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Thanks for your comments, Tim! I agree that the humanity Shelley Long brought to the role of Diane is what makes the early seasons of Cheers hold up so well 30 years later.
Top 100 sitcom episodes of all time, No. 4: "I'll Be Seeing You," Cheers
4. "I'll Be Seeing You," Cheers (1984) Welcome to the “100 Best Sitcom Episodes of All Time,” a countdown for 2012. Each episode will get a separate blog post, counting backward toward No. 1. A list of the programs revealed so far is here (and on Pinterest), and an introduction to the project ...
Rolando, you'd be more aware of this than I am, but do these artists do their own marketing, or do they work with PR firms and graphic artists? Maybe the better marketing is the result of feedback, revision, and collaboration, while the show itself is not given the same treatment. Of course, so many bad shows are the result of writing by committee, so more meddling hands may not always be the answer.
Our Brave New (Branded) World
The first time it happened, I thought nothing of it. The second time, I wondered if I might be a bit of an old curmudgeon. (Silence, you in the Peanut Gallery!) By the third and fourth time, well, I could no longer ignore what clearly is some sort of awful trend. And in my opinion blogpost-wor...
Thanks, Jim! Alas, it's tough to get WKRP episodes because only the first season was released on DVD (because of music rights). We need a Kickstarter campaign to get the entire series released in its original form. Probably not going to happen.
Top 100 sitcom episodes of all time: The list
Welcome to the “100 Best Sitcom Episodes of All Time,” a countdown for 2012. Each episode will get a separate blog post, counting backward toward No. 1. A list of the programs revealed so far is below (and on Pinterest), and an introduction to the project is here. 100. "Divided We Stand," Stept...
I think HBO and Dunham can live with the description "induced mental depravity" if it brings in viewers.
Everything old is nude again
From Brooklyn to San Francisco, and maybe a couple of places in between, everyone is talking about nudity. What's Lena Dunham trying to prove with hers? And can we ban wangs in public parks without inviting a police state? Dunham is the creator and star of HBO's Girls, and she writes frequent ...
No, just the few minutes. I don't know German. I was fascinated by the laugh track, which seems more like a "I think this is funny, maybe?" track. I've heard the same on French re-dubs of American sitcoms. I guess Europeans think we laugh too heartily.
Top 100 sitcom episodes of all time, No. 13: "The Two Mrs. Cranes," Frasier
13. "The Two Mrs. Cranes," Frasier (1996) Welcome to the “100 Best Sitcom Episodes of All Time,” a countdown for 2012. Each episode will get a separate blog post, counting backward toward No. 1. A list of the programs revealed so far is here (and on Pinterest), and an introduction to the proje...
And another test comment.
Little Footprint, USA: states where it's not unusual for your ceiling to be someone else's floor
Lately I've been acutely aware of living in an apartment building, thanks to the noise (some of it, alas, my own) and a number of fire alarms going off in the middle of the night. But I still prefer communal living to having to worry about gophers in the driveway and snow on the roof. And most...
A list of great scenes in OK episodes is a very good idea. Some series, like "The Dick Van Dyke Show," were of such high quality that episodes with weak stories often had stand-out scenes.
There is a probably a long list of episodes with hidden pregnancies. Elaine refusing to take off a bulky coat in "Seinfeld" comes to mind. On "WKRP in Cincinnati," there was a running gag in which Les appeared with bandages on different parts of his body, without any explanation.
Blogging update: Sitcoms, politics, and anything else you're interested in
My blog posts may be shorter this week, since I have deadlines for the freelance work that actually provides me with an income (writing and editing on public policy matters). But I welcome new readers and will try to keep the Top 100 Sitcom Episodes countdown proceeding on schedule. Older reader...
Corrine's baby was funny, I'll grant you that.
