Linda Holmes

Credit Chris Hartlove
for NPR

Linda Holmes writes and edits NPR's entertainment and pop-culture blog, Monkey See. She has several elaborate theories involving pop culture and monkeys, all of which are available on request.

Holmes began her professional life as an attorney. In time, however, her affection for writing, popular culture and the online universe eclipsed her legal ambitions. She shoved her law degree in the back of the closet, gave its living-room space to DVD sets of The Wire and never looked back.

Holmes was a writer and editor at Television Without Pity, where she recapped several hundred hours of programming — including both High School Musical movies, for which she did not receive hazard pay. Since 2003, she has been a contributor to MSNBC.com, where she has written about books, movies, television and pop-culture miscellany.

Holmes' work has also appeared on Vulture (New York magazine's entertainment blog), in TV Guide and in many, many legal documents.

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Monkey See
11:32 am
Sat June 16, 2012

Cheap Date Saturday: 'Operation Cupcake' Versus 'Piranhaconda'

Credit Hallmark/SyFy
Dean Cain, left, in Operation Cupcake. The Piranhaconda, right, in Piranhaconda.
Monkey See
4:08 am
Sat June 16, 2012

Explaining Muppet Theory: Are You An Ernie Or A Bert?

Credit Matthew Simmons / Getty Images
Sesame Street's Bert and Ernie in the 2005 Tournament of Roses Parade. They even look like a clash between Order and Chaos, don't they?

Originally published on Sat June 16, 2012 12:22 pm

Most of the time, Slate's Dahlia Lithwick covers the Supreme Court. She's been doing that for the last 13 years. But recently, you may have seen her name floating around in connection with the piece she recently wrote that she discusses with Scott Simon on Saturday's Weekend Edition.

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Monkey See
10:14 am
Fri June 15, 2012

Pop Culture Happy Hour: A Week In Theater And A Day To Appreciate Dads

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Monkey See
7:54 am
Fri June 15, 2012

Let's Rush To Judgment: 'Pitch Perfect'

Well, I am clearly going to see this movie.

Copyright 2012 National Public Radio. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.

Monkey See
2:11 am
Fri June 15, 2012

Neil DeGrasse Tyson Investigates The Space Science Of Summer Movies

Originally published on Fri June 15, 2012 8:56 am

If you make movies that have anything to do with science, please note: Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, director of the Hayden Planetarium, pays attention.

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Monkey See
10:44 am
Wed June 13, 2012

The Absolute Unvarnished Truth About The New And Rebooted 'Dallas'

Credit Zade Rosenthal / TNT
Larry Hagman, as he must, returns to play J.R. Ewing in the rebooted version of Dallas.

Originally published on Wed June 13, 2012 10:49 am

There is a certain honesty with which I