Television

A perfect picture

Featured image There’s nothing wrong with the picture Network (1976). The talent on display in the film is formidable. With a screenplay by Paddy Chayefsky, directed by Sidney Lumet, starring Peter Finch, William Holden, Faye Dunaway, Robert Duvall, Ned Beatty, and others, it’s an irresistible satire of television news as show business. I’ve had the opening scene playing in my head over the past week. “Don’t do it, buddy!” In the opening »

Inspector Clouseau standing by

Featured image In his press briefing last night FBI SAC Matthew DeSarno went out of his way to assert that the “hostage taker” who seized the rabbi and three others at Congregation Beth Israel during Shabbat services yesterday “was specifically focused on an issue not directly connected to the Jewish community…” The AP took this talking point and ran with it, as though Lady AQ might be a nonsectarian cause and jihadism »

Pretendians

Featured image Who knew that Elizabeth Warren was part of a movement? Apparently she is one of a great number of people who try to advance their careers by pretending to be American Indians. We noted here a news report to the effect that close to 20 percent of white kids “identify” as Native American on their college applications–a strategy that apparently is often successful. Now the New York Post reports on »

The Washington Post’s attack on Tucker Carlson misses the mark

Featured image Today’s Washington Post features a hit piece on Tucker Carlson. The attack begins on the front page and continues for three additional pages, all three of which are devoted exclusively to the piece. The opening salvo reveals that Carlson did not cry when, in 2003, he visited a dungeon in Ghana where Blacks were held many centuries ago before being shipped to America for enslavement. That Carlson went on this »

The fun never stops at ESPN

Featured image Stephen A. Smith is a controversialist for ESPN. He shouts out his takes on sports-related issues, for which, reportedly, he is paid around $12 million a year. Nice work if you can get it. Smith came under fire for opining that Shohei Ohtani, the Japanese pitching, slugging, and baserunning sensation, will have trouble being the face of baseball because he doesn’t speak English. Smith said: I don’t think it helps »

The Rachel Nichols flap

Featured image Rachel Nichols covers NBA basketball for ESPN. Her long-running show “The Jump” is devoted exclusively to the the NBA, I believe (I’ve never watched more than a few minutes of it). Nichols is White. Maria Taylor is a sideline reporter and presenter for ESPN. She appears on broadcasts of football and basketball games, and maybe some other stuff. Taylor is Black. Until last season, Nichols had hosted ESPN’s NBA Finals »

Get Woke, Sometimes Go Broke [with comment by Paul]

Featured image “Get woke, go broke” is a refrain that I learned at InstaPundit. Unfortunately, it often isn’t true. See, e.g., Nike and Starbucks. Happily, though, broke does sometimes follow woke. A case in point is the Arts and Entertainment cable network. The only reason I know about the TV show “Live PD” is that my daughters watch it obsessively. Or used to, anyway: A&E canceled “Live PD” after the George Floyd »

NFL viewership bounces back

Featured image Two years ago at this time, we (and many others) were writing about the decline in television viewership of the National Football League. Back then, the NFL was reeling from controversy sparked by some players kneeling during the National Anthem. The League’s critics included President Trump. Two years on, players are no longer kneeling, Trump is no longer criticizing, and NFL viewership is on the rise. According to Pro Football »

The Specter of Deep Fakes?

Featured image I have heard about the arrival of “deep fake” videos, but hadn’t paid much attention to it. But then I saw the video below, which is pretty amazing. Worth watching closely, a couple times. The transitions and likenesses are stunning. I have wondered for a while when we might get to the point where digital Hollywood tech might replace live actors in films—or even be used to being back long »

Is ESPN reverting to its old, leftist ways?

Featured image For years, ESPN indulged in left-wing politics. I wrote about this here and here. But John Skipper, under whose direction ESPN took this unfortunate turn, is no longer running the network. It turned out that he had an addiction problem. Also, ESPN was hurting financially. ESPN’s new head, Jimmy Pitaro, issued a directive — stop doing politics. To my knowledge, it has been followed. Earlier this week, however, an ESPN »

Bosch

Featured image Michael Connelly’s books featuring Los Angeles Detective Harry Bosch are among the world’s most popular police procedurals. Connelly published the first Bosch book in 1992, and there have been 22 altogether. The Bosch series has spun off two other characters, Mickey Haller (the Lincoln Lawyer) and Renee Ballard, a young detective who has been featured in two books so far, which I like a lot. One of my sisters-in-law turned »

A Good Night to Watch PBS

Featured image I wrote here about a doctor who preyed on Indian boys and young men on reservations for decades before finally being brought to justice. One of my closest childhood friends battled the bureaucracy to blow the whistle on the predator, with the result that he–my friend, not the predator–was effectively forced out of the Indian Health Service. That appalling story was reported by the Wall Street Journal and PBS Frontline. »

TV Industry Slams President Trump

Featured image I’m not sure why anyone would watch a televised awards show, and I wouldn’t have dreamed of seeing tonight’s Emmy show, which was advertised as a Trump hate-fest. The program is being hosted by Stephen Colbert, who has revived his career by doing pretty much nothing other than ripping the president. Presumably you didn’t see it either, but the Associated Press’s account confirms that we didn’t miss anything: “Saturday Night »

On missing the (alleged) new Golden Age of television

Featured image When I hear certain leftists deny that they dislike America, I often wonder what they like about it. Not our Constitution, the handiwork of greedy, racist patriarchs. Not our history, one long, continuous exercise in oppression. Not our people, a huge percentage of whom are “deplorable.” All I can come up with is the natural beauty of some of the land, some of our music, and certain trendy television shows. »

HBO Kills “Mogadishu, Minnesota”

Featured image A year ago, there was buzz in the Twin Cities about a projected HBO series that would center on the lives of Somali refugees in Minnesota. It was to be called “Mogadishu, Minnesota” and was hailed as the possible savior of Minnesota’s moribund film industry. Well-known director Kathryn Bigelow, who made “The Hurt Locker” and “Zero Dark Thirty,” was involved, but the main creative talent was a Somali-Canadian rapper named »

Confederate: More Left-Wing Propaganda

Featured image HBO has announced that the team that produces Game of Thrones will, when that series concludes next year, take on a new project: a series called Confederate. The premise of Confederate is that the South prevailed in the Civil War, and now, in the 21st century, slavery still exists there. HBO’s initial publicity for the new program drew some criticism, so the network’s programming president, Casey Bloys, met with the »

Is Trump panicking? Should conservatives?

Featured image John notes that some Republicans may be panicking about the Trump administration. He argues that such panic would not be justified. The question I want to raise is whether President Trump is panicking? The answer, I think, is no. However, there are signs that he may be a bit unnerved and that he’s overreacting to early setbacks. The Trump administration is nearing the 100-day mark. This represents a non-event — »