Tuned In
Nobody, understandably, pities TV critics for their work. It’s not exactly Deadliest Catch or factory work—we don’t run the risk of falling into freezing seas or having our arms sheared off by machinery if we’re not careful. (The chief hazard is strangulation by getting your necktie caught in the DVD-loading tray.)
Nonetheless, we …
Tuned InMusic
I just received, but haven’t yet watched, the pilot screener for CBS’s Swingtown, which debuts June 5. The ensemble drama is about a group of married friends and their encounters with the rising era of sexual experimentation in suburban Chicago in 1976. “The title Swingtown,” says a letter from the producers, “describes the ever-shifting …
I don’t actually care much about the art market, since, like 99% of the human race, I’m not in it. But the big spring auction season started last night at Christie’s in New York and naturally the results are being sifted for signs that the market is poised for a fall. The results? Monet, Rodin and Giacometti broke records. But 14 of …
Tuned InUncategorized
My American Idol reviews are up at time.com. At first I was surprised that it David Cook didn’t have a better night on Rock and Roll Hall of Fame night, but in retrospect it makes perfect …
Tuned InUncategorized
My grand tour of the new channels in my expanded HD lineup continued last night with the Travel Channel HD, which was airing something called Steak Paradise. (If there were a religion that named its afterlife Steak Paradise, I would join that religion.) You wouldn’t think that meat is something that benefits from high definition, but you …
Tuned InUncategorized
A question to consider as the Indiana and North Carolina returns come in today: What’s the biggest determining demographic factor in the Democratic primary? It’s gender, right? God knows you can’t open a newspaper politics section, or even a style section, without reading about the great war between the boys and the girls in the …
Tuned InUncategorized
OK, this is not exactly TV-related, but it is fascinating nonetheless. al-Qaeda’s number 2, Ayman al-Zawahiri, has posted answers to questions solicited on jihadist websites early this year and last year. Bin Laden’s deputy responded to often-hostile questions on subjects ranging from the killing of Muslim innocents to al-Qaeda’s action …
Tuned InUncategorized
If How I Met Your Mother is the Lost of sitcoms, and it is, then there must sometimes be storylines in which the main characters are separated by circumstances. If How I Met Your Mother is the Lost of sitcoms, and it is, then there must sometimes be episodes that mainly serve to set the table plotwise for future episodes. “Rebound Bro” …
A few nights ago I made it over to the New York revival of the Stephen Sondheim musical Sunday in the Park with George. In its first act, as a way to talk about the personal isolation of artists generally meaning Sondheim — it uses a fictionalized version of Georges …
Tuned InUncategorized
There’s been plenty of debate in the political media lately about whether or not this election is likely to be—or already is—a rerun of 1988. (I.e., culture warring, flag burning, Willie Horton ads, etc.) If you want to relive the actual election of ’88 for comparison purposes, you might want to watch PBS’s American Experience: The …
Tuned In
There’s been a lot of attention, here and elsewhere, about the poor ratings and dismal prospects of the CBS Evening News and Katie Couric. But before we pin all the problems of TV news on Katie, it’s worth noting that the numbers are bad, and getting worse, for all three networks collectively. Advertising Age surveys the state of the …
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New York magazine columnist Kurt Andersen (who is like me a declared Obama voter) has had some great observations all this election season on the Democratic primary and how it reflects American culture. He has a new column this week about the “elitism” issue, in which he argues, among other points:
Certain journalistic stars these last
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Tuned InUncategorized
My local cable despot, Time Warner, recently added a slew of new high-definition channels to the cable package here in Brooklyn, which means that I’ve been spending more time than usual surfing the higher digits of my cable dial. Let me tell you: until you have watched The Weather Channel in high definition, my friend, you have not seen …
