Sci-fi swirl: Shows move, change, vanish, survive
The sci-fi universe has been bombarded lately with news. Much of it is good news Read more…
News and Quick Comments
Field and Ronstadt: Together at last
Am I the only person who can’t tell the difference between Sally Field and Linda Ronstadt?
That will be tested in December, when both receive Kennedy Center Honors. It’s a great honor – we’re talking Bernstein and Basie and Bacall, Sinatra and Aretha and all the others – and (via CBS) one of the best shows on TV.
And this year, Field (shown here, from a while back) and Ronstadt will both be honored, alongside conductor Michael Tilson Thomas, the entire “Sesame Street” show and the vibrant group Earth, Wind & Fire. Read more…
Be patient: Burns’ “Country Music” is great TV
A lot of TV shows flash past me, some quite good and some rather awful
.Occasionally, however, one is so good that I have to stop and marvel. I’ve just seen the two-hour opener of Ken Burns’ eight-night “Country Music”; it is truly great television.
This won’t reach TV until Sept. 15 (opening PBS’ season), but let’s talk about why it’s so good. Read more…
Should they “go back where they came from”?
OK, this time Donald Trump may have a point.
Earlier today (July 14), he targeted four Democratic congresswomen. Those four, he tweeted, “came from countries whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe – the worst, most corrupt and inept anywhere in the world …. Why don’t they go back and help fix” them?
Without giving their names, he was referring to Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib (shown here being sworn in), Ayanna Pressley and Alexandria Ocasia-Cortez. And he may have a point. Read more…
Tiffany Network now has “good hair, nice butt”
Before pondering “Love Island,” we should remember that CBS is semi-sacred ground.
This is the land of Lucy and Letterman, the home of Murrow and Cronkite and “60 Minutes.” It’s the “Tiffany Network,” where Ed Sullivan gave us Broadway and the Beatles and where Norman Lear and MTM transformed comedy. It’s still the home of the Tonys and Grammys and Kennedy Center Honors.
And now it’s where Caro Viehwig, 21, explained that “my hair is my best quality.”
And where Alana Morrison, also 21, announced: “I got a nice butt. I really do.” Read more…
Founding fathers’ foresight: Securing the airports
I’ve always worried that something was missing from my small-town education.
Now I know: Our teachers never told us about the Revolutionary War’s airport battles.
Donald Trump did. Reading his 4th of July address from a Teleprompter, he praised our revolutionary soldiers: “Our Army manned the air, it rammed the ramparts, it took over airports.” Read more…
Happy Canada Day; remember to bring a calculator
The first things you notice about Canada are the gas prices.
Signs list them as low as $1.05 a gallon. There must be a catch
.There is, actually. Canadians (two typical ones are shown here) use teeny gallons – ones so small that you almost need four of them to make a real gallon. Read more…
Cowboy TV? Good quality, weak quantity
You might remember cowboys.
They used to be big in the movies. And on TV. And, perhaps, in our daydreams.
“Bonanza” ran 14 seasons; “Gunsmoke” ran 20, a record for a drama. In the fall of 1959, the three networks had 23 cowboy shows, from Bret Maverick and Bat Masterson to “Have Gun, Will Travel.”
And now? There are just two major ones, both confined to cable, and they’re at turning points: Read more…
Ailes’ loud life becomes a strong series
He had the loudest voice, the bulkiest body, the most relentless mind.
It shouldn’t surprise us, then, that Roger Ailes dominated television … then dominated American life.
Now a powerhouse Showtime mini-series — “The Loudest Voice” – captures that. Russell Crowe vividly depicts the late Ailes as a man of volume and venom and (when needed) subtlety. Read more…
Surprise: TV has a super Tuesday
If memory serves, TV is supposed to have summer doldrums.
Or not. On Tuesday (June 18), there’s a surprising burst of great moments. Read more…