Mitch Miller died earlier this week. Most people who knew the guy went right away to “Oh, the fella who did Sing Along With Mitch.” But I immediate think, “Oh, right. Mitch Miller: Enemy of Rock ‘n’ Roll.”
Miller was first a classical musician and then an A&R man for Mercury and then Columbia Records. As [...]
Mitch Miller: Enemy of Rock ‘n’ Roll
Droppin’ Beats, Over and Over
As is my wont, I’ll try to make a point, circling around it repeatedly, unable to just kill the thing.
And thus it is, again, that I have to once again revisit my point on movement and progression in television storytelling in order to make a point I forgot to make.
This review of a Hung episode [...]
Jogging in Place
Here are my biases about television programs.
I like TV shows about something. Anything.
Even Seinfeld – famously, a show about nothing – actually was about something: Modern alienation, the annoyances of those around us, the selfishness of humanity. Everybody Loves Raymond has things to say about dysfunctional family dynamics.
I have previously written about Veronica Mars, a [...]
Serialized TV v. Non-Serialized TV
Thanks to Mo Ryan, we have some comments from J.J. Abrams at Comic-Con about the issue I discussed previously:
“I’m just less personally interested, naturally interested in non-serialized shows,” Abrams said. “I enjoy the investment and the anticipation and the characters and what’s going to happen… To me that’s the thing that always grabs you. I [...]
“Misty watercolor memories…”
Following up in my last post on dramatic conflict…
I’ve said this before; I’m saying it again. One of my frustration with older modes of visual storytelling was the constant amnesia.
Long ago, television series (and comic books) always told standalone stories. And that’s okay. Lost and Fringe told big long stories. The Sopranos and The Wire [...]
All Drama Is Conflict
Drama is about conflict.
Right?
“Would you like a story about two people who always get along and everything in their life is great?”
Uh, no.
How you execute conflict is the variable.
I could do a cop show about police in conflict with criminals. And all the police officers are terrific people. But I could also do [...]
“Sometimes it’s hard to be a woman…”
Y’know, this is blog is not a bulk-oriented outlet, in terms of content. Never has been. Some of that’s procrastination, some of it’s due to limited time, but some of it comes from not having something original to say about events.
So, it’s unusual for me to weigh in on something that [...]
TV 2009-10: A Glance Back
The regular broadcast season has ended and the summer shows are in full swing, so this is probably a decent time to reflect a little on the last nine months.
Generally, I was quite pleased. A few shows I wasn’t even really expecting anything out of (e.g., Modern Family, Justified) turned out [...]
LOST: More or Less Than Meets the Eye (Part 2)
In my previous post, I made this claim about Lost:
Things have often proved to be much simpler than they first appeared to be.
I’d like to explain what I meant by that.
In the second hour of the pilot of Lost, Sawyer shoots a polar bear. The plane crash survivors are on what appears to [...]
LOST: More or Less Than Meets the Eye
It’s been four days, so I’m going to have to finally give my reaction to the Lost finale. It’s been tough to know what I think.
When I was watching the 2-hour episode, I was very emotionally satisfied, but I wasn’t expecting answers of any particular sort. At some point, I remember [...]