It’s the time of year for predictions. Five-page research reports into what consumers want, or what capital will give them, become available for $4500. Advertising semioticians set out their stalls at conventions. Academics shill for sovereign consumers’ boundless—not even relative—autonomy, shrieking with self-confidence as new technologies once again are announced to be overhauling TV. Ah, January.
Television readily and regularly produces moments of disgust, where revulsion and the fear of contamination rises up and takes one’s body over. One pushes away, or at, the techno-organic contagion as if its magical material presence must be held at bay. Or else one withdraws, withers from within, when faced with something wretched to the senses, and the cognitive and physiological processes.
I cannot count the number of times that I have said that I never want to talk about reality television ever again after having thought and written about it for so many years. Of course the genre never fails to surprise me, and move me in ways that I’m not quite prepared for, and just recently it really did get personal.
Being asked to write a blog so close to Christmas my thoughts, perhaps inevitably, turned to Christmas telly, one of the primary pleasures that I associate with this time of year. My Christmas telly excitement always begins when the broadcasters launch their Christmas idents and promos. But unfortunately this year BBC One’s Christmas promos and idents were a bit of a disappointment.
I envy David Chase doing only thirteen episodes a season. I won’t insult him to suggest that’s a luxury because I know how hard he must work, but I think I would do very different episodes of Touched by an Angel if I had the same amount to do thirteen episodes instead of twenty six.
My Doctor Who class at the BBC Television Centre, January 2012 In “The Doctor, the Widow, and the Wardrobe,” the 2011 Doctor Who Christmas special, our eponymous hero remodels a kitchen, installing his own idiosyncratic plumbing: faucets for hot and cold running water, of course and . . . Screen capture from “The Doctor, the Widow, and the Wardrobe” (Doctor Who Christmas Special, 2012). To the Arwell children, their eyes full-of-wonder, the
In 2010, Michele Byers and David Lavery published the book *On the Verge of Tears: Why Movies, Television, Music, Art, Popular Culture, Literature and the Real World Make us Cry *(Cambridge University Press). The essays included in this book offer personal reflections on those moments within our every day lives which cause tears to flow and they invite similar reflection from their readers.
The title of a Heroes Episode (1.17). Image from Heroeswiki.com Heroes (NBC, 2006-2010) has come and gone. The once promising NBC series, in its first season a world-wide cult phenomenon, flamed out, beginning in Season Two.
This is the fifth of five Telegenics examining the state of the American sitcom in the second decade of the 21 st Century. The first was on Community ; the second on How I Met Your Mother , the third on Big Bang Theory , and the fourth on 30 Rock *. * Modern Family ’s Three Families.
This is the third of five Telegenics that will examine the state of the American sitcom in the second decade of the 21st Century. Earlier entries were on Community and How I Met Your Mother . Subsequent Telegenics will look at 30 Rock and Modern Family . The Big Bang Theory ’s Title Card Sheldon : Leonard is upstairs right now with my archenemy.
This is the first of five Telegenics that will examine the state of the American sitcom in the second decade of the 21st Century. Subsequent entries will look at How I Met Your Mother , The Big Bang Theory , 30 Rock , and Modern Family. The Community Cast.