Americans average eight hours of TV daily. Where do they find the time? https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2018/12/tv-popular-americans-free-time/577468/
Tag Archives: TV
TV’s Big Role in America’s Free-Time Gender Gap
American men have a half-hour more leisure time than women, and they mostly spend it watching TV. https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2019/01/tv-leisure-gender-gap/579547/?utm_source=nextdraft&utm_medium=email
“Good Heavens Myrtle!” CBC TV, 1965
Battlestar Galactica
“Altered Carbon:” Great or insanely great?
Girl watches “Game of Thrones” Red Wedding for the first time
How Sonny & Cher got their groove back
Sonny & Cher’s comeback: Sonny & Cher were world-famous and hugely successful in the 60s, but their career was on the skids in 1970. Despite their outrageous appearance, their lifestyle and music was squeaky-clean, and didn’t go over well with hippies. They resorted to playing lounge acts to hostile, middle-aged audiences, who heckled them. Cher started heckling back, Sonny scolded her, and she heckled him. The heckling became the best part of the act, and Hollywood noticed and gave them the “Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour.” [Cintra Wilson/Salon]
TV commercial for Country Wine Cooler, 1984
You’ll hate me for posting this and hate yourself for watching it.
Almost cut the cord
We tried out YouTube TV ($40 – free trial) and I thought we finally might be able to cut the cable cord by adding that service to our existing lineup. But YouTube TV won’t let you skip commercials on some shows so nope. We’re sticking with cable.
Altered Carbon will be back for a second season.
We just watched the S1 finale. Loved it. Blade Runner meets Roger Zelazny. https://www.denofgeek.com/us/tv/altered-carbon/270932/altered-carbon-season-2-release-date-cast-news
How Mark Burnett Resurrected Donald Trump as an Icon of American Success
With “The Apprentice,” TV producer Mark Burnett mythologized Trump — then a floundering D-lister — as the ultimate titan, paving his way to the Presidency. [Patrick Radden Keefe] https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/01/07/how-mark-burnett-resurrected-donald-trump-as-an-icon-of-american-success
An outstanding profile. Keefe notes that Trump and Burnett are kindred spirits. However, Burnett really is a successful businessman. Trump is a fraud, who arguably modeled his current image on Burnett.
M*A*S*H fans will recognize “Tokyo Shoeshine Boy” by Teruko Akatsuki as frequent ambient music on the show.
The song also figures into Wes Anderson movie “Isle of Dogs,” and “Akira,” or so I have been given to understand.
Portmeiron [Avery Trufelman/99% Invisible]
I’ve never been a fan of “The Prisoner,” but I’d like to see Portmeiron, the town in Wales where it was filmed.
Local news celebrates Mickey Rourke and Axl Rose’s 50th wedding anniversary
Rusty Blazenhoff @ https://boingboing.net/2018/12/24/local-news-celebrates-mickey-r.html:
An unidentified local news station celebrated the 50th wedding anniversary of couple “Max and Geraldine Bailey” during a “Birthdays & Anniversaries” segment, except that they showed a picture of actor Mickey Rourke and Guns N’ Roses’ Axl Rose instead.
Deadwood is coming back for real. Shooting is under way now.
Deadwood returns. It’s going to be a movie, set 12 years after the end of the series.
Tim Carmody has some thoughts about the return on kottke.org. Worth reading for fans of the show.
He also shares a couple of Deadwood clips. I can see Julie and I are going to have to rewatch the whole series before it comes back.
Deadwood movie exclusive first photos revealed [James Hibberd/EW]
Rise and shine, hoopleheads! They’re finally making that feature-length “Deadwood” movie they’ve been talking about since the show went off the air twelve years ago.
Seven characters you meet on science fiction/fantasy TV
The leader: Buffy
The scientist, who uses a lot computer screens: Willow
The one who knows the lore, who handles a lot of dusty old books: Giles
The comic sidekick: Xander.
The outlaw who’s allied with the good guys: Angel and later Spike
The muscle: Buffy, once again.
And of course, the Big Bad: A sympathetic villain whose story arc spans a full season or more. Examples: the Mayor in Buffy Season 3, Bulshar on Wynonna Earp.
A good Big Bad steals every scene he or she is in.
Roles of individual characters change over time, and are often combined in a single character. In Stargate SG-1, O’Neill was both the leader and the comic sidekick. Teal’c was both the outlaw and the muscle. In Buffy, Willow became a powerful witch. Doctor Who is leader, comic sidekick, outlaw, scientist and loremaster all in one.
Star Trek shows have similar but different roles. No Trek is successful without the Alienated Alien – for example, Spock, Data and Odo. Voyager was flailing until they brought on 7 of 9. (Credit goes to a friend on the Alienated Alien observation.)
Ken Berry Dead: ‘F Troop,’ ‘Mama’s Family’ Star Was 85 [Hollywood Reporter]
He was an “agile song-and-dance man who was encouraged in show business by his U.S. Army sergeant … Leonard Nimoy.” He also starred on “Mayberry RFD,” a short-lived spin-off of “The Andy Griffith Show” that I remember quite enjoying, although I remember nothing about it.
Berry came to fame for portraying the greenhorn Captain Parmenter on ABC’s F Troop, which aired for only two seasons (65 episodes from September 1965 through April 1967) but lived on in syndication for decades.
A private, Parmenter was promoted to take command of Fort Courage in Kansas after his sneeze (which sounded like “Charge!”) propelled Union troops to an inspirational victory over the Confederates.
Berry’s goofball antics, which he dispensed with the dexterity of a trained dancer, supplied many of the show’s highlights. In a 2012 interview with the Archive of American Television, he said he came up with many of the pratfalls himself.
“It was something that I could bring to the show,” he said. “I would choreograph stuff. I would find things in the set or outside that I could use. [It got so that the F Troop scripts would say,] ‘Business to be worked out with Ken on the set.'”
Berry’s legions of fans included the great silent film star Buster Keaton, a master of physical comedy. “He once called me after the show had been on the night before and said, ‘That was a good gag you did last night,'” he recalled. “Wow, that was high praise!”
Here’s the opening “F-Troop” theme. I believe I can sing every word by heart.
“Sandkings,” by George R.R. “Game of Thrones” Martin, is one of my favorite stories, and I loved the TV movie. It stars Beau Bridges, who is a national treasure.
“Sandkings” tells the story of a man who adopts a colony of alien insects as pets. Like an ant farm. The insects worship the man as a god. This works out well for the man. For a while.
And now “Sandkings” is available on Hulu, part of their streaming the 1995-2002 run of “Outer Limits.”
We’ve been watching an episode of “Wynonna Earp” every night and walking around all day singing the theme song under our breath.
Doctor Who Holiday Special Is Moving From Christmas to New Year [io9]
First time there’s been no Christmas special since the show returned in 2005.
Guess we’ll see a movie instead. Traditional Jewish Christmas!
On November 13th, Felix Unger was asked to remove himself from his place of residence. That request came from his wife.
Sony
Cousin Oliver was not invited
‘Brady Bunch’ cast members reunite at TV family home: Six cast members of “The Brady Bunch” gathered Thursday in Los Angeles at the home that was featured in the opening and closing of the sitcom. HGTV purchased the home in the Studio City neighborhood in Los Angeles for its new series, “A Very Brady Renovation.” (AP)