Posts tagged as Television
"The O.C." Characters, In Order
22. Lindsay
21. Zach
20. Marissa Cooper
19. That guy with the gun who shot someone at that party
18. Carter
17. A palm tree with blonde hair
16. Kirsten Cohen
15. "Mmm whatcha say"
14. Jimmy Cooper
13. Oliver
12. Death Cab for Cutie
11. Kaitlin Cooper, Season 1
10. Slutty Kaitlin Cooper, Seasons 3 and 4
9. Caleb
8. Ryan Atwood
7. Bi-curious Olivia Wilde
6. Summer Roberts
5. Julie Cooper
4. Luke
3. Peter Gallagher's eyebrows
2. Sandy Cohen
1. Seth Cohen
The "Louie" Bubble: Making Louis C.K. Human-Sized Again
First in a series of two essays today on Louis C.K. Next: Super-Stud in Divorceland. READ MORE
Women Good At Criticism
I would like to pitch some kind of "Bosom Buddies"-type sitcom in which Time television critic James Poniewozik is forced to don drag in order to ply his trade because since we started letting ladies write about the tube, it turns out that they are pretty solid. Probably better than dudes, even. Maybe next we'll let them write about politics and stuff! Or am I just being crazy? Anyway, Awl pals abound in this one, so give it a look. READ MORE
The Best New TV Show of the Fall Season
For some reason I decided to take this fall TV season with terrible seriousness and I dutifully set my DVR for all the new offerings. Most of it was easily discarded by the second episode. (So thank goodness for some returning shows; "Bored to Death" is again absolutely awesome.) "Pan Am" is soulless and dreadful and slow. "Prime Suspect" is great to watch and incredibly edited and makes New York City look fun and gritty, but still when it comes up on the recorded shows list, it rings no emotional bells. "Charlie's Angels," good grief, I turned off the pilot 20 minutes in, it's despicable. (And so long forever!) "Terra Nova" comes off as very simple-minded, it's pitched for blockheads, but I'll keep watching because it's impressive how much money they're willing to spend. "Person of Interest" came on way too strong. "The Secret Circle" started off entertaining and trashy but you pretty much can't stick with it if you're not 15, it's pitched intellectually somewhere beneath the "The Vampire Diaries," which is really saying something. Otherwise, I'm not watching any of the comedies because I'm humorless—maybe some are good!—and "Enlightened" I am hoarding so I can consume all its Laura Dernitude at once. And then there's one show, one show that should be reviled and mocked and has no right to be considered good, and so far it's absolutely the best thing around. Somehow, "Revenge" punches all the pleasure centers all at once. READ MORE
If 'The Simpsons' Ends Will You Care?
The last great season of "The Simpsons" was the seventh, which ended back in 1996. There is no disputing this. It is not even the fault of the makers of "The Simpsons"; seven years is probably about as long as anything can go before it starts to feel stale and repetitive, a problem the show itself acknowledged with the "Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie" episode of the mediocre eighth season. (This problem can occasionally be avoided; a good example is "Cheers," which essentially got a fresh start in its sixth season, and bought itself a few more years of creativity.) So the news that the show may finally be near the end feels a little overdue, no? They should have wrapped it up before they did that stupid Rodney Dangerfield episode.
We Must Go Back in Time to Prevent the Awful Season Finale of 'Doctor Who'
TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN, READ MORE
The "Entourage" Epilogue: Ten Years Later
E and Vince climbed up over the rim of the hill, and there they stopped to gaze down upon the ruins of the city below. Thirteen years since the SAG/AFTRA split-up and the city was still burning. Vast sections of the canvas below were nothing but charred smoldering dirt. And higher up, by the shell of the old Hollywood sign, they could make out the screams of anguish, the clatter of swords, the unholy battle cries of the Test Audiences as they stampeded down toward the deserted boulevards in search of fresh hot blood. A decade after they had fled, the marauders looked more zombie than human; more creatures infected with an untested serum than zombies. READ MORE
What Kind Of ‘I Don’t Own A TV’ People Do You Have In Your Life?
You know the tone people employ when announcing that they don’t own a TV. Casually tossed off, yet firmly resolute; it’s the same tone that might be used to dispel any other unflattering misrepresentation (e.g., “Oh, I don’t have syphilis.”). The funny thing is that nobody ever actually asks the question, “Do you own a TV?” READ MORE
Woman Allowed to Write Television Scripts
In a brave experiment, Molly McAleer, a biological woman who lives in Los Angeles, has been hired by showrunner Michael Patrick King for CBS' "Two Broke Girls," which was picked up by the network in mid-May, and will allegedly air between "How I Met Your Mother" and "Two and a Half Men." READ MORE
The Weird, Frictionless Politics Of 'Parks And Recreation'
There are a lot of different ways to say that NBC’s "Parks and Recreation" is a very upbeat show. Willa Paskin classified the show as a “comedy of niceness.” Showrunner Michael Schur points out that everyone on the show is passionate about something. James Poniewozik talks about how the show is sincere where others are ironic. And at Splitsider, AJ Aronstein focused on the show’s optimistic view of politics. But here’s another way to say it: the show is twee. READ MORE