Top 100 sitcom episodes of all time: Shows that didn't make it, A-Z
Welcome to the “100 Best Sitcom Episodes of All Time,” a countdown for winter 2012. Each episode will get a separate blog post, counting backward toward No. 1. A list of the programs revealed so far is here and an introduction to the project is here. I have been asked by acquaintances whether...
Thanks, Chief!
Top 100 sitcom episodes of all time: Introduction
Welcome to the “100 Best Sitcom Episodes of All Time,” a countdown for winter 2012. Each episode will get a separate blog post, counting backward toward No. 1. A list of the programs revealed so far is here. When I decided to make a “best sitcom episodes” list last year, I had two goals in mi...
Too late, I got better. Still need the shrink, do doubt.
Breathless
Wow. I think this weekend was the closest I've ever come to kicking it. Not that it's a high bar. I've never been seriously injured or had any major disease, and I've never had a bullet whiz by my head. At 47, though, my luck may be starting to turn. I'm pretty sure that I was suffering (and sti...
It also helps that Mary Tyler Moore promoted its supporting cast more than any sitcom had before. Five of Mary's co-stars won Emmys (Ed Asner, Ted Knight, Valerie Harper, Cloris Leachman, and Betty White). Only Cheers had so many different winners, but it ran four years longer. Mary's generosity in giving her co-stars screen time -- unlike, say, Lucille Ball -- must have made her popular with the rank and file in Hollywood.
Most Emmy-winning shows of each decade, in delicious pie chart form
Note: Sitcom fans may want to check out my "Top 100 Sitcom Episodes of All Time" project. For your viewing pleasure, and because I didn't realize it would take so long, I've posted below in-living-color representations of the most Emmy-winning shows of TV's first six decades. You can click on ea...
An April poll by the Washington Post found that "72 percent said they support tax increases on people with incomes of more than $250,000" (http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0411/53455.html), and I've seen similar findings elsewhere. So, no, I don't think the GOP is reflecting the mood of the country, but the party is reflecting the wishes of its major contributors.
It is the rule of law: Only Democrats can raise taxes
Jonathan Cohn asks a question with an obvious answer: Does anything matter to Republicans more than protecting tax cuts for the very wealthy? Developments of the last 18 hours suggest very strongly that the answer is no. As you have probably heard by now, House Speaker John Boehner on Saturda...
I'm sure Obama and the Democrats are doing all they can to make the GOP look ridiculous, but if it's too blatant, it will backfire. (Watch out for open microphones, Mr. President, and don't crow about crazy candidates getting all the press.) As for Trump, I don't think he'll make it far, but this won't discourage him. The angriest people of all right now are the conspiracy theorists who finally accept the validity of the long form birth certificate. They will never vote for Obama under any circumstance, and Trump is busily giving them alternate reasons ("affirmative action"!) to hate the president.
Mitt could drop dead in July 2012 (and other Tea Party victory scenarios)
I mostly agree with Jonathan Bernstein about the unlikelihood of a crazy fringe Tea Party candidate capturing the GOP presidential nomination in 2012: Now, I know what you're thinking: what about .. [a] scenario in which a Bachmann or a Newt hangs on until the winner-takes-all states, and then t...
Patrick, I'm sorry your family has had to go through this. The point I was making is that it's insensitive and inhumane to make judgments about "real" people when we know only bits of information (which may not even be true) about their lives. I had to use a real example here, and the Herald story and reader comments struck me as particularly callous. I do NOT agree with the reader comments, and I think the rest of the post makes clear that I don't take what the reporter wrote at face value.
Horrible murder reminds me why I prefer scripted shows to reality TV
It's fun to gossip about people we don't know. They could be movie stars, politicians, victims of freak accidents, or reality-TV characters (who become celebrities by being famous). I like to gossip about fictional TV characters. There's no way to be tasteless or irresponsible or just batshit ...
Maybe urban planners should take advantage of anti-French animosity among American conservatives. "Keep our major cities affordable, or we'll end up like Paris!"
