Sajak heads college board (really)
Pat Sajak is about to become a college board president. Really. The news came this Read more…
News and Quick Comments
A life lesson about babies, books and cash
It was a moment when someone offered an irrrefutable truth.
And it had the bonus of showing I’m not so bad, after all. There was more such proof this week.
In the 1998 cable movie “Floating Away,” Paul Hogan (shown here in his crocodile days) said this to Rosanna Arquette: “Sometimes, a bad parent is better than a good parent who leaves the baby on top of the car.” Read more…
Don’t worry: Shannen will rejoin her (sorta) friends
We can quit worrying now: Shannen Doherty has been added to Fox’s summer series, “BH90210.”
That’s the show that has the original “Beverly Hills, 90210” cast getting together, to plan a reboot. It’s scripted, with the actors playing exaggerated versions of themselves … something these producers (Mike Chessler and Chris Alberghini) did quite well with Tori Spelling’s “So NoTORIous.” Read more…
Bruce and weird: A perfect fit
For decades, Bruce Campbell has been the master of the weird.
He’s done standard stuff, including years on “Burn Notice,” but is best known for the “Evil Dead” movies, the wild “Ash vs. Evil Dead” series and the sort of oddities that film-festival fans love. So this seems logical: Campbell will produce and host the rebooted “Ripley’s Believe It or Not” series, which starts June 9 on the Travel Channel. Read more…
CW renews “All American” and … well, everything else
If you’d like to have eternal life, try to become a TV series on CW.
The network has just announced that it’s bringing back “All American,” which seemed to have an iffy future. Also returning for next season are two mid-season arrivals — “In the Dark” and “Roswell, New Mexico” — plus “The 100,” which is finally starting its season. Read more…
A moving moment in Jussie Smollett’s troubled year
Chances are, we’ll never know what happened in the streets of Chicago or in the recesses of Jussie Smollett’s mind.
But we can say this: Smollett is terrific in his final “Empire” episode. Read more…
Let’s talk new website and old Motown
My website reboot is finally here
.For a decade, I had a site that was designed for someone with my techno-talent (just north of zero). But now, some nice people who have lots of skill – Pamela Weil, Matt Borghi, Ryan Hughes (my son) – have nudged me into the 21st-century.
This new version includes all the things I send to papers – stories, daily best-bets, a weekly top-10. It also adds brief news items and/or random comments, such as these: Read more…
A mixed-feelings farewell to “Gotham”
What follows, after a few paragraphs, is the commentary I wrote Monday, as the “Gotham” finale neared.
It describes the great/bad quality of a show that has stunned us — but only with its visuals.After I wrote it, the finale became available to critics. It’s better (and, occasionally, worse) than I’d expected. Read more…
Film festival notes: Great “Guest,” lyrical “Head”
This website was down for a week, while getting its fancy reboot. During that time, the Capital City Film festival was booming ahead. But here are two notes:
1) If you happen to be reading this in the Lansing, Mich., area on Easter Sunday, there’s still time. For a schedule of the final day, go to www.capitalcityfilmfest.com. Read more…
Good news for June: “Tales” and Times
Is it too early for good news about June? Maybe not; announced today are:
— A new series from the New York Times. Starting June 2, “The Weekly” will be at 10 p.m. each Sunday on FX; it’s a half-hour show digging into a news story … which is something the Times does very well.
— And a new edition of “Tales of the City,” arriving June 7 on Netflix. Read more…