// Category Archive for: TV

TV Is Dead, Long Live TV: December 7, 2012

By Elizabeth Keathley

In his keynote speech to the XOXO Festival this past September, Dan Harmon, creator of Community, had this to say about the death of television:

“You don’t want to monetize the Internet. You’re having fun right now because it can’t be monetized. You’re getting away with murder on the Internet. You’re doing wonderful Rodenberry-ish things on the Internet because it has eschewed money and all the crappy people are back on TV wasting everyone’s time while Rome burns to the ground.”

I disagree with Harmon about several things he said in this speech, but I’ll start with the money thing because it’s so easy to disprove.

Dan Harmon created a great television show, but now says TV is dead.
A video of his speech is at the end of this article.

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Assemblog: November 23, 2012

Broken, image from The CillianSite

New this week on Popshifter: I take a look at the excellent Jay Reatard documentary Better Than Something and the upcoming What The Brothers Sang album by Dawn McCarthy and Bonnie “Prince” Billy; Cait provides a beautiful review of Bert Jansch’s recently reissued Heartbreak and encourages music lovers to check out the latest single from the Explorers Club, “No Good To Cry.”

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Assemblog: November 16, 2012

Skyfall

New this week on Popshifter: Cait has the scoop on the newest Marshall Crenshaw single and subscription service, reviews the reissue of 1985’s Romance from David Cassidy, and is delighted by The Edie Adams Christmas Album; I have good things to say about School of Seven Bells’s new EP Put Your Sad Down as well as The Barrens on Blu-Ray; and Elizabeth outlines your options if you’re thinking of ditching your cable TV subscription.

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TV Is Dead, Long Live TV: November 16, 2012 – A Guide To Cutting The Cord

By Elizabeth Keathley

The latest in our ongoing series on the life and death of linear television, a.k.a. old-style appointment television, TV that only moves forward in time. For previous installments, go here.

This installment will outline your best options for cutting the cord to your cable or satellite subscription.

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Music Review: The Edie Adams Christmas Album

By Cait Brennan

Ernie Kovacs is rightly regarded as television’s first genius. Dynamic, irreverent and uncompromising, Kovacs pushed TV technology to its limits in the service of his anarchic comic brilliance. More than that, Kovacs was larger than life. His personal motto was “Nothing In Moderation,” and he lived up to that billing until the day he died.

Few mere mortals could hope to keep up with his madness. But he met his match the day he met Edie Adams. Smart, sexy, sultry and with a voice like butter, Adams was everything Ernie needed: merry co-conspirator, brilliant comic foil, and a tremendously versatile actress and vocalist that brought elegance and heart to the proceedings. Kovacs’s life, and for that matter his untimely death, cast a big shadow, and Edie’s talents have often been unfairly overlooked.

Thankfully, the lady’s finally getting her due. From the formidable Kovacs/Adams archive and the good folks at Omnivore Recordings comes The Edie Adams Christmas Album, featuring Ernie Kovacs, a warm, charming, and nostalgic record featuring 15 never-before-heard holiday classics. It’s the perfect antidote to contemporary holiday angst and a testament to Adams’s vocal gifts.

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TV Is Dead, Long Live TV: October 19, 2012

By Elizabeth Keathley

The latest in our ongoing series on the life and death of linear television, a.k.a. old-style appointment television, TV that only moves forward in time. For previous installments, go here.

I had planned to write this week’s article on the topic of fan-produced web series, but The Rumble 2012 and the Presidential debates livestreaming are too critical to the death of linear television and the new life of Internet television to ignore. So let’s spend the next several paragraphs dissecting what has gone right, and what has gone wrong, in Internet TV over the past two weeks.

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TV Is Dead, Long Live TV: October 5, 2012

By Elizabeth Keathley

Here is our second installment of our ongoing series on the life and death of linear television, a.k.a. old-style appointment television, TV that only moves forward in time. For previous installments, go here.

Remember that show that you really like that was cancelled by Fox? It doesn’t matter which one. If it had been cancelled today, the creators now have the very profitable option of starting a digital only subscription channel and allowing you to pay for the content you want, instead of letting Fox television executives decide weather your favorite programs live or die.

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TV Is Dead, Long Live TV: September 21, 2012

By Elizabeth Keathley

Here is our first installment of “TV Is Dead, Long Live TV,” an ongoing series on the life and death of linear television.

What is “linear television” you ask? Read on . . .

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Assemblog: September 14, 2012

You’re Next, 2011

New this week on Popshifter: Emily dares you to get “Les Sucettes” out of your head in her review of France Gall’s Made In France and John places Mary Edwards’s Eastern/Central & Mountain/Pacific in his Top Ten of 2012.

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Assemblog: July 27, 2012

Jack and Diane, 2012

New this week on Popshifter: Jemiah explains why Laetitia Sadier’s Silencio is worth your time; I take critics to task on The Dark Knight Rises (again!); Chelsea chats with Glenn di Benedetto of Boston’s Parlour Bells; and Paul recommends The Very Best of Wes Montgomery. (more…)