Christine Becker assesses the level and regulation of graphic content on British TV (and relays a naughty joke).
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Report From London: Content Regulation
Waiting for Superman
Superman is the myth attracting the audience and the property that Time Warner values. But this value diminishes if his story is not told enough, so the trick is to render him inexhaustible, allowing him to be consumed without dying.
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Throw the Baby Out the Window
This carnival episode, like last year's, also reminds me of the potential of every Mardi Gras to provide a transcendent collective experience. The heavily cross-cut montage creates a unity across the different stories to create a collective sense.
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A Report from CCA 2011
Christopher Cwynar offers an overview of the Canadian Communication Association's recent annual conference in Fredericton, New Brunswick.
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A Showrunner Goes To War: Doctor Who and the Almost Fans?
With episode 6.06 having transmitted in the US, and 6.07 – the 'game-changing' midseries finale – already broadcast in the UK, this week seems like a good time to ponder the issue of Doctor Who spoilers.
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Report From London: Channels
Christine Becker outlines the multichannel landscape of British television.
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Impressions of masculinity in “The Trip”
British comedians Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon play somewhat fictionalized versions of themselves in The Trip, a six episode comedy series which aired on BBC2 last fall. IFC Films is releasing an edited version of The Trip as a film June 10th, 2011.
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Tremé: Feels Like Joy and Pain
The challenge facing Tremé (and every other media representation of New Orleans) is finding a way to balance a celebration of the city’s unique cultural contributions with an acknowledgment of its more conventional, and often more damning, histories, memories, and contemporary realities. Week 6’s episode “Feels Like Rain” responds to this challenge, self-consciously,...
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Report From London: Documentary
Christine Becker continues her reports on British TV with a look at the prominence of documentaries in primetime.
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Could The Good Wife Be More Prescient?
When it comes to misbehaving male politicos, troubled marriages, and suffering wives, it seems a reasonable question to ask whether the writers/creators of The Good Wife are either clairvoyant, or just darned lucky.
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Keepin’ it Real on Treme
The producers/writers on Treme are under tremendous pressure: they ache to do right by New Orleans, they have to make a television show that people will continue watching, and they want to tell the truth about the city putting itself back together after the storm.
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The Rapture of New Network Shows
What happened at last week's network upfronts, and what does it say about American television?
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Matthew Graham’s Doctor Who: Fear Him?
The obvious critical question is this: which Matthew Graham do we get here? The Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes scribe? Or the 'Fear Her' and Bonekickers doppelganger?
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Report From London: Scheduling
Christine Becker offers her first dispatch from London, taking a glance at British scheduling practices.
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The Productive, the Constructive, the Bizarre: Adventures in Student Evaluations
A recent article about Yelp! in The Atlantic has me thinking about student evaluations. 'Tis the season, after all...
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MIT7 Media In Transition: unstable platforms
A look back at the highlights of last weekend's Media in Transition conference.
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