TV doesn’t seem to have “seasons” any more. I grew up with the arrival of fall meaning the start of both the school year and the new TV shows. Shows that didn’t last the full season were replaced in late winter, and summer was “rerun season,” which was basically a good excuse to leave the TV off and get out of the house to enjoy the long evenings (or stay in and catch up on […]
Tag: pop culture: TV
Comic Con: The Warm-Up Act – or, how we spent our 5th anniversary
Tall Paul and I observed our fifth anniversary – of our first date – this past weekend. We’ve usually commemorated it by returning to the place we met for lunch that day, but we just learned that it’s closed. It was just as well, though, since we’d made other plans for that day. I may have mentioned previously that we’re planning to attend Comic Con International in San Diego this summer. Tall Paul went to […]
Meeting a Real Character (Weekend Assignment #313)
Never ask me to pick my single favorite anything – when it comes to things like that, I have serious commitment issues. Karen‘s Weekend Assignment question is along those lines: Weekend Assignment #313: Through some miracle of colliding realities, you have the opportunity to meet a fictional character, face to face. Which character would you most like to meet, and why? Extra Credit: What question would you most like to ask that character? Extra extra […]
Tuesday Tangents: TV Edition
As much as I obsess about keeping up with the blog posts in my Google Reader, my husband’s anxiety is provoked by unwatched TV shows recorded on the DVR. There was reason to be concerned about that with our first DVR box; since he prefers to record shows in high-def, the hard drive tended to fill up pretty fast and shows might be automatically deleted to make space, but we don’t seem to have that […]
Writers or Actors – who gets you to watch? (Weekend Assignment #281)
In this Assignment, Karen has asked what lures us to watch what’s onscreen – the people we see there, or the ones behind the scenes. Weekend Assignment: #281: Who has a greater impact on your decision to go to a movie or watch a tv show, the actors you see on the screen, or the behind the scenes writers, producers and/or directors? Extra Credit: Who is your favorite actor? I’ve said it before, and here’s […]
The day the icons died (June 25, 2009)
We’ve all heard that old saying about deaths coming in threes, but rarely do two of the three happen on the same day. One of the world’s best-known sidekicks (and sweepstakes spokesmen), Ed McMahon, passed away at the beginning of last week. On Thursday, former poster girl Farrah Fawcett died of cancer after weeks of deathbed vigil by her long-time partner, Ryan O’Neal. And only a few hours after word got out about Farrah, the […]
TV in My Memory (Weekend Assignment #266)
Weekend Assignment #266: The release of the blockbuster Star Trek prequel movie reboots a franchise for a cult TV show that had a huge impact on generations of SF TV viewers. Is there a TV series from your youth that you remember especially fondly? Extra Credit: Have you bought the aforementioned TV series on DVD? If not, would you if it were readily available at a reasonable price? Karen‘s own post for this Weekend Assignment […]
Not-Entirely-Fearless Predictions! (Weekend Assignment #263)
Karen has issued a challenge this week, rather than given a mere assignment – predict the future! Weekend Assignment #263 : Predict one, two or three things you expect to happen (or so you claim!) before 2009 is over. It can be a logical extrapolation from current conditions, wish fulfillment, an attempt to show off your psychic ability, if any, or random silliness, or some combination thereof. Extra Credit: Have you ever predicted something unlikely, […]
Life and death – and cancellation – on Mars
Back in January, talking about some of my favorite returning TV shows, I said: Life on Mars was the only new series we sampled this fall, and we got totally hooked. (No, I never saw the British original, so please don’t tell me how much better it was; for the record, I never watched the original British version of The Office, either.) This show’s a head trip, and a lot of fun to watch. Detective […]
Coming soon to a DVR near me – the winter TV season!
To me, September feels more like “New Year’s” time than January does, because for most of my life it’s been linked to the beginnings of two very important annual events – the school year and the fall TV season. Back-to-school will still impact my life for at least nine more years, but recently, the arrival of new TV episodes in the fall has met with less fanfare. There are a few reasons for that – […]
Weekend Assignment #242: Back to TV Land
Karen is firing up the Wayback Machine for a trip to TV Land with this Assignment: Weekend Assignment #242: Local television used to feature lots of kids’ shows and late night movies, often featuring a colorful local host. Share a memory of local TV of yesteryear. During my childhood, I lived in Fairfield County, Connecticut, less than an hour’s drive from New York City (traffic being favorable, that is). Most of the TV stations we […]
Ten on Tuesday: On TV
This week’s edition of Ten On Tuesday recognizes that fall isn’t just back-to-school season, “it’s back-to-the-couch to-watch-TV” season too. Old favorite shows come back with new episodes, and potential new favorites are introduced (or die within three weeks). “10 Great/Awful Things About Television Today” will be divided into two parts, five of each. Let’s get the bad news out of the way first: 200+ channels, and so little worth watching. I guess when you have […]
