All the News That's Fit to Print: 42 Inch Television in the New York Times

Hey folks! I was asked to participate in an online discussion forum on the New York Times blog "Room for Debate". The topic: how network television is about to go down the drain. Pretty awesome, right? Here's an excerpt!

It seems that even if the alert level on economic strife didn’t hit “severe” in the last few months, television networks would still be in great trouble. Broadcast programming isn’t just on the precipice of becoming less culturally significant than it was 20 years ago; it has already gone over the edge, free-falling into possible oblivion.

You can read the rest here.

And speaking of self-promotion, feel free to start following me on Twitter!

The Life and Death of Logic and Continuity: Lost Recapped

Gregg Nation needs to get fired.

Mr. Nation was profiled last month in the New York Times because he's the man responsible for keeping track of all the comings and goings on Lost; he's the script coordinator (and, also, a co-producer). Mr. Nation has an entire Word document devoted to this task and, were he to print it out, the file would apparently rival War and Peace for pages. The article in the Times paints him as one of those people who have a dream job--the only thing he really has to do is watch Lost for a living and keep track of it. Millions of people do that every week, but Mr. Nation is the only one getting paid for it.

We're Not Going to Guam, Are We?

For those of you, like me, who haven't been completely sold on the fifth season of Lost, but have waited patiently for the show to finally (finally!) regain the narrative footing that made it so grand in previous years, this was the episode for you. To put it bluntly: "316" wasn't just the best episode of the entire season by far (suck on that "Jughead"!), but there is a strong chance it ranked as one of the five best episodes in the entire run of the series.

Strike Out: Why Eastbound & Down Sucks

Can we all officially agree that Danny McBride isn't funny? The recent belle-of-the-comedy-ball and the man seemingly hand chosen by Will Ferrell and Judd Apatow to be the next big thing has been rubbing me the wrong way in nearly all of his appearances during the past year. Having re-watched Pineapple Express this weekend, I can safely say that not only does it reside firmly in the "not good" category, but Mr. McBride's performance is atrocious. Save one great line ("You just got killed by a Daewoo Lanos motherfucker!"), I didn't laugh at one thing he said. He fared a little better in Tropic Thunder, basically doing the same character--a redneck with a mullet--but that doesn't really say much. And from the looks of the trailer for Observe and Report, it's safe to assume that he'll give audiences another variation on his usual melody.

Then there's his new HBO comedy series Eastbound & Down.

In a word: Oof.

La Isla de La Muerte: Lost Recapped

Slowly (very slowly) but surely (not so surely), Lost is piecing itself back together again. The last two episodes, despite leaps of logic and frustrating flaws, have been relatively excellent. Last night's hilariously/ominously titled "This Place is Death" managed to procure some of the best and most intense sequences I've seen on the show in some time. (Eight words: The smoke monster ripped off some dudes arm!!) That's not to say we're out of the woods yet; unfortunately Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof have lost the thread and pacing of what makes the show ever-so-great. Like the frozen donkey wheel before Locke finally set it back on its axis, the balance of the show is off--too much Island, not enough LA/not enough Island, too much LA. Hopefully we're finally getting everything back to normal. And by "normal", I mean "totally and completely not normal and wildly confusing".

In lieu of thousands of words, here are some of my observations from "This Place is Death". Spoilers, people!

Road Trip: Michael & Pam Bring Life to The Office

I've been a pretty vocal opponent of The Office recently. But! We had a good reason. With the exception of a few episodes here and there, the past two seasons have highlighted everything that is wrong with the show. It's been a rough ride--cartoonish, ridiculous, and, most criminal of all, completely stupid. Take the post-Super Bowl edition, a stand alone episode that meant to bring The Office to a whole new audience. Dwight locked everyone in the office while he set a fire and Michael--sensitive and thin-skinned Michael--thought it would be a good idea to allow his staff to roast him. The fact that it was all so dumb prevented any comedy from being allowed to exist.

So then consider how excited we were during last night's utterly brilliant episode entitled "Lecture Circuit."

The Lady in the Water: Lost Recapped

Okay, sure: I loved last night's episode--the closest thing to an actual Lost episode we've been treated to this season. But, naturally, I still had some problems. Check out the post I wrote for the New York Observer to get a sense of my issues. Look! An excerpt!

Meanwhile, from the moment Charlotte found the wreckage of a French ship on the beach, following yet another time travel flash, it was clear we were going to encounter a young Rousseau. That's something we can all get behind, but Lost teased that reveal out for a good fifteen minutes, literally sucking the life out of any jolt hearing her name at the end of the episode would have given. Come on guys, quicken the pace if you want to leave us mouth agape!

Fun times, right? Read the rest right here.