movies
Feb. Netflix Discards Include Some Well Worth Watching

For Netflix subscribers, each month brings a new list of movies and TV series that will ...

genres
‘American Sniper’ Sets January Box Office Record

As if we hadn't always known, even in these supposedly cynical times of rampant moral re...

television
Disappointing Ratings for ABC’s ‘Agent Carter’ Reflect Show’s Dreary Tone

It appears that both ABC-TV and Marvel Studios are surprised and somewhat dismayed by the...

television
Netflix More Valuable Than Cable and Broadcast Among Millennials, Study Finds

In an observation that should surprise no one except a few cave-dwellers, a new study from...

culture101
Simenon’s ‘Transparent Detective’ Mysteries Return to Print

One of the great achievements in European popular fiction during the twentieth century was...

television
Upcoming TLC Program Sparks Controversy, Calls for Cancellation

The fraught relationship between identity politics and freedom of speech has become evide...

television
‘Downton Abbey’ Returns, Continuing Sympathetic View of Individuals Coping with Modernization

The hit TV drama series Downton Abbey returns to PBS on Sunday night (Jan. 4, check l...

culture101
The Pleasures of ‘Banacek’

I've just discovered that several (and possibly all) episodes of the great 1970s TV series...

fiction1
BBC Announces ‘War and Peace’ Cast; Davies to Write Screenplay

The British Broadcasting Corporation announced yesterday the cast for its upcoming six-h...

movies
‘Hobbit’ Tops Christmas Weekend Box Office, ‘Interview’ Shows Agility of Distribution System

Several new films hit U.S. theaters over the Christmas weekend, but The Hobbit: The Bat...

culture101
Christmas-Themed TV Movies and Programs Reach Record Numbers

This Christmas season (known to Christians as Advent) has brought the most Christmas progr...

commerce
FCC’s OTT Reclassification Portends More Trouble for Cable, Satellite Providers

As I mentioned here a couple of weeks ago, a variety of factors is breaking down the cur...

books
Cultural Tide Beginning to Turn? ‘Golden Age’ Mystery Outselling Contemporary Bestsellers

In a year of unsettling cultural stories—from the Ray Rice domestic abuse video to Rob...

books
Lister Mystery Novels Available for Free

I've just discovered that a digital edition of three mystery novels by contemporary autho...

movies
‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ Evokes Return of Carter-Era Malaise

It's difficult to imagine a better choice to replace the great Mel Gibson in the upcoming ...

music
New Dylan Album Will Rework Sinatra Songs

I suppose it didn't actually have to happen, but to me it seems just right: Bob Dylan ha...

television
CBS, NFL Point Way to New Broadcast Paradigm

CBS, long the nation's most popular TV network, has moved strongly into online distribut...

genres
TNT’s ‘The Librarians’ Checks in With Promising Start

The new TNT series The Librarians (Sundays at 9 Eastern) is a continuation of the three...

uncategorized
Social Promotion: A Classic Big-Government Con Job

Writing in the Chicago Reader, columnist Ben Joravsky makes a provocative point about soc...

mysteries
Acclaimed Crime Drama ‘Foyle’s War’ Returns in February

Here's good news for mystery fans and others who appreciate intelligent TV dramas: Acorn...

humor-2
Carvey: Entertainment Industry Punishes Political Evenhandedness

It's not news that Hollywood and the entertainment community in general have a strong prog...

omniculture
The Decline and Fall of Relativism

Writing today at The American Culture, Mike D'Virgilio makes some good observations about ...

mysteries
Netflix Bails Out ‘Longmire’ Fans, Will Run Show’s Fourth Season

The former A&E TV crime-drama series Longmire, cancelled this year, has found a new h...

uncategorized
Twitter vs. Blogs: The Medium Is Still the Message

Writing for our friends across the pond at the Libertarian Alliance (UK), alextantwell arg...

music
Geldof Rats Out Adele

Certainly former rock musician Bob Geldof is to be praised for his charity efforts (as t...

economicspolicy
Poll: U.S. Public Happy with Internet Service, Want Government to Keep Hands Off

If you like your Internet service, can you keep it? President Obama says no, and that migh...

television
NBC’s ‘Peter Pan Live!’ Won’t Match Influence of 1960 Version

Following up on the network's successful live performance adaptation of The Sound of Musi...

television
New TV Network Will Feature True-Crime and Public Service Programming

A new broadcast TV channel, the Justice Network, will feature "gripping stories of true c...

economicspolicy
Obama Goads Senate, Presses Net Neutrality Issue

As I noted here last week, the Republican takeover of the U.S. Senate ensures that Cong...

culture101
Pulp Fiction Rights-Holder Clarity Could Aid Ongoing Republication Boom

As I've noted earlier on this site, pulp fiction was quite unlike what people commonly thi...

television
Upcoming TNT Series ‘Agent X’ Promises Interesting Concept

The TNT cable network has announced a new ten-part series, Agent X, will debut in 2015....

commerce
Republican Senate Takeover Reduces Likelihood of Net Neutrality Mandate

The upcoming Republican takeover of the U.S. Senate could have significant effects on t...

mysteries
CBS Announces ‘Mentalist’ Return Date

There's good news for TV mystery fans: CBS-TV has announced that The Mentalist will retur...