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Corporate Press Release Theater: Breaking Good

AMC announces a second-season pickup for Breaking Bad—yay!—giving the dark dramedy which had to cut its first season short because of the strike—boo!—a chance to complete a full season and do it right. Quotes from the release follow:

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Calling It, Kind Of, for Obama

I confess I didn’t stay up past midnight for the resolution of yesterday’s primaries—American Idol or the Democrats, people! I cover one election a night!—but former TV reporter Jim Rutenberg in The New York Times has a good roundup on the sudden and stark shift against Hillary Clinton’s chances after the final Indiana returns came [...]

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Why TV Critics Fear Their Mail

Nobody, understandably, pities TV critics for their work. It’s not exactly Deadliest Catch or factory work—we don’t run the risk of falling into freezing seas or having our arms sheared off by machinery if we’re not careful. (The chief hazard is strangulation by getting your necktie caught in the DVD-loading tray.) Nonetheless, we complain. One [...]

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If You Do It and You're Still Unhappy, Then You Know That the Problem Is You

I just received, but haven’t yet watched, the pilot screener for CBS’s Swingtown, which debuts June 5. The ensemble drama is about a group of married friends and their encounters with the rising era of sexual experimentation in suburban Chicago in 1976. “The title Swingtown,” says a letter from the producers, “describes the ever-shifting ‘swing’ [...]

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The (Jingle-Jangle) Morning After: Idol Edition

In fairness to Jason Castro, “Do do do do / do do do / do do do / do do do / do do” is an easier lyric to remember. / Frank Micelotta / FOX / Getty My American Idol reviews are up at time.com. At first I was surprised that it David Cook didn’t [...]