Lorne Michaels has said that everyone’s favorite era of Saturday Night Live is whichever one was taking place while they were in high school. That may very well be true. Similarly, I think it may be possible that everyone’s favorite … Continue reading That Championship Season: The Ben Stiller Show, Season One
When the U.S. version of The Office stumbled to the finish line this past spring, the consensus was that the show never should have tried to outlast Steve Carell’s interest in playing Dunder Mifflin Scranton brand manager Michael Scott. On … Continue reading That Championship Season — The Office, Season Two
So last year, I took the occasion of the Emmy Award nominations announcement as cause to weigh in with my own list of the best of television, because if there’s one thing this digital space needs, it’s more lists. As is often the case, I only need to do it once to consider it a tradition, so here we go again. So using the same span of eligibility that the Emmys adopts, here’s my ten: #1 — Louie, season 3 (FX). The completely unique creation of Louis CK dipped a bit from the creative heights of season two, but expecting … Continue reading There must have been a plague of them on the TV when I came home late
And The Sopranos is on right now. Six years after the show went off the air, it remains a staple on the various HBO side channels, enduring in perpetual rotation in a way that other acclaimed series from the network haven’t quite. Not that there’s any shortage of treasures within the show, led by the inspiration of creator David Chase and a multitude of great performances. But watch any given episode and it’s clear that a major part of its greatness–the reason it truly lasts–is the incredible central performance by James Gandolfini. It’s absolutely one of the pinnacles in the … Continue reading James Gandolfini, 1961 – 2013
As with Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I was a latecomer to Veronica Mars. Frustratingly enough, it was my overt appreciation of Buffy that got in the way of me trying out Veronica Mars when it arrived to largely positive reviews. … Continue reading That Championship Season: Veronica Mars, Season One
I watch movies the way I do because of Roger Ebert. I started watching the venerable Chicago Sun-Times film critic verbally spar with Gene Siskel, his counterpart at crosstown paper the Chicago Tribune, when the two were hosts of the PBS program Sneak Previews. This was before the direction each of their thumbs pointed was keenly watched by studios, before the breadth of their influence reached a level that arguably exceeded that of any film critics that came before. These were simply two guys–equally passionate, equally smart, equally committed to exploring the value of cinema in all its forms–talking about … Continue reading Roger Ebert, 1942 – 2013
“What did you expect, a turkey card?” Continue reading Happy Thanksgiving!
I nearly forgot that I have a Halloween tradition. For the third year in a row, these are things that I find (or at least have found) scary… Ridley Scott’s Alien was released in theaters six days before me ninth … Continue reading Two steps forward, don’t say I didn’t warn you
To the degree that enormous permanent changes to any form of media can be pinpointed to a single event, to a pivotal moment, the entire landscape of television underwent a seismic shift on January 15, 1981. That marked the debut … Continue reading That Championship Season: St. Elsewhere, Season Four
Like everyone else who has an abundance of online accounts and an empowered self-certainty when it comes to commenting on all things popular culture, I spent some time today offering snarky, mildly bitter assessments of today’s announcement of this year’s Emmy nominations. Rather than continuing to spout off about perceived snubs and the odd worthy contender among today’s honorees, I thought the better approach might be to lay out my preferences here in my corner of the digital landscape. I may type up a full list of acting nominations when it comes to the Oscars, but I’m not so crazy … Continue reading Do you feel like a chain store? Practically floored.
Coffee for Two 