Tag: television

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Phil’s Newsletter #39, Sticks & Fists Return

Now available on the Substack, issue 39 of my weekly newsletter. In it, I discuss the labors of the week: Marathoning season 1 of One Punch Man and both seasons of I Think You Should Leave.

Over on YouTube, you can catch the most recent episode of Sticks & Fists, in which we take on Downtown Special: Kunio-Kun Downtown Special: Kunio-kun’s Historical Period Drama! which for the uninitiated westerners out there is sort of a sequel to River City Ransom. It owns and we’ll be playing it again this week, 7:30 pm Wednesday on Twitch.

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In defense of the ‘Happy Days’ ‘Jump the Shark’ episode

[Written by the writer of that very episode][link]. More than a little defensive, but it is somewhat interesting to hear the guy talk about it like this.

He seems to be confused on one point, though.

Jumping the shark doesn’t mean a decline in popularity, though. It means a decline in the qualities that made the show good to begin with. Jumping the shark is the point at which the show you liked starts becoming something else; generally something worse, at least from your perspective as a longtime fan.

[link]: http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-jump-the-shark-20100903,0,6800871.story “First Person: In defense of the ‘Happy Days’ ‘ ‘Jump the Shark’ episode – latimes.com”

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“Lost” Rod Serling Interview From 1970

Serling interviewed by University of Kansas professor James Gunn. [Part 1][1] and [Part 2][2].

This video was to be part of the professor’s film series “Science Fiction in Literature,” but was not included due to rights issues with Serling’s work. Blame CBS. Via [SF Signal.][via]

[1]: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wfazePQzj8&feature=player_embedded “YouTube – Lost Rod Serling Interview, 1970 pt01”
[2]: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sDdhJ22bms&feature=related “Part 2”
[via]: http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2010/08/lost-rod-serling-video-interview/ “SF Signal: Lost Rod Serling Video Interview”

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Venture Bros. Season 4 Part 2 Premieres Sept. 12th

[Straight from Jackson’s blogmouth][link], with a bonus list of the upcoming episode titles and a nice collage of screen-grabs.

[link]: http://jacksonpublick.livejournal.com/29389.html “Publick Nuisance – Nocturnal Emission”

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David Simon’s Open Letter to New Orleans

[Preface for his new series, Treme, which begins tonight on HBO.][link] Treme has some real big shoes to fill in The Wire, and I hope it does so with gusto.

[link]: http://www.nola.com/treme-hbo/index.ssf/2010/04/hbos_treme_creator_david_simon.html “HBO’s ‘Treme’ creator David Simon explains it all for you | Treme – The HBO Series | News, Blogs and Reviews – NOLA.com”

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David Mamet’s Editorial Notes To Writers of “The Unit”

[Written, as one might hope, in all-caps, laced with profanity, and peppered with utter contempt for network executives][link]. Delicious, and mostly good advice. A sample:

>ANY TIME ANY CHARACTER IS SAYING TO ANOTHER “AS YOU KNOW”, THAT IS, TELLING ANOTHER CHARACTER WHAT YOU, THE WRITER, NEED THE AUDIENCE TO KNOW, THE SCENE IS A CROCK OF SHIT.

Amen.

[link]: http://cajunboyinthecity.blogspot.com/2010/03/david-mamets-editorial-notes.html “The Cajun Boy: David Mamet’s editorial notes”

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Enhance Your Television Experience With Bland!

From the Extra Future Theater of the Air comes the following public service announcement regarding “Bland!” the hot new trend in televison:

You can, if you want, download it in a in [Ogg][ogg], or [m4a][m4a] format.

[ogg]: http://extrafuture.s3.amazonaws.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/Bland.ogg “Bland! in Ogg”
[m4a]: http://extrafuture.s3.amazonaws.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/Bland.m4a “Bland! in m4a”

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David Simon: “Fuck The Average Viewer”

[An interview with the creator of The Wire and Homicide: Life on the Streets, from March 2009.][link]

[link]: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/mar/28/david-simon-the-wire-interview “Oliver Burkeman meets David Simon, creator of The Wire | Television & radio | The Guardian”

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Lookwell

[Conan O’Brien and Robert Smigel’s 1991 television pilot, starring Adam West.][link]

[link]: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBQ3HbB0c8Y “YouTube – Lookwell!”

