The State of Scary TV
‘The Returned’ and ‘Ash vs Evil Dead’ join ‘The Walking Dead’ in offering high-quality horror.
December 7, 2012
NBC Comedy Recap: Ron & Leslie & Jerry & Duke
Every week in this space, Grantland’s Andy Greenwald will run down the happenings and mishappenings in NBC’s Thursday comedy night done mostly right. (Note: The order reflects newsworthiness, not quality. Although occasionally the two just might overlap.) 1. Parks and Recreation The normal metric for holiday behavior is, as Jim Halpert correctly argued last night, […]
Read moreVideo on Demand Report: Spend the Weekend Watching Every Batman Movie Ever
The Headliner The Dark Knight Rises The capper to Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy drew mixed reviews during its theatrical run, so if the bad ones kept you away, now’s your chance to form an opinion before its inevitable nomination for several technical Oscars and probably none for writing or acting. Bane’s (Tom Hardy) plot: too […]
Read moreVince Neil Takes a Swing at a Fan, Vince Neil Misses, Vince Neil Caught on Video for All Time
What could that fan in the first row of a Vince Neil show in New Mexico last weekend possibly have done to cause the water-retaining former Mötley Crüe front man to take an inept swing at him? Reminded Vince that he forgot the words to the third verse of “Kickstart My Heart”? Shouted repeatedly that […]
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Grantland Reality Fantasy League: Creepy Brother-Love and Draft Beer Tsunamis
Jersey Shore is like Yakov Smirnoff. Let me explain. In the late ’90s, I made my living hustling tourists at the Empire State Building into going on the “New York Skyride.” The Skyride was a simulation ride, a movie with moving seats that would “take you on a trip to all the major attractions of […]
Read moreMetallica and Sean Parker Put All That Napster Nonsense Behind Them
“[The Napster lawsuit] was never about money, it was always about control.”
Read moreDecember 6, 2012
Fox’s Babes on a Bus Terrorizes Small-Town America, Channing Tatum Wastes His Talent, Bon Iver and Grizzly Bear Hug It Out
The log line for Babes on a Bus, Fox’s new reality dating show pilot: “At each stop, the women will be introduced to the town’s finest bachelors, who will be on hand to impress them with romantic scenery and delicious local food. They even will introduce the ladies to their family and friends. At the […]
Read moreRembert Explains the ’80s: Men Without Hats, ‘Safety Dance’
Welcome back to our series Rembert Explains the ’80s. Every so often, we’ll e-mail 25-year-old Rembert Browne a video from the 1980s that he hasn’t seen. Rembert will write down his thoughts as he’s watching the video, then we’ll post those thoughts here. This week’s installment was suggested by EVERYONE: “The Safety Dance” (long version) […]
Read moreJustin Bieber’s Greatest Grammys Nemesis Is Moderately Famous Jazz Vocalist Esperanza Spalding
The Grammys continue to love Spalding, hate Bieber.
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Judging The X Factor: America Takes the Contestants Hostage
For reasons still not entirely clear to them, Grantland editors Jay Caspian Kang, Mark Lisanti, and Emily Yoshida have decided to track the second season of The X Factor. It’s not an abusive relationship, it’s just a very complicated one. Last night, America’s third-favorite singing competition dragged itself to the Final Six. For the first […]
Read moreStar Trek Into Darkness Trailer: Benedict Cumberbatch vs. the World
Yeah, Inception bwaaaangs could make just about anything seem hella dramatic, but the trailer for Star Trek Into Darkness — J.J. Abrams’s follow-up to his 2009 smash-hit big-screen reboot of the franchise — provides some pyrotechnics even with the sound off. A villainous Benedict Cumberbatch provides the voice-over and all the plot explanation we need: […]
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American Horror Story: Asylum Season 2, Episode 8: ‘Unholy Night’
Last night’s episode of American Horror Story: Asylum wasn’t my favorite, though it did feature Deadwood’s excellent Ian McShane as a psycho, serial-killing Santa and dentures as Christmas tree ornaments. I guess it was time for an episodic bridge, an installment with dialogue set to soap-opera music (and an instrumental of the creepiest carol, “Hark […]
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The Royal Bun Is Officially in the Royal Oven … and Other Absurdities From This Week’s Tabloids
Us Weekly Kate Middleton Is Pregnant: “Royal-watchers all around the globe had been on tenterhooks for months.” THAT SOUNDS UNCOMFORTABLE. “At long last, Will and Kate are expecting a little prince or princess!” While they were hoping to keep the story under wraps until Kate was 12 weeks along, and release the news on Christmas […]
Read moreThe 2013 Grammy Nominations: Well, at Least Frank Ocean Is Having a Good Morning
This year’s Grammy nominations were announced Wednesday night, and it looks like we’re once again in for a bout of what is now the Grammy nomination’s trademark reaction-getter: a unique, intense swirl of confusion, revulsion, anger, fear, regret, weepiness, nostalgia, vertigo, and, in some extreme cases, slight temporary restless leg syndrome. So many crap albums […]
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