“Reality-television fans have high standards for artifice”
Reality-television fans have high standards for artifice, which needs to seem both believable and...
Tag Archives: Television
“Two kinds of police appeared on mid-century American television”
Two kinds of police appeared on mid-century American television. The good guys solved crime...
“…long before the age of quarantine, kids under the age of six spent a crazy amount of time indoors, watching television, a bleary-eyed average of fifty-four hours a week”
Half a century ago, before “Sesame Street,” and long before the age of quarantine,...
“The sessions are extraordinary for the rare glimpses they provide of unscripted conversations at the White House on critical issues”
The chief executive sits at a long wooden table, putting his invited guests on...
Considering vertical vs horizontal perspectives
Before 1930, moving picture aspect ratios were all over the place. But mass distribution...
“The ’90s was the decade…in which conspiracism…became a form of kitschy entertainment”
The ’90s was the decade of Oliver Stone’s “J.F.K.,” “The X-Files” and late-night Roswell...
“The tone-setting awkward sex scene has become a staple of the modern television series opener”
Perhaps you’ve seen the new TV series whose pilot episode begins this way: A...
“There’s room for both kinds of shows, but as ‘Cosby’ recedes from reruns, ‘Roc’ seems especially worthy of reconsideration”
…looking back at “Roc,” I find it interesting to consider that before his acting...
“Donald Trump is the presidential candidate that reality TV made”
Donald Trump is the presidential candidate that reality TV made. An electorate trained in...
“The Web didn’t introduce a new competitor into the old ecosystem…. The Web created a new ecosystem”
The newspaper used to be a pretty good answer to that question, but like...