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Give the Gift of Cigarettes this Christmas

[HINT HINT][link].

[link]: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaORtO4rFoo “YouTube – Give the Gift of Cigarettes this Christmas”

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Batman: The Animated Series Writer’s Bible

[Brought you by the magic of the internet (PDF)][link]. Of personal interest to me:

> NO STORIES ABOUT BATMAN’S ORIGIN

If only Hollywood would’ve listened. The document itself is full of reasons why Batman: TAS is still the best Batman-related media outside of the comics-sphere, but the above rings truest to me.

[link]: http://leethomson.myzen.co.uk/Batman/Batman_Writers%27_Guidelines.pdf “Batman: TAS Writer’s Guide”

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Rocky and Bullwinkle mark 50 years

[Happy birthday to Rocky and his Friends][link]. If I’m funny, there are two reasons: My mom, and Rocky & Bullwinkle. I guess that is three, but the moose & squirrel are a team.

[link]: http://www.jsonline.com/entertainment/tvradio/70386872.html “Rocky and Bullwinkle mark 50 years – JSOnline”

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Edward Woodward (1930 – 2009)

[BBC News has the standard obit][link] covered, for a less formal take, see British filmmaker [Edgar Wright’s tribute][edgar].

I used to watch [The Equalizer][equal] all the time in reruns at a kid, and [the Wicker Man][wicker] is one of my favorite films, and one of the best British horror films ever.

Nobody had a poker face like Woodward.

[link]: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8362367.stm “Edward Woodward dead at 79”
[equal]: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uB1NiNKwueE “The Equalizer intro”
[edgar]: http://www.edgarwrighthere.com/2009/11/edward-woodward-1930-2009/ “Edward Woodward (1930 – 2009) : Edgar Wright Here”
[wicker]: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FdV-O8o7ok “The Wicker Man trailer”

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Nickelodeon’s New Logo

[… is not very good][link]. I wonder how many millions it cost them to have someone make their logo worse?

I have many fond memories of Nickelodeon properties on my TV (Rocko’s Modern Life, the first series of Rugrats, Invader Zim, the crappy foreign-produced ‘toons they’d show during school hours), and it’s sad to see them step on those so blatantly.

[link]: http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/dan-macsai/popwise/nickelodeons-new-logo-squint-your-eyes-and-its-basically-just-orange-bar “Nickelodeon’s New Logo: Squint Your Eyes, and It’s Basically an Orange Bar | Popwise | Fast Company”

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Futurama Picked Up for 26 New Episodes

[Thank you, Comedy Central][link].

>A spokesperson for 20th Century Fox Television confirms that the cable net has ordered 26 new episodes of Matt Groening and David X. Cohen’s late, great animated series to air beginning in 2010.

[link]: http://ausiellofiles.ew.com/2009/06/its-official-futurama-returns.html “It’s official: ‘Futurama’ is reborn! | News | Ausiello Files | EW.com”

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David Carradine found dead in Bangkok

[Sad news. He was one of the best at what he did][link].

>Thai police told the BBC the 72-year-old was found by a hotel maid sitting in a wardrobe with a cord around his neck and other parts of his body.

[link]: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8083479.stm “BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Kung Fu star Carradine found dead”

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Mad Men Begins Production of Season 3

[Hallelujah][link].

[link]: http://blogs.amctv.com/mad-men/2009/05/season-3-production-starts.php “AMC – Blogs – Mad Men – Mad Men Begins Production of Season 3”

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Five Questions With James Urbaniak

[Regarding his experience taping The Office season 5 finale][link]. Fun fact: James auditioned to play Dwight.

[link]: http://thetwocentscorp.wordpress.com/2009/05/24/twocents-five-questions-with-28/ “TwoCents & Five Questions With… « TheTwoCents”

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Everything Tracy Jordan Said

[Every line spoken by Tracy Morgan’s character on 30 Rock this season][link].

[link]: http://www.unlikelywords.com/2009/05/18/everything-tracy-jordan-said/ “Unlikely Words » Everything Tracy Jordan Said”

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John Madden Is Retiring

[Probably the single most visible ambassador of American football][link] is calling it quits after 50 years. A great coach, and a great announcer. Even if you didn’t like his style, you knew he cared a lot about the game.

[link]: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/17/sports/football/17madden.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss&pagewanted=all “Madden Decides to Put Down His Microphone – NYTimes.com”