The State of Scary TV
‘The Returned’ and ‘Ash vs Evil Dead’ join ‘The Walking Dead’ in offering high-quality horror.
October 30, 2012
Grading the Top 10 in … FOLK MUSIC!
1. The Stray Birds, “Dream in Blue” The Stray Birds are three collaborators from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, who released their debut album earlier this year. All three band members — Maya de Vitry, Oliver Craven, and bassist Charles Muench — grew up steeped in folk, country, and bluegrass traditions. They believe that performing live at […]
Read moreTwo Theories As to Why NBC Doesn’t Want Dwight Schrute’s Office Spinoff
The Farm won’t go to series.
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Rembert Browne vs. Aubrey ‘Drake’ Graham: A High School Commencement Speech Showdown
For some time, I genuinely thought Drake and I had a great deal in common. But, as time went on, and he really started getting famous, that feeling began to slightly subside. And then, with Drake’s fame came Drake’s “Drake obsession.” And with Drake’s “Drake obsession” came Drake’s Instagram. And with Drake’s Instagram came Drake’s […]
Read moreOctober 29, 2012
NBC Tries to Save Up All Night by Adding a Live Audience and More Cameras
As the 90 mph winds of Hurricane Sandy swirl and rage outside my apartment, my thoughts are with another disaster — one entirely man-made. Up All Night, NBC’s frustrating ode to yuppie entitlement, is the little sitcom that wouldn’t. After 30 episodes, this star-studded baby-com remains frustratingly immature, saddling likable leads Will Arnett and Maya […]
Read moreShark Tank: The Wisest Investment in Friday-Night Reality Television
I put on my time travel glasses recently and peered back to the spring of 2007, when On the Lot premiered. I could see myself — younger, drunker, so hopeful — looking people in the eye and telling them, “I am excited to watch On the Lot.” I wasn’t lying; I really thought that I […]
Read moreJoss Whedon Supports Mitt Romney for Zombie-Apocalypse-Beckoner-in-Chief
“You know, like a lot of liberal Americans, I was excited when Barack Obama took office four years ago. But it’s a very different world now. And Mitt Romney is a very different candidate. One with the vision and determination to cut through business-as-usual politics and finally put this country back on the path to […]
Read moreCloud Atlas, Dutifully Fulfilling ‘Impossible Adaptation’ Narrative, Flops at Box Office
Cloud Atlas does a scant $9.4 million.
Read moreThe Walking Dead Season 3, Episode 3: ‘Walk With Me’
Last night’s episode of The Walking Dead introduced the Governor, a mysterious leader tasked with preserving a delicate fiction: that a return to civilization is possible, even while savage violence remains the order of the day. Winningly played by Brit David Morrissey — perhaps best known here for going face-to-face-lift with Sharon Stone in Basic […]
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Homeland Season 2, Episode 5: ‘Q&A’
The best thing I’ve seen in a movie theater so far this year was an intimate conversation. It occurred about a quarter of the way through The Master, Paul Thomas Anderson’s invigorating and infuriating three-hour tone poem about a guy who thinks with his own torpedo and guzzles oil out of the Navy’s. Joaquin Phoenix […]
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