Category Archives: TV and movies

Don Adams, best known for his role as Agent Maxwell Smart on TV’s Get Smart, has died at the age of 82. Of all the silly 60s and 70s era sitcoms that I watched as a kid, I’d say Get … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Goodbye, Gilligan. Bob Denver, whose portrayal of goofy castaway Gilligan on the 1960s TV show Gilligan’s Island made him an iconic figure to generations of TV viewers, has died. He was 70. He died Friday at Wake Forest University Baptist … Continue reading → Continue reading →

How happy I am to see a story about Lost – especially one which does not involve lawsuits – in the news. How very happy I am to see that the season premier is a bit more than three weeks … Continue reading → Continue reading →

The number ten national television market, that is. Houston is now officially a Top 10 television market, Nielsen Media Research said Thursday. Houston replaces Detroit, which dropped to No. 11. Nielsen lists Houston as increasing from 2,059,450 TV households to … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Can you picture the TV show “Lost” as a Sid and Marty Krofft production? That’s what this lawsuit says. A Los Angeles writer has sued ABC and producer Touchstone Television for allegedly appropriating his 1977 television concept “Lost” for the … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Remember David Manning, the fake movie critic that was invented by a couple of Sony employees to generate positive buzz for some bad movies? Shortly after that scam was discovered, a group of moviegoers filed a class action lawsuit alleging … Continue reading → Continue reading →

James Doohan has been beamed up for good. James Doohan, the burly chief engineer of the Starship Enterprise in the original “Star Trek” TV series and movies who responded to the command “Beam me up, Scotty,” died Wednesday. He was … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Confession time: Despite being a high school student in the 1980s, I’ve never actually seen any of the John Hughes high school movie trinity. No Sixteen Candles, no The Breakfast Club, and no Pretty in Pink. I know, it’s hard … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I’ve been watching The Closer since it premiered, and have enjoyed it greatly. I just watched the most recent episode, “Show Yourself” today, and am puzzled about its resolution. Sadly, Television Without Pity has failed me by not assigning a … Continue reading → Continue reading →

On the very day that I confess that The Night Stalker scared the bejeezus out of me as a kid, I discover that my TiVo has gone and recorded three episodes off of the SciFi channel for me. I’m pretty … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Ray in Austin has an amusing tale of watching scary movies with his kids, something which began as a Halloween tradition a few years back. They called a temporary hiatus after both children were terrified by the 1936 Bela Lugosi … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Actress Anne Bancroft, known best for her iconic role as Mrs. Robinson in “The Graduate”, has died at the age of 73. Not only did the actress seduce Broadway, movie and TV audiences in roles ranging from the aging ballerina … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Maybe I expect too much out of the summer schedule these days, but the TV landscape is looking like a vast wasteland between now and fall premiers. I’m glad to see that The 4400 is back, and the promos for … Continue reading → Continue reading →

We passed a milestone last week – the ten-year anniversary of the first megaplex movie theater. While it seems as if gigantic movie theaters have been with us forever, the megaplex theater — defined as having 14 or more screens … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I’m glad that someone finally tried to quantify this. [A] survey released by the outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas…estimated U.S. employers could lose as much as $627 million from employee absenteeism on Thursday and today, thanks to the mid-week … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Frank Gorshin, best known (at least among us post-Baby Boom syndicated TV watchers) as The Riddler from Batman, has died at the age of 72. Despite dozens of television and movie credits, Gorshin will be forever remembered for his role … Continue reading → Continue reading →

All right, I guess I need to start planning to see “Revenge of the Sith” sooner or later. We haven’t been to the theater since seeing “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkhaban” just before Olivia was born. I’ve almost … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I don’t know if you’ve heard about the Discovery Channel special which asks the question “who is the greatest American ever?”, but apparently part of the process with the show is a national tour as a way of getting people … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Awesome. Monty Python star John Cleese is writing the next feature film for Aardman Animations, the makers of Wallace and Gromit have announced. Aardman co-founder Peter Lord said the Fawlty Towers actor was currently writing the “pre-historic comedy”. […] “It … Continue reading → Continue reading →

The Year of the Yao, a documentary about Yao Ming’s first year in the USA and NBA, opens this weekend in Houston. The film presents the incredible pressure placed on Yao, not only as a basketball player and the top … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Am I the last person on earth to realize that that actually is Darius “Hootie” Rucker in that bizarro Burger King ad? I swear, I thought that Boondocks comic was a joke. Whatever motivated him to do this ad is … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Complete season sets of “The Muppet Show” will be released on DVD by the end of 2005. And the news just gets better: The video is reported to be transferred from their original British (PAL) tapes. Aside from working to … Continue reading → Continue reading →

What with the baby and all, I’m not too likely to see the “Wonder Woman” movie in the theaters, even if Joss Whedon writes and directs it. But on the odd chance that I am able to catch it, I … Continue reading → Continue reading →

CW Nevius makes a pretty good point about how good and bad behavior are rewarded and punished on reality TV shows. Despite their attempts to manufacture conflict, the reality shows have become a national forum for what is acceptable public … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I’ve seen a lot of reaction to this story about a new and “improved” version of Bugs Bunny. Pete and Laurence are up in arms, while The Talent Show makes an interesting observation about WB’s motives and Mark Evanier says … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Those of you with TiVos and either Cinemax or DirecTV should take a moment to program your system to catch the showing of the documentary Welcome to North Korea, which according to this TiVo Community thread will be Sunday, February … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Go, go to see Godzilla, this weekend at the Museum of Fine Arts. The original Godzilla returns to the big screen in this restored print featuring 40 minutes of previously unseen footage. When the sea erupts, a Japanese steamer sinks … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Good night, Johnny. As always with all things showbiz, Mark Evanier‘s blog is the place to go for the best information. Start here and work your way forward. Continue reading →

Norbizness dares us to list all the movies in the IMDB Bottom 100 that we’ve seen. This one is easy for me: Jaws 3-D That’s it. Sometimes not being a big moviegoer has its advantages. In case you missed it … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I’m a fan of Desperate Housewives. I enjoy the show, I’m glad they won some awards last night, and I like seeing feature articles on various cast members. But man, is it just me, or could we see a nationwide … Continue reading → Continue reading →

How happy am I that there’s a new Lost tonight? Very very happy. That said, having watched a lot of football on ABC and ESPN these past couple of weeks, I’m glad I won’t have to see any more promos … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Jerry Orbach, best known for playing Lennie Briscoe on Law and Order, has died from cancer. Orbach died Tuesday night in Manhattan after several weeks of treatment, Audrey Davis of the public relations agency Lippin Group said. When his illness … Continue reading → Continue reading →

If you have to ask why The Yule Log is an institution in New York City every Christmas, you’ll never understand. The Christmas morning yule log special on WPIX – a four-hour tape of a log blazing brightly in a … Continue reading → Continue reading →

It takes a special kind of geek to appreciate the fact that a reporter for E! Online even knew who J’onn J’onzz, the Martian Manhunter, is, much less cared to write a story about why he’s the only original member … Continue reading → Continue reading →