It’s been an exciting December for television watchers: Stephen reviews the season finales of “Dexter” and ‘Homeland”.
Posts tagged "television"
The Idiot Box: Community: “Regional Holiday Music”
A couple of weeks ago I wrote a piece on my Tumblr about NBC’s Community and how, more than anything, it’s about people living in relation with other people, overcoming their differences to establish a sense of togetherness and discover value, joy, and fellowship in one another. In that piece (some of which Todd VanDerWerff’s latest review seems to reaffirm, by the way), I cited “Abed’s Uncontrollable Christmas”—the stop-motion Christmas episode from last season—as being the best episode of the series thus […]
Popblerd Live Blogs the 2011 Prime Time Emmy Awards!
This started out as a test. Using a new chat client, pulling a couple of people together at the 11th hour, not totally sure if I (Blerd) was even gonna be able to watch the show…this particular live blog had the capacity for disaster. As it turned out, it worked pretty good. I was joined by Drew and Cristobal Tracy for a fun chat where we discussed the overwhelming amount of love shown the Brits at the Emmys, a bang-up […]
Somethin’ Stupid: An Appreciation of Ryan Dunn
The death of Jackass co-star Ryan Dunn may not have packed the kind of shock and grief that Clarence Clemons’ passing certainly did. But the news that Dunn, the guy best known for driving a golf cart into a pig statue in the first Jackass film, was killed earlier this morning after crashing his car in Pennsylvania is rather tragic. Dunn, a longtime associate of pro skater Bam Margera and a great presence on MTV’s Viva La Bam and the underrated Homewrecker, probably deserves a lot more credit […]
The Idiot Box: “Unsung” Returns and Ray LaMontagne Hits Storytellers
Lots of good stuff happening in TV world in the next couple of days. TVOne’s excellent biography series “Unsung” returns on June 6th, for starters. The series, which chronicles legends in the soul music world that haven’t gotten their proper due, has run for (I think) three seasons now (might be four) and has done brilliant episodes on the likes of DeBarge, Shalamar, Minnie Riperton, Bootsy Collins and many others. This year, they begin the season with an episode on […]
The Idiot Box: Josh Groban Sings Kanye’s Tweets? I’d Buy That One
Check out the spoof commercial Josh Groban made, during which he sings Kanye West’s tweets.
TVOne Announces Subjects for New Season of “Unsung”
The upcoming fourth season of TVOne’s documentary “Unsung” profiles R&B and rap luminaries including Big Daddy Kane, The Spinners, and Deniece Williams.
Lee DeWyze: What Happens When “American Idol” Crashes
I didn’t watch a lick of it, but it’s pretty common knowledge that the most recent season of “American Idol” wasn’t exactly it’s best. Everything from shoehorning Ellen DeGeneres in as a fourth judge to extreme apathy on the part of Simon Cowell has been blamed. Personally, I think it’s a mix of general wear and tear, some viewer burnout, and most importantly, a lack of compelling contestants. While “Idol” has made it’s fair share of changes for the show’s […]
Hump Day Flashback: “Sanford & Son”
I’ve never been anywhere near a junkyard in my life, never lived in (or even been near) Watts, never known anyone named Lamont, and never tasted ripple. Matter of fact, I don’t know what ripple (or it’s distant cousin, champipple) even is. However, “Sanford & Son”, the show that introduced me to all these concepts, remains a favorite of mine three decades after I first started watching it (via rerun). Black characters in main roles on TV was still a […]
The Boss Rocks Late Night TV
As someone who grew up within spitting distance from New Jersey, Bruce Springsteen’s long loomed large in my musical psyche. I’m not as gaga over the guy as many others are, but he’s a masterful songwriter and an unbelievable live performer. What impresses me more than anything is that even forty years into his career, at 61 years of age, the man performs like he has something to prove. When you’ve been doing the same thing for so long-even if […]
The Idiot Box: “Community” Knocks It Out of the Park
Our biggest problem as Americans is that we want what we want NOW, and it better be good or else. The problem with that (at least when it comes to art) is that we don’t always give things the chance to evolve and turn our backs on something we could potentially enjoy a great deal just because it doesn’t feel like we’re enjoying it enough at that particular moment. I waffled on NBC’s “Community” big-time last season. Initially, I thought […]