Tag: television
-
Dharma Island
Disney owns the Lost mythology, so why not a Dharma Initiative attraction on Discovery Island? :: John August (@johnaugust) January 13, 2014 John August’s above tweet informed me that Disney World used to have a wildlife attraction on their massive property called Discovery Island, which was abandoned in 1999 and left to be overrun by wilderness.…
-
Seeing In Black And White
Rod Dreher recently wrote about Duck Dynasty star Phil Robertson’s comments about, essentially, how happy he believed Black Southerners were in the 1950s before the civil rights movement. To Dreher, Robertson’s comments demonstrate the power of narrative, of the stories we tell ourselves and how they affect how we see the “truth” of our own situations, even when…
-
Stupid Is As Rosewater Does
If what happened to Maziar Bahari is the trend in Iran, the country just hasn’t figured it out yet. Bahari, an Iranian journalist, was imprisoned and tortured in Iran during the “Green Revolution” in Iran, which was the reformist response to the 2009 reelection of Mahmoud Ahmedinejad. His memoir Then They Came For Me details…
-
Attested Development
After years of hype and speculation, Arrested Development is back thanks to the tireless work of Mitch Hurwitz and the show’s writers. Watching these characters again has been surreal. I had the same feeling when I saw Toy Story 3 and The Hobbit: I’d watched the previous installments (the LOTR trilogy in the case of The Hobbit) so many times that…
-
Fox News’ Amazing Rage
About two years ago I stopped watching cable news all together. Regardless of the channel, there is rarely anything on worth the time and energy it takes getting frustrated by the mostly non-news news stories being covered like Access Hollywood fluff pieces. But late last night as I was channel-surfing before turning in, I was chagrined…
-
To Binge Or Not To Binge?
There’s been some debate recently about whether binge-watching a TV show on DVD or online is good or bad. While I must confess I have gone on a few TV benders, usually with the intention of catching up on a series before its most recent season premiered, there’s something about watching a show live on…
-
Thank You, Kristen Wiig
Last night, Saturday Night Live bade farewell to Kristen Wiig, one of the show’s most talented and versatile performers in its history. I wrote about her back in 2008, and those sentiments hold today. It’s fitting they sent her off to the Rolling Stones’ “She’s a Rainbow” given the spectrum of colorful characters she brought to…
-
Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop
Watching Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop made me realize something I’ve suspected for a long time: I don’t ever want to be famous. There’s a scene in this documentary about the “Legally Prohibited From Being Funny On Television” stage tour Conan created immediately after his inauspicious exit from The Tonight Show in 2010 where Conan does a meet-and-greet after…
-
Mad World
Looks like Mad Men is getting the LOST treatment, and I couldn’t be happier about it. The deal between Mad Men showrunner Matthew Weiner and AMC will end the series after the sixth season premieres. Like the deal that gave LOST a definitive end-date a few years ago, this new deal for Mad Men will be…
-
The Ten Commandments Of Watching ‘LOST’ In A Group
1. Thou shalt be caught up. 2. Thou shalt hold all questions until commercial breaks. 3. Thou shalt not bring a friend who hath not seen Lost or hath not been caught up. 4. Thou shalt offer theories upon the conclusion of the episode. 5. Thou shalt not use the bathroom during the show and…
-
Hottest. Cast. Ever.
Yes, even Hurley. It seems a little smaller cast than years previous, but I think it’s definitely the strongest. The fifth and penultimate season of Lost premieres January 21 at 9/8 central. I can’t wait.
-
The War by Ken Burns
I’m still working my way through it, but I’ve already come to appreciate Ken Burns’ seven-part 2007 miniseries The War. Burns explains in the making-of feature that he wanted to show the war not through historians but through average citizens, men and women and children from every corner of the country who endured the front…
-
It Sure Is, Max!
Late Night with Conan O’Brien is the only late-night talk show I watch consistently. I watch The Daily Show and The Colbert Report for the political satire, but I watch Late Night for the utter wackiness. Besides Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, my favorite reoccurring segment is “Small Talk Moment with Max and Conan.” I…
-
I Never Really Processed 9/11…
It’s good to see The Office back again. Here are my favorite parts of the season 5 premiere (possible spoilers ahead!): –Another classic Psychopath Jan moment: Jan: “Remember last week when that girl went missing? Guess whose candles they used for the vigil.” Kevin: “Yeah, thank God they found her.” Jan: “They found her?” –When…
-
Kristen Wiig = Hilarious
I’m always annoyed when people say Saturday Night Live isn’t as good as it used to be. It’s unfair to judge a group of relatively unknown performers against their much more famous predecessors. Especially when their predecessors and their funniest skits have had time to become more popular and time-tested. That said, these first two episodes…
-
Everybody Know What Time It Is?
You know what’s a good show? Home Improvement. A few years ago, I wouldn’t have said such a thing. I thought the cheeseball factor rivaled that of Full House. But in the last year or two, I’ve been catching the re-runs on cable randomly during the day, and it has really grown on me. The…
-
What’s Going On?
Haven’t been on much—camp is keeping me busy. It is nice, though, to be able to unplug from the world for a while and not be able to check your email and keep up on the news even if you want to. Here’s a few thoughts on random stuff: —The Dark Knight was just amazing. I’m…