Tuesday, January 11 2011
Undead and Kicking: Zombies and Betty White Ruled TV in 2010
It was difficult to turn on your TV this past year without seeing the undead... make that the undead and Betty White.
Friday, January 7 2011
The Year in Television Conspiracies
Secret, usually evil, plots dominated TV drama in 2010, from Lost, Rubicon, and Persons Unknown to 24, V, Flashforward, and Terriers.
Thursday, January 6 2011
The Best DVDs of 2010
As the medium continues to struggle with significance in the steady "streaming" of the 21st Century, here are PopMatters' picks for the best the format(s) have to offer.
Tuesday, January 4 2011
The Guilty Pleasure Television of 2010
As if it wasn't already a lamentable leisure time suck, here are ten more reasons why TV rules our daily routine - perhaps more than it should.
Friday, December 24 2010
Have Yourself a Counter-Culture XMas: Red-Nosed Misfits, Elven Outlaws & Bearded Marxists
The TV versions of Rudolph, Santa, and Frosty are chaotic, freewheeling, and anarchic -- closer in spirit to Heath Ledger's Joker than to Bing Crosby's Father O'Malley.
Wednesday, December 1 2010
Oprah, Australia, and Tourism: Defining ‘Nation’ as ‘Product’
Since 2008, the "Oprah connection" has helped market Australia-the-product and illustrates an intriguing link among nations, television, film, and successful tourism.
Monday, November 29 2010
Meme Maker: The Slater-Dodson Effect
If you are a fame-seeker that is paying attention, you've seen that the best way to get noticed is to get on TV -- in whatever way possible -- and bypass the usual arbiters of entertainment. It is a recipe for fame without any marketable talent: simply create a situation that centers on you.
Tuesday, November 23 2010
The New Champion: An Interview with Bear McCreary of ‘Human Target’
Bear McCreary’s musical versatility has made him one of the most sought-after composers in television. In an interview with PopMatters, McCreary reveals his unabashed love of film and television scoring as he talks about his latest release, the soundtrack to Season One of Human Target.
Monday, November 22 2010
20 Questions: Lee Majors
Veteran actor Lee Majors is back as Col. Steve Austin of The Six Million Dollar Man (complete series releasing on DVD), as the father to the role where he was once the son, in the upcoming film, The Big Valley and as a rather Colt Seavers-like character (of The Fall Guy) here at PopMatters 20 Questions.
Tuesday, November 9 2010
20 Questions: Autumn Reeser
On the small screen alone, Autumn Reeser is also known as ‘Taylor Townsend’ in the final two seasons of 'The OC'; as Jr. agent Lizzie Grant in 'Entourage', and as ‘Katie’, in 'No Ordinary Family', and here at PopMatters 20 Questions she's known as, well, the charming Autumn Reeser.
Friday, October 15 2010
An Original Mad Man Reflects on the Real ‘Mad Men’ and the Show
As Mad Men hurtles toward the final episode of its fourth season, a former real life Mad Man reviews the show's pilot episode. That man? My father.
Thursday, September 30 2010
Quality Time with the Powells: The Ordinary Anxiety of ‘No Ordinary Family’
While Julie Benz and Michael Chiklis both shuffle off darker roles in their recent past to become the core of ABC's new No Ordinary Family, the show itself might prove exceptional in its use of simple social structures in a time of a collapsing middle-class.
Tuesday, September 21 2010
Five Pluses for ‘Hawaii Five-O’: Reasons to Watch Yet Another Re-imagining
Hawaii Five-O’s looks, charm, and attitude may get mainlanders to take up surfing -- but not among channels.
American Ghost Towns and the Anti-Apocalyptic Road Trip of ‘Supernatural’
The CW's Supernatural returns for its sixth season on 24 September in its new Friday night time slot. For five years Dean and Sam Winchester have have been on a road trip through "the old, weird America" in an effort to forestall the Apocalypse and battle pure evil.
Thursday, September 16 2010
Time Capsule of Our Culture: 1968’s ‘Hawaii Five-O’
When Alex O’Loughlin becomes Steve McGarrett on September 20, 2010, he ushers in Hawaii Five-O for a new generation and a new millennium. The re-imagined series will be viewed and critically reviewed on its own merits, but it can’t escape the original’s place in pop culture.
Friday, September 10 2010
Vampire Misogyny: Violence in ‘True Blood’
From the beginning of its debut, True Blood has pushed the edge of what was possible with TV violence and sex. But is there any point to the extreme sex and violence on the show? And has it gone too far?
Wednesday, September 8 2010
‘The Wire’ As American Noir
The Wire’s intentional difficulty and rigor -- along with academia’s ongoing love affair with cultural studies -- might very well explain its emerging as a centerpiece in a growing number of courses at many colleges and universities in the United States.
Monday, August 16 2010
Dude Looks Like a Lady: Examining Kurt Hummel’s Gender Construction on ‘Glee’
The bottom line, to paraphrase Sue Sylvester, the resident Queen of Mean on Glee, is that Americans want their gays so flaming you can see them from space.
Monday, August 2 2010
Captain Jack As a Digital Weapon: Launching ‘Torchwood’ Comic #1
Is Torchwood the true “digital weapon” that can successfully market its stories in any medium—not just TV episodes, but also novels, radio plays, and now a comic book?
Friday, July 23 2010
“Being Human”... Even When the Monsters Win
The BBC series Being Human chronicles the attempts by three roommates -- one a vampire, one a werewolf, and one a ghost -- to live decent, normal lives in a world inhospitable to them. But who are the real monsters?
