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If you are celebrity trying to get past a major public controversy, one time-tested option is to do a dramatic interview on late-night TV. If you are the once and future host of the Tonight Show, however, and the hosts of every other late-night show apparently think you are the biggest jerk in showbiz, that is not so much of an …
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Last fall, when I sat down to talk with Maureen Ryan and Alan Sepinwall about Lost (and other shows), one thing we discussed was that the show has done an excellent job of making you invested in characters who weren’t central—or weren’t even on the show—when it started. Alan, for instance, said that one of the most important things …
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I was too busy watching the State of the Union—and surfing for reviews of the iPad—to catch up on last night’s American Idol, even though it featured television’s favorite guest star, Neil Patrick Harris. How was he? Bonus points to anyone who can evaluate his performance without using a “Legen—wait for it…” construction.
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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeSLVnAQSYo]
So what did you think of the speech? No, not the State of the Union; other people are all over that. No, not the iPad launch; we’ve already covered that. I’m talking about the Republican response to the State of the Union, which new Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell delivered, in a twist, …
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Steve Jobs finally unveiled Apple’s long-awaited tablet device, the iPad. Yeah, it’s a dumb name. Get all your jokes out of the way now. (They should call the 8GB version “Light” and the 32GB “Maxi,” the 3G version comes with wings, &c.)
The iPad is a lot of things—better-informed people than I can describe it for you—but it’s …
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Do you want to do something more to help the victims of the Haitian earthquake? Have you always longed to have your own American Idol TV tray? Now you can do both. The Chicago Tribune’s TV critic Maureen Ryan is eBaying TV DVDs and promotional swag items and donating all the proceeds to Partners in Health. It’s a great idea, and worth …
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Last week, with Conan O’Brien getting ready to leave the air, Team Coco dominated the Internet. This week, with Jay Leno preparing for an image-rehab visit to Oprah tomorrow, the race to be “the only one out there sticking up for Jay Leno” is starting to get crowded. Mark Evanier argues that Jay is not the bad guy and that NBC’s decision …
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Only six more days until The Most Important Day in Human History (the season premiere of Lost), at least until The Other Most Important Day in Human History (the series finale of Lost). To start getting us warmed up for the premiere, I’ll kick things off with an old standby discussion question: What do you think the first scene/image …
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I haven’t been much of a fan of American Idol’s guest-judge expertiment for the first post-Paula audition rounds, but last night Katy Perry had me wondering whether they could just can Kara or Randy and replace them with her. While Avril Lavigne spent the first half of the show contributing little, smirking from underneath her …
Tuned InNews Media
OK, before the representatives of CNN and Media Matters shoot me e-mails, and Keith Olbermann names me The Worst Person in the World: Yes, I wrote the headline, but I didn’t take the poll on which it is based. Public Policy Polling surveyed Americans on which TV news operations they trust most and found that Fox News is the only outfit …
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Right after the Haiti earthquake, my wife and I, like lots of other people, decided we should donate some money to relief, as soon as possible. We decided on a figure, went online, and sent the money (to Mercycorps, largely because it was the same organization we donated to after the Indian Ocean tsunami).
Last Friday, I sat down to …
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Damages, as you know if you have followed the show in either of its first two seasons, is a show about trust issues. And it’s a show with which I have trust issues myself. (Minor/vague spoilers after the jump.)
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If you have both BBC America and a taste for raunchy, smart, good-hearted teen comedy, do not miss the debut of The Inbetweeners tonight (9 p.m. E.T.). Several reviews out already have made the obvious comparison to the movies of Judd Apatow, or said that the show is sort of like an R-rated version of Freaks and Geeks. All true, but I …
