The A.V. Club - The A.V. Club Blog

TV: The A.V. Club Blog: TCA press tour, days nine and 10: Network programming is a madman's game

Sat, 15 Jan 2011 22:28:00 -0600

The biggest benefit of the TCA press tour to people who cover this industry from a business perspective, rather than an artistic perspective, is the chance to be in the same room as the heads of the various networks who come here. There was so much grumbling about the fact that NBC canceled its executive session (using as an excuse the fact that the network’s merger with Comcast has yet to be officially approved and, thus, no one’s quite sure who’s going to be heading up what, even though the head of programming, at least, should be ...

TV: The A.V. Club Blog: TCA press tour, days seven and eight: Community, Community, Community: Now that we have your attention ...

Fri, 14 Jan 2011 12:31:00 -0600

I don’t know if you’ve heard this, but NBC is in trouble. Nothing the network does seems to work, and the two shows it had that it could have conceivably called “hits,” The Biggest Loser and The Office, are both long in the tooth. And they were never top ten shows to begin with, outside of that one time The Office was after the Super Bowl. The network’s Thursday comedies gather lots of Internet buzz and critical praise, but that doesn’t mean much of anything when it comes to the Nielsens, leading to the network entering ...

TV: The A.V. Club Blog: TCA press tour, day six: Fox would like you to meet a little show named American Idol

Wed, 12 Jan 2011 09:41:00 -0600

When you’ve got one of the biggest buzz hits on television, you can afford to do pretty much whatever the hell you want, and Fox finds itself in that enviable position now that it has Glee on its schedule. The network’s fall was so soft that two of its three new shows disappeared without a trace and the other, Raising Hope, lacks the strong ratings you’d expect for a show that just got a second season pickup. Its signature hit, American Idol, is entering a season where it’s betting almost entirely that its continued status as ...

TV: The A.V. Club Blog: TCA press tour, day five: ABC just gives up

Tue, 11 Jan 2011 09:43:00 -0600

ABC is a network in a very weird place. On the one hand, they have Dancing With The Stars, which was the number one show on television last fall, and Modern Family, which has Two And A Half Men in its sights on its way toward becoming the number one comedy on television. On the other hand, they have a whole batch of shows, from Grey’s Anatomy and Desperate Housewives to Detroit 1-8-7 and No Ordinary Family, that are either old and only getting older or quite clearly placeholders until the network can think of something better to toss ...

TV: The A.V. Club Blog: TCA press tour, days three and four: Hi, we're PBS. You may have heard of us?

Mon, 10 Jan 2011 02:00:00 -0600

For people who write about TV professionally, the TCA press tour is a real boon. While, to a degree, it’s about sessions where the news could be handed out more efficiently via press release, it’s also about seeing how casts and creative teams interact with each other or about tracking down showrunners in moments when they might be more candid than usual and offer up hints on how they’re going to right past wrongs on their series or push forward through a troublesome storyline. (In particular, the interview Alan Sepinwall and a handful of other critics did ...

TV: The A.V. Club Blog: TCA press tour, day two: Sally Draper saves the day

Sat, 08 Jan 2011 02:01:00 -0600

The number of cable networks programming original, scripted programming has exploded in the last five years. (Yesterday, BET told us all about how it was finally launching a scripted bloc, which debuts on Tuesday.) But for the most part, those networks are chasing niches that the main broadcast networks are already chasing or niches that the major networks have abandoned. Think of how USA programs mostly light action dramas, or how Disney and Nickelodeon have picked up the torch ABC’s TGIF lineup dropped. The general idea most TV critics and fans have is that cable is the place for ...

TV: The A.V. Club Blog: TCA press tour, day one: Oprah talks it out

Fri, 07 Jan 2011 01:32:00 -0600

The semi-annual Television Critics Association press tour has always carried a whiff of mystery and allure for me. Years and years ago, when I had a blog and little to no clue how to move beyond that, I would read reports from the event, even for shows I wasn’t terribly interested in, and be bitterly envious of all of the people sitting in that room, watching upcoming shows, talking about those shows with their creative personnel, and getting to talk shop with fellow TV critics. But, OK, now, I’ve been here for a day, and I know that ...

DVD: The A.V. Club Blog: Tim Heidecker to The A.V. Club: "Ya blew it!"

Tue, 21 Dec 2010 19:36:00 -0600

Tim Heidecker of Tim & Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! tweeted some tweets (@timheidecker) earlier today taking issue with our best-TV-of-the-year lists--specifically the fact that neither Awesome Show or Check It Out With Dr. Steve Brule were honored. I know, your first instinct is probably either "He's totally right!" or "Sour grapes, pal." I was actually sort of touched that Heidecker--who I think is one of the two funniest guys on TV, along with Eric Wareheim--cared enough about our opinion that he cared to tweet. (And follow it up with an e-mail saying, "Hey, I shit-talked you a little ...

Music: The A.V. Club Blog: Laugh Track: Dec. 10, 2010

Fri, 10 Dec 2010 12:00:00 -0600

Comedy has gotten much more democratic over the years: It’s no longer limited to guys in clubs or major-network TV shows. With a bit of free time and minimal iMovie know-how, everyone from budding young comics to name-brand stars can carve out some Internet space for their sense of humor. At the same time, traditional outlets like comedy CDs and DVDs are growing in breadth with the art form itself. It’s a great time to be a comedy fan, and Laugh Track, The A.V. Club’s weekly comedy blog, will round it all up—new and noteworthy ...

Music: The A.V. Club Blog: Laugh Track: Dec. 3, 2010

Fri, 03 Dec 2010 12:50:00 -0600

TV: The A.V. Club Blog: Laugh Track: Nov. 19, 2010

Fri, 19 Nov 2010 12:00:00 -0600

Music: The A.V. Club Blog: Laugh Track: November 12, 2010

Fri, 12 Nov 2010 11:06:00 -0600

Comedy has gotten much more democratic over the years: It’s no longer limited to guys in clubs or major-network TV shows. With a bit of free time and minimal iMovie know-how, everyone from budding young comics to name-brand stars can carve out some Internet space for their sense of humor. At the same time, traditional outlets like comedy CDs and DVDs are growing in breadth with the art form itself. It’s a great time to be a comedy fan, and Laugh Track, The A.V. Club’s weekly comedy blog, will round it all up—new and noteworthy ...

Music: The A.V. Club Blog: 'YOU bringing the steez to it': Ghostface Killah drops fashion science

Fri, 05 Nov 2010 13:00:00 -0500

Wednesday afternoon, as many Americans grappled with what the election results meant for our lives and the future, the inimitable Ghostface Killah decided it was high time to talk about your steez. Via nearly 20 rapidly posted tweets, he addressed everything from shoes to jeans to hair and your general attitude. How's your haircut game? A lot of niggas don't know how to get busy. 1:27 PM Nov 3rd via web A lot of y'all muthafuckas just throw on whatever whatever whatever and just think thats whats poppin and it's not poppin man. 1:28 ...

Comedy: The A.V. Club Blog: Laugh Track: Nov. 5, 2010

Fri, 05 Nov 2010 12:00:00 -0500

As of this week, Laugh Track will have a weekly home on The A.V. Club’s blog. With so much happening in the world of comedy, and at such a quick pace, it made more sense to cover the videos, stand-up comedy, sketches, and other projects as they arrive. The sorts of topics Laugh Track includes will not change; only the frequency. To reiterate something from the original Laugh Track introduction, it’s a great time to be a comedy fan. Internet: Full Benefits, Very Mary-Kate, and Hello My Name Is Although CollegeHumor is best known for its epic ...

Music: The A.V. Club Blog: Jefferson Airplane: Live And In Process

Wed, 03 Nov 2010 10:40:00 -0500

In 1987, the 20th anniversary of “The Summer Of Love” touched off a series of reflective broadcast news stories and magazine articles, along with list after list of the best music, movies and ideas that had survived the ensuing decades. I was 16 at the time, about to turn 17, and was already starting to lose my reverence for the rock icons of the late ‘60s. But I was still inclined to devour any piece of pop culture history I came across, so I pored over all those lists, and watched all those special reports. I especially remember a multi-part ...

Film: The A.V. Club Blog: Great Job, Internet!: Tommy Wiseau's The Room gets a dubstep remix

Tue, 19 Oct 2010 15:09:00 -0500

There is perhaps no cheaper way to extend the life of a song than the “dubstep remix,” but when it comes to extending the life of Tommy Wiseau’s cult crapsterpiece The Room, giving the film its own dubstep remix is perhaps a notch above explicitly trying to recreate the film’s unintentional awfulness. Plus it’s got a beat and you can dance to it. So put it on and have a beautiful party and invite all your friends. Good thinking! [Comedy Central]

Music: The A.V. Club Blog: Check out this Superchunk piece from ABC News

Tue, 19 Oct 2010 13:24:00 -0500

Superchunk was featured on ABC News recently, eating noodles at Momofuku Noodle Bar and generally rocking. If you watch the whole thing, you'll even see a reference to The A.V. Club. (Also, why is The Man always trying to co-opt our shit?)

Music: The A.V. Club Blog: Tim Kasher's bad, bad dreams

Mon, 18 Oct 2010 14:07:00 -0500

Any fan of Cursive or The Good Life knows frontman Tim Kasher favors the darkest parts of his personality for inspiration. There’s no emotionally gutting experience he won’t mine for a new set of uncomfortable songs, particularly if it gives him an opportunity to espouse an especially brutal kind of frankness. And that discomfiting closeness is all over his solo debut, The Game Of Monogamy, which I recently reviewed. It's another semi-concept album with a plot arc, so it’s hard to tell how much of it is Kasher himself and how much is a character he ...

TV: The A.V. Club Blog: Thoughts from Flow Conference 2010 (and a question about TV coverage)

Fri, 08 Oct 2010 12:00:00 -0500

Last weekend I was invited down to Austin to appear on a panel titled “The New Criticism?: Academia, Journalism, and Digital Critics” as part of Flow Conference 2010, a biannual meeting of TV-focused academics from around the world, sponsored by The University Of Texas’ on-line forum/journal FlowTV. Because of work obligations, I wasn’t able to check out as much of the conference as I would’ve liked. I attended an evening program in which we screened the first episode of the now-cancelled Fox series Lone Star and had a Q&A with the show’s creator Kyle Killen ...

Film: The A.V. Club Blog: Great Job, Internet!: Michael Bay-ify your photos

Mon, 04 Oct 2010 12:56:00 -0500

Let’s face it: Your photographs and their attempts at “realism” are far too dull and pedestrian for a modern audience. Today’s photo-viewing public demands escapist fantasy: hyper-stylized special effects, dangerous stunts, and the illusion that Shia LaBeouf is an action star. Fortunately, now you don’t have to spend hundreds of millions of dollars tearing up the thoroughfares of various major cities or risking the lives of poorly paid extras to get that crucial element of “kick ass” that can upgrade your images from straight-to-Facebook non-starters to overnight blockbusters. All you need is the Bayifier, which allows anyone ...