Tuned InUncategorized
The ratings—and/or the highly speculative guesswork—are in, and it turns out a billion people watched the Opening Ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics, over 34 million of them in the U.S. (That’s a smaller percentage of our population, but to be fair, much of the rest of the world’s population doesn’t have Cartoon Network.)
Beyond …
Tuned InUncategorized
Isaac Hayes, who died over the weekend, was famous as an R&B singer/songwriter, but was most familiar to TV fans as the voice of Chef on South Park. When Chef was killed off the show—after a famous falling out between Hayes and Parker-Stone for the show’s making fun of Scientology, of which he was an adherent—it was a big loss: a …
Tuned InUncategorized
In a new ad, the Obama campaign casts John McCain as “Washington’s biggest celebrity” and reminds us of his numerous media and Hollywood appearances:
I dunno. Maybe I’m alone in this, but I’ve never been that convinced that the “Barack Obama is a celebrity” attack angle is damaging per se to Obama. (I’m with Jimmy Kimmel, who ran the …
Tuned InUncategorized
After liveblogging Friday’s opening ceremonies, I took most of the weekend off from the Games, except for the occasional round of beach volleyball. (Actually, judging by the number of times it was on when I randomly turned NBC on this weekend, apparently beach volleyball is the most popular sport on Earth.) Any thoughts on NBC’s Gamesmanship?
Tuned InTuned In
SPOILER ALERT: Before you read this post, crack open a bag of Utz—may I recommend The Crab Chip—and watch Mad Men.
Tuned InRemembrance
Comedian and actor Bernie Mac died early this morning of complications from pneumonia. I was more familiar with him from his Fox sitcom than from his standup, but Mac first broke through to a wide, national (read: white) audience in The Original Kings of Comedy, the concert film about the African American comedy tour. It was in a routine …
Tuned InUncategorized
7:25: We’re set to go Chez Tuned In. The laptop is charged; the chips are ready; and Tuned In Jr. and Tuned In Jr. Jr. are primed for their first Olympic Opening Ceremonies. Mrs. Tuned In and I have told them that this will be an exciting show, much better than the Movie Night they would have had otherwise.
The boys may as well get used …
Tuned InUncategorized
In an interview with ABC News to air tonight, former Presidential candidate John Edwards admits having had an affair with a filmmaker contracted to his campaign. This is his first public admission regarding a scandal that you’ve been reading and hearing about—or, more to the point, not reading and hearing about, in large media outlets …
Tuned InUncategorized
I’ll be at this space tonight, doing some play-by-play on the NBC coverage of the Olympic opening ceremonies. Tuned In Jr. and Tuned In Jr. Jr. will be staying up to watch too, so coverage depends in part on whether I can keep them from spilling anything on my laptop.
Any “liveblogging,” of course, has to contend with the slight …
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Entertainment Weekly is a Time Inc. sibling, so this may seem like corporate whoring, but it is probably malpractice for a pop-culture/politics blog not to link to EW’s Q&As with John McCain and Barack Obama on their favorite TV, movies, music, etc.
This may sound a little Maureen Dowd-y, but comparing the two, you have to wonder if …
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In the current issue of TIME, I preview MTV’s The Hills, which returns for season 4 later this month and which, God help me, I like:
It all sounds shallow, and, O.K., it is. The surfaces are precisely what make The Hills entrancing: it is possibly the best-looking series on television. It doesn’t just look better than life. It
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Tuned In
I’ll be on the WBUR public-radio show On Point at this morning, discussing this column about the working-class reality TV of Deadliest Catch, et al. The hourlong segment (where it’s carried live) starts at 11 a.m. E.T., and will include a longer interview with Deadliest Catch czar Thom Beers and (I think) one of the Deadliest Catch crew; …
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It’s 8:08 a.m. E.T. as I type, and I am watching what is apparently a live European webcast of the Olympic ceremonies, which will be aired tonight tape-delayed by NBC. Thanks, Macedonia! Any of our far-flung viewers catching the festivities live?
[Update: OK, as of 8:13, the video on the above link has shifted over to a Netherlands …
