Tuned In

JPTV: What I'm Watching Tonight

The Daily Show and The Colbert Report come back tonight. Fans of irony may enjoy the fact that these two shows, the Bush-era rallying media rallying points for American liberals, have reportedly been having a hard time getting left-leaning guests, because they don’t want to cross WGA picket lines. Among the guest names that have [...]

Tuned In

Strike Watch: Keep on Shining Bright

It is probably not in the spirit of writerly solidarity to say it, but Conan O’Brien doing “Blue Moon of Kentucky” on Friday’s Late Night was most awesome thing I’ve seen in late night since the strike, and for that matter since a long time before that. Three nights into the late shows’ return, I [...]

Tuned In

Wire Watch: Be Good Police

Paul Schiraldi / HBO TV critics, myself included, like to focus on what David Simon criticizes in the show. And there’s plenty. But part of The Wire’s spirit, its heart, is in what it loves. And The Wire loves, above all, good old-fashioned work. As much as Simon believes that the war on drugs is [...]

Tuned In

The Morning After: Twistin' the Night Away

Family obligations, The Wire Watch and general laziness have prevented me from doing a full-scale Friday Night Lights Watch, but it’s good to have it back, and in form. On the negative side: a twister? Also, while the unraveling of Riggins’ redemption in Coach Taylor’s eyes, the way it happened–the mistaken-identity twist as he chivalrously [...]