Tuned InUncategorized
As I’ve said, I’m trying to scale back on the weekly episode reviews here at Tuned In, and I’ve said a great deal already about Louis C.K. and this season of Louie. But we’ve come to the last of the four episodes of the show that I saw in advance, so it’s a good time to check in on how you all are liking the season (which has very …
Tuned InTuned In
It may be Harry Potter day in the rest of the entertainment world, but here at Tuned In, it’s Breaking Bad weekend. The new issue of TIME carries my feature on the return of the AMC drama, including a set visit I made to Albuquerque last spring. (And no offense to the citizens of ABQ, but I am very glad not to have to spell …
A wise child in desperate straits is the soul of this affecting South African drama
After Errol Morris’s more sobering films, this larkish documentary about a beauty queen gone bad plays like a vacation at a seedy seaside resort
Stephen K. Bannon’s The Undefeated is a worshipful, no-warts biopic of Sarah Palin, a former Miss Wasilla who could be the next President of the United States — if she only had the time
Tuned InUncategorized
I’ve had my issues with Glee this past season, and written about them here, but one thing I have to give it credit for. The producers said from early on that they planned to have the high schoolers graduate on time—real time, not TV-teen-show-time—and it looks like they’re sticking by it, popularity or no. Producer Ryan Murphy …
Tuned InTelevision
The Emmy Awards are a big ocean liner that turns very slowly, and this year’s nominations, announced this morning, were no exception: a lot of familiar faces and a few new (or old but underrecognized) entries. So there were a slew of nominations for Mad Men, Modern Family and [Insert Name of HBO’s Big Movie/Miniseries of the Year …
Disney aims for a new classic and succeeds
Tuned InTuned In
Together with Damages, one more landmark cable drama returns this evening: Rescue Me, in which Denis Leary and Peter Tolan have confronted the aftermath of 9/11 with black comedy and/or comedic drama since 2004. I have mixed feelings about the series: for a couple of seasons it was a searing, fearless examination of loss and …
Tuned InUncategorized
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Clis_h36aiM]
Damages returns for a fourth season on DirecTV last night tonight. I’ve previewed some of the new season, guest-starring John Goodman as a defense contractor embroiled in scandal, but the show has become a little like legal 24 for me: lots of talent and strong performances, but it has …
Tuned InUncategorized
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlY15RjXRMY]
During last night’s All-Star game—I believe the baseball team won—Fox ran its latest preview of fall singing contest The X Factor, which made a couple of things clear. First, from the amount of on-screen placement, it seems more as if this show should be called The X Pepsi …
Tuned InTuned In
You may have heard a sound yesterday, as if millions of voices cried out at once and examined their entertainment budgets. Netflix yesterday announced that it was splitting its base plan—$9.99 a month for unlimited streaming plus one DVD rental at a time—in two: $7.99 for one or the other, effectively hiking the price nearly six …
Tuned InRemembrance
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-QS9g2IEvw]
At the height of his TV-writing career, Sherwood Schwartz probably did not particularly anticipate being eulogized by TV critics. Schwartz, who died today at age 94, was the creator of Gilligan’s Island and The Brady Bunch, two sitcoms that were practically critical shorthand for …
