went completely over his/hers/its rattlepate noggin.

Stupidity is beyond repair it seems.; 8/11/19, 1:51 AM
readering said...: Ships passing in the night; 8/11/19, 2:21 AM
Amadeus 48 said...: Who is Bill Maher?; 8/11/19, 2:36 AM
readering said...: Direct your question to potus.; 8/11/19, 2:39 AM
Fen said...: Trust us Bill, whenever we catch your show, it's by accident too. Putz.; 8/11/19, 3:48 AM
Now is the winter of our discontent made glorious summer by this son of New York said...: The reason I don't watch HBO anymore was waking up after falling asleep during a movie to this guy's insufferable mug.; 8/11/19, 6:12 AM
Now is the winter of our discontent made glorious summer by this son of New York said...: Maybe Maher doesn’t know that forcing his show on people through that method is one of the strategies to get is political correctness out there.; 8/11/19, 6:14 AM
Hagar said...: Wait. Bill Maher's show is supposed to be funny?; 8/11/19, 7:11 AM
TheThinMan said...: This reminds me of when Bush said, “I’m the decider” and the left spent a year repeating that as if it were the most nonsensical thing they ever heard. They had to make themselves dumb to pretend someone else was dumb.; 8/11/19, 7:20 AM
traditionalguy said...: Accidents happen.; 8/11/19, 7:32 AM
RNB said...: I watch very little TV. My wife watches TV, so I hear a lot of TV from the other side of the room. If I hear anything particularly interesting, I'll go over and see. But my wife has better taste than to watch Bill Maher.; 8/11/19, 7:36 AM
Narayanan said...: Public figure vs Public figure

Slander - libel - defamation

Senator Warren vs Officer Wilson

Actionable or free for all; 8/11/19, 7:39 AM
Anonymous said...: readering: No matter what Potus says, writes or does, this where I come to read WHATABOUT.

"Whataboutism!" is just another prog synonym for "shut up". (As is most of the prog vocab.) Didn't work as hoped when first dutifully mass-deployed by all the talking-point parrots, didn't become any more efficacious over time. Launching proved duds over and over again makes you look so tired and defeated. (Not to mention drunk and/or crazy.)

bagoh20: Man, what is so hard about this stuff. People need to stop trying to turn everything Trump says into a negative. They sound deranged, and they are driving people to support Trump just out of disgust.

They don't just sound deranged, they are deranged. But I don't want them to stop trying, I want them to keep arousing disgust. There are still fair-minded if naïve people out there, people charitable to a fault in giving the benefit of the doubt to their fellow men, who aren't disgusted enough.; 8/11/19, 8:08 AM
Leland said...: "I have tv either."

Sure you do.; 8/11/19, 8:50 AM
Roger Sweeny said...: Using the up button on the remote yesterday, I came to the middle of "Elvis Lives". I watched till the end. I am not proud of that.; 8/11/19, 9:07 AM
Sam L. said...: Just unlucky, is my guess.; 8/11/19, 10:24 AM
janetrae said...: I was accidentally forced to watch CNN for several hours last week. My mom is in a skilled nursing facility and her roommate, who is hard of hearing, had control of the TV and cranked it up. I once accidentally watched Ellen and Oprah (hospital waiting room and car repair waiting room, respectively). Even if you are trying to read a book or talking to someone it is almost impossible to tune out very loud voices ten feet away.; 8/11/19, 11:45 AM
Iman said...: With a mug like that, Maher - that misogynistic, drug-addled, girlfriend beating POS - should be pleased people watch his show, even if just channel surfing.; 8/11/19, 8:43 PM
James Sarver said...: And everybody that read his comment immediately thought "Maher has never heard of channel surfing?", even the leftists, who then banished the thought as being off narrative.; 8/12/19, 5:51 AM