TV World

Is society ready to seriously analyze the implications of personal blogging on the way human relationships develop? The writers of House seem to think so, or at least they were willing to use it as a prominent plot device in this week's episode. The patient of the week is a freelance photographer and world-famous blogger named Frankie (played by That 70's Show regular Laura Prepon). She starts out with spontaneous bruises and bleeding gums in the cold open, but soon starts to take on a variety of other symptoms once she gets to Princeton-Plainsboro. None of those symptoms are particularly graphic or all that interesting, if only because the episode is more concerned with how her constant connection to the Internet is affecting her life. The problem is that it was hard to tell whether the episode was trying to comment on the impact of social media or if it was just using it as a modern plot point for an old examination of the difference between life and writing.

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The most remarkable thing about the recent crop of science fiction movies and TV shows is that the best of them are real actors' productions. Even some of the most revered sci-fi of the past put their flesh and blood performers in a distant second for attention compared to neato special effects. Whether it's because of budgetary constraints or an actual shift in the way sci-fi is produced, shows like Caprica invest a lot more care in their actors and so they end up being that much more compelling. "Know Thy Enemy" was an excellent display of Caprica's strongest asset: Its players.

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It's been a long time coming, but I'm glad the folks at The Office played the delivery of Jim and Pam's baby the way they did. It wasn't about surprises or silliness, at least for the most part. Instead, it was a solidly realistic depiction of what it's like to be a new parent. "The Deliver" also gave a new perspective on the occasional necessity of hour-long episodes of The Office. Much of this episode was padding and tangentially related subplots, but they helped the central narrative sink in where a half hour episode would have felt too rushed. The end result was moving but fittingly mundane. People have babies every day, and the young Halpert family are nothing if not everyday people.

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Beginning on ABC during the 1994 season and moving to FOX for its second and final clutch of episodes, it would seem that The Critic just didn’t get a fair shake. Of course, station executives would probably tell us all that the show just wasn’t performing well. And that’s probably true if not for the obtuse film references then for the rather caustic lead character, Jay Sherman, who was voiced by the always enjoyable Jon Lovitz. Read more

For a long time now, CBS has been at the bottom of the barrel when it comes to quality TV. Unlike NBC, which invests in terrible shows with great potential, CBS mostly doesn't even try to make shows that can compete with cable in terms of acting, writing and direction. After all. CBS is the network to bring us CSI, the most brainless police procedural in the history of television. The network scored an unlikely hit in How I Met Your Mother, which is really just another formulaic sitcom that got lucky with a strong cast, and recently it's tried to class up its schedule with new shows like The Good Wife, but that can't change the fact that it also harbors Two and a Half Men and The Ghost Whisperer. The network will be premiering two new shows this spring, neither of which seem all that vital but both have the potential to be something worthwhile.

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In Fall 2009, ABC became the unlikely king of primetime, premiering a smattering of excellent new shows that have ended up grabbing a majority of critics' and viewers' adoration. Some may call it luck, but it actually just looks like good leadership. The network has stacked a few strong comedies (Modern Family, The Middle) with a decent selection of genre fare, even taking steps to replace its go-to science fiction mystery Lost with the enjoyable, if not revolutionary, Flashforward. ABC knows what it does best, so it avoids hard drama in favor of slicked-up pulp. Thus Castle, the V miniseries and some of its new offerings this spring.

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It's odd to think about what folks put in front of kid's eyes and how it can be interpreted later on in life. Even watching a Ghostbusters' movie is gonna yield differnt perspectives if you're over 15. Take a look at Jarnow, though.

nobody told NBC the 90's are overIt's that time again. With the winter programming breaks coming to their final days, TV networks are gearing up for a spring boost that includes returning favorites as well as entirely new series. We'll be looking at each network's newest offerings and letting you know when returning series will begin airing new episodes. Today we'll be concentrating on NBC. The peacock has been struggling as of late, especially in the wake of the Tonight Show shakeup that basically amounted to a lot of good press for Conan O'Brien and a boatload of ill will for Jay Leno and NBC. The network's strongest night is still its Thursday comedy lineup, but it's going to have to give viewers more than an hour and a half of good TV every week to stay relevant in today's highly competitive entertainment sector.

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I was innocently watching TV today when I was accosted by, what I took to be, a blatant message of racism. Or was it a clear understanding of a specific demographic? I'm not sure.

Cool Aid

I grew up in Oakland. I'm not sure whether it was my 8th grade history teacher telling me Sidney Poitier wasn't black enough for a biography report in celebration of African American History Month or when the Oakland school board promoted me to tri-lingual with the announcement of 'ebonics', but somewhere I tuned into black culture.

If white people won't let certain black stereotypes die, neither will black people. It was in the back row of biology that I learned from a group of black students that African Americans are rumored to enjoy Cool Aid and grape soda more than their white counterparts. Read more

Vancouver OlympicsWhen I backpacked through Europe I noticed, one day, in a train station a Canadian flag painstakingly sewn onto the backpack of the man in front of me. This caught my attention as the ratio of Canadian flags seemed higher than any other outward showing of national pride from any other travelers. As I thought about this the ticket vendor asked if the man was American, with a hint of disgust he spit out, "Uh, no. I'm Canadian." ... "eh." Your nation is so unimportant and culturally indistinguishable that you have to publicly identify yourself as Canadian. And you get grumpy about it?

This pissed me off. Sure, your accent is a sad knock off of the American accent, your nation is known as the Fifty-first state, you share your nation with a bunch of grumpy French speaking Quebeccers... AND the Canada-centric closing ceremonies SUCKED. Read more