These posts are about great acting performances sustained across the full run of a television series. Freddie Highmore as Norman Bates in Bates Motel (2013 – 2017) In direct opposition to the apparent certainty that it is easy to replicate … Continue reading The Long Haul — Freddie Highmore in Bates Motel
In its overarching narrative, Veep was designed to stay locked into place. Created by Armando Iannucci, who was essentially striving for the U.S. equivalent on his scathing satire of British politics The Thick of It, the new comedy series looked … Continue reading That Championship Season — Veep, Season Five
These posts celebrate the movie trailers, movie posters, commercials, print ads, and other promotional material that stand as their own works of art. The primacy of one particular periodical in my pop culture–obsessed youth can’t be overstated. There was a … Continue reading The Art of the Sell — TV Guide listings ads
Since great television comedy always begins with the script, this series of posts considers the individual episodes that have claimed the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series over the years. “The Contest” completely changed my priorities … Continue reading Golden Words — Seinfeld, “The Contest”
Sometimes comedy illuminates hard truths with a pointed urgency that other means can’t quite achieve. Sometimes comedy is just funny. This series of posts is mostly about the former instances, but the latter is valuable, too. The institutional heft that’s … Continue reading Laughing Matters — Leslie Jones on Alabama’s Abortion Ban
These posts are about great acting performances sustained across the full run of a television series. Rob Delaney as Rob Norris in Catastrophe (2015 – 2019) The television comedy Catastrophe begins with a one-night stand, or at least what seems to be … Continue reading The Long Haul — Rob Delaney in Catastrophe
In the pilot episode of WKRP in Cincinnati, Andy Travis (Gary Sandy) arrives for his first day of work as program director for a Midwestern AM radio station with a poster tube in hand. The station plays musty, middle of … Continue reading That Championship Season — WKRP in Cincinnati, Season One
These posts celebrate the movie trailers, movie posters, commercials, print ads, and other promotional material that stand as their own works of art. Sometimes I’m prepared to expound at length about the nuances and intricacies I think I spy in … Continue reading The Art of the Sell — Hulk Sells Honeycomb
Sometimes comedy illuminates hard truths with a pointed urgency that other means can’t quite achieve. Sometimes comedy is just funny. This series of posts is mostly about the former instances, but the latter is valuable, too. I am a latecomer … Continue reading Laughing Matters — Documentary Now!, “Cocaine Tonight”
As per tradition in this humble digital outpost, the day before the annual announcement of the Emmy nominations brings one of my compulsive attempts to condense my time wallowing in pop culture into a ranked list. And so I present … Continue reading Top Ten Television, 2018-2019 season
Coffee for Two 