I’m going to be on NPR’s All Things Considered this evening talking about the news that CBS has signed up a reality show involving arranged marriages from Magical Elves, the production team behind Top Chef (and, formerly, Project Runway). According to the Hollywood Reporter, on Arranged Marriage, four adults from 25 to 45 in age have …
Heroes Watch: Getting the Band Back Together
Brief thoughts on last night’s Heroes after the jump:
BSG (and FNL) Watch: Manning Up
Belated thoughts on Friday’s Battlestar Galactica (and, sort of, Friday Night Lights) coming up after the jump:
Post-Super-Bowl Roundup
After the jump: What advertising scholars, USA Today’s readers and at least three women thought of last night’s ads:
Big Love and FOTC Watch: Super Monday Edition
Very brief spoilers for last night’s Big Love and Flight of the Conchords after the jump:
On the Rose Again
Late last week Peter French, chief operating officer at Brandeis University, spoke to Judith Dobrzynski at Tina Brown’s website The Daily Beast. In that conversation he offered a more detailed picture of the Brandeis financial predicament than anything we’ve had so far from the school beyond “trust me, it’s bad”.
We’d heard before …
Ain't That a Snow Globe in the 'Nads: Amateurs Beat Pros at Super Bowl Ads
As we saw last night, the major running theme of this year’s Super Bowl ads was anxiety over the economy and job loss. This morning, there are probably a few advertising professionals feeling that anxiety even more deeply. The vaunted USA Today Ad Meter poll this morning was won not by any pro advertising agency but by two unemployed …
Office Watch: Smoked and Roasted
Brief thoughts on last night’s Super Bowl-sized Office after the jump:
The Best and Worst Super Bowl Ads
Last night’s Super Bowl turned out to be an exciting game, which unfortunately drew valuable attention away from the commercials. I aim to rectify that with my annual review of the Super Bowl ads, now up at time.com. Plow through it if you dare: nearly every ad aired during the game is there (with video thanks to the heroic efforts of …
Super Sunday Open Thread
No one responded when I asked if you wanted an open thread to comment on Super Bowl XLIII–so given the overwhelming public demand, I decided to put one up anyway! Use this space to comment on the pregame, the game, the ads, the halftime show or anything that suits. I’ll probably post on the post-game hourlong Office (which I haven’t yet …
Friday Night Open Thread
New episodes of Friday Night Lights and Battlestar Galactica tonight, but it may be a while before I blog about them, if at all. Tonight is movie night with Tuned In Jr. Jr., and I cannot violate the sanctity of movie night. I also don’t want to violate the sanctity of not-staying-up-past-midnight-blogging-on-a-Friday-night.
In the …
What to Do With That Super Bowl Ring
You could spend hours analyzing what this year’s Super Bowl ads say about the state of the American economy. But this story pretty much says it all. The new name among this year’s Super Sunday advertisers? Cash4Gold.
The spot’s celebrity pitchmen: MC Hammer and noted personal-finance counselor Ed McMahon.
Good Pilot, Bad Show; Bad Pilot, Good Show
In the comments under my Dollhouse post from yesterday, there’s an interesting (well, to me) discussion about one of the things that make TV reviewing different from film or book criticism: trying to assess the future of a series from a couple episodes, or maybe even just one.
As I wrote there, one trick to TV criticism is that (IMHO) …