This entry is a follow-up to Dan K’s previous article on how politics has become hot show biz.
First of all, I agree: It’s compelling stuff, the whole “future of American society and civilization” deal. It’s high-ratings event coverage, all right. However, I will part company with Dan’s rather Swiftian suggestion we have sponsored elections, [...]

Paul Newman, a genuine Hollywood legend, died yesterday.
I was shocked and saddened to hear this, even though I knew he announced a few months ago he was too ill to continue acting and retreated in seclusion to his Connecticut home. He was a sensational talent, an irresistible screen presence, a blue-eyed delight. He was one [...]

Back on April 26th– nearly two months ago– I reviewed The Love Guru based on one three-minute trailer shown on NBC. In fact, I seem to remember saying something like it “looks like one of the worst movies to come along in quite a while.”
From the IMDb:
Mike Myers’s The Love Guru , which is being [...]

I watched exactly twelve minutes of the very end of this season of “American Idol.”
I am not really going to go out of my way to say anything too bad about the show. I have to respect what “American Idol” does: connects well with it’s audience, makes ordinary people feel special and gives these ordinary, [...]

SCENE: The rec room in a basement of a suburban home.
At a table strewn with lead figurines and hex-graph paper sit FOUR PLAYERS and a DUNGEON MASTER, behind his dragon-emblazed standing folder.
DUNGEON MASTER: Did you hear about Gygax?
JAPHETH BLIGH (8th-level warrior): What’s that? A troll? I’m taking out my +5 Longsword–
HELVETICA the MEDIUM (6th-level Cleric) [...]

In Today’s (3 March) IMDb Studio Briefing this little article hung out near the bottom:
Consumers Hanging Up on Cell-Phone Video
Few people are watching clips of television shows and other videos on cell phones, according to a report by research firm Diffusion Group reported in today’s (Monday) New York Times. “All our research keeps pointing at [...]

We have implemented a policy change at work.
As noted previously on this site, Digital Television is set to kick off in about a year. One of the profound changes this represents is to the very delivery form of television: It’s aspect ratio. SD (Standard Definition, Analog TV) is 4:3– and DTV is 16:9.
It’s as simple [...]

Amy Winehouse apparently blew her interview with the State Department at the U.S. Embassy in Grosvenor Square and was not granted a visa. So we will not be treated to the sight of Amy Winehouse wobbling unsteadily at the podium at the Grammys this Sunday.
Gosh, I don’t know why they wouldn’t stamp her passport. Could [...]

The IMDb’s studio briefing featured a chilling little article, buried second-to-bottom:

TV PRODUCTION HALTS IN L.A.
As of this week, there are no scripted television series remaining in production in Los Angeles, Daily Variety reported today (Monday), citing figures from Film L.A., an intermediary between film producers and permitting agencies. At the time of the writers’ walkout [...]

You’re at home, trying to enjoy your new post-2009-ready digital TV. But what you’re seeing is something like slow-motion crash test footage. The major networks are slowly– excruciatingly slowly– being crunched into shapelessness by the WGA strike. Sure, “American Idol” is back on (and you’re welcome to it), and God help us the revived [...]