They sit in judgment. Well, actually, they sprawl in judgment, their sneers at the ready. Beavis and Butt-Head may be the best TV critics ever, at least for a certain kind of TV. In the ’90s, they dissected the visual signs and verbal disconnects of music videos with the rigor of semioticians (Beavis and Butt-Head and Barthes). READ FULL STORY »
David Letterman did not pussyfoot around in making clear his feelings about the Occupy Wall Street protestors. “I love these people causin’ trouble,” he said on Monday night’s Late Show. “Increasingly, this is the way we get change in this country.” READ FULL STORY »
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The “Western Republican Presidential Debate,” televised by CNN, began with a heavily produced intro that made sure you knew the debate took place in Las Vegas. A gritty-voiced narrator ran down the current odds for the candidates, their pictures placed on playing cards tossed onto green felt. The poker game where “the stakes are high”! Where Herman Cain, Michele Bachmann, and Ron Paul are “wild cards”! Wayne Newton was in the audience! READ FULL STORY »
Presidential candidate Herman Cain has been doing his best to establish himself as a viable option in this election season. Now The Omaha World-Herald has released a video of the Godfather Pizza king singing a variation on John Lennon’s “Imagine” that may tip your opinion one way or another. READ FULL STORY »
Andy Rooney, in signing off from 60 Minutes this weekend, said that “this is the moment I’ve dreaded” — the final weekly installment of his “few minutes” segments. But Rooney is actually ending a chapter in TV history that many have likely forgotten, if you ever knew it to begin with. Rooney has long been the most highly visible link to the first generation of TV personalities — anchors, reporters, and entertainers. He’s a helluva a lot more than the “cranky,” “Did you ever notice FILL IN BLANK?” guy that too many people ridicule these days. READ FULL STORY »
An absent Charlie Sheen stole the ninth-season premiere of Two and a Half Men from Ashton Kutcher without showing up. Much of the half hour was taken up with Charlie Harper jokes. He’d died in France, hit by a train; the early line “his body exploded like a balloon full of meat,” crafted by four writers including Chuck Lorre, made sure there was scant sentimentality over Charlie’s departure — Harper or Sheen. Kutcher made his entrance READ FULL STORY »
It’s rare that an awards show both rewards the people who really deserve those awards and is itself a rewarding show. But this year’s Emmy Awards was both. Led by spunky, clever host Jane Lynch, the Emmys were delightfully surprising — Margo Martindale! Kyle Chandler! Melissa McCarthy plus all the other Best Comedy Actress nominees onstage together! — and, in most ways, quite satisfactory. READ FULL STORY »
