uncategorized
Tuesday Abstract: Wheeler to Testify, ‘Downton’ Lowdown, Sunday Night TV Ratings

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has agreed to appear before the House Oversight and Government...

mysteries
TV Tuesday Review: Grim World of ‘American Crime’ Is Not for the Faint-Hearted

It seems no one is clean in the ABC Network’s Thursday night serialized drama American ...

movies
Monday Abstract: ‘The Jinx,’ ‘Cinderella,’ Feminist Scorn, Irish Potables

HBO's documentary series The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst ended last nigh...

music
Friday Abstract: ‘Blurred Lines’ Fallout, ‘Drones’ on the Way, Treehouses of Horror

The "Blurred Lines" copyright infringement decision could put significant constraints on...

uncategorized
Thursday Abstract: Showtime on the Web, ‘Blurred Lines’ of Copyright, Ellery Queen Jr, More

The ongoing destruction of the current television delivery model just accelerated: The Sho...

television
Two By Gilligan: Superb ‘Saul,’ Iffy ‘Battle Creek’

If there’s one defining characteristic of Vince Gilligan’s television series, it’s...

journalism
Wednesday Abstract: ‘Top Gear’ Suspension, John Green Movies, Ann Sothern on TCM, Fox News Trust, More

The BBC has suspended Jeremy Clarkson, lead host of its popular Top Gear automobile show (...

movies
Tuesday Abstract: Ghostbusters, Ratings, Selleck, Sheet Music

Your daily roundup of cultural events: Gen-Xers who grew up wearing proton packs, take he...

books
Why We Miss ‘Calvin and Hobbes’

No, this doesn't refer to a theologian and a philosopher, but a six-year-old curmudgeon an...

music
How to Write a Rock Memoir: Steve Kilbey’s ‘Something Quite Peculiar’

If I had to name the best rock ’n’ roll memoir ever written, I'd say, after some del...

movies
More Than a Social Problem Film: ‘Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem’

In Jewish law, a husband must give his wife a decree of divorce (known as a gett) in ord...

art-and-architecture
Don’t Judge Klavan’s ‘Werewolf Cop’ by Its Title

He parked in a little neighborhood near the service road. He sat behind the wheel with his...

movies
Entire ‘Lord of the Rings’ Trilogy to Air in HD on Turner Classic Movies Tonight

DVR alert: from 8 p.m. (Eastern) tonight to 6 a.m. tomorrow morning, Turner Classic Movie...

movies
‘Bloodline’ Tops List of March Netflix Additions

Netflix taketh away, as we noted yesterday, but Netflix also giveth. Here's a list of mo...

movies
March Netflix Departures Include ‘Dumb and Dumber’

It looks like March is going to come in like a lion this year (global warming, hah!), bu...

television
New ‘Odd Couple’ Version Is a Series for Our Times

The new CBS situation comedy The Odd Couple (Thursdays at 8:30) is based very evidentl...

movies
Politics, Narcissism Highlight Academy Awards Show, As Usual

The annual Academy Awards ceremony went off with its usual grotesque and terrifying comb...

mysteries
Atkinson to Portray Maigret in Upcoming ITV Films

Hot on the heels of the return to print in the United States of Belgian writer George Si...

mysteries
‘The Mentalist’ Ends with Strong Affirmation of Show’s Uncommon Values

Tonight brings us the two-hour conclusion (CBS, 8-10 p.m. Eastern) of The Mentalist, on...

television
Star-Studded SNL Special Exemplifies Show’s Inherent Contradictions

Sunday night's 40th-anniversary special for Saturday Night Live achieved impressive rat...

movies
Review: ’50 Shades of Grey’ Is an Unconventional Conventional Romance

By now you’re surely aware of the Fifty Shades of Grey (50SOG) phenomenon and basic st...

books
Fifty Shades of What?

By now we know that a movie based on a bestselling book series about kinky sex dominated t...

television
C’mon, Get Slappy

What’re you gonna do when Spock’s on hiatus? If you’re Zachary Quinto—who plays th...

people
Jon Stewart and the Death of Mainstream Media News Credibility

The news this week has been, for worse and better, more about those who read it on-air t...

journalism
Williams Scandal Follows Standard Elite Response Model

As most readers undoubtedly know by now, NBC has suspended Nightly News anchor Brian Wil...

popularstories
Obama’s Prayer Breakfast Outrage Provides New Moral Clarity

For all his failings as a national leader, President Obama has been a great gift to moral...

music
Dylan Lauds Tradition, Popular Music Predecessors

Bob Dylan is a legend, an American treasure, and obviously an American original. On Friday...

culture-and-economics
George Will: Ever-Expanding Welfare State Is Causing Deep, Lasting Harm

Most people would probably agree that giving someone something for nothing does not promo...

theater
Schiller’s ‘Mary Stuart’: A Theatrical Tale of Personality and Power

Lord Darnley, the husband of Mary Stuart, Queen of Scotland, was murdered, and a few mon...

theater
A Highly Entertaining Theatrical Brew: ‘Rapture, Blister, Burn’

Rapture, Blister, Burn is a smart, funny play that deals with three people who are brou...

mysteries
Predictably Unconventional ‘Backstrom’ Falls to Genre Cliches

The new FOX series Backstrom (Thursdays, 9 p.m. Eastern), which premiered last week and ...

commerce
‘Choice Is a Powerful Thing’: Uber Super Bowl Promotion Reflects Value of Economic Liberty

Choice is a powerful thing. That was the subject of an e-mail I received from an unlikel...

television
CBS, ‘Scorpion’ Stomp Competition in Nielsen Ratings

The latest Neilsen ratings were released today, and they're quite interesting, to say th...