What’s Not Wrong With Network TV
Three critics find the bright spots in a medium in transition
This is the week of the television industry’s “upfronts,” during which the (now-ratings-challenged) major networks announce their lineups for next season. It’s also season finale time for Fox’s “New Girl,” one of the few recent network series to become a breakout hit. Not a bad occasion, then, to assess the state of the broadcast sitcom. READ MORE >>
Liz Meriwether is trying to figure out the best way to make READ MORE >>
The Driskill Hotel, a Romanesque brick and limestone hulk at the corner of Old Pecan and Brazos streets in downtown Austin, is the closest thing the Texas capital has to old-world glamour. The hotel also happens to be haunted, supposedly, by the ghost of the man whose portrait hangs at the stairs to the bar just off the lobby: Colonel Jesse Driskill, a cattle baron who made a fortune during and after the Civil War peddling longhorn to a famine-stricken region. READ MORE >>
Last week, when the FBI released wanted pictures of Tamerlan and Dzhokar Tsarnaev, almost immediately, they were dubbed “bros” for their backwards baseball caps and their apparently Caucasian features (which turned out to be, literally, Caucasian). Tweets came fast and furious about “brofiling.” “I hate to brofile, but suspect 2 literally looks like he just got back from a charity kickball greek week mixer,” wrote one user, referring to Dzhokar and his white baseball cap. READ MORE >>
The Jarring 7-Eleven Detail in the Boston Manhunt
We didn't expect the alleged bombers to commit such an ordinary American crime
UPDATE: According to WBUR, Massachusetts State Police say the bombing suspects were not the ones who robbed the 7-Eleven. READ MORE >>
One of the things New York will lose when Michael Bloomberg moves on from his perch as mayor is one of the world's greatest poker faces. Most politicians, obligated to make the populace like them, tend to grin and bear their ways through the cheesy photo ops and of-the-people activities. Bloomberg might bear it, but he sure doesn't grin if he doesn't feel like it. READ MORE >>
There are a very small number of jobs where it just doesn't matter if you're not that well-liked. Solitary-confinement prison guard, maybe. Large-scale media or movie mogul. Solo-rig long-haul trucker. READ MORE >>
Thank You to the Author's Many, Many Important Friends
How the acknowledgments page became the place to drop names
Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In hasn’t even been published yet, and already it’s sparked a national conversation about modern feminism. Though worthy, this has obscured the national conversation we should really be having. Lean In exposes a vein of something truly endemic and toxic in our culture. READ MORE >>
Bradley Cooper: Beefcake Thespian
How the "Silver Linings Playbook" star became a serious actor
It’s a real shame that the planned big-screen production of Paradise Lost, which was to feature Bradley Cooper as Lucifer, will never see the light of day. It might have been the perfect role for the 38-year-old actor, who’s nominated for Best Actor at this Sunday’s Oscars for his work as in Silver Linings Playbook. READ MORE >>
