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Television

10 TV Shows We'd Love to See in Black and White

By Emily Temple on

This week, we were probably inordinately excited to hear that AMC is planning to air all 18 episodes of The Walking Dead in black and white. This is such a cool idea, especially considering that the original comic was done completely in grayscale line-drawings. Indeed, the network has explained that the black and white treatment is meant to “give the series a Universal Monsters feel as well as mimicking the artistic style of the comic.” The news got us to thinking about some other TV shows we’d like to see get the old-timey treatment — whether based on their period or just their visual style. Click through to see our picks (plus a few doctored screenshots) and let us know what we missed in the comments! … Read More

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Television

New Patti Smith Song to Premiere on ‘Boardwalk Empire’ Finale

By Judy Berman on

We’ll admit that we’ve fallen a bit behind on Boardwalk Empire, but we might just have to spend the weekend catching up. Yes, of course, the season finale airs this Sunday. What’s more exciting than that, though, is the news that a new Patti Smith song will premiere on the episode. Appropriately enough, the track… Read More

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Television

10 TV Shows Better Than the Books They Were Based On

By Tom Hawking on

So if you’re celebrating your birthday today, you share it with Charlaine Harris, she who gave the world the insanely successful Sookie Stackhouse novels and thus, indirectly, also the joys of True Blood. As you’ve probably noted if you read Flavorwire at all regularly, we’re borderline obsessed with True Blood, and its success got us thinking of the slew of TV shows based on books that have emerged in the last few years — and, in particular, those that have defied the old adage that the book is always better. We’ve collected a bunch of shows that we reckon have transcended their literary origins — can you think of any other shows that are better than the books they’re based on? (And before you go all crazy in the comments, a disclaimer: we said “better.” We’re not necessarily claiming the books in question are bad — although some most definitely are — just that the TV series they spawned was/is better. OK? Carry on.) … Read More

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Television

Watch Sesame Street’s Hilarious ‘Boardwalk Empire’ Parody

By Caroline Stanley on

Sesame Street’s parodies of popular TV series are pretty hard to resist. Remember Sad Men? Or True Mud? How about when Liz Lemon was played by a lemon in 30 Rocks or that spot-on send-up of Glee from last fall? If you love these spoofs as much as we do, then you’ll be happy to hear there’s a new skit that takes its inspiration from one of the most ridiculous sources to-date: HBO’s violence- and sex-packed gangster drama, Boardwalk Empire. Click through to watch Nucky Ducky Thompson face-off against Clucky Luciano and Agent van Cuckoo on the “Birdwalk,” and let us know in
the comments what totally inappropriate TV show you’d like to see Sesame Street tackle next. Any takers for Breaking Bad? … Read More

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Television

In Defense of 10 Divisive TV Characters We Love

By Michelle Rafferty on

When people hate on a TV character we love, it’s hard not to take it personally. At the same time, we’ve been swayed from the haters’ side on many occasions. For instance, we wrote off New Girl after the mere sight of the “adorkable” tagline, until a sworn fan urged us to give it a shot. We tuned in and were delighted to learn that the show — and Deschanel’s Jess Day — were nothing like what we expected. With Season 2 premiering tonight, we couldn’t help but think how it was just last year that we were rolling our eyes without even giving the girl a shot. So we’ve gathered a few thoughts in defense of Jess, as well as a few other TV characters who tend to receive a lot of flack, but who we believe to be pretty great. … Read More

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Television

Exclusive Supercut: 80 Amazing Shots from ‘Boardwalk Empire’

By Michelle Rafferty on

We’re feeling especially excited about cinematography on TV these days, thanks to some gorgeous Breaking Bad video essays that have been making the rounds. And since Boardwalk Empire, another show with incredible visual storytelling appeal, is returning for a new season (this Sunday, at 9pm on HBO), we’ve prepared by retracing the images we loved most from Seasons 1 and 2. Below you’ll find 80 shots in roughly two minutes, which we hope capture the aspects we love most: geometric motifs (in the form of ovals and rectangles), the slightly surreal color palette, and Boardwalk Empire‘s range of beautifully constructed tracking and long shots (or in-your-face, nearly fourth wall-breaking close-ups) — all of course made possible by wonderful choreography, costumes, set design, and effects. Also, men in 1920s swimwear, doing a human pyramid. … Read More

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Art

Fantastic Posters Inspired by Your Favorite Premium Cable Shows

By Caroline Stanley on

Opening this Friday at Brooklyn’s brand new Bottleneck Gallery, More Than You Imagined: Art Inspired By Premium Cable is a group exhibition featuring work that pays homage to some of the best TV series in recent memory, from Lena Dunham’s much-discussed show Girls to some truly excellent dramas that are no longer with us, like Six Feet Under and The Wire. In other words, all of the pieces serve as a nice visual reminder of why you’ve been willing to spring for premium cable for more than a decade now, even at those times when you really, really couldn’t afford it. Preview a few of the works that will be up on display in our slideshow, and head over to Slashfilm for even more great TV-inspired art! … Read More

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Television

Watch Your Favorite TV Characters Talking About Books

By Emily Temple on

If you’ve been paying attention to this space over the last couple of months, you already know that we’re fascinated by the reading habits of our favorite fictional characters. But what’s better than a simple reading list? A little informed dialogue, of course. Or even a few well-placed snarky comments. Recently, we spotted this excellent clip of The Wire‘s D’Angelo talking about The Great Gatsby over at Open Culture, and it inspired us to round up a few more clips of some of our favorite TV characters waxing poetic about their favorite (or least favorite) books. From simple proclamations of Dr. Seuss’s brilliance to Boardwalk Empire‘s very physical commentary on David Copperfield, we love seeing books we love figure into the drama. Click through to watch — and hey, you just might learn something. … Read More

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Television

The 10 Craziest TV Deaths of the 2011-12 Season

By Judy Berman on

By now you’ve either watched the episode or read about it, so we’re not going to dance around what happened on Sunday’s Mad Men: Lane Pryce killed himself, in perhaps the most shocking episode of a show that’s been blowing our minds with its dramatic storylines all season. Once we recovered from the horror of seeing Jared Harris stiff, white, blue-lipped and swinging from the ceiling of his office, it occurred to us that the past year has brought some of the craziest, weirdest, and most unexpected TV character deaths of all time. After the jump, we round up the ones that made the biggest impression on us; tell us what we missed in the comments. … Read More

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Television

Which HBO Series Has the Creepiest Sex Scenes?

By Judy Berman on

Girls is a hyper-realistic comedy set in present-day New York. Game of Thrones, by contrast, takes place in a fantasy world of castles, dragons, and knights. But they both have one thing in common, aside from the fact that they both air Sunday nights on HBO: creepy sex. Their strange convergence got us thinking about how often we come away from an evening of high-quality premium cable feeling a bit scarred by all the bizarre sexual contact we’ve witnessed. To try and quantify the damage that’s been done to our impressionable minds, we’ve ranked ten of its best-known series to determine, once and for all, which HBO show has the creepiest sex scenes. Let us know if you agree. … Read More

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