Archive for the 'Cathode Rays' Category
Things Are Heating Up in Atlanta
May 7th, 2008Hot news — an ex-Weather Channel meteorologist has filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against her former employers. We have the Weather Channel on 24/7 at the house, and I remember plaintiff Hillary Andrews and defendant Bob Stokes (who left the network last January) very well.
This story came out eerily timed, since a couple of nights […]
Weekly Mishmash: April 6-12
April 13th, 2008Bush’s War (Frontline, PBS). We finally finished watching this five-hour extravaganza last Sunday. Favorite moment: when a commentator notes Condi Rice’s “overjoyed” reaction to the toppling of Saddam Hussein’s statue in Baghdad, the producers show a photo of Ms. Rice in a characteristic sour-faced look.
Junebug (2005). I have so many movies on Netflix that they’re […]
Company Picnic
April 11th, 2008While viewing one of Shout! Factory’s Best of the Electric Company DVDs yesterday, a couple of clips stood out in a) unearthing tingly deja-vu feelings, and b) showcasing the often daring visual and musical cues the show took. These are both from episode #453, which first aired on January 15, 1975. The kinetic and colorful […]
It’s Always Time for Flying Penguins
April 2nd, 2008An April Fools joke from Terry Jones and the BBC:
He-Man Adventure Club
March 25th, 2008In a strange bit of synergy, two recent articles have appeared dealing with established cable channels changing their content to be more “edgy” — one on The History Channel and another on Animal Planet. It’s telling that both channels are going after the elusive Young Male demographic by diluting the very images they were founded […]
Hulu Party
March 19th, 2008It always happens — instead of doing something productive, I waste away the day on something silly. In today’s case, I visited Fox and NBC-Universal’s Hulu.com to find out if it lives up to the hype. Although I didn’t look into the movies (something about sitting on the computer for two solid hours makes my […]
The Granny Awards
February 11th, 2008Out of curiosity (okay, I wanted to see if Burt Bacharach and Doris Day might appear to pick up their Lifetime Achievement awards), I tuned into the Grammy Awards last night. Boy, what a strange show. Just hand me some Geritol ’cause I feel so elderly now! It’s bad enough that I’ve never heard of […]
In Stereo (Where Available)
February 2nd, 2008My new time-waster: TV show opening credits from 1985-89. The clips are arranged by year in groups of seven or eight — but otherwise they play randomly. Hit shows bump up against obscurities, or dopey sitcoms follow action dramas. It’s fun to check out the dated music and fashions, and also the fact that opening […]
John Hockenberry’s Dirty Laundry
January 3rd, 2008A must read: John Hockenberry’s scathing account of working at NBC’s network news division in the aftermath of September 11th. Depressing as hell, but tells me all I need to know about the TV news business. (via ArtsJournal)
Disc-O Faves
December 17th, 2007Of all the year-end best-of lists that proliferate this time of year, DVD Savant’s Favored Disc Roundup is among the ones I look forward to the most. It gave me a lot of good ideas for stuff to add to the Netflix queue.
On trend especially I’ve noticed this year is that the prices for full […]
Filmed in Orlando, Bore-ida
November 19th, 2007I was perusing an early (1991) issue of Entertainment Weekly this morning, and one thing that caught my eye was Ken Tucker’s D-minus review of Hi, Honey I’m Home. Ahh, remember that one? This short-lived show had the then-novelty of running twice in the same week — once on ABC, then again on Nick at […]
Guest Programmer Month at TCM
November 2nd, 2007This is kind of a nice month on Turner Classic Movies, since my beloved “best channel ever” is devoting every night of November to the guest programming of various well-known folk. It could have been a dud, I know, but luckily only three of the thirty celebrities fall into the “Who cares?” category (those would […]
All Singing, All Snacking
October 24th, 2007Tonight I turn over the weblog to ask an important question — whatever happened to those completely unironic TV commercials that emulated movie musicals? Sure, they were corny, but 20-plus years later I still remember them which has to count for something. The mid-’80s jingle for Better Cheddars crackers, for example, is a song that […]
Casino Security Footage Has More Excitement
October 23rd, 2007Can’t say it’s much of a surprise: Viva Laughlin became the first scripted TV show of the new season to get the axe. I tuned into the pilot episode out of curiosity, but couldn’t get past the first 15 minutes or so — the show was so wrong on so many levels. The producers could […]
Lucille Ball in Meme
October 17th, 2007William tagged me with a television meme. So let’s turn our brains off and answer some questions, shall we?
1. What TV show have you seen every episode of?I can answer this in two parts. During childhood I’m positively certain I’d seen every episode of such rerun staples as The Brady Bunch, Bewitched, Gilligan’s Island, I […]
