Here’s an easy way to tell when a political side realizes it’s on the bad end of a public controversy: rather than defend itself, or whichever of its allies is in trouble, it starts mentioning, loudly and frequently, examples of …
SXSW Watch: My Twitter-Crit Panel, or, A Lot of Words About 140 Characters
I have survived my first South By Southwest panel appearance. On my Sunday-morning panel, “Arts Criticism in 140 Characters or Less,” my fellow panelists and I used far more than 140 characters at a shot to explain how social …
Winter Is Returning: Game of Thrones Season 2 Hopes and Fears
I’m still at South by Southwest, so posting is going to be pretty light through Wednesday, but I wanted to point you to a roundtable I did with some fellow Game of Thrones / A Song of Ice and Fire fans about the upcoming season 2 …
SXSW Watch: The Transmedia of Top Chef
One of the TV buzzwords I’ve been hearing this year at South by Southwest is “transmedia.” Which, you may be surprised to find, is not a reference to RuPaul’s Drag Race. It’s the new term of art for using various other media platforms to create entertainment associated with a show, and one of the more aggressive networks at it has been …
The Twidiot Box: How Do You Use Twitter With TV?
I’m en route to Austin, Tex., where on Sunday I’ll be speaking on a South by Southwest panel, Arts Criticism 140 Characters at a Time, about how Twitter and other social media have affected critics. My answer, in a word: immensely.
Programming Note: Tuned In Goes to SXSW
Two related notes: First, I’m going to the South By Southwest film/interactive festival for a few days starting Friday, so blogging may be light or nonexistent here through Tuesday, between travel and my navigating the massive event for the first time ever. Adjust your calendars accordingly.
Second: I’m going to South By Southwest! …
Was All-American Muslim Too Controversial, Too Boring, or Too Good to Survive?
All-American Muslim will not be back for a second season, The Detroit Free Press first reported yesterday and its network, TLC, confirmed. The report cited the show’s ratings, which dropped considerably from the show’s highly …
The Morning After: I Fought the Law
Quick spoilers for last night’s Justified below:
I don’t feel as if this season of Justified, so far, is coming together quite on the level that last year’s grand story of Mags Bennett did. Neal McDonough has been coolly …
CNN Poaches Palin From Fox (For a Few Minutes)
CNN deployed its resources across the country for yesterday’s Super Tuesday primaries and caucuses, as far as the vast state of Alaska, to which it sent a single camera crew. And of all Alaska’s cities and towns from which to cover Alaska’s Republican caucus, it happened to pick Wasilla, because of—oh, no particular reason, right? As …
Extinction-Level Event: Why You Should Care That Terra Nova Was Canceled
Terra Nova is now fossil fuel. Well, let’s be precise: after a long deliberation, Fox canceled its expensive sci-fi/time-travel/future-conspiracy show, and the Steven Spielberg production is being “shopped to other networks.” …
Limbaugh and the Imus Effect: Has Rush’s Mouth Written a Check His Sponsors Won’t Cash?
Rush Limbaugh‘s repeated, ugly insults last week against Sandra Fluke — a Georgetown law student who testified in favor of insurance coverage of contraception — were terrible on plenty of levels. They were sick: the idea of …
TV Weekend: GCB
Since I posted earlier about my column on HBO’s movie Game Change, about Sarah Palin, we might as well make this Things People in Red States Might Be Offended By Day. Sunday night, ABC premieres GCB, a tongue-in-cheek soap set in …
Dead Tree Alert: Shiny Object Lesson
In my new column in the print TIME magazine, I review the HBO movie Game Change, about the vice presidential nomination and trainwreck campaign of Sarah Palin in 2008. I don’t think it’s a very good movie. Sarah Palin and her …