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Open Mic

It’s the New Year’s Holiday: Time to Cuddle Up in Front of the TV and Watch Some Fun Movies. A Suggestion. And Yes, It Really Is the Kind of Movie They Do Not Make Anymore. The Man with the Touch

Of all the genres of movies, the hardest to make just might be the sophisticated comedy. Much easier to make the in-you-face “Hangover” movies, or “Something About Mary.” They are funny for sure, and pretty high on the crass level…

Dec 29, 2011

Simon Cowell Talks to TVWeek as the ‘X-Factor’ Finale Is Soon to Air. What Cowell Will Do About the Sing-Offs Next Season and What He Thinks About the Judging on ‘American Idol.’ And What TVWeek Thinks Should Happen to Host Steve Jones

The four judges and three remaining contestants on Fox’s “The X-Factor” held a press conference on the set of the show at CBS Television City on Monday, Dec. 19, 2011, and I attended to find out what Simon Cowell intended to…

Dec 20, 2011

Finally, a Weekly Show That’s as Much an Adrenaline Rush as Was ’24.’ It’s Unscripted. And God Is the Star’s Co-Pilot. We Say Hallelujah Whenever God Brings Us TV This Good. Can It Sustain This Pace? Also, More of ‘X-Factor’ as It Continues to Implode

One of the pleasures of "24" that made it such a hoot for a lot of us was the fun we had yelling back at our TV screens at some of the impossible scenarios with which the show presented us….

Dec 12, 2011

Rick Perry’s Debate Gaffes Make For Choice Comedy. However, What He’s Chosen to Say About Gays, Sadly, Only Points Out a Tragic Flaw in His Character

Sixty-six years ago, in the dense, snow-covered forests of Western Europe, Allied forces were beating back a massive assault in what would become known as the Battle of the Bulge. And in the final days of fighting, a regiment in…

Dec 8, 2011

Great Gift Idea: This Is the Holiday Present We’re Sure Steve Jobs Would Have Liked Getting. It’s the Story of Someone With a Scientist’s Brain, a Poet’s Heart and a Painter’s Eyes. Simplifying to Get to the Essence

One of the great accomplishments Steve Jobs achieved was bringing the world the Apple design aesthetic. In Walter Isaacson’s splendid, compulsively page-turning best-selling biography “Steve Jobs,” he quotes Jobs as saying early on in his career, “The way we’re running the…

Dec 6, 2011

Farcical Misfortune on ‘The X-Factor.’ By Betraying Himself, Simon Cowell Let Down Two Talented Singers and, Ultimately, Betrayed Us, the Viewers

I like Simon Cowell. As the only consistent truth-teller on “American Idol,” millions of us got used to his reflecting a lot of what we felt about various contestants. And he didn’t mince words when delivering his opinions. Unfortunately, the…

Dec 2, 2011