Strange bedfellows: Michael Moore and John Malone

He's been called a bully and a monopolist. Al Gore once labeled him "Darth Vader." The Wall Street Journal described him as "ruthless" and alleged "self-dealing" in a maze of complicated business transactions.He is a master of the tax-free deal, completely disdains government and most federal regulations, and has expressed a fondness for Rush Limbaugh. This summer he was slapped with a $1.4-million fine by the Justice Department for illegal stock purchases.

Sounds like the perfect target for a hard-hitting Michael Moore documentary, no? But no, we're talking about Moore's latest sugar daddy: cable mogul John Malone. 

That's right, Moore's "Capitalism: A Love Story" is being co-financed and distributed domestically by Overture Films, which is a unit of Malone's Liberty Media. Moore, who has been railing against Big Media during press junkets promoting the movie, is in bed with the Goldman Sachs of the media world. Liberty also owns satellite broadcaster DirecTV, a stake in satellite radio operator Sirius XM, a big chunk of Barry Diller's IAC/InterActiveCorp, the Atlanta Braves and a piece of the Denver Nuggets. Malone, who is considered the father of the modern-day cable industry, himself has a piece of cable programming giant Discovery Communications, on whose board he sits.

Obviously there is a little something ironic about Moore's screed against capitalism being backed in part by one of the country's richest and most avowed capitalists. Then again, Moore is nothing if not a paradox. Although he still keeps close ties to his home state of Michigan and has positioned himself as the voice of the common man, Moore is also a shrewd negotiator when it comes to his own vested financial interests. On his last film, "Sicko," he received half of the documentary's gross profit, as detailed in this Los Angeles Times piece. He doesn't mind the perks that can come with being a big-shot moviemaker, such as the five-star hotel and the fancy car service.

Interestingly, while Moore likes the perks that come with fame almost as much as he loves being America's gadfly, Malone keeps a very low profile. Although he's amassed a huge fortune, he is not flashy. He's been known to go home for lunch with his wife and once told the New Yorker that although his children will not go wanting in this world, he plans to leave the bulk of his estate to charity.

Moore, through a spokesman, isn't making any apologies for having one of Malone's companies as a backer of his film. "The movie is about HOW people make their money, and specifically criticizes the beast, our out-of-control economic system. ...  And for those folks who make their money in ways that don't exploit or hurt others, then they should be giving a lot more back in tax dollars to help support a more just and fair society. People like John Malone, myself and others who have been blessed, we all ought to be in a 70% tax bracket with the money being used to provide such important services as a real universal and affordable single-payer healthcare system."

We're not sure how Malone would feel that he "should be giving a lot more back in tax dollars to help support a more just and fair society," but we're confident he's hoping Moore's movie will do well enough at the box office to make a decent return on Overture's investment.

-- Joe Flint

Photos: Top, Michael Moore. Credit: Chris Pizzello / Associated Press. Bottom, John Malone. Credit: Nati Harnik / Associated Press.

Watch this: Mo's top TV picks for fall

Are we going to watch television be reinvented before our eyes this fall? No. This isn’t the season for experimentation or radical ideas. It’s a season of remakes, safe concepts and familiar faces.

The good news is, solid execution has put several shows in the “must watch” or “lots of potential” categories. To this list of mostly new shows, I added a few lines about particularly worthy or notably improved returning shows. And by the way, I'll post separate and slightly longer reviews of many of these shows in coming days. (All times are Central.)

“Brick City” (Five nights starting Monday, Sundance Channel). Newark’senergetic young mayor, Cory Booker, is the centerpiece of a compellingfive-part documentary about the attemptsâ€"from Booker, from the revampedpolice department and from committed citizensâ€"to pull this strugglingcity out of crisis. (There's more on "Brick City" from Newark Star-Ledger critic Alan Sepinwall here.)

“Community” (8:30 p.m. Thursday, NBC). This comedy isn’t quite fully formed yet, but in the early going, it’s providing a promising showcase for a snappy ensemble and for the comedic talents of Joel McHale, who plays a disgruntled community college student.

“Curb Your Enthusiasm” (8 p.m. Sunday, HBO). Has the TV version of Larry David ever had a conversation that did not turn into a shouting match? In other words, if you’re looking for understated, subtle comedy, look elsewhere. Look to “Curb” for angry (and funny) confrontations and for a subversive “Seinfeld” reunion.

"Dollhouse" (8 p.m. Sept. 25, Fox). Each week, there is still an "engagement," or mind-wipe-then-mission, for the "doll" named Echo (Eliza Dushku). But Joss Whedon's show has morphed into an alluring techno-thriller, one that promises to get more deliciously twisted by the week and that features one of the finest casts on television (including standout guest stars such as Amy Acker, Felicia Day, Ray Wise, Summer Glau and Alexis Denisof). (Previous stories on the show are here.)

