Emmy Awards Ratings and Viewership Decline, Hit All-Time Low
The primetime Emmy Awards show is reported to have experienced its third straight decline in ratings and viewership Sunday night, hitting a record low.
TV Reviews
Dr. Phil Slams Mother for Enabling Horrible Daughter
Matthew Walther Reviews ‘New Girl’
Jess and Nick and Schmidt and Winston used to live together in the same apartment in Los Angeles. Nick (Jake Johnson) and Jess (Zooey Deschanel) decided to start dating but broke up. Then Schmidt (Max Greenfield) married Jess’s best pal, Cece (Hannah Simone), and Nick (, who owns a bar, moved to New Orleans to be with his girlfriend.
Play On
Even if every last critical judgment in Clive James’ book about the new golden age of television were off the mark, the thing would still be worth reading for the humor.
Jimmy Kimmel Show Interviews People Who Know More Avengers Than U.S. Presidents
The Fall of Saigon Revisited
At about ten o’clock in the morning on April 29, 1975—forty years ago this week—an American radio station in Saigon broadcast, without further explanation, Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas.” Just before dawn the city’s airport had been shelled by the North Vietnamese Army, and the sound of Bing Crosby’s crooning was the covert and somewhat surreal signal for the mass evacuation of Americans remaining in the South Vietnamese capital.
The Simpsons Might Actually Be Worth Watching This Week
While many longtime Simpsons’ fans have lost interest in the show in recent years it seems FOX may be giving everyone a reason to tune back in this week. It turns out that 25 years ago now-famous comedy writer Judd Apatow wrote and submitted a script for a Simpsons’ episode. This week that episode will finally be made and broadcast.
Boardwalk Empire: A Show About Everything—and, Therefore, Nothing (Spoilers)
Spoilers for all five seasons of Boardwalk Empire, which had its series finale last night, below.
A la Carte Cable Would Have Killed the Golden Age of Television
In my post yesterday I touched on why I don’t think a la carte cable pricing is a terribly good option for consumers. Some people were quite upset with my having failed to explain fully why I’m not a fan, so allow me to explain my objections in slightly greater detail.
If you’ll recall, I said that the Parents Television Council’s push for legislation requiring cable providers to provide consumers the ability to pick and choose which channels they want rather than buying “bundles” or “tiers” of programming was “semi-reasonable.” It’s the sort of argument that you can market to average voters on a moral level (“We shouldn’t be forced to subsidize these channels we hate!”) and an economic level (“Viewers will save money by not being forced to pay for channels they hate!”).
The reason I say this is a “semi-reasonable” argument is that I’m, frankly, not terribly impressed by either of these lines of attack.
Jeff Daniels Won an Emmy Because ‘The Newsroom’ Is Middlebrow, Liberal Pap
Via Alyssa Rosenberg comes this explanation from Film Crit Hulk about Jeff Daniels’ winning outstanding lead actor in a drama series at the Emmys on Sunday, easily the biggest upset of the evening. Writes Film Crit Hulk in his invariably annoying all caps style:
