Ever notice that the NYTimes.com most-emailed list is slanted toward an older demographic? Maybe because only folks over a certain age—like our Aunt Mabel—still use the email tool. Here’s a quick, annotated guide to what grandma and grandpa thought you might be interested in from NYTimes.com …
An Observation: Aunt Mabel really couldn’t care less Read More
Referring to the ever-shifting consensus of the cable news world, Barack Obama noted at a Democratic fund-raising dinner on Wednesday night that "One day, I'm a genius. One day, I'm a bum. You know, every day there's a new winner and a new loser."
Of course, it's not just talking heads on cable television Read More
Are you ready for all Lincoln all the time? Do you worry that you’ll need some help in cutting through the bicentennial blather? If you’re looking for a quick refresher (as opposed, say, to the two-part, six volume mythologizing biography Carl Sandburg completed in 1939), try The Best American History Essays on Lincoln (Palgrave Macmillan, Read More
The 60th Annual Emmy Awards nominations have been announced, and as Gillian Reagan points out on our sister blog, Culture Czar, quality television purveyor HBO was shut out of the Best Drama category. There wasn’t even a spot for The Wire, which finished its final season beneath an avalanche of critical Read More
Now that HBO has hired Tina Brown and Frank Rich for consulting gigs, Felix Gillette wonders, "So what’s next?" He also notes, "the truly free-range journalist-consultant—one with a broad editorial mandate to roam here and there gnawing lustfully on some projects while trampling others willy-nilly—remains a rare and exotic beast."
Speaking of television, Doree Read More
Over the past few weeks, HBO has announced a series of moves to stem the tide of speculation that the network is faltering. After canceling 12 Miles of Bad Road, a series starring Lily Tomlin, HBO announced deals with Oscar winners Alexander Payne (of Sideways and Election fame) to develop a dark comedy called Hung, Read More
Nikki Finke’s Deadline Hollywood Daily brings news that Frank Rich has been hired as a consultant for HBO.
Mr. Rich will continue to write his weekly New York Times op-ed column. The writer tells Ms. Finke, "It’s the start of a new chapter in my life that’s fun, quite frankly. I’ve been stage Read More
Last night, The New York Times turned its lobby into a party space, complete with couches, at least three open bars and a band. Press was denied access, but as was most of the newsroom.
Except for those who were invited. A press release said that the building opened before a "glittering crowd" Read More
In a move akin to firing Bobby Knight and replacing him with Woody Hayes, CBS Radio has at last settled on a successor for Don Imus’s old morning drive slot.
He is Craig Carton, and his proudest moment on the New Jersey airwaves probably came in 2005, when a sitting Governor threatened to beat him Read More
In all the fuss and hype over the film version of Michael Bennett’s 1981 Broadway musical Dreamgirls, one big, essential thing has been forgotten—the blazing achievement of the original production. At least for me, no movie could ever capture the excitement of seeing the show: I’d never seen anything like it before (nor since).
Based Read More
