After years of doing installation art, dead animals in formaldehyde and pictures painted entirely by his small army of studio assistants, work that made him one of the most famous artists in the world, Damien Hirst is showing paintings in London this week that he did all by himself. And the British critics are tearing him to pieces.
Tuned InRemembrance
Wrestler, MTV Fixture Captain Lou Albano Dies
Professional wrestler and sometime actor Captain Lou Albano died this morning at age 76. I never followed his career inside the ring, but like any kid who watched too much MTV in the ’80s, I was plenty familiar with his work as the father figure in Cyndi Lauper’s videos. Beyond those claims to fame, Albano’s ubiquity on MTV, and his …
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Our Thursday Problem
The emerging consensus in Tuned Inland is that Thursday is becoming a problem. A high-class problem, yes: too much good (or at least potentially good) TV. I don’t even watch Grey’s Anatomy, yet at this point, I find myself finishing my time-shifted Thursday-night programming somewhere around the following Monday—especially since Mrs. …
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The Morning After: Long Arm of the Law
It took me most of last season to really get into Sons of Anarchy, but this fall’s season 2 of the biker-gang drama has really found, as it were, a higher gear. So I apologize again that other work is keeping from doing a longer write-up again. (On a related note: I got a review screener for season 4 of Friday Night Lights and am …
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What's Obama's Fox News Strategy?
Lately the Obama Administration has—in TIME and other outlets—been actively going on the attack against Fox News. The Administration, and Obama himself, have had run-ins with Fox before, but this time the message is different: they’re characterizing the cable channel as not just a conservative outlet, but as a political organization, …
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When Should Chuck Come Back?
One side effect of NBC’s announcement last week that it would cancel Southland before season two even aired was a report from Michael Ausiello that the network might bring back Chuck before its planned March debut—maybe as soon as the end of this month.
You might think that Chuck fans would all react as Ausiello did—”How happy are …
A New Director in Denver
As a rule museum directors tend to step down within a few years after completing a major expansion. Marc Wilson, who saw through the great Steven Holl addition to the Nelson-Atkins, will be leaving his job soon. And as we’ve known for a while, Lewis Sharp, 63, will be retiring at the end of December after 20 years as head of the …
Tuned InTV Ratings
DVRs Give Dollhouse a Lucky 13
Following up on yesterday’s news about Dollhouse’s increase in viewing from DVRs comes news—prompted by that 50% ratings increase—that Fox is committing to at least air all 13 episodes of Dollhouse’s season two. As for season three, we’ll see later. I would not make plans at this point.
Yesterday’s release of the DVR info led to …
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NBC vs. Glee: Battle of the Network Stars
What with all the singing and dancing and costumes, you would think that the cast of Glee and a Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade float would go together like turkey and cranberries. But you would be forgetting that the Macy’s parade airs on NBC, which reportedly forced Macy’s to retract an offer to the kids from Glee to perform in the …
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HIMYM Watch: Ménage à Quatre
Spoilers for How I Met Your Mother coming up after the jump:
Tuned InTV Ratings
Can (and Should) DVRs Save Dollhouse?
The Hollywood Reporter’s James Hibberd has a breakdown of the DVR-viewing figures for TV premiere week. Among other things they show that Dollhouse’s rating goes up 50% when you add in timeshifted DVR viewing.
Mind you, that’s 50% of precious little, lifting it from an anemic 1.0 rating to a slightly less anemic 1.5. DVR viewing was …
Tuned InTV Ratings
Is Leno a Success or Failure? And How Do You Tell?
A month into his run on the air, it’s about the time for observers to start weighing in on NBC’s Great Leno Experiment at 10 p.m. But as I alluded to the other day, the problem is determining what constitutes success and failure for The Jay Leno Show. Since it is a cost-containment measure before anything, it can’t be judged by the same …
The Obamas Choose Their White House Art
Here’s a slide show we put together of some of the artworks that the Obamas have chosen for the family quarters of the White House and parts of the East and West Wings. There’s not much about it that could be called controversial, unless you think that Glenn Ligon’s text piece Black Like Me is somehow shocking because it engages the …