Logo

Open Mic

A Death in the Family: The Importance of Arthur Penn’s TV Roots and a Challenge to Leslie Moonves, Josh Sapan, Charlie Collier, Bonnie Hammer and Their Industry Colleagues

The headlines this week, about the death of director Arthur Penn, at age 88, mostly focused on the film “Bonnie and Clyde,” and deservedly so. It was the first movie reviewed by the legendary critic Pauline Kael when she joined…

Sep 30, 2010

Some Toddlers Respond To Bill O’Reilly and Sesame Street About Pulling the Katy Perry-Elmo Video

Based on comments it received after posting a video featuring Elmo and Katy Perry, the folks at Sesame Street decided not to air the video on the “Sesame Street” TV show, though they said they would leave it up on…

Sep 24, 2010

Just Thinking of Telling You About This Gives Me the Heebie-Jeebies: It’s the Next Big Thing on TV

Martin Scorsese is one of America’s masterful moviemakers. In 2006 he won the Academy Award for the crime film “The Departed.” It’s not Scorsese’s best movie, though it was a return to a theme he’s visited often in his career—gangsterism….

Sep 15, 2010

Where’s the Beef at This Year’s VMAs? Lady Gaga’s Wearing It

MTV’s Video Music Awards have a storied history of sensational and surprising moments that have gone on to become pop cultural milestones. Who could forget Britney’s open-mouthed smooching of Madonna, or Michael Jackson making out on stage with Lisa Marie…

Sep 14, 2010

Stephen Hawking Controversy: In New Book He Says Why God Did Not Create the Universe. Hmmm. Dunno About That. But I Can Explain Why God is My Co-Pilot. (Fasten Your Seat Belt: This is Going To Be Your Most Unexpected, Wild Read of the Day)

Last Friday, Sept. 3, 2010, the Wall Street Journal published an excerpt from the new book, “The Grand Design” by well-known British physicist Stephen Hawking and a colleague of his, physicist Leonard Mlodinow. The excerpt was titled, “Why God Did…

Sep 9, 2010

The End of Serendipity: Why Barnes & Noble’s Closing of Its Store Across From Lincoln Center on New York’s Upper West Side is a Bad Thing, Including Bad for TV and the Studios

I lived in New York for much of the 1990s, on the Upper West Side. I still get to New York fairly often, including my old haunts on the Upper West Side. When I lived there, I used to really…

Sep 3, 2010