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10 TV Shows That Started Out Great But Went Bad

By Judy Berman on

If you happened to be paying attention to Twitter around 11pm Sunday night, then it won’t be a surprise to you that viewers were tremendously frustrated with the way the first season of AMC’s The Killing ended. Although initially among the most promising new series of the year, it’s been trying audiences’ patience with its sloppy story line and poor character development for several episodes. In fact, when Nina Shen Rastogi at Slate graphed critics’ assessments as the season progressed, she discovered a pronounced downward trend. The Killing‘s precipitous plummet got us thinking about other shows that started out great but eventually lost steam. Our list of ten TV series that went bad is after the jump. … Read More

News

The Morning’s Top 5 Pop Culture Stories

By Caroline Stanley on

1. George Clooney’s The Ides of March, an adaptation of Beau Williams’s play Farragut North, which was inspired by events in Howard Dean’s 2004 Presidential primary campaign, will open the Venice Film Festival on August 31st. The film’s all-star cast features Ryan Gosling, Paul Giamatti, Marisa Tomei, Jeffrey Wright, Max Minghella, and Evan Rachel Wood.… Read More

Television

10 TV Characters That Need to Be Killed Off

By Judy Berman on

As the stand-off between Mad Men showrunner Matthew Weiner and AMC continues (and, unfortunately, pushes the Season 5 premiere date back into 2012), a troubling detail has emerged: to save money, Weiner has been asked to cut six characters over the next three seasons. Since Mad Men is, of course, the most important show on television, the web has been full of speculation as to who will or should get the boot. And that got us thinking about some other TV characters we think our favorite shows would be better off without. The first 10 we’d kill off are after the jump. Tell us who you’d add in the comments. … Read More

Pop Culture

A Brief History of Pop Culture’s Stoned Female Characters

By Caroline Stanley on

There are relatively few female stoner characters in pop culture — a fact that seems surprisingly given a recent study that shows that while teen boys are more likely to smoke pot than their female counterparts, the girls are more likely to become addicted. And while there is currently a stoner road trip comedy in development with Natalie Portman entitled Best Buds,who knows when the mom-to-be will actually find time to star in and produce it. So in the meantime, we’ve come up with a list of women from film and TV to help you get your heavy-lidded lady fix. … Read More

Television

21st-Century Sitcoms That Will Still Be Funny in 2026

By Judy Berman on

Will audiences of the future find 30 Rock funny, the way we still enjoy I Love Lucy and Cheers? That’s the question Salon critic Matt Zoller Seitz poses in a smart piece arguing that today’s cultural reference-laden sitcoms, or “footnote shows,” as he calls them, all come with an expiration date. In fact, Seitz points out, early episodes of the show that launched the trend, The Simpsons, are already incomprehensible to kids.

While we agree that series like Community may not have decades-long shelf lives, we do believe that plenty of 21st-century sitcoms have what it takes to make generations of fans laugh. After the jump, we list ten shows we think will pass the test of time. Add your suggestions (and feel free to take exception with ours) in the comments. … Read More

Television

The TV Character Baby Name Dictionary

By Margaret Eby on

Last week, The Daily Beast counted down 12 hot new baby names inspired by celebrities and fictional characters, including Hillary (you know, the the Secretary of State) and Draco (as in Harry Potter’s Draco Malfoy). While we hope we don’t see too many baby Dracos out there, it’s true that lots of us  were named not for saints or family members or even songs, but for beloved television characters. So what, exactly, are today’s parents thinking? Has there ever been a nice Blair on a TV show? A Bobby who isn’t hapless? For your pop culture naming pleasure, we reveal what your name means according to television stereotypes, after the jump. … Read More

Television

10 Hypotheses for Weeds Season 6 Based on Its Ridiculous Trailer

By Judy Berman on

Like that horrible ex you keep going back to or the bad job you just can’t quit, Weeds returns August 16th, and for some reason, we will be watching it. Yes, the show jumped the shark seasons ago and then kept vaulting until, at the end of season five, little Shane Botwin conked his mother’s romantic rival on the head with a croquet mallet, killing her. So, what next? The trailer for season six promises plenty of movement but, as usual, not much character development. If you’re as addicted as we are, click through to watch the brand-new clip and follow along as we make outlandish predictions that will inevitably be too tame for whatever the writers of TV’s biggest WTF-fest have up their sleeves. … Read More

News

The Morning’s Top 5 Pop Culture Stories

By Caroline Stanley on

1. Your morning mind explosion: The Muppets invade Lost‘s production offices. [via Slashfilm]
2. Roger Waters appeared on Jimmy Fallon’s show last night, and admitted that Pink Floyd was almost known as the Mega Death. [via ArtsBeat]
3. New details emerge on that J.J. Abrams Super 8 trailer leak, including the… Read More

Television

TV Characters We Miss the Most

By Bethany Larson on

With the unceremonious boot of Bryan Batt (Sal) from the Mad Men cast, we started thinking about other TV show characters that our favorite series have killed off, purged, or fired. Even though we know they will probably not make another appearance on that show, we can still fantasize about their return… Read More

Television

Quote of the Day: Mary Louise Parker Likes Being Naked

By Stelios Phili on

The title says it all. To clarify some statements she made in her June More magazine interview, Weeds’ Mary Louise Parker reaffirmed for her now relieved fans that she has no problem doing nude scenes. “[The interview]made it sound like I was like, ‘They made me take my clothes off and chained me to the bathtub,’” she explains in reference to the season 4 finale. According to Tonight, Louise was actually discussing “the difference between editing styles in film versus television.” Oh, and for those who missed out on the Esquire… Read More