The State of Scary TV
‘The Returned’ and ‘Ash vs Evil Dead’ join ‘The Walking Dead’ in offering high-quality horror.
February 19, 2013
In Defense of Roberto Benigni’s Oscar Freakout. (Yes. Defense.)
Roberto Benigni’s pair of over-caffeinated acceptance speeches from 1999 didn’t survive the first round of Grantland’s Oscar Travesty bracket. It lost to The King’s Speech’s stealing what the cool, the young, the Fincher-besotted believe was The Social Network’s best picture Oscar. It is the greater travesty since Benigni’s wins for foreign-language film and actor constitute […]
Read moreFreak Show & Tell: So Many Strange Addictions, So Little Time
Every week, television documentaries present us with so many unusual people, with so many strange and/or disturbing problems, you might find it hard to keep up with all of them. That’s where I come in! Here’s an unflinching look back at TV’s Week in Freak Shows. [Editor’s note: This week, Tara presented us with four […]
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Let’s Predict NBC’s New Thursday Night
In a game of limbo, staying alive gets harder as the bar gets lower. In network television, survival works the opposite way. Just a few short months ago, NBC was riding high, actually winning key demos on most nights and bragging about the growth potential of its not one but two potential hits: Go On […]
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Oscar Travesties, Day 5: Objectively Terrible Art
So how’s your Oscar Travesty bracket looking? Are you crushing it? Can you just about taste the victory ribs you’re going to order from Chili’s with that gift certificate up for grabs in your office pool? I wouldn’t know about that — the Grantland office has nothing riding on our individual predictions because we figured […]
Read moreCounting Down the Top 10 in … KIDS MUSIC!
1. Kidz Bop Kids, “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” (Kidz Bop 23) They did it! They made it more annoying! Congratulations to the Kidz Bop team of scientists for their tireless efforts at making the hardest possible things to listen to. They shouldn’t play Metallica at Guantanamo Bay. They should play this. (Just kidding, […]
Read moreIf Staples Center Will Go Vegetarian for Morrissey, What Would They Do for Kobe?
Yesterday afternoon, Morrissey appeared to be barely off his death bed. A troubling bit of bleeding ulcer, he explained in wondrously-stereotypical Moz fashion, was forcing him to cancel shows: “For those scholars who are heatedly curious, my ulcer is now under reins, even if neither asleep nor dead, but the continued cause for concern is […]
Read moreFebruary 18, 2013
Afternoon Links: Everyone Hates Rihanna’s New Fashion Line
Rihanna’s “surprisingly slutty” London Fashion Week debut sure was something, right? Her River Island collaboration was widely panned by critics, though if you smoke a ton of weed, the feeling of a breeze gently flirting with your exposed belly button and fondling your upper thighs probably feels soooooo goooood guuuuuys. I don’t know, the fishnet […]
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The Walking Dead Season 3, Episode 10: ‘Home’
Last week, Grantland contributor and longtime The Walking Dead recapper Andy Greenwald finally lopped off the head of his tenure as Senior Zombie Correspondent in order to better focus his energies on television shows with “plot development” and “three-dimensional characters.” While we wholeheartedly support Andy’s decision, we here at the Hollywood Prospectus decided we could […]
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Worst Cooks in America, Episode 1: Ketchup and Skittles
A Sunday night without a soul-extinguishing cooking show didn’t quite feel right after the trauma of Rachael vs. Guy: Celebrity Cook-Off, so Mark Lisanti here was kind enough to let me keep this sad-party rolling with Worst Cooks in America. He is a classic enabler. In choosing to watch this show I feel a bit […]
Read moreWriters Guild Awards: Argo, Zero Dark Thirty, and … Portlandia?!
Big winners at the WGAs last night.
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How Ordinary People Managed to Beat Raging Bull
In 1980, Raging Bull loses to Ordinary People. Sometimes we need a little time with our art. During the 1980 Best Picture race, the Academy needed a standing eight count to clear its collective head. If it had gotten one, it would’ve seen the truth. Art can be immediate — instantaneous even — and a […]
Read moreThe Kardashiad, Week 5: Take It to a Soft Place
Like, 3.8 seconds of cold open go by, and then Khloé is saying to Scott and Kourtney, “You guys don’t bone often,” because Khloé is the best. Scott explains that Kourtney never initiates the sex and approaches the whole process with a We gotta get this over with demeanor; Scott also uses the phrase “the […]
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Life Is But a Dream: What to Make of Beyonce’s Most Elaborate Social Media Update Yet?
Beyoncé’s self-produced, self-directed, and self-spangled documentary Life is But a Dream aired on HBO this past Saturday night. We brought together our resident Diva scientists Jay Caspian Kang and Rembert Browne to discuss. Jay Caspian Kang: Before we get into specifics, how do you feel about the general idea of a self-produced, self-directed documentary? The […]
Read moreSNL Episode 13: Djesus Uncrossed!
My excitement for Christoph Waltz hosting SNL was tempered with some measure of fear because, as we all know, this season has been a little slumpy. Waltz is such a likable and accomplished performer that I felt concerned that the writing would fail him, that we’d watch him flailing around in a jokeless DJ Booth […]
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Girls Maturity Level Threat Watch: Episode 6
Adam Oh Adam, you human bandsaw. Welcome back, hon. On their way to Staten Island during a wild dog chase, Ray tries to make contact with Adam by blathering aimlessly about sex (like he always does), prompting Adam to reveal that what turns him on is a woman who’s comfortable in her own body, regardless […]
Read moreBehind the Scenes Drama at Up All Night Still More Interesting Than Actual Episodes of Up All Night
NBC has been trying to salvage something from Up All Night almost since the word “go,” knowing that simply letting a collection of talent like Will Arnett, Christina Applegate, and Maya Rudolph walk out of their clutches would be wasteful, foolish, and, honestly, downright disrespectful to the comedy gods. Now finally, against all odds, it […]
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Oscar Travesties, Day 4: The Egregious Eight
It was The Wizard of Oz in 1939 that provided Hollywood with its most enduring depiction of the divide between the head and the heart. In their desperation to gain the organs they lacked, the Scarecrow and the Tin Man proved themselves willing to endure any indignity, from flying monkeys to grabby munchkins. No task […]
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