Posts tagged “television”
Television isn't dying, it's fading like radio did before it. The real problem is that TV as a delivery mechanism is obsolete: no on-demand, no two-way feedback, no personalization. Bandwidth won't save cable companies. The future is one internet-connected box in the living room, probably built by Sony.
I want to hear George Takei sincerely say "Oh Em Gee." That's it. Also, Heroes is basically a Star Trek reunion at this point, and things will get truly ridiculous when Colm Meaney shows up.
Adorable, clueless, and pretty: Kyle XY is Smallville minus the kryptonite nonsense, plus plenty of homoeroticism. Perfect brain-off TV. I burned through all of season 1 in four days and I'm ready for season 2 tomorrow.
TV's future looks like radio's present: background noise for some, occasionally appointment viewing for news and sports, but mostly replaced by on-demand content we seek out ourselves. The creativity and money will follow. Bring it on.
Watching the Oscars on the West Coast with a room full of competitive gay men is basically Eurovision without the voting. Highlights: Beyonce's barely concealed fury, the three-way diva-off, too much Jack Nicholson, and Forest Whitaker's inexplicably hot wife. Also, my back is finally better.
Been watching the new Doctor Who season: two great episodes, one disappointing Cybermen two-parter. Cybermen just aren't scary or menacing. They look dorky and are ripe for parody, not fear.
Been quiet lately, but I'm loving the new Doctor Who, disappointed by the final West Wing series, and obsessed with CakePHP. More to come soon.
Season 2 of Beauty and the Geek is back and I'm hooked. Equal parts hilarious and genuinely sweet, with great one-liners flying in the first few minutes. Less annoying host this season too.
I never watched Doctor Who growing up in Trinidad, but I've caught up now and realize it's not really sci-fi. It's a comic book: mysterious villains, cliffhangers, continuity obsession, and characters who die only to return more powerful. That finale was pure Phoenix. I'm hooked.
A year ago I was paid by the BBC as part of a group called the "Broadcast Assassins" to discuss downloading TV content. Now Wired is crediting that group with inspiring the Doctor Who BitTorrent leak. The reporting is inaccurate, but I'll take it.
Worked until 10pm, brain is mush. The Daily Show is genius, wondering if Teen Titans is worth watching, want to mess with Ajax, and pop-up ads targeting Firefox users can go to hell.
I got an advance copy of the new Doctor Who. The first 20 minutes are rough, but it redeems itself spectacularly. Eccleston is brilliant, Davies' writing is sharp, and Billie Piper actually acts. It's quintessentially British, low on FX but high on character. Consider me a total fanboy.
The new Doctor Who episode leaked, the BBC publicized it themselves, and I have my own theories about who's really behind that. Now stop reading and go download it.
Committed to daily blogging even when there's nothing to report. Vacation has meant rain, Stargate marathons, and aimless channel-flipping through 500 channels. Tomorrow I'm taking a boat through a tiny archipelago. Poorly-composed photos forthcoming.
Jon Stewart appeared on Crossfire and called the hosts partisan hacks, begging them to stop distorting the news. It backfired somewhat since his own kid-glove Kerry interview undermined his credibility. The whole depressing exchange just confirmed everything wrong with American media.
Smalltime Smallville season premiere recap, line by line. Naked Clark, flying effects, cheesy dialogue, questionable plot holes, and Lois Lane's hair color all get the treatment. Overall B+ mainly for the flying. May do this every episode. It's too much fun not to.
A grab-bag of links: Jellyfish are a great band, Abu Ghraib reflects routine US prison abuse, Jon Stewart gave a funny commencement speech, and Smallville is getting good now that it's ditching freak-of-the-week for real Lex-vs-Clark conflict.
I spent an afternoon advising BBC managers on how young people actually consume media. We don't watch broadcast TV; we download what we want, when we want it. Broadcasting is dying. The BBC's real job is producing quality content, not running channels. They seemed surprised. They shouldn't be.
The Fab Five have been reimagined as comic book superheroes. I cannot stop giggling about this.
Speaking at a BBC seminar tomorrow about how the Internet is overtaking TV. They want me there because I've stopped watching television entirely, just downloading shows instead. There's a free lunch, but apparently an NDA too. I'll share what I can afterward.
TV looks terrible this fall, but at least Smallville is back October 1st. Small victories.
Watched Queer Eye, found it equal parts funny and cringeworthy. Jai Rodriguez is hot but visibly mortified. Also: Matthew is having a baby (hilarious), and apparently Sesame Street is now a tool of American foreign policy.
Sharing a grab-bag of links: Sanskrit lyrics to Duel of the Fates, Ken Perlin's cool HCI Java applets, Edgar Rice Burroughs' Martian Tales, and updates on Charlie Hunnam post-Queer as Folk. Undeclared is awful but he's cute, and the US QAF is enjoyably Americanized fluff.
TV has replaced real human interaction as our emotional role model, training us to respond to situations the way American scriptwriters think we should. The result is hollow "sitcom moments" where we suppress natural reactions. Christmas used to be a gloriously hypocritical mess. Now everyone just tries to be nice and hates it.
Hooked on Big Brother again, only seven days in and already despising most of the housemates. My revision is suffering, but Channel Four has done it again.
