Category: Television

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That Championship Season: Seinfeld, Season Four

Dan Seeger

Aside from The Mary Tyler Moore Show and its “Chuckles Bites the Dust,” perhaps no other sitcom has such a clear single-episode high-water mark as Seinfeld. Airing right in the middle of the show’s fourth season, “The Contest” find the four main characters engaged in a wager inspired by one of them, George Costanza (Jason Alexander), recently suffering the humiliation of being caught by his mother while he was masturbating with a copy of Glamour magazine. Each of the quartet puts up a hundred dollars that says they can go the longest without engaging in that particular activity. Actually, Elaine … Continue reading That Championship Season: Seinfeld, Season Four

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The Sound of Oscars

Dan Seeger

Those with whom I watch the Academy Awards, both virtually and sharing the same couch, were a little worried about me last night. My praise for the remarkable achievement of Boyhood has evidently been effusive enough that there were nationwide predictions of dire thoughts overtaking me when it became clear the night was turning against Richard Linklater’s film. But I like Birdman, too. (There are some critics out there this morning undoubtedly feeling far angrier about this outcome.) If it had been a night about venerating the dreadful The Imitation Game, exactly the sort of prestige pablum the Academy might have … Continue reading The Sound of Oscars

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Robin Williams, 1951-2014

Dan Seeger

I remember watching Happy Days on the first night that an episode entitled “My Favorite Orkan” aired. I didn’t know that was the title of the episode. I only knew it was like nothing I’d ever seen on the nostalgia-driven sitcom. It was remarkable enough that the program focused on a space alien who visits the Cunningham home, but the actor playing that extra-terrestrial was an absolutely astounding force of nature, bending off oddball jokes at a rate that raced ahead of the speed of thought. I was seven years old, and I was prepared to tell everyone it was … Continue reading Robin Williams, 1951-2014

Television3 Comments

Why go into the outside world at all? It’s such a fright!

Dan Seeger

So this is now a thing I do around Emmy nomination announcement time. As usual, plenty of caveats apply, mostly around the acclaimed television series that I don’t happen to follow or haven’t yet caught up on. Still, I’m a fairly well-viewed fellow. I know the Emmys will do what they must, including continue to lavish praise on the increasingly intolerable Modern Family, but I have my own views on what constitutes the top achievements in television. Roughly using the same span of eligibility that the Emmys adopts, here are my picks for the ten best shows of the past … Continue reading Why go into the outside world at all? It’s such a fright!

Television4 Comments

There must have been a plague of them on the TV when I came home late

Dan Seeger

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

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James Gandolfini, 1961 – 2013

Dan Seeger

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