The State of Scary TV
‘The Returned’ and ‘Ash vs Evil Dead’ join ‘The Walking Dead’ in offering high-quality horror.
December 13, 2013
Look Out, NBC: ABC Is the New Disaster Network
Yesterday, The Hollywood Reporter blew the lid off one of the industry’s most underreported stories: that ABC’s entertainment president Paul Lee is quietly having what could be charitably called a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad year. While Bob Greenblatt, Lee’s counterpart at NBC, hoovers up most of the headlines and negative press (especially from […]
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My Basic Cable Exploding Shark Attack of the Year: The Sharknado Finale
Now more than ever, pop culture is about the small stuff — an obscure TV show, a few notes in a pop song, a tweet. To celebrate a year of micro moments, every day a new Grantland writer will highlight one specific thing — a Big Little Thing — that we won’t soon forget. For […]
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Right Reasons Podcast: The Big Bachelor Preview
David Jacoby and Juliet Litman preview the ladies vying for Juan Pablo on the new season of The Bachelor. Listen to the podcast here: ESPN.com Podcenter. Subscribe to Grantland Pop Culture on iTunes, and check out our podcasts page.
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Video on Demand Report: Which Fast & Furious Is This Again? (Does It Matter?)
The Headliner Fast & Furious 6 More so even than other action franchises — and trust me, I have watched a bunch — the individual installments of the Fast & Furious franchise really run together. When the on demand/DVD ads for it started running last week, I had to ask my husband whether we’d actually […]
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How the Year of Miley Cyrus Was Really the Year of Mike Will Made It
Here’s an understatement: Mike Will Made It had himself quite a 2013. The 24-year-old Atlanta producer has been steady climbing for a couple years now, attaching his eponymous, otherworldly drop — see here, far right, middle row — to an impeccable string of heaters, from Meek Mill’s “Tupac Back” to Future’s “Turn on the Lights” […]
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Grantland Reality TV Fantasy League: It’s Bachelor Bio Breakdown Time!
Huge column this week. We’ve got the annual “Bachelor Broads Breakdown” and the latest on Survivor as the show’s finale looms. I knew it was going to be a great week for the GRTFL when I walked into my house and saw my wife watching a show called After Shock: Heidi & Spencer. Yes, it […]
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Lorne Michaels’s ‘Secret’ Search for a Black Female SNL Cast Member
Yesterday, late-night television historian Bill Carter tweeted that Lorne Michaels himself had told him that Saturday Night Live was indeed auditioning black female comedians to join the show’s cast in January. According to Carter, the final auditions will be held on the SNL stage Monday night. Calling the auditions “secret” is a slight misnomer, as all SNL auditions are held […]
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Ha, Beyoncé Just Released an Album Called Beyoncé With Zero Advance Notice
In 2013, Kanye launched an album without a single and Jay Z announced, during the NBA Finals, that the record people had been asking him about for a few years was actually two weeks away. And Beyoncé just crushed both of ’em, dropping an album no low- or medium-level humans had any idea existed. “I […]
Read moreDecember 12, 2013
Afternoon Links: Community: Return of the King
The new Community trailer will give you glimpses of Breaking Bad’s Jonathan Banks and Justified’s Walton Goggins. It’ll nod at the #sixseasonsandamovie campaign. It’ll even joke about Donald Glover’s impending series exit. But what it does most spectacularly is show that Dan “The Man” Harmon is back, and he’s going to run this thing like Sauron. Get ready.
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Happy Hate Joffrey Day, Game of Thrones Fans!
I know, I know, one generally does not need an excuse, but in this, the dead of hiatus winter, The Powers That Be (i.e., the Game of Thrones Twitter and Facebook feeds) have decreed that Thursday, December 12 be set aside as a special day to “think about how much you love to hate Joffrey.” […]
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On Bob Barker’s Instantly Magical Return to The Price Is Right for His 90th Birthday
Bob Barker was born on December 12, 1923. Today is his 90th birthday. In celebration of this life milestone, he made an appearance on the now–Drew Carey–hosted The Price Is Right. No disrespect to Drew and what he’s done, but this is still Bob’s show. And while a new generation of kids calling in sick […]
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My Brainwash Romance of the Year: Upstream Color
Now more than ever, pop culture is about the small stuff — an obscure TV show, a few notes in a pop song, a tweet. To celebrate a year of micro moments, every day a new Grantland writer will highlight one specific thing — a Big Little Thing — that we won’t soon forget. When […]
Read moreBilly on the Street, Forcing People to Sing Christmas Carols With Amy Poehler
1. Watch as Billy on the Street‘s Billy Eichner and his Parks and Recreation pal Amy Poehler terrorize people on the streets of Manhattan by forcibly conscripting them into an ad hoc caroling group, the remuneration for which is a single American dollar. 2. Delight in the magic of a holiday season that suddenly has […]
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Girls in Hoodies Podcast: Inside Llewyn Davis, Live TV, and Weird Watches
This week we’re in love with Inside Llewyn Davis, the new film from the Coen brothers starring Oscar Isaac in one of the best performances of the year and a sweet orange tabby in one of the best cat performances of the year. We talked about nostalgia and the Coens’ unique brand of comedy, and […]
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Golden Globes 2014 Nominations: American Hustle and 12 Years a Slave Get Love, Mad Men Doesn’t
This year’s batch of potential Golden Globe winners was announced at the usual ungodly hour of 5 a.m. in Los Angeles this morning, and holy Hamm’s beard are there a lot of these things. A few key notes from the film department, to start: The Wolf of Wall Street, Her, and American Hustle are all competing as […]
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My Unquenched Thirst of the Year: Claire Forlani’s Mind-Melting Dewar’s Commercials
Now more than ever, pop culture is about the small stuff — an obscure TV show, a few notes in a pop song, a tweet. To celebrate a year of micro moments, every day a new Grantland writer will highlight one specific thing — a Big Little Thing — that we won’t soon forget. Are […]
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Then They Came for Our Avatars: The NSA Leaks Just Got (Virtually) Real
Yesterday, Time chose its person of the year: the pope, who was, apparently, not the people’s choice. Nothing against Pope Francis, of course, but, as The New Yorker’s John Cassidy pointed out when Time released its list of finalists, “even the radical new Pontiff can’t compete with another troublemaker on the list: Edward Snowden, the […]
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Kelly Clarkson’s Marriage Hits the Rocks … and More Major Bummers From This Week’s Tabloids
Star Is Kelly Clarkson’s Husband Cheating on Her While She’s Pregnant? “Two women claimed they’d carried on affairs” with Kelly’s new husband, Brandon Blackstock, in the past year. “While Brandon, 37, has disputed the cheating claims, sources close to his ex-wife insist he has a long history of adultery.” Friends are worried about Kelly’s well-being. “She […]
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Jason Segel Will Star As David Foster Wallace in The End of the Tour
Who, if anyone, can you picture playing the late literary genius David Foster Wallace? Go ahead and sub in Jason Segel. The Wrap reports that James Ponsoldt (Smashed, The Spectacular Now) will soon direct an adaptation of Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself: A Road Trip With David Foster Wallace. Jesse Eisenberg will […]
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