I went to an open house today for ESPN’s Graphics Department and they made up a player card for each of us. Pretty amazing stuff - a pretty impressive mix of people with design and technical backgrounds.
Archive for the 'television' Category
Tambor: Big-Screen Version Of ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT ‘For Sure’!! Let the Great Experiment begin!! I loved Arrested Development’s entire run, including its finale but I couldn’t resist a few more hours with George Michael, Gob, Tobias, and Maeby. It’s hard to imagine this not being amazing.
I was told to post something to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Seinfeld’s last episode (continuing a TV theme week on my site I guess), so I decided to see what people were writing about it. Ironically the finale was the first episode I ever saw and I started watching the reruns in syndication thereafter. Hearing writers trying to describe and analyze something you love makes me sick, so here are some lines taken out of context I wish I hadn’t read:
- “Another reason the show has held up as long as it has, I think, is the variety and quality of the sets.” Daivd Noonan, Newsweek
- “Perhaps the shallow nature of the characters and the nihilism inherent in the show, which led to its label “a show about nothing”, turned British audiences off.” Dan Worth, The Guardian
- “Seinfeld” was that rare series that was more than just a TV show. Why? It’s hard to say.” Amanda Cuda, Connecticut Post
- “There’s a reason that the great —”The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” “M*A*S*H” and “Taxi,” to name a few—still work. They’re not just about being funny; they’re about people who grow enough in a week, and over time, to keep them interesting. They have depth. Jerry and George have issues. That can be amusing, even occasionally hilarious. But after a while, it all has started to sound like a whole lotta yadda yadda yadda.” Marc Peyser, Newsweek
- [Headline] Final episode of ‘Seinfeld’ reveals great circle of life. John Gottcent, Evansville Courier Press
Simply put: Seinfeld is still great, TV critics are still not.
Feeling bored in my apartment this weekend, I decided I needed to take a trip and find someplace new to spend a day. In trying to think of where to go, I came up with the idea of searching for the real Stars Hollow, CT. Stars Hollow is the fictional town that played host to the Gilmore Girls, a television show which I embarrassingly admit I used to watch. On the show its portrayed a quaint little town with lots of quirky characters and it kind of shaped my expectations of Connecticut when I moved up here. I did a quick search on the Wikipedia and discovered that show creator Amy Sherman-Palladino based Stars Hollow on the real-life town of Washington Depot, CT. And less than an hour away, it seemed perfect for a quick weekend pilgrimage. Continue reading ‘Visiting the Real Stars Hollow: Washington Depot, CT’
President Bush appearing on NBC’s ‘Deal’. This is a meta moment. Two years ago Paul Weitz directed a farce called American Dreamz which had an unpopular Bush-like president appearing on a reality show to boost his image. Dreamz was a good idea for a staire, but didn’t quite have the guts to be as dark and truthful as Network. Still the fact that Bush has time to make appearances here and at the Nationals game earlier this month makes me think he’s more focused on waiting out the last months in office.
“You Don’t Understand Our Audience”. Former Dateline correspondent’s John Hockenberry writes about the pitfalls of today’s network news coverage. It’s a pretty damning account - stories picked to fit entertainment programming, corporate red tape, and poor news judgment. Think Network. It makes me wonder what it would take to get me to watch TV news again.
New Lost Season 4 Trailer. Lost is coming back in January to satisfy the needs of strike weary TV viewers (and possibly leave an awkward cliffhanger since only 8 episodes were filmed pre-strike). This trailer is longer than the first preview I saw and gives a good idea of what’s to come. It looks like the show is going to take on the seismic shift alluded to in last year’s finale and this season might actually have a little more plot than past years. (credit: Ain’t It Cool News)
MTV: Jason Bateman Refuels Hope For Arrested Development Movie. One can only hope for more from the Bluth family. Arrested Development may be the best comedy of the last decade - I still watch the DVDs and laugh as hard as I did the first time I saw them. Some suggested an AD Christmas special, but a movie would be even better.
The climax of last week’s Office. That’s what she said.
TVGuide NBC Planning Major Office Expansion! (via Ain’t It Cool News) This is disappointing because whenever a show becomes a franchise, I feel like it suffers. I feel like the original Office is already mining for new material and I can’t see them succeeding with another “branch”.