Whites double back to Boston as inner suburbs get some color
Via Matthew Yglesias, here is a prescient cartoon (click it to enlarge) done by Tom Toles in 1998: < You can see the success of this "plan" in Boston by looking at new Census data. Go to this map and click on various census tracts; you can see that the white population in the South End, Roxbury...
Yes, it can be more work! Mainly because I'm always "on the clock" and feel guilty about doing stuff that isn't related to employment or writing projects.
Blog and Twitter updates, begorra
It's St. Patrick's Day, one of three times a year that I avoid Boston bars (New Year's Eve and July 4 being the others), so I'll be doing literal and technological housecleaning today. (Besides, I'm only half-Irish, and my French-Canadian half insists on poutine to accompany any heavy drinking.)...
It's really a matter of budgeting time. I try to (eventually) sample everything that gets positive reviews, no matter what the subject, but I can't do a thorough watching of them all. If "Buffy" still holds its reputation in a few years, I might go back to the beginning.
Sometimes, it's best not to start watching a TV series from the beginning
Cross-posted on Extra Criticum. Jaime Weinman tackles a point of modern TV etiquette: ..now that TV series are taken more seriously as complete and coherent works, to say nothing of the fact that we can watch from the beginning no matter how late we discover the show, there’s an increased prefer...
Well, we don't yet know how Palin and Bachmann would do, so I wouldn't write off experienced candidates yet. I don't think Barbour's record as governor hurts him as much as his seeming indifference about the state's Jim Crow days.
Is Mississippi more of an albatross than Massachusetts?
Paul Waldman wonders if Haley Barbour's home state is too much of an Alcatraz albatross for him to be elected president: If Barbour were to actually be the nominee, we could actually see the first full-throated Demcoratic attack on a Republican's home state in memory. Back in 1992, a Saturday Ni...
Good. That means I get your table!
In praise of "You'll eat it and like it!" restaurants
Shortly after I wrote a post about how much I loved the "no ketchup!" burger place Louis' Lunch and the "no brand names!" beer bar McSorley's, the New York Times' Diane Cardwell wrote a piece declaring no-choice restaurants to be a trend: At a pea-size Lower East Side bistro known for its frie...
Robert David Sullivan is now following The Typepad Team
Mar 15, 2010
According to this week's Boston Globe poll, a slim plurality of voters in Massachusetts (43-36) support the current bill: http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/01/10/senate_poll_coakley_up_15_points/?page=2
I don't think theres any question, however, that a Brown victory would be a repudiation of Ted Kennedy's record in the US Senate and Kennedys support for universal health care coverage. That would be quite a turnaround in public sentiment in this state.
Scott Brown as Goliath killer?
The American Spectator's Jeffrey Lord compares Republican Senate candidate Scott Brown to Harris Wofford, the Democrat who won a special Senate race in Pennsylvania in 1991 by focusing on the need for health care reform -- and whose victory presaged a Democratic win in the 1992 presidential elec...
Or it could just be that a bad economy makes people nervous about anything new.
not the white house's favourite chart
As Megan McArdle puts it, it seems like the more Americans talk about health care reform the less they like it. On the other hand this may simply be the inevitable effect of raising a question that, until now, most people haven't had to think about or take sides on. Still, it's not the greates...
I'm trying to send blog posts to my Twitter account. Doesn't work in the new design (except when the post is never saved as a draft, a rule that eliminates ALL of the posts). So I'm checking to see whether it works with the old design.
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Same as Vallejo Nocturno's comment. My text toolbar vanished and was replaced by "Text Editing Tools," followed by gibberish.
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Brad Woodhouse needs to hire someone who can write tongue-in-cheek.
DNC compares GOP to terrorists
In a rejoinder to criticism of Obama's Nobel Prize by RNC chair Michael Steele, DNC communications director Brad Woodhouse smeared the GOP as having "thrown in its lot with the terrorists - the Taliban and Hamas": "The Republican Party has thrown in its lot with the terrorists - the Taliban and ...
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