GeraldoRivera

First there was the Lincoln-Douglas debate. Then came the Nixon-Kennedy debate. Now Fox News' Geraldo Rivera continues that great American tradition of the public debate with the Cheech and Chong-Coulter debate.

It might sound like the world's most lopsided episode of Celebrity Deathmatch, but the world's most famous pot comedy duo squared off against the famed conservative pundit on Rivera's "Geraldo at Large" show recently to discuss the opening of the country's first cannibus club in Portland, Oregon and the legalization of marijuana. Despite the craziness of the casting, they actually have a very frank, civilized and enlightening discussion on the subject.

You might think it's surprising that 20/20 anchor John Stossel is leaving ABC for Fox, but it's not really much of shock. It seems to me that there have been other high profile names that were once considered liberal firebrands -- Geraldo Rivera and Dennis Miller come to mind -- who've grown older and changed their stripes, finding a home at Fox.

Stossel, whom I recall as a staunch consumer reporter and a man who liked to tear down hypocrisy at every turn, has been a regular at ABC News for nearly three decades. Now, he's moving on to Fox Business Network where he'll have a weekly show, and Fox News where he'll make frequent guest appearances.

What do you get when you combine Rosie O'Donnell, Donald Trump, Bill O'Reilly, Britney Spears, Anderson Cooper, Keith Olbermann, Geraldo Rivera, Walter Cronkite, Edward R. Murrow and a cat? A satirical video lampooning the news judgment shown by many in the TV news industry.

Released last night during the Radio and TV Correspondents Association dinner -- yes the same one where presidential advisor Karl Rove pretended to be a hip-hop master -- the JibJab guys who created the hilarious 2004 campaign videos have now aimed their guns at the elite TV media personalities.

And hilarity ensues.

Ah, Geraldo. You and your porn moustache have been fired yet again.

TV Week is reporting that his news show Geraldo at Large, which is produced by Twentieth Television and shown nightly on many Fox stations, will cease production in the middle of this month, and will be off the air by the end of the month. Mr. Rivera will go back to hosting the weekend Fox News Channel show that he had before At Large began. So, he'll just have to do his muckraking and grandstanding for a slightly smaller audience (not that much smaller; his syndicated ratings were probably pretty lousy).

The interesting part of this article is that Fox stations are considering replacing Geraldo with a television version of our corporate cousins at TMZ.com, to be produced by another one of our corporate cousins, Warner Brothers. It figures... the family is always the last to find out about these things. We'll make them feel guilty about it at the next barbecue, believe you me.