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The Perils of Live Blogging the TCA—on an iPhone

Listen, here’s how it came down: 2:30 a.m. The baby started screaming, "ba-bah, ba-bah." Hours earlier our 6-year-old daughter had come in our room and woke us with the news that her tummy hurt. My wife had gone to her room…

Jul 30, 2009

An Important News Flash About American Pop Culture, And I Doubt You’ve Heard About It

The three cornerstones of American popular culture are the movies, music and TV. This announcement I’m speaking of hits on two of the three: movies and TV. The only thing that excites me more than a terrific TV show is…

Jul 27, 2009

Video: From San Diego, my Conversation With ‘Simpsons’ and ‘Futurama’ Creator Matt Groening on the Past and Future of Comic-Con

Jul 25, 2009

Fresh Batteries, Check. Airline Tickets, Check. Jedi Uniform, Check. Comic-Con, Here I Come!

It’s been a couple of years, so I am eager to return to the San Diego Convention Center for two full days of Comic-Con insanity starting Friday. I have a full agenda and an empty Flip camera, so look for…

Jul 24, 2009

If You are Under 45 Years Old, Here’s a Personal Explanation as to Why—and How—Cronkite was so Powerful and Influential

For anyone under 45 years old, the stature, power and influence that Walter Cronkite had in the 1960s and 1970s is likely hard to understand. The best way I can explain it is to tell you a little about my…

Jul 18, 2009

What You’ll Find in Cronkite’s Birthplace, St. Joseph, Missouri

[Editor’sNote. Our friend Aaron, the TV Critic of the Kansas City Star, wrote a terrific obituary on the passing of Walter Cronkite, who is from Missouri. To read the entire obituary, click here. Below is a short excerpt focusing on…

Jul 18, 2009

I Was There: Watching the Great Cronkite at Work

It was the 1980s and the old guys were still around. One of them, Walter Cronkite, had relinquished his CBS anchor chair to Dan Rather in 1981, but I got an opportunity to watch Cronkite work one day a couple…

Jul 17, 2009

Funny Thing About the Emmy Nominees for Comedy Actress

They may know she was "F-ing Matt Damon," but Emmy voters may not know that much else about the surprise entrant into the exclusive club of the funniest women on television. Sarah Silverman nabbed one of the now six coveted…

Jul 17, 2009

Emmy Nominations: I’m Pleased. I’m Pissed. How Do YOU Feel?

The most outstanding nomination of the day: “The Family Guy” as most Outstanding Comedy Series. I also liked the nomination of “How I Met Your Mother” in that category. Well-deserved. I’m pissed about the overlooking of “The Shield” and “Battlestar…

Jul 16, 2009

Funny Story About One of TV’s All-time Great Pitchmen

Discovery is airing a tribute to the late pitchman Billy Mays tonight (Thursday, July 9th, 9 pm ET/PT), and I’m eager to see it. Mays was indeed a pitchman extraordinaire. Like many of us raised on TV, we’ve come to…

Jul 9, 2009