“FlashForward” (7 p.m. Sept. 24, ABC). Every year, ABC tries toreplicate the success of “Lost” with a genre-tinged ensemble drama.This splashy series, which revolves around everyone in the worldexperiencing a two-minute blackout, actually has a reasonable chance ofsucceeding, if the characters can be made as interesting as thepremise.

"Friday Night Lights" (9 p.m. Oct. 28, DirecTV). When the fourth season of this terrific drama arrives, Coach Eric Taylor (Kyle Chandler) will be the coach of the East Dillon Lions and contending with a new set of challenges. This season of "FNL" will also air on NBC as well, but not until summer 2010.

"Fringe" (8 p.m. Thursday, Fox). By amping up the character drama and continuing to be suitably creepy, this evolving Fox drama has become a pleasing addition to the TV rotation. And the wonderfully weird personality of Walter Bishop (John Noble) is reason enough to forgive the use of coincidence-driven plots (i.e., "What do you know -- decades ago, I happened to work on that exact freaky technology that we just stumbled across"). (Previous stories on the show are here.)

“The Good Wife” (9 p.m. Tuesday,  CBS). Julianna Margulies stars as the wife of a disgraced politician who must restart her professional life at the bottom rung of a competitive law firm. “ER” vet Margulies gives this classy drama presence, and her scenes with Chris Noth, who plays her husband, crackle.

“Modern Family” (8 p.m. Sept. 23, ABC). Talk about great execution: A flawless cast wrings every possible laugh from this sterling new comedy, which has already lined up top-notch guest stars such as Edward Norton, Shelley Long and Elizabeth Banks. This is the best new show of the fall.

"Parks and Recreation" (7:30 p.m. Thursday, NBC). This show had an extremely rocky debut season, but Amy Poehler's character, parks worker Leslie Knope, has been tweaked, and the rest of the ensemble works better too (though they really need to give Rashida Jones more to do. Soon. Please). If "Parks" is not quite must-see yet, it's much improved.

“Sons of Anarchy” (9 p.m. Tuesday, FX). Somehow this drama manages tobe both cerebral and visceral; if you’re not watching this well-craftedbiker saga of loyalty, betrayal and Harleys, you should get caught up.Video summaries of Season 2 episodes can be found here and my prior stories on the show are here.

“Star Wars: The Clone Wars” (7 p.m. Oct. 2, Cartoon Network). Fine, George Lucas, you win this round. When “Clone Wars” debuted, I disliked its simplistic storytelling and the fact that it was based on the “Star Wars” prequel films, which are generally terrible. But you know what? My kid loves this show, and with good reason. This season the bounty-hunter adventures are enjoyably paced, the character development is more subtle and I must grudgingly admit that the cutting-edge animation looks pretty cool. Viewed as a well-made adventure serial with explosions and light saber duels, "Clone Wars" is a good time (but it's not for the smallest of kiddies; there is a scene of torture in one episode. It's not graphic, but still).

"Supernatural" (8 p.m. Thursday, CW). I've written a lot about this show recently (check it out), so I won't go on at length. But I will say this: Every single thing that "Heroes" has gotten wrong about character development and storytelling in the last couple of seasons, this underrated show has done right. I'm just sayin'.

“White Collar” (9 p.m. Oct. 23, USA). From the USA television factory, which produces a successful escapist series every few months, comes this fizzy show about a scam artist and the federal agent he assists. Stars Tim DeKay and Matthew Bomer have an easy chemistry together, Willie Garson is great as an underworld contact and the talented Natalie Morales (“The Middleman”) has joined the cast as a younger agent. I'm not a fan of Tiffani Thiessen as DeKay's TV wife (they have anti-chemistry together), but otherwise, it looks as though USA has another winner on its hands.

“V” (7 p.m. Nov. 3, ABC). They had me at “alien invasion.” But these are the nice aliens, who only want to help us. And that always works out well, right? If this show can muster up the promise of its excellent pilot week-to-week, ABC may have a winner.

Clearly I haven't mentioned every pilot and every returning show here. I'll review some new and returning shows in more depth as the season trundles on, but there were some pilots that were so unworthy of your time and my time that I'm not going to bother with them. It's that time of year -- I simply won't be able to get to everything.

If you have questions about whether particular shows are good or bad this season, leave them below in the comment area. If I've seen advance episodes of the shows in question, I'll try to answer your queries or tell you when my review of that show will appear.

By the way, I often opine about what new and returning shows I'm watching on my Twitter feed; check it out for daily mini-rants and raves.

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