tv
Small Screen
Seth MacFarlane Makes Fun Of Deaf Actress To Her Face
3:59PM Adrian Chen | That the funniest bit in Family Guy Creator Seth MacFarlane’s live comedy special on Fox was also the most politically incorrect is the least surprising thing ever. Check out this bit with deaf actress Marlee Matlin (West Wing) More »
Big Screen
Atlas Shrugged Miniseries Will Bore The Motor Of The World
4:24AM Pareene | Finally there will be one film to definitively separate stunted adolescent douchebags from regular people (besides Boondock Saints): Atlas Shrugged! Ayn Rand’s million-page epic tale of monologuing in a ravine is going to be a movie. More »
Small Screen
10 Cheesy TV Show Opening Credits
4:00AM Tracie | Even our own nostalgia for these TV shows doesn’t mean we forgive—or even understand the WTF-ness of—their opening credits. After the jump, a rundown of some of the most offensive. More »
Small Screen
New Zealand Journalist Not Overly Pleased With Underbelly II
11:45AM Jess McGuire | As you well know, I wasn’t overly impressed with Underbelly II: A Tribute To Matthew Newton’s Bare Arse. Of course, at the very moment I was declaring to all and sundry “This is it? Really? This is it?“, every television reviewer in the country seemed to be lining up for their chance to metaphorically fellate the program, so what do I know? Seemingly nothing. I am glad to note that I am not alone in my Underbelly II disappointment though. A New Zealand journalist named Pat Booth who actually uncovered the drug syndicate Underbelly II purports to be telling the story of wrote a piece a few days ago about his displeasure over the program, and I think it’s definitely worth reading. I don’t want to be a witness when tragedies are trivialised for money- making entertainment. So, no, I’m not watching the Mr Asia TV series. The TV3 full-page ad – “The true story about a small-time New Zealand crim who went on to become the biggest crime lord in Australia. How’s that for Kiwi ingenuity” – just sickened me. Ingenious? Homicidal, sadistic, totally without conscience, a vicious criminal who murdered or had killed at least six associates – one survivor estimates 12 dead. So someone’s saying we shouldn’t be glorifying the antics of a pack of cashed up bogan drug dealing thugs with guns? More »
Is Killing a Great Series the Answer to Stopping Bad TV?
7:05AM STV | How do you know when campaign season is over? Maybe when the boldest idea of the week comes from film and TV critic Marshall Fine, who argues today for the termination of TV series after one year. Even the hits! (Especially the hits, in fact.) And we might even sign on — with a few exceptions.
‘Barack Obama Show’ Offers First Real Hit Of Fall TV Season
2:02AM Seth | Amber waves of grain, arthritis ointment application, an emotionally distant Sarah Silverman the morning after—The Barack Obama Show really offered something for everyone. And by “everyone” we’d include network heads, as preliminary Nielsen numbers show the 30-minute hope-infusion juiced ratings across the board. Even ABC’s struggling Pushing Daisies benefited from a small counter-programming bump, though still only managed to squeak out a meager 2.2. From THR: More »
3:56AM Seth | Snuffed. After Fox’s hotel sitcom Do Not Disturb and ABC’s travelling game show Opportunity Knocks, the third series to be tapped on the shoulder by the Grim TV Reaper’s distal phalanx is a series entitled The Ex List (red flag #1), an “hourlong comedy” (red flag #2) based on an Israeli hit (you know where this is going) about a thirtysomething woman who’s told by a psychic that she has one year to…ugh, we can’t even finish this. The official line is that it hasn’t yet been officially cancelled, but rather “pulled from the network lineup,” to be replaced by NCSI reruns. That could all change, however, when years later a psychic tells Les Moonves that one of his short-lived series was the only thing that can save his job, sending him on a frantic search for the hastily dismissed project. [AP] More »
‘America’s Next Top Model’ Boldly Going Wherever A Set Budget Of $149 Will Take Them
8:45AM Seth | Last night’s premiere of the latest cycle of America’s Next Top Model unveiled this season’s epic theme—”As sci fi as we can possibly make this using things found at a dollar store”—to much squealy delight from the carefully selected pool of regular- and plus-sized replicants. While the audience seems to be dwindling for such catwalk-crawling minstrel shows (the ratings hit an all-time low), the series is to be commended for never failing to adapt and innovate. Take, for example, the introduction of exciting Glamonator 11.0 technology: A more sophisticated descendant of the Sleeper Orgasmatron, it’s capable of producing an amazingly convincing hologram of a completely-over-it reality hostess who wishes she could fold up shop on this ghetto-arse exercise in model-search futility to spend more time on her Emmy-winning talk show. Smile with your circuits, ladies! More »
Sarah Jessica Parker Dips A Toe Into Reality Waters With ‘Project Art Fag’
9:00AM Seth | Tireless, chin-mole-free multi-hyphenate Sarah Jessica Parker is donning yet another hat, and this one you’ll be pleased to hear contains not a single twig-sculpture or lepidoptera specimen. Rather, she’ll be executive producing a new Bravo reality competition from Project Runway/Top Chef studio Magical Elves. The discipline? Like, art: More »
