Last week’s episode of Rescue Me was the last advance screener I’d been sent, and it may be a while before I get around to last night’s penultimate episode. So I’ll open up the discussion to those of you who did watch. Going into the season finale, do you think the longer, 22-episode season has helped or hurt the show? Any other summer …
It’s Come to This
Barter was big during the Great Depression, when cash was in short supply. Some communities even started to issue their own scrip, which you could say is a form of barter formalized. Lately the Great Recession seems to be easing up — whew! — and some of the clouds are parting. Stock market up, housing prices leveling off. But …
Colbert Suffers Setbacks in Space, on Earth
First he took on Wikipedia and South Carolina. Now Stephen Colbert’s campaign of self-aggrandizement is poised to go galactic; the space shuttle is scheduled to bring the International Space Station a new treadmill, named the COLBERT (Combined Operational Load Bearing External Resistance Treadmill), after the Comedy Central host won an …
Clone Wars Returns, With a Bounty of Hunters
It’s a big news day, at least for the Tuned In Jrs.: Cartoon Network has announced an Oct. 2 return date for Star Wars: The Clone Wars, its animated series. The new series actually has its own subtitle, Rise of the Bounty Hunters, and will focus on—well, you can figure it out. Folks like the man with the hat here, Cad Bane.
I …
Nurse Jackie Watch: "Who Is Luckier Than Me?"
SPOILER ALERT: Before you read this post, unplug your TV, plug it back in, and watch last night’s season finale of Nurse Jackie.
MTV to Show Us Its Skins
MTV announced today that it’s making its own version of the British teen dramedy Skins, which has been running here on BBC America. I’m both excited and apprehensive. A few thoughts:
* I had hoped a while back, in my recently-neglected Unwanted Programming Advice feature, that HBO or Showtime would make a teen drama of their own, …
Splendor in the Grass
One other event that took place while I was away in August, the death of the architect Charles Gwathmey. It was just last fall that I had lunch with Gwathmey and Robert A. M. Stern, the dean of architecture at Yale, to talk about the beautifully refurbished Art and Architecture building on the Yale campus, a Paul Rudolph masterpiece …
Murder Suspect Dead; Reality TV Continues to Roam Free
Ryan Jenkins, the reality-dating-show contestant suspected in the murder of his model ex-wife, turned up dead of an apparent suicide in a Canadian motel. I’d been loath to write about the story, because while Jenkins’ appearance on VH1’s Megan Wants a Millionaire (hands up, who heard of it before the murder case?) provided a news hook …
Mad Men Watch: Family Entanglements
SPOILER ALERT: Before you read this post, dump your liquor down the sink and watch last night’s Mad Men.
Corporate Press Release Theater: Runway Pays Some Legal Bills
Looks like all that litigation was worth it for Lifetime. Though the return of Project Runway was delayed by the wrangling in the court as the cable network wrested the reality show from Bravo, last night’s season premiere was the highest rated ever, for Runway or any other Lifetime series, drawing over 4.2 million viewers. Excerpts from …
The Great Mona Lisa Heist
This morning marks an oddball anniversary. It was 98 years ago today that Mona Lisa disappeared from the walls of its gallery in the Louvre. Early on the morning of Aug. 21, 1911, someone made off with what was even then the world’s most famous painting. It stayed missing for more than two years and for much of that time it was …
HBO Pilot Fills More Thrones
I don’t ordinarily do much coverage of pilots that haven’t yet been picked up to series—much less ones that haven’t even been shot yet—but there seems to be a lot of interest in Tuned Inland about HBO’s Game of Thrones, based on George R. R. Martin’s fantasy novels. The pilot starts shooting in October, and The Hollywood Reporter has …
Project Runway Watch: Tim Gunn's Back in Style
Spoilers for last night’s Project Runway season premiere coming up after the jump: