I love this question, Gavin. But I'll have to think about it for a while.

I'm guessing Joaquin Phoenix will not be on the list.

I have to agree with Mambo, Gavin....you've given us a real head-scratcher....

Ritt1....good one...hee!....

.....I would ask everyone's opinion on whether they think Joaquin-spaced-out was a publicity stunt or "for real"...but that would be even more off topic and I don't want to mess up Gavin's thread.....

Gavin, please consider these:

1. Rachel Maddow
2. Stefan Fatsis
3. Michael Ovitz

A good point you bring up, Gavin. Even Dick Cavett's show in the early 1970's represented a certain self-consciously "collegiate", seigneurial, highbrow tone we just don't get in TV that much anymore. It would seem somewhat false if we did, I think... a new "naturalness" pervades everything nowadays. (Time will reveal just how "natural"....)

I attribute the TV presence of those highbrow raconteurs of which you speak to the G.I. Bill: After WWII, suddenly a lot more men from America's hinterlands were college-educated, and in the 1950's it became fashionable to appear high-minded and intellectual, even when one was not. That fad (is "fad" too harsh a word?) persisted well into the 60's, but by the era of Chayefsky's NETWORK, it suddenly seemed a good deal classist and stale perhaps.

Yeah, rasputin...it was cool to be "cerebral" back then....or to at least appear so....hence Dick Cavett and David Frost....and even Wm. F. Buckley....

P. S. Is that a Creamsicle in that pic/avatar of yours?

Those were yumola, remember?

Cool....literally...

I've thought about it and decided that in today's world, there is not a single counterpart to those three you listed, Gavin (and you could add William F. Buckley, Norman Mailer, Truman Capote and Gloria Steinhem to that list). I'm afraid those days are over. Intelligent conversation and good writing are not valued anymore, at least by the majority of Americans; most "talking heads" have either a political or commercial ax to grind. A pet peeve of mine is those stupid shows, both on tv and radio, where every Tom, Dick and Harry calls in, tweets, facebooks, emails, ad nauseum with their usually insipid and uninformed opinions. Who cares what Joe Average thinks?

There have always been intellectuals and "salons" and earlier on, tv gave them a showcase, as when Gore Vidal or Truman Capote were on the Tonight Show. Somewhere along the line, Americans lost interest. It's sad. It doesn't help that we're living in a kinderocracy.

I agree completely, Mambo Deb. Intelligent conversation and polite listening - actually listening - while the other person speaks - rare, indeed, these days and sorely missed.

Me, three....

You are so right...this highbrow genre really doesn't exist anymore...however, there are a few people that aspire to it...Garrison Keillor, Calvin Trillin, Ben Stein and even the wacky David and Amy Sedaris, on some level...what do you all think?

Good choices, Katie. In fact, I did consider David Sedaris, but you don't see him much on tv.

David and Amy Sedaris are fun and entertaining...I remember her on David Letterman once and she took him and the audience on a tour of her neighborhood, complete with a "social club" that she said had her nicest neighbors! She and her brother are both hoots. Offbeat, but that's their charm.

I became an instant Rachel Maddow fan the night she first interviewed then-candidate Obama on her (TV) show. I thought, wow, real adult conversation - no shouting, no talking over the other person - the grownups were back. Yay!

Dick Cavett is still around, writing wonderful columns for the New York Times.

But, alas, the days of Clifton Fadiman, Henry Morgan, Franklin Adams, John Charles Daly - even Abe Burrows and Sam Levinson - are long gone. It's not cool to be educated, much less highly educated; it's smacks too much of "clahss" and snooty snobbery.

The core knowledge everyone was once exposed to in elementary school has nearly evaporated. Really - take a look at what's covered in a 1950s textbook for history and literature. Math and science have increased, and arguably improved, and needed cultural changes addressed but just the level of what was expected a child to know by the time they graduated from high school far exceeds some of today's college curricula. Expectations were much higher back then.

Sizzle, not steak, is what sells these days.

As sad as it is, I do have to agree with you, AA....

Thank you all!

I was on my way here to suggest Garrison Keillor, yet was beaten to the keyboard. Mambo Deb and Katie - Thank you for great replies.

I could also add Stephen Fry and the probably the lesser known Janet Street Porter, Giles Coran and James Burke.

I think the problem with Capote, Steinhem, Mailer or William F. Buckley (I met twice) is that they became caricatures by 1985..

Again, thank you all.

Yes, SCFan, it is some kind of popsicle; the ad it came from is from a late-50's magazine ad for Mathieson Chemical Coprorations's product, Dry Ice.

http://www.plan59.com/av/av021.htm

Suddenly dry ice was an innovation that let all the kids in the neighborhood have popsicles delivered in the afternoon by the Ice Cream Truck.

