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JPTV: Aging Out of the Demo

Recent photograph of the author. / FOX Age ain’t nothing but a number. A number that inexorably grows larger, bringing you ever closer to your death, but a number nonetheless. If the recent nostalgia posts about Liz Phair and the Brothers Krofft were not enough of a hint, I turned 40 over the weekend. I [...]

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Corporate Press Release Theater: Bravo Grudgingly Acknowledges Runway's Existence

In today’s CPRT, Bravo begins the massive two-day runup to the season premiere of Project Runway, a.k.a., That Show That’s Going to Lifetime That We Never Really Liked As Much As Real Housewives Anyway, But Whatever, Watch It If You’ve Got Nothing Better To Do: 16 NEW DESIGNERS STRUT THEIR STUFF AS “PROJECT RUNWAY” RETURNS [...]

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The Morning After: Big Brother Turns 10

Cliff Lipson/CBS A few questions for those of you who tuned in to the premiere of Big Brother 10 on CBS: * Is it really that great an idea to incorporate the number into the title, as if it were the Super Bowl or a World War? Do you want to be reminding the audience [...]

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That New Yorker Cover and the Irony Gap

…also known as: I’m Writing About That Damn Picture Too, Are You Happy Now, David Remnick? So that cover. Does it confirm the lies that Obama is a closet Muslim, and his wife a dangerous radical? Or does it reaffirm them? Does it add to the fog of half-truth and send the subliminal message—even to [...]

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Generation Kill: Iraq and Roll

Stark Sands and Alexander Skarsgard as Fick and Colbert. / HBO photo: Paul Schiraldi As I mentioned last week, I’ll consider doing a weekly Generation Kill post if it seems like the miniseries is generating sufficient interest out there, but having just reviewed it, I’ll go light the first week, mention a few things I [...]

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TCA Weekend Roundup

* Cartoon Network’s animated Star Wars series: sneak-previewed it is. * Will PBS allow Sir Ian McKellen to expose America to Sir Little Ian McKellen in a production of King Lear? It’s not saying. The network will also air a Ken Burns docu-series about the National Parks, which will air in about the same amount [...]