SPOILER ALERT: Before you read this post, watch Damages. And check your mail. Carefully.

So of course the week after I decide to do a Watch on Damages, the show serves up an episode that… well, I don’t have that much to say about. That’s maybe the peril of writing about a series that’s more plot- than character-driven; this episode …

Part 2 in Tuned In’s piggyback-on-Alice-Park’s-stories series: McDonald’s owns your child’s brain. If you saw Morgan Spurlock’s documentary Supersize Me, you probably remember the creepy scene in which Spurlock’s unscientific poll found that kids were more likely to recognize a picture of Ronald McDonald than one of Jesus Christ. Now …

A new study from the University of Washington has found that, shockingly, you cannot buy a future Ivy League acceptance for your child for the price of a $15.99 DVD. The researchers found that videos like those in the Baby Einstein series not only don’t advance language development, they may impede it. My colleague Alice Park has beat me …

A brief housekeeping note. For about a year now, I’ve been writing a pop-culture column called Culture Complex in the print edition of Time magazine. I know what you’re thinking: “The print version of Time? They stopped making that in, like, 1976, right?” No, really, there is one. I think they also put out an edition on 8-track.

Anyway, …

SPOILER ALERT: Before you read this, watch last night’s Big Love. Or I’ll spank you.

HBO photo: Lacey Terrell

So Bill is officially a jackass now, right? The irony of his video-poker deal is that he sees it as a means to eventually stop living a lie (having to deny being polygamists), but he can only achieve it by perpetrating another …

Speaking of Bravo reality shows, anyone who’s watched them for several years–anyone who’s watched any TV for several years–has witnessed an evolving phenomenon: the gradual shrinking of the censor’s bleep. It used to be that even on a Bravo reality show–or, say, a network show like Fox’s Action–one of the major curse words would be …

For Top Chef et al. fans, a fascinating cover story in this week’s New York magazine on Bravo reality shows. Turns out they’re reality shows: they’re cast for entertainment value, and the contestants don’t immediately become top-tier designers, chefs and hairdressers. Not even close. Among the saddest revelations: that Andrae “AHN-drae” …

HBO photo: John P. Johnson

I have no inside intelligence on whether we’ll ever see a second season of John from Cincinnati, but if we don’t, I do hope David Milch casts Ed O’Neill in whatever he does next. However baffling or maddening JFC can be, O’Neill (who starred in Milch’s sadly short-lived Big Apple) grounds the show every time …

IFC / Susan Anderson

OK, Mr. Killjoy TV Critic: you didn’t like The Company–what am I supposed to watch on TV this Sunday? One of cable’s best low-key pleasures of 2006, IFC’s The Minor Accomplishments of Jackie Woodman, is back for a second season. Starring, created and written by the brassily sardonic Laura Kightlinger, it’s a sort …

The Dow Jones / News Corp. deal has entered the 2008 Democratic primary, with Fox News as the new Willie Horton. In an e-mail to supporters, John Edwards called on Democrats to speak out against the merger and “take the necessary steps” to stop it.

Regular readers know that I’m pretty libertarian on media-and-government issues. (Though …

In the print TIME this week, a brief review of TNT’s six-hour CIA miniseries The Company, debuting Sunday night. I’m loath to expand on it, because the review is the only thing brief associated with this mini. A history of the cold war told through the stories of a set of American and Russian spies, it covers much the same thematic and …

Has the Tuned In community embraced Damages? I had considered giving it Watch status this summer but last week’s post drew an underwhelming response, so maybe the show doesn’t merit it. Or maybe it’s me.

Anyway, brief, mildly spoiler-y thoughts on episode 2, because it’s been a while since I screened it. I was a bit skeptical about Ted …