Posted on January 7, 2014 at 3:12 pm
This year, I’ll be watching from home, too! Be sure to tune in to see the Critics Choice Awards on January 16, 2014, 8 Eastern and Pacific, on the CW. The host is “The Talk’s” witty and beautiful Aisha Tyler.
Posted on January 7, 2014 at 9:33 am
Here’s a treat to warm up this cold snap! This week’s case on “The Good Wife” concerned the use of a song on a “Glee”-style television show. The cast decided to engage in some very un-courtroom-like behavior. I got a special kick out of seeing Christine Baranski, who has danced in movies like “Mamma Mia!” and “Birdcage” and on stage, bopping along with her hair in curlers.
Posted on January 6, 2014 at 4:34 pm
Saturday Night Live has added Sasheer Zamata to the cast. She graduated from the University of Virginia and has performed with the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater. SNL producer Lorne Michaels has been criticized for the lack of diversity in the cast and has recently been auditioning several women of color. The recent episode hosted by Kerry Washington spoofed SNL’s failure to have a black woman in the cast since Maya Rudolph left five years ago by having Washington keep running off stage to play several different roles. Sasheer Zamata looks like a terrific addition to the cast and I hope the audition process produced several other candidates we will see later on.
Posted on January 3, 2014 at 3:59 pm
Yes, I want you to limit everyone in the family’s screen time, even when it’s cold out. But there’s something to reward you — some great stuff to watch for your select television time.
Returning favorites:
Community: Creator Dan Harmon is back, which is very good news for the mega-fans of this meta-comedy.
Episodes: The wickedly funny Showtime series about English writers who come to Los Angeles is back with a reunited Beverly and Sean dealing with their star — Matt LeBlanc in a hilarious version of himself — in a career slump.
Switched at Birth: “Breaking Bad’s” R.J. Mitte joins the cast as a possible love interest for Daphne and Sandra Bernhard shows up as a mentor for Bay.
Downton Abbey: Six months after the birth of her baby and the death of her husband, Lady Mary and her family struggle with financial and emotional upheavals as the Jazz age and its upheavals dawn.
Sherlock: Benedict Cumberbatch returns for three 90-minute mysteries.
Justified: Sheriff Raylan (Timothy Olyphant) copes with first-time fatherhood and trouble with his frenemy Boyd.
Intriguing newcomers:
True Detective: Real-life pals Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey star in this dark crime drama as Louisiana state cops on the hunt for a serial killer over a 17-year period.
Being Mary Jane: The always-watchable Gabrielle Union takes the title character from made-for-TV movie to series as a news anchor whose personal life can get chaotic.
Rake: Greg Kinnear plays a top criminal defense trial lawyer who has a lot of problems outside the courtroom, including IRS trouble and a gambling addiction. This is the US version of a hugely popular Australian series.
Under the Gunn: “Project Runway” mentor Tim Gunn and two of the series’ most creative designers, Mondo and Anya star in a new fashion competition series.
Star-Crossed: Alien teenagers infiltrate a small-town high school and hotness ensues.
Posted on January 3, 2014 at 8:00 am
Salon has an article about the success of American television series in France.
It’s hard to underestimate the impact of “Friends” in paving the way for “The Big Bang Theory” and “How I Met Your Mother,” not just in terms of structure but international appeal. Throughout the ’90s, the show was so popular with viewers abroad that foreign policy advisers felt it was helping warm foreigners’ views toward Americans, furthering American global influence. Harvard scholar Joseph Nye coined the term “soft power” in 1989, arguing that American culture and values “remain attractive,” even when our governments prove internationally unpopular.
“Friends” has been key to the changing marketplace of global television. Research from Kaplan International in 2012 showed that “Friends” was the most popular show in helping foreigners learn English, with 26% of English students saying that watching episodes of the program helped them pick up on American idioms.
The program is so embedded in how foreigners understand English that Kaplan’s Martin Hofschroer claimed he once heard his Arab cab driver use Chandler Bing’s famous catchphrase. While stuck in New York’s infamous auto congestion, his cabbie shouted, “Could there be any more traffic?”
Because “The Big Bang Theory” is similarly popular with French speakers, some professors are even integrating it into the classroom.
I like to think that the idea of brilliant characters who understand the mysteries of the universe but struggle with relationships has universal appeal. And I like even better the idea that it is what we laugh at that brings us together.
