Linda Holmes

'Before Midnight': Jesse And Celine Are Older Now, And So Are We

Linda Holmes — Thu, 23 May 2013 12:42:00 +0000

[Note: Before Midnight is an especially difficult movie to write about, simply because for some people, even what has become of Jesse and Celine since Before Sunset is information that they don't want. But it's impossible — absolutely impossible — to write about the movie without talking about where they stand and what the premise is. I did my absolute best to spoil as little beyond that as possible.

Reaction Saturation And Sunday Night Television

Linda Holmes — Mon, 20 May 2013 12:57:00 +0000
Consider what goes on in your brain when you, for instance, you watch an episode of Mad Men.
First, you have a reaction. "That's weird" is a reaction. So is "yuck." So is "wow." "This doesn't make sense" is a reaction, "that's a great dress" is a reaction, and "WHAT?" is a reaction.
Next, you might choose to push on your reaction until it matures into a thought. "I didn't buy that conflict because I don't think Joan would take that position on this issue, based on past events" is a thought.

Pop Culture Happy Hour: Cancellation Blues And Cultural Etiquette

Linda Holmes — Fri, 17 May 2013 14:24:00 +0000
To mark network upfronts week, we talk in this episode about the cancellation of shows, including the ones that came and went that we honestly can hardly remember as well as the ones — like ABC's delightful, hilarious Happy Endings — that break our hearts.

Notes On A 'Scandal': Fitz Is The Most Dumpable Man On Television

Linda Holmes — Fri, 17 May 2013 12:32:00 +0000
If you watch Scandal, you know that there, Fitzgerald Grant is the President of the United States, and that he goes by "Fitz." Now "Fitz," let's face it, is already a pretty punchable name, given that combined with his personality, it makes him sound like somebody with a beanie and a lot of polo shirts grew up, got even richer, had a son, and taught him how to give swirlies to the math team.

While The Audience Turned Away, 'American Idol' Found Some Great Singers

Linda Holmes — Thu, 16 May 2013 18:11:00 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMet8T87JU8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-aAwKQ2CMQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hp1x6Mbs5SA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=beUD20VZ8Fg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64S5Rn9mlxs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRTVnSioKDQ

A Farewell To 'The Office': The 10 Best Episodes

Linda Holmes — Thu, 16 May 2013 16:39:00 +0000
It really only hit yesterday: It's the end of The Office.
After nine seasons, Dunder Mifflin is going dark Thursday night, with an hour-long retrospective at 8:00 and a 75-minute episode at 9:00 that may or may not feature a cameo from Steve Carell.

What's On TV This Fall? The Networks Roll Out Their New Shows

Linda Holmes — Wed, 15 May 2013 15:31:00 +0000
This was the week of the broadcast network "upfront" presentations, which are the splashy ads for new programming that networks show to advertisers to entice them into ignoring their fears that everybody is fast-forwarding through all the commercials anyway.
Because the trailers for the new shows are ads, just like movie trailers are, it's critically important not to draw conclusions about what will be good and bad based on those ads when you bump into them. For one thing, a lot of shows will be retooled to some degree before they actually air.

Why Angelina Jolie's Op-Ed Matters

Linda Holmes — Tue, 14 May 2013 16:28:00 +0000
Pop culture does not mean celebrity culture; I have perhaps said this more often than anyone you're going to meet. Who dates, who gets a divorce, who has a tantrum, who has surreptitious photos snapped of him by mangy, grim opportunists — these things are not culture of any kind, popular or otherwise, unless there is something else at stake. They are curiosities, and given that we are curious creatures, their pull is not surprising, nor is it new, nor was it invented by the internet, or television, or Americans.

Watch The First Trailer For ABC's 'Avengers' Follow-Up

Linda Holmes — Mon, 13 May 2013 12:05:00 +0000
Over the weekend, ABC posted a trailer for Marvel's Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D., its fall show (time slot and premiere date to come) that jumps off from Marvel's Avengers universe, as seen in all kinds of movies that have made all kinds of money.
The series, created by Avengers director and TV veteran Joss Whedon, focuses on Coulson (Clark Gregg), who is apparently doing a lot better than he might have been last time you saw him, by whatever good fortune.

Christopher Guest Comes To HBO With A 'Family' Comedy That's Serious

Linda Holmes — Sat, 11 May 2013 09:29:00 +0000
Christopher Guest has made so many people laugh since he started making mock documentaries with This Is Spinal Tap in 1984 that his fans might be surprised to hear his response to Scott Simon's question on Saturday's Weekend Edition about whether he ever thinks about making a serious movie.
Referencing Family Tree, his new show for HBO starring Chris O'Dowd as a man discovering his roots, Guest says that even with comedy, the emotional content can still be critical.
"To me, this is serious," he says. "And I'm not trying to be glib.

Loving 'Gatsby' Too Much And Not Enough

Linda Holmes — Fri, 10 May 2013 13:41:00 +0000
[I really hope it goes without saying that this piece about the film adaptation of a decades-old novel gives away the plot of a decades-old novel. But: Be aware.]
The sheer zazz that Baz Luhrmann introduces into The Great Gatsby is so imposing in quantity that it's surprising that it can get out of the way enough not to be the biggest problem in the movie.

PBS Continues The March Into Streaming Programming

Linda Holmes — Thu, 09 May 2013 15:14:00 +0000
Let's start with a brief tour of streaming television online.
For quite a while, streaming television meant sitting and watching it on your computer. It wasn't ideal, for obvious reasons. Then, it got easier to sit and watch it on your phone. That wasn't ideal, either, if you liked the living-room experience. Tablets do a better job than phones of delivering a portable but less tiny experience.
But people who want TV to seem exactly like TV, the solution is either a smart TV, or some version of a set-top box.

Yippee-Kai-Yay, Mr. President: 'White House Down' Looks Very Familiar

Linda Holmes — Wed, 08 May 2013 17:12:00 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3Dnvay5S7w

If Jeff Probst Were President

Linda Holmes — Wed, 08 May 2013 16:04:00 +0000
Note: It is 100 percent true and 51 percent relevant that this entire story was written inside my brain while I was in the dentist's chair under the influence of anesthesia. I began to think, "Jeff Probst [the host of Survivor] will not be happy until he is more important than tribal council. Until he is king of CBS. Until he is President of the United States. President Jeff Probst." So the entire thing is numbness-induced in so many ways. Make of that what you will.
President Jeff Probst's State Of The Union Address, delivered Feb.

At The Met Ball, Those Are Some Crazy Dresses

Linda Holmes — Tue, 07 May 2013 18:15:00 +0000
Monday night was the big night for unusual dresses (you may remember a previous post about Madonna's bunny ears): the Costume Institute Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, known as the "Met Ball." It had a loose punk theme (because the costume exhibit it's celebrating is punk-centric), but everyone got up to quite a bit of her own thing.