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, [...]

It seems like just two years ago I wrote a commentary explaining what sweeps is; and now here we are and sweeps is virtually indistinguishable from regular televsion.
In the old days (two years ago) when November or February or May came around, TV would get cheap and exciting like Paris Hilton before the launch of [...]

I missed you guys! How’s it going? Been busy this last few weeks? Me too.
The podcast network has emerged from the rubble of a particularly nasty server crisis, covered with sexy scars and stronger than ever. It’s not just this show, it’s all of them. We are only now approaching normalcy. Thanks for your patience. [...]

As we’ve learned from better science fiction, our creations sometimes surpass their original parameters. Sometimes they run amok (2001), sometimes they kill everyone everywhere (”Battlestar Galactica,” The Matrix), and sometimes they turn into charming naïfs (Data from Star Trek). Another unusual example can currently be seen during commercial breaks on American television.
Esurance, an online insurance [...]

All this Star Trek talk has made me sort of nostalgic. When I think about it, it’s difficult to remember the details of any given show.
Something…
But there was definitely, definitely something I liked about one of the later shows. Something that sort of drew me back, again and again…
Something…
I believe it was some sort of [...]

The ol’ Trek-o-Meter, that linear scale used to track the intensity of one’s Star Trek fandom essayed in these pages last July, apparently isn’t quite ready to be retired yet. For one thing, there is finally a new original cast Star Trek movie in production, with Chris Pine (Smokin’ Aces) as Kirk and Simon Pegg [...]

Got to spend the weekend up in Lake Tahoe with family. Tahoe is a large high mountain lake that straddles the border between California and Nevada. It’s mean level is 6225 feet (1898 meters) above sea level. I’m a sea level sort of guy, which meant the first evening I was up there I [...]

Thank God the writer’s strike is over and the directors came to an agreement! At last we can count on an uninterrupted stream of entertainment! After all, once the writers and directors are in place, what more do you need?
That’s right my snark-concious friend, there’s a zinger coming. The actors’ contract expires June 30th, and [...]

Enough already - JERICHO, the CBS series about survivors of a nuclear holocaust in a small midwestern town, has been officially canceled. The plucky little series, already canceled once but resurrected by a tiny collection of rabid fans, was given a second chance and a heavy promotion push in January during the writer’s strike, when [...]

Quite enjoyed the first two episodes of “John Adams,” the HBO miniseries based on David McCollough’s (avuncular-voiced narrator of “The Civil War” and Seabiscuit) biography of America’s second president. It’s a quality production, beautifully depicting the look and feel of Colonial America, and the dialogue was written at an erudite, thoughtful level, one that demands [...]