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Television

‘The Simpsons” Most Memorable Interactions With the Real World

By Tom Hawking on

Sigur Rós and Björk were on The Simpsons last night because, hey, Iceland is the place to be, right? We’ve written in the past about memorable guest stars and movie references on the show, but it’s also interesting to look at its interactions with… the real world, for want of a better term. So here’s a brief selection of life imitating art, and vice versa. … Read More

Books

Required Reading List: The Bluth Family

By Emily Temple on

Arrested Development fans are busy counting down the hours until Season 4 premieres this Sunday at midnight on Netflix, and here at Flavorwire, we’re no different. So, we’re passing the time by declaring this Arrested Development Week, all leading up to a Recap-a-thon on Sunday, when our own Jason Bailey will review the whole season, episode by episode. Click here to follow our coverage.

“I cannot remember the books I’ve read any more than the meals I have eaten,” Ralph Waldo Emerson famously quipped, “even so, they have made me.” In this bi-weekly series, Flavorwire plays professor to some of our favorite pop culture characters, assigning reading lists tailored to their temperaments or — in some cases — designed to make them into slightly better people. After all, even fictional characters can have their lives changed by books. Or so we imagine. This week, in honor of Arrested Development , we recommend a reading list for everyone’s favorite family, the Bluths. … Read More

Pop Culture

7 Bitter Fandom Rivalries From Across Pop Culture

By Alison Herman on

It’s no secret that science fiction fans can get a little overexcited about their franchise of choice, but things got heated last Thursday when the local Star Wars club of Norwich, England and a delegation from the Norwich Sci Fi Club, a group of Doctor Who devotees, got into a physical altercation at the Norwich Sci-Fi and Film Convention, hosted by the Star Wars club at the University of East Anglia. Apparently, the two groups had a longstanding feud that came to blows when the Sci Fi Club decided to show up on the Star Wars group’s turf to get a signature from Gram Cole, an actor from the time-travel series that currently stars Matt Smith. Though fandom disputes don’t usually escalate to blows, this is hardly the first time otherwise peacefully geeky communities have run afoul of each other. Here are some of the most prominent fandom rivalries throughout history, from superheroes to science fiction. … Read More

Television

Why George Michael Is the Best ‘Arrested Development’ Character

By Judy Berman on

Arrested Development fans are busy counting down the hours until Season 4 premieres this Sunday at midnight on Netflix, and here at Flavorwire, we’re no different. So, we’re passing the time by declaring this Arrested Development Week, all leading up to a Recap-a-thon on Sunday, when our own Jason Bailey will review the whole season, episode by episode. This piece is the first in a series of contributors’ essays in support of their favorite Bluth. Click here to follow our coverage.

It may be reductive to argue that there are just two kinds of people in life, but there are certainly just two kinds of characters on Arrested Development: the prickly Bluths and the sweet Bluths. While the selfish, apathetic family members — Lucille, George, G.O.B., Lindsay, Maeby — have the pithiest lines and cause the most dramatic friction, it’s their generous, caring relatives who actually make us care about this big, rich, fucked-up family. Despite strong competition from his dad, George Michael is the sweetest Bluth of all, and the heart and conscience of Arrested Development. … Read More

Television

The Geekiest ‘Game of Thrones’ Season 3 Recap: “Second Sons”

By Alison Herman on

The best and worst part of a show whose moral is that there’s no such thing as traditional morals is that characters we’ve come to know as basically good (or at least complex) end up on opposite sides by circumstance alone. We’ve already seen this through Game of Thrones’ famous odd couples — Arya Stark and Tywin Lannister’s conversations at Harrenhal, for example, or the growing relationship between Jaime and Brienne. “Second Sons” brings this point home with its emotional centerpiece: Tyrion and Sansa’s wedding, which gathers together the King’s Landing power players in one unhappy mess of rivalries and disappointments. … Read More

Television

Your ‘Mad Men’ Season 6, Episode 8 Talking Points: Body Horror

By Judy Berman on

No current TV show generates more Monday morning conversation than Mad Men. With that in mind, Flavorwire is recapping Season 6′s Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce drama by giving you a handful of talking points to spark your own water-cooler debate. Aptly titled “The Crash,” last night gave us this year’s equivalent of Roger’s Season 5 LSD episode, with the characters’ tripped-out perspectives causing barriers to break down and thin veneers of sanity and stability to shatter. … Read More

Television

The Best and Worst of Last Night’s ‘SNL’ with Ben Affleck

By Alison Nastasi on

It was an emotional season finale with several regular cast members making their exit — or close to it if the rumors are true. Seth Meyers is slated to take over hosting duties for NBC’s Late Night, but will remain on board at least through the fall. Bill Hader said a tearful goodbye last night after eight years on the show. We’re thankful the eps were Hader-heavy. The closing shot of him doling out bear hugs was sweet. Fred Armisen and Jason Sudeikis are “probably” taking their leave. One man, however, dominated the night: Kanye West. … Read More

Television

This Week’s Top 5 TV Moments

By Sarah Fonder on

There are scores of TV shows out there, with dozens of new episodes each week, not to mention everything you can find on Hulu Plus, Netflix streaming, and HBO Go. How’s a viewer to keep up? To help you sort through all that television has to offer, we’re compiling the five best moments on TV each week. Season finales made this a particularly rich week for TV, and this round sees the end of The Office, the long-awaited reveal of the mother on How I Met Your Mother, and a New Girl cameo from Taylor Swift. … Read More

Television

The 10 Best Sitcom Finales in TV History

By Jason Bailey on

Last night, NBC brought down the curtain on The Office in rather a lovely fashion, with a series finale that was warm, nostalgic, and plenty funny. Bringing a long-running sitcom to a close is a tricky bit of business (how ya doin’, Roseanne), but The Office joins a handful of shows that have done it very, very well. Here are some other examples. … Read More

Television

‘The Office’ Comes to a Poignant, Lovable Conclusion

By Jason Bailey on

Last night on NBC, with the appropriate pomp and fanfare, The Office did what it should have done at the close of season seven: it came to an end. The American version of the British classic had an appropriate cause for conclusion when star Steve Carrel made his exit, but the Peacock wasn’t ready to let one of its few successes go quite that easily. So things got bumpy in Scranton, during an eighth year filled with miscalculations and peculiarities. But when original showrunner Greg Daniels was brought back in to steer the show snugly into port during its last season, a funny thing happened: The Office started to work again. And last night’s series finale was a fine, poignant wrap-up of an erratic but lovable show. … Read More