It gets better. This afternoon’s Mooninite invasion of Boston, it is now being reported, consisted of “magnetic lights that were part of an outdoor marketing campaign for an adult cartoon” (that being Adult Swim’s Aqua Teen Hunger Force). According to an apology from Turner Broadcasting, posted at boston.com, “[The lights] have been in place for [...]

Let me say this first: Kids, terror hoaxes are not funny. They cost money and disrupt lives. Terrorism kills. Stay in school. So it is with great, great seriousness and gravity that I must report the Aqua Teen Hunger Force angle to today’s bomb hoax in Boston, the subject of wall-to-wall non-coverage of a non-threat [...]

8 p.m.: Friday Night Lights (The Knights of Prosperity–new time slot, at 8:30–probably goes into TiVo reserve.) 9 p.m.: Probably American Idol. No, I’m better than that! I’ll read an improving book! I’ll watch The Supreme Court on PBS! (Actually, I already did. Good overview, lots of talking heads, less interesting the closer the timeline [...]

Have I mentioned that I already have the new Lost? Why, yes. Yes, I have. But it bears repeating. I already have the new Lost. Ha ha, etc. Have I mentioned that I have already watched the new Lost? Why, no. No, I haven’t. And I won’t spoil anything for you now–unless you beg, beg [...]

My nightly TV menu apparently struck a chord with House fans. Quoth Conan Doyle, “What’s up with the No House? Best show on TV.” I wouldn’t go that far, but I like the show a lot. Always have. But I find I like it in exactly the same way every time I watch, so I [...]

Top Design, debuting tonight on Bravo, is the latest in a series of reality shows that are both good TV and brilliant demographic marketing. The makers of the addictive, high-middlebrow Project Runway have spun off their formula first to Top Chef and now to this interior-designer competition. What better way to get the upscale audience [...]

8 p.m.: American Idol. Because I believe it’s required by federal law. 9-9:30 p.m.: Player To Be Named Later. Possibly Knitty Gritty (DIY)–a new TiVo fixation of Mrs. Tuned In, in which a chipper, boho Mme. Lafarge makes whipping up woolen socks come off as a surprisingly hipsterish pastime. 9:30 p.m.: The Knights of Prosperity [...]

The Super Bowl is to the the media-fragmentation era what the remaining polar ice is to the global-warming era: the last holdout against seemingly unstoppable climatic change. Though the big game still draws the biggest TV audience–and the biggest advertising payouts–of the year, glacial-sized chunks of it are falling into the sea. This year, reports [...]

Excellent column by David Carr in today’s New York Times on the Maria Bartiromo / Citigroup brouhaha, a subject that, I’ll admit, I’ve had a hard time mustering indignation over. (Short version: the CNBC anchor, a.k.a., “The Money Honey,” was found to have accepted numerous speaking and travel requests from companies she covers, including many [...]

[Yes, I wrote that headline in the hope that 18-year-old guys would think a lagniappe was a dirty body part and click on it. I'm not a proud man.] In this week’s print TIME, I have a big old feature on pottymouthed cherub Sarah Silverman. Her new sitcom, The Sarah Silverman Program, debuting on Comedy [...]

Regular Tuned In readers–humor me–will notice some changes today. I’ve been exported over to the Moveable Type publishing platform, which means, among other things, a larger author photo and the schmancy banner picture above, which, I can assure you from the lack of mayonnaise smears and “GO TO ATM” Post-Its on the clean woodgrain, is [...]

There is such a thing as a documentary becoming too timely. When Alexandra Pelosi (Journeys with George) set out to make a movie about the culture of evangelical Christianity for HBO, she found a Virgil to guide her through the–well, it’s a loaded analogy, but you get the point. Ted Haggard, one of the highest-profile [...]

Three thoughts on the State of the Union address: 1. As a pure piece of rhetoric, the speech seemed scattershot and lacking a theme. Much of the punditry leading up to the speech had said President Bush would not be delivering a "laundry list" of proposals. It sure sounded like one to me. Ethanol, health [...]

The first two things to note about last night’s episode of 24: (1) It’s good to know that you can drive fast and unimpeded in L.A. half an hour after a nuclear bomb goes off; (2) Even I was surprised how quickly and easily Jack decided to tie up and torture his own brother for [...]

My experience of jury duty went like this. I sat in a big room for a long time. I sat in a smaller room for a short time. Somewhere in another room, somebody accused of something copped a plea. And they sent me home. So I cannot report to you as to whether the experience [...]

My experience of jury duty went like this. I sat in a big room for a long time. I sat in a smaller room for a short time. Somewhere in another room, somebody accused of something copped a plea. And they sent me home. So I cannot report to you as to whether the experience [...]

I’m going to turn things over for a brief guest post by my current e-mail autoreply. Take it away, Auto! I will be on jury duty beginning January 22 and, unless the Brooklyn Supreme Court has decided to splurge on free wi-fi, will be unable to retrieve e-mail during the day. In other words, expect [...]

Great episode of The Office last night. (As for the overhyped musical episode of Scrubs, go here to hear it done right. And Joss Whedon wrote the music himself, instead of hiring pros.) Yet again, I’m amazed at the attention to detail in this sitcom. There are no blank spaces; the characters seem to be [...]

I have not exactly been a defender of Isaiah Washington lately. But I have to kinda-sorta come to his defense–or at least criticize one of his critics. At the Golden Globes, he denied–implausibly, if you believe his costars–having used a slur against gay Grey’s Anatomy costar T. R. Knight last fall: "No, I did not [...]