For any of us who have enjoyed TV since the 1970s, part of what we enjoyed was the work of Stephen J. Cannell, who died on Sept. 30–much too young at 69–of complications from melanoma. He wrote more than 1,000…
“The Andy Griffith Show” signed on Oct. 3, 1960. It went on to become one of TV’s all-time successes and a career changer for Griffith (who was trying to live down his all-too-memorable performance as a drunken, angry broadcaster in…
Without intending to, Jon Stewart has become quite influential over CNN’s personnel decisions. Before Rick Sanchez, people may forget there was Tucker Carlson, whom Stewart made mincemeat of after a disastrous guest spot on “Crossfire”—a show that was canceled after…
We are giddy with excitement today. We just saw a movie and think that, with your help, we’ve come up with something that might strike a chord with you. At least we think so. We rarely come up with something,…
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…
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…
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….
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…
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…
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…