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TV Weekend: I'm Liveblogging the Emmys. But Will Anybody Watch?

Hurling your own snide, dyspeptic, mildly drunken comments at the TV screen is such a lot of trouble. Allow me to do it for you! Sunday evening, I’ll be at this URL, liveblogging the 2008 Emmy Awards. And if nobody drops by to read it, I won’t blame myself, but rather Emmy’s decision to nominate [...]

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What the Debates Could Learn from Reality TV

The first Presidential debate airs a week from tonight. Are you excited? Woo-hoo! Actually, I bet you are excited, because the debates promise to be the biggest remaining events—barring October Surprises—in a close and closely followed election. But do you expect to learn much from the debates? I doubt it, because the debates as they’ve [...]

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While I Was Out

* HBO signs up for a second season of True Blood. It’s not so much a sign of overwhelming ratings success (though the numbers for the second episode went up, to 1.8 million), as it is an example of HBO’s willingness to commit early to shows it believes in. (Also, very likely, it’s a sign [...]

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Dead Tree Alert: The Do-Over Season

Chuck gets an upgrade for season 2.0. / NBC One of many weird things about this fall is that the traditional “premiere week” begins next Monday, and yet you could argue that the biggest new fall debuts have already happened: 90210, Fringe, True Blood. What we have left is a few very minor pleasures (like [...]