Like a lot of others, I’m looking forward to CNN’s new six-part documentary series “The Story of Late Night,” a look at the history of late night television talk shows. The first episode at 8 Sunday night will likely focus on Steve Allen, the co-creator and first host of NBC’s “Tonight Show.” It was network television’s first late-night talk show. …
With the Great Toilet Paper Shortage of 2020 now well behind us, so to speak, I have another concern. It also involves toilet paper. For months now, I’ve been semi-obsessed with something I’ve been seeing a lot of on television. That is the animated Charmin bears. The colorful toilet paper-pushers come on TV, often late at night for some reason, …
One lasting thing this pandemic will leave behind with us, I believe, will be a new regard for cleanliness. In addition to social distancing, we’re told day after day to wash our hands. It’s like a mantra. Wash your hands. From time to time in the past month, I’ve found myself wondering, “What would Monk do?” To explain. Adrian Monk …
As he has done a couple of times now recently, President Trump reacted rather badly to a question put to him Friday by NBC White House Correspondent Peter Alexander. Alexander asked the president what he would say to a scared nation as the coronavirus pandemic continues on. The president called it a “nasty” question. It didn’t sound nasty to me, …
As a kid, I used to look forward to the new television season each fall. The return of TV shows I liked and the start of new ones. Lately, not so much. Except this year. I’m going to be very disappointed if a new show called “The Cool Kids” on Fridays on Fox turns out to be a dud. It …
One thing about the Super Bowl is that if you’re not disappointed by the outcome of the game, you can be disappointed by the halftime show. This year it was Justin Timberlake’s turn to disappoint. Part of the problem is that we’ve set the bar for the game’s show unreasonably high. Also, everybody is a critic, myself included. To begin, …
I watched the “CBS Evening News” last night. Not surprisingly, the lead story was about another shooting. But because this one involved journalists, in a small market, covering an everyday story about a worthwhile community activity, it resonated a bit more. No, this wasn’t KXMD in Williston, N.D. Or KXMB in Bismarck. Or KXJB in Fargo. But the faces of …
It’s been quite the (traumatic) year for those of us who enjoy the late night talk shows, what with the recent departures of Jon Stewart from “The Daily Show” and David Letterman from “The Late Show.” Earlier, Craig Ferguson from “The Late Late Show.” And earlier still, Jay Leno from “The Tonight Show.” It seemed like a good time to pick …
I thought I knew everything. But until I read Mike Sacks’ terrific new book about comedy writing called “Poking a Dead Frog,” I had never heard the name Peg Lynch. Even though in her day she was a huge star. She was a comedy performer on radio and later television in the 1940 and 1950s. But her even larger talent was …
So, “Mad Men” has ended with a something of a whimper rather than a big bang. The series ends with the lives of most of the major characters taking somewhat uncharacteristically positive turns. The one exception was poor January Jones’ character, who continues to die (beautifully) of lung cancer. She also continues to smoke in her final scene, but what …