The screenwriter and Laura Dern talk about their spiritual quest comedy-drama and about whether art can make a better (or worse) world.
Netflix, Cable and Redefining the ‘Hit’
As Netflix creates original series — without weekly airings or ratings — it will further tangle the already knotty question of what constitutes a “hit” in television now
Reality TV Journalism: Alex Jones Shoots Off His Mouth on Piers Morgan
This was Reality TV news: the kind that, in the name of “getting people to pay attention,” turns over an argument to people glad to inhabit their most outlandish caricatures.
TV Tonight: Justified Brings It All Back Home
Justified’s great theme has always been returning to where you came from. Season 4 starts with a promising detour into the Givens family’s past.
Downton Abbey, I Am Too American to Love You
There’s plenty to enjoy in PBS’ story of beautifully sad rich people. But ultimately it leaves me like the crabby Irish-nationalist former servant, sulking and ruining the party for everyone.
Buy the Sky and Sell the Sky: The Weather Channel Is Now Branding Winter
The channel now has its own system for naming (and hyping) winter storms. Call me old-fashioned, but is it too much to ask for marketing to stop at the freaking sky?
Vacation Robo-Post: TV to Look Forward to in 2013
A year from now, many of the 2013 shows we’ll be looking back on—for better or worse—will be surprises. But there’s a lot we can already anticipate.
Vacation Robo-Post: The 2012 Cincy Awards
This award, or perhaps “award,” recognizes TV shows with interesting ambitions that, for various reasons, they don’t manage to quite meet.
Vacation Robo-Post: The Worst TV of 2012
It is time, as Frank Costanza would say, for the airing of grievances. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you… the 10 Worst TV Shows of 2012!
Programming Note
I’m going to be spending the time between now and the New Year not working. But that doesn’t mean you’re off the hook, suckers!
What We Should Be Thinking About Pop-Culture Violence, and What We Will Probably Do Instead
It should be possible to criticize excessive, numbing, bludgeoning violence in pop culture without reaching for a dubious argument that it leads to massacres.
The Voice Watch: And the Winner Is…
The winner of this season, as much as anyone, was NBC. But can the singing contest finally launch a genuine star?
The World’s Biggest Hobbit: Why Peter Jackson Should Not Have Supersized Bilbo
The Lord of the Rings was a masterpiece of compression, but the bloated Hobbit is an example of why it’s not a good idea to show fans every thing they might want to see
