Catherine gets a new job offer, Father receives a disturbing message, and grad students are evil, evil people. Continue reading »
Posted in August 2012 …
The Top 30 Shows in WB and UPN History: 30-25
Yes, there are apparently 30 shows in WB/UPN history worth mentioning. Continue reading »
Review: The Dick Van Dyke Show, “Sol and the Sponsor”
Laura and Rob’s dinner plans are complicated by Sol in an episode that does’t really inspire a strong opinion. Continue reading »
TV Book Club: Season Finale, Prologue – Chapter 3
Kerensa “WHAT” Cadenas and Eric Thurm join the book club as we talk about fin-syn, celebrity power couples, and cast the Aaron Sorkin-scripted adaptation of the book. Continue reading »
This Was Television On August 31
2001: Mr. Rogers hangs up his cardigan A public television mainstay, Fred Rogers welcomed neighbors young and old into Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood for over 30 years. Mr. Rogers entertained and educated multiple generations of children with his avuncular style, signature music and lessons, and the help of the puppet citizens of the Neighborhood of Make-Believe. After … Continue reading »
Team-Up Review: My So-Called Life, “Dancing in the Dark”
Parents, crushes, and fitting in are just some of the topics Emma and Julie tackle through the lens of MSCL this week. Continue reading »
Review: So Weird, “Escape” and “Simplicity”
This week’s episodes still show that “So Weird” is figuring itself out, but that they remain fundamental for both the series and to Disney Channel. Continue reading »
Roundtable Review: Blackadder the Third, “Dish and Dishonesty,” “Ink and Incapability,” and “Nob and Nobility”
This Was Television casts a vote for the Adder Party, as Blackadder the Third begins. Hurrah! Continue reading »
This Was Television On August 30
1993: David Letterman moves his show to CBS After NBC chose Jay Leno to succeed Johnny Carson as host of The Tonight Show, Letterman departed his network home of a decade in favor of an 11:35 p.m. time slot of his own at CBS. The Late Show with David Letterman refined the style and comic arsenal of Late … Continue reading »
Review: Prime Suspect, Series 3
Prime Suspect’s third series sends Jane Tennison to Vice, where she finds an old rival and a dangerous cover-up while investigating a dead rent boy. Continue reading »
Same As It Ever Was?: Star Trek After Gene Roddenberry
In a new feature, J. Walker explores the humanity of Star Trek — and its creator’s weird relationship with it. Continue reading »
This Was Television On August 29
1967: Dr. Richard Kimble stops running After being pursued across the country for four seasons and 120 episodes, Dr. Kimble—a.ka., The Fugitive—found justice at last. The drama’s twin manhunts, as the wrongfully accused Kimble tracked the one-armed man who murdered his wife while police led by Lt. Gerard tracked Kimble, culminated in “The Judgment, Part 2.” Drawing … Continue reading »
1970s Fun Flops: Blansky’s Beauties
Jaime Weinman interrogates “jiggle TV” in his latest 1970s fun flops column. Continue reading »
Review: Onisama e…, “Mariko…” and “Under the Elm Tree”
Mariko goes on a hunger strike, and Miya-sama increases her abuse of Saint Juste-sama. So, you know, just another week at Seiran. Continue reading »
This Was Television On August 28
1968: The whole world watches Three days of mounting tension came to a head as protestors and police clashed outside the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. The riots culminated in a police assault on the crowds outside the convention-hosting Hilton Hotel, captured live by news cameras as the protestors cried “the whole world is watching!”. … Continue reading »
Coming Soon: This Was Television’s Hall of Fame
Cory and Les announce the TWTV Hall of Fame project. Rock the vote! Continue reading »
Review: Miami Vice, “Heart of Darkness” and “Cool Runnin’”
Miami Vice avoids the post-pilot nadir with a surprising focus on character. Continue reading »
This Was Television On August 27
2006: Deadwood departs the dial After three seasons on HBO, the acclaimed David Milch drama aired what would ultimately be its final episode. Cost and contract issues intially spelled the end in lieu of a formal cancellation. Chatter in the summer of 2006—and in pretty much every subsequent season since—speculated that Milch would soon formally conclude … Continue reading »
This Was Television On August 26
1939: MLB plays ball on TV for the first time The Cincinnati Reds met the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field in the first Major League Baseball contest to be aired on television. Experimental New York City station W2XBS, the forerunner to today’s WNBC-TV, carried the game. Regular TV programming of any sort, sports included, was … Continue reading »
This Was Television On August 25
1900: The first appearance of the word “television” It was Russian scientist Constantin Perskyi who coined the word in a paper presented to the International Electricity Congress at Paris’s World’s Fair. The paper, “Télévision au moyen de l’électricité” (“Television through electricity”) discussed electromagnetic technology and contemplated the possibility of using it to transmit images over … Continue reading »
Review: Beauty and the Beast, “Masques” and “The Beast Within”
It’s Halloween in New York, and that means Vincent can spend some quality time with Catherine (despite lousy subplotting). Continue reading »
