Tuned InTelevision
Steve Carell is gone, the ratings for The Office have been dwindling, but don’t think NBC isn’t going to try to squeeze more overtime yet from its closest thing to a primetime scripted hit. (At least until it manages to get …
Tuned InTelevision
There is a rap song about Ron Swanson. Why are you even reading the rest of this post? Why haven’t you just clicked “Play”? What more could you possibly need to hear?
Well, all right: the track comes from Adam WarRock, whose past work includes a full album about Firefly (“M to the A to the L!”) and whose Parks & Rec EP also includes a …
Tuned InReview
If, as the new Fox drama Touch suggests, we are all connected and all our actions affect everyone else, then maybe I should take some tiny responsibility and/or blame for the show. I’m always complaining on this blog that …
Tuned InNews Media
One of the running narratives of Barack Obama’s administration has been how much it should mirror, or avoid, the acts of the last Democratic administration, Bill Clinton’s. In his State of the Union address last night, at least, Barack Obama became a Clintonian, at least in style. Like Clinton’s SOTU speeches, Obama’s was long (just over …
Tuned InTelevision
One of the many HBO programming announcements out of the winter TCA tour that I didn’t get around to commenting on was a return date for Game of Thrones‘ season 2: April 1. Information about the second series—and judging only by the source book, A Clash of Kings, it could be a doozy—has been coming out in bits and pieces. And here ( …
Tuned InNews Media
In the first umpteen Republican debates of this primary season, the crowds watching had as much of an active role as the participants, driving the energy of the debates and sometimes the day-after discussion. Whether it was booing a gay soldier or cheering the death penalty or going hog-wild over Newt Gingrich’s lambasting of CNN’s John …
Tuned InTelevision
Last night, NBC completed its burnoff of fall crime drama Prime Suspect. I didn’t watch, partly because, with the Giants competing, last night was one of the few nights of the year I actually watch a sportsball game with …
Tuned InTelevision
I’ve never been to Charleston, S.C., but I’m pretty sure that, for this afternoon at least, Randolph Hall at the College of Charleston was located at the intersection of Reality and Satire. There it was that Stephen Colbert and Herman Cain, unlikely ballotfellows, held a funny, serious and seriously funny rally to promote Colbert’s bid …
Tuned InTelevision
In one of my favorite Archer episodes ever, Sterling and Lana have an adventure in a Florida Louisiana swamp, which is mainly exciting to Archer for its resonances with the Burt Reynolds classic Gator. “I’ve been waiting my …
Tuned InNews Media
It’s become a cliché to say that each Republican debate is the most important yet—at least since the last Most Important Debate—but last night’s showdown in South Carolina had a strong claim, coming after Rick Perry’s drop-out, Rick Santorum’s retroactive win in Iowa and Newt Gingrich’s twofer of climbing ahead in the polls while an …
Tuned InReview
I hadn’t planned on reviewing last night’s Modern Family, and probably wouldn’t have after watching it, if not for the advance, sight-unseen controversy over something toddler Lily said in the episode. Or rather, didn’t …
Tuned InNews Media
Last week, New York Times public editor (the equivalent of an ombudsman) Arthur Brisbane wrote a blog post asking whether, in covering the campaign, reporters should challenge in the body of their straight-news stories statements by candidates that are dubious, distorted or outright false. Or as he put it—in a headline that generated …
Tuned InNews Media
Remember that narrow, 8-vote win Mitt Romney scored in the Iowa caucuses? The one that launched him on a 2-for-2 run in the first two GOP contests, building his momentum and underscoring his case as the inevitable nominee? Turns …
