Television

840 posts

Crass Cartoons

This week I thought we would go back to the 1960s for some vintage cartoons. From 1965 until 1969, ABC ran The Beatles, an animated series based on the music of the Fab Four. The series was writtten by Oscar nominated writer John Dunn. It was produced  by Alex Brodax and George Dunning, who also created Yellow Submarine. The voices were not actually the Beatles, but were voiced by American Paul Frees (who also did Boris Badenov in Bullwinkle), and Englishman Lance Percival (who also wrote children’s books). Continue reading →

Saturday mornings are Now “Truly Outrageous”

As an “old,” it increasingly takes a lot more effort to make me go “squee!” over something. So when I learned the Hub Network has started re-airing episodes of “Jem,” an involuntary “squee!” emanated from yours truly.

Back in the ’80s, Saturday morning cartoons were the thing to do and at 11AM on NBC, I made sure to be front and center for my weekly dose of Jem & the Holograms, a multi-racial, technologically-advanced girl band whose lead singer could change persona — the headstrong Jerrica Benton and the rock star, Jem — thanks to “magic” earrings acquired from a hologram, better known as Synergy. Continue reading →

Liveblog of Game 7 of the NHL Eastern Conference Finals

Live blog time!

Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Eastern Conference Finals between the Boston Bruins and the Tampa Bay Lightning starts tonight at 8ET. For some reason, I’ve been given clearance to liveblog the game. As I often say when making terrible calls in Euchre: “Let’s see how this goes.”

Game 7: it’s what separates the highly-paid men who will continue playing from the other highly-paid men who will retire to their deluxe mansions.

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Glee — ZOMG New York!!!, or Times Square is The Worst


This episode was torture, pure torture. The very idea of rewatching this episode so that I can write this recap made my heart cry. In a fit of procrastination, I tried to think of things I would rather do than watch this episode again and I came up with the following: 1. I’d rather watch a sex tape starring my grandparents; 2. I’d rather eat horse testicle soup; 3. I’d rather drink the water in Mexico; 4. I’d rather get lost in Chicago’s South Side in the daytime wearing heels, without my CTA card and cell phone; and 5. I’d rather get crabs. Continue reading →

American Idol Recap: God Bless the Broken Throat – UPDATED

We have reached the merciful, God-fearing, flag covered, chastity belt wearing, boot scoot boogeying end of this, the longest season on American Idol history. J.Lo’s legs couldn’t squeeze more cheese out of this show had they been wrapped around Seacrest’s neck. In summary, it was a little bit country and not at all rock and roll – a good old fashioned ho-down! Continue reading →

Summer 2011 TV Preview

Summer TV gets a bad rap. I should know; I’m one of those people who’s always hated it. But have you really taken a look at summer’s offerings recently? I mean really looked, beyond shows like Wipeout and Generic Reality Show: Fifth Season of Jackassery. Because ya know what? Somehow, while we were busy actually getting some sun and fresh air, summer TV was out getting…kinda good. Sure, it’s good in a super trashy, intellect-free sort of way–especially now that Mad Men won’t be airing until 2012–but really, isn’t throwing seriousness to the wind what summer is all about?

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The Replacements – Reports From the 2011 Upfronts

Impatience may seem like a childish trait, but having to wait doesn’t really get any easier as you get older. Being able to legally drink doesn’t make it any easier when the concert you can’t wait to go to is still three months away. Having a real job and responsibilities hardly takes the edge off the fact that the newest Geraldine Brooks novel won’t be available in paperback for another year, or that Final Fantasy MDCCLXXVI is still light years away. And seeing those first gray hairs certainly doesn’t help with the fact that Mad Men won’t be reappearing until 2012 and 30 Rock‘s return revolves around baby Fey-Richmond’s arrival. Continue reading →