Tuned InRemembrance
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David Wolper, a prolific film and TV producer who brought miniseries The Thorn Birds and most notably Roots to TV, died Tuesday at age 82. (In addition to his TV projects, he produced movies including Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and L.A. Confidential.) In the above clip, he …
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I don’t recall if the upcoming season 5 of Friday Night Lights was already officially the season’s last, or all-but-officially (I’d been going on the assumption, but last I spoke with DirecTV, they wouldn’t say it flat-out), but in any case it’s official now. The fifth and final season of FNL debuts on the satellite network Oct. 27, with …
Tuned In
AMC yesterday announced plans for its fifth series, a murder mystery starring Mireille Enos (who gave a fabulous duel performance as twins on Big Love). What’s it called? That’s a mystery too!
Originally called The Killing, the series is based on the much-praised Danish miniseries Forbrydelsen. As with any adaption of an overseas …
Tuned InAdvertising
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TBS has a new ad for Conan O’Brien‘s late-night show, debuting in November. I’m not sure if it’s reflective of the sensibility of the new show or just the sensibility of the TBS promotions department, but it’s Monty Pythonesque. More in the Terry Gilliam aesthetic than in actually …
Tuned InUncategorized
Some posts at Tuned In I do to serve a wide audience. Some I do to serve niche fan groups. And some I do simply so that the Tuned In Jrs. will have a reason to read their Dad’s blog. This is one of them: season 3 of Star Wars: The Clone Wars returns to Cartoon Network September 17.
As I wrote last year, as bad as the animated Clone …
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Move over, Sully Sullenberger, there’s a new folk hero in the skies. OK, maybe not a universally acclaimed hero. And not a “hero” in the sense of, like, saving lives, or stopping a terrorist, or really doing anything traditionally considered “heroic.” Still, Steven Slater—the …
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Survivor: Nicaragua, which pits a tribe of players under 30 against a tribe of players over 40, announced its cast yesterday, which includes maybe the biggest (pre-Survivor) celebrity to play the game, former football coach and Fox NFL analyst Jimmy Johnson. Fellow critics Linda Holmes and Alan Sepinwall (and I’m sure many others) have …
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The reality-TV-ization of the entire state of Alaska is continuing, as Sarah Palin’s former-almost-son-in-law and public sparring partner Levi Johnston is seeking to get his own show—by running for mayor of Wasilla, Palin’s former job, and a position, apparently, just two or three steps from the Presidency. (Or from big-time reality …
Tuned InTV Ratings
I mentioned last week that I was especially curious to see how strong the ratings were for The Real Housewives of D.C. on Bravo, as a test of how fatigued America was with the Salahis and/or the Real Housewives franchise. When I saw the headline claim of the ratings release Bravo sent out, I could tell the show was not an out-of-the-box …
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The Television Critics Association press tour wrapped up over the weekend, with a blast of announcements from various cable channels. Whether it was the swords of Spartacus and Game of Thrones, the gangland pistols of Boardwalk Empire, or the ripped-bicep gun show that is Jersey Shore, they came heavily armed. (And look! Someone’s …
Tuned InTuned In
SPOILER ALERT: Before you read this post, order out for some fried chicken and watch last night’s Mad Men.
After two episodes that took in a pretty wide swath of characters, updating and establishing a number of storylines, …
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Spoilers for the season 4 finale of Friday Night Lights coming up:
I love Friday Night Lights. I am guessing that you, since you are reading this post, love Friday Night Lights. And so I know that at some point over the last four years, you and I have both had some version of the conversation-with-the-friend-reluctant-to-watch-FNL. …
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Where the rest of America leads, Washington, D.C. follows. That is the case, anyway, in the Real Housewives franchise, where the nation’s capital last night became the fifth branch (joining a D.C.-set edition of Top Chef). I’ll be curious to see the ratings for The Real Housewives of D.C. Bravo has seemingly turned the Real Housewives …