I think we are supposed to derive a PoMo snicker from the tiny inset of the little lad asking for change from a middle-aged man with a huge set of gardening shears.

This particular ad actually suggests the grist modern painter Mark Ryden must have used for THIS painting:

http://www.neublack.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/11/mark_ryden.jpg

Mambo Deb, the new kinderocracy of which you speak is also being experienced across the pond in Britain.

Rasputin 1963- Chavs,Neds and Asbos RULE! (sadly)

I think Obama is making it cool to be smart. At least I hope.

Gavin, I had to google your slang; found the definitions on the BBC site. We (my husband and I) live in a small, mostly blue-collar town where most the population is a either a Chav, Ned or Asbo. I just didn't know what to call them!

So true and so sad.....

and.....hope you're right, Chelsea...

Mambo :

I don't now how they defined them, but:

Asbos:Anti Social Behavior Order

Chavs: Council Housed and Violent

Neds: Non-Educated Delinquents

Here's what I got off the BBC site:

Among the new words is "chav" - defined as "a young working class person who dresses in casual sports clothing".
Also included are "Asbo", the acronym of Anti-Social Behaviour Order, and "retrosexual", a heterosexual man who spends little time on his appearance.
And the article said "Ned" is the Scottish term for chav.

Gavin, since you mention you "work in an ER", and with the TV show "ER" recently airing it's final episode....I'm curious, since you are working in one....how close did that show come to being remotely realistic, in your opinion?

Just wondering....

....are you done laughing yet?

; - }

I do really want to know....I admire and am in awe of folks who have the strength of spirit to work in that environment....and I have a feeling that ER the TV show only vaguely resembled ER the day to day reality...right?

SCfan- As I stated on another topic about ER: the early episodes nailed it! Sadly in our medium sized hospital we just don't get the amount of fires...bomb blasts...natural disasters etc that seem to rampage through Chicago. Our staff pretty much keeps a handle on their addictions and the work is exhausting...so we have very few workers dashing off for "love on the sly".

Lots of regulars...some nights it's like "Cheers"

The biggest new trend seems to be Moms and Dads seeking BASIC parenting. There is very little nursing going on in the home these days: anybody remenber the epsoms salt bag for a boil or boric acid in the eye cup? People under 30 have no idea what a hot water bottle is....honestly...

During school-I worked at a fine restaurant...the best training for a career in the Emergency Room (actually, ours is still an ED...Emergency Dept) :
Triage are the hosts...The nurses are the waitresses...your bed is your table..the techs are the busboys and the doc's are the Chefs. The EMT's are responsible for "take out"!

The 12-hour shift is KILLING the staff-and soon everyone in the Department will be under 25.

I love the work and it has changed my life.

I have to add- the theme song for any ER has to be: "ALFIE"....I have hummed it more than once in a two decades.

I have NO idea where that extra "a" came from! I tend to write as I speak.....New England/Glasgow background....and yes, that is my UK Passport photo! (looking like the IRA!!!)

Thanks for sharing, Gavin...you and all in your field are admirable human beings...bet being in your line of work makes you appreciate every second of being blessed with health!

I believe there should definitely be a special deluxe area of Heaven reserved for folks who spent lives in the challenging area of health care....

P.S. Gross, but, in regard to your mention of epsom salts, I recall my Mom "doctoring" my Dad once with epsom salts to "draw" a boil...worked great, completely cured it. A neighbor man down the street had one and had to go get it lanced...because he wouldn't try the "cure" my Dad told him about early enough. Those "old time cures" work best sometimes, but only if used early enough, as I'm sure you know.

P.S.S. Great analogy, the words to "Alfie" fit the job perfectly! A person's heart would have to be filled with love and kindness to handle it all....

gavin...about your "extra a"...

......maybe you're channeling Lawrence Welk....

heh

.....Gavin, you are doing just fine, and we are lucky to have you!

Here's a stupid (but time-passing) game... "next line" of a song....here's the first line....just keep adding....that is, if anyone cares to....

What's it all about, Alfie?......

.................

....bleh bleh bleh bleeeehhhhhh, ALFIE?

(Am I close?? Heh? HEH?)

....close enough.....but, you left out the last "bleh"....

.....DAMN. Nothin' gets by you.....

....I have a good teacher, Dry......

.....YOU!

HEEEEEEEEEEE

he he he he

HAW

......sorry, Gavin....Dry's right...we are lucky to have you...please don't let our sparring run you off...
we really are harmless....crazy, but harmless....

....Dry, anyway.....

NO sainthood here!

Actually- on bad nights I have been known to smirkingly sing:

People...People who need People,,,are the luckiest people in...well, you know how the rest goes...