I've been saying for years that Shep Smith, who anchors the Fox Report on Fox News, is a class act. He did an heroic job - along Anderson Cooper of CNN, Geraldo Rivera of Fox News, and other reporters on the scene -- in holding the Bush government to account for… Read full post »

Back with clockwork weekly reviews of Dexter Season 4. Episode 5 was on tonight, the first new episode since my sneak preview non-spoiler review of the first four episodes last month.

What I couldn't tell you in that non-spoiler review was that Lundy and Debra would be shot at the end… Read full post »

I mentioned in my review of the FlashForward’s fine premiere last week the Oceanic Airlines billboard that appeared in a Los Angeles scene. I said it was a nod to Lost. I think it’s worth another blog post to say it’s much more.

What that billboard does is proclaim that… Read full post »

Well, the gang's back at the hospital on House 6.2 tonight, but House is not, and that means neither will the gang before too long.

House has his license back, but quits his job at the hospital, on the logic that he can't just go back to his old way… Read full post »

A brutally honest episode 3.7 of Mad Men tonight, that starts with Peggy out cold with a man in bed, Don beaten unconscious on some hotel room floor, and centers around Don's unwillingness to sign a three-year contract with Sterling Cooper.

In the flashbacks which mostly roll out the story, Conrad Hil… Read full post »

As a lead-up to the premiere of ABC's new series FlashForward this Thursday - which I'll be reviewing here, and every subsequent episode - I thought you might enjoy this in-depth interview I conducted week before last with Robert J. Sawyer, author of the novel upon which the series is based.

Rob… Read full post »

Heroes returned for Season 4 last night, with a two-hour premiere that was less apocalyptic than usual, and therefore I actually found more enjoyable. For the first time I can recall with Heroes, I was able to sit down and relax with it. In part this was because of the story… Read full post »

Well, I said earlier that joining of forces would be the way to defeat Maryann in True Blood, and it sure was, but the joining consisted of fewer forces, which in turn led to a surprise at the very end.

With all humans under Maryann's power, it's up to Bill and Sam… Read full post »

The best moment in last night's True Blood 2.11 was Bill threatening Eric about Sookie. This red hot triangle is the heart and soul of the season.

Bill's meeting the Queen was also pretty good. I especially liked her entourage standing by the pool, and she had a good line about… Read full post »

An even edgier than usual episode 3.3 of Mad Men tonight, delving into -

Racism -

1. Don and Betty's daughter Sally (wonderfully played by Kiernan Shipka) finishes reading from Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire to Grandpa. She leaves, comes back in the room, and swipes a $5 bill from… Read full post »

What a day ... Ellie Greenwich also died today. She was 68. She wrote rock classics such as "Be My Baby" with Phil Specter and her then-husband Jeff Barry. With Jeff, she discovered Neil Diamond and produced his early great records. Ellie and Jeff performed as the Raindrops, and also wrote… Read full post »

Well, we finally got to see Maryann the maenad vs the assorted forces of good in last night's episode 2.10 of True Blood on HBO. And, as befitting a not yet quite season finale, the results were tantalizingly inclusive.

1. Bill gives Maryann's neck a go, and ends up sick to his… Read full post »

A second episode of the third season of Mad Men tonight, especially rich in Spring 1963 historical detail...

Don says the family will go to Carvel, after they do stuff the kids will find boring in Tarrytown. Ah, Carvel ... its first store was opened on Central Avenue, not far from where… Read full post »

Private, for-profit health insurance companies are self-contradictory. They cannot pursue profits - try to make as much money as possible - and support necessary health care. I know this from first-hand experience.

Years ago, when our son was a little boy, he contracted a type of pneumonia that did no… Read full post »

Well, I predicted last week that Godric would not survive the bomb blast. I was wrong - he did survive. But I was right that he would not survive too long.

True Blood 2.9 had an ending that cried out to the cosmos, as Godric stands on the roof in the dawning… Read full post »

A tip-top Season 3 premiere of Mad Men tonight. Betty's well into her pregnancy, the Brits have taken over the firm, and-

1. The head of accounts is fired. Pete is told he'll be the new accounts chief. He's chuffed, as only Pete can be. But his pure joy is… Read full post »

Les Paul died today - he was 94. He was known as one of the inventors of the electric guitar, which became the essential instrument of rock 'n' roll. Just as important, he also developed overdubbing and multi-track recording.

You can hear it on his hit records with his wife, Mary Ford… Read full post »

With the publication of my latest book, New New Media, just weeks away (Penguin Academics will be publishing the book on 4 September 2009),  I thought I would share with you the interview Dr. Howard Gluss did with me on his KFNX Radio show on June 12, 2009.  It provides a… Read full post »

It was nice to meet another member of Brenda Leigh's extended family on The Closer last night. Her niece is having problems at home, so she's staying with her grandparents (Brenda's parents). But Brenda's mother has a better idea - the niece can stay for the summer with Brenda!

But lest we… Read full post »

It was good to see Andy agree to be Baby Botwin's father on Weeds 5.8 last Monday. He's morphed from a sage, hilarious nut to a sage, hilarious nut who also has deep sense of responsibility and Jewish tradition. Andy was always a good uncle. Now he's stepping up to be… Read full post »

Nurse Jackie - the Showtime series about the tough-as-nails nurse with a raging pill addiction and a heart of golden compassion - is eight episodes in, and still getting better with every episode, which is pretty good indeed.

Edie Falco in the lead now seems much more like Jackie than Carmela, which… Read full post »

Good to hear President Obama tonight characterize the Cambridge, MA police as acting "stupidly" in their arrest of Harvard professor Skip Gates in his home for disorderly conduct. Gates, an African-American, had trouble getting into his home - the door was jammed - so he went in via the back door… Read full post »

Forty years since we humans walked on the Moon - on July 20, 1969.

I was thrilled at the time, and still am, but I already could tell then that it would be a long time before our species got much farther. Lots of people, even back then, didn't seem to care… Read full post »

Kudos to Senator Al Franken for bringing up the importance of the Internet and First Amendment today in his questions to Judge Sotomayor in her Senate confirmation hearings.

Franken asked Sotomayor if she agreed with the importance of keeping "the Internet the Internet" - or free, as it has been.

Sotom… Read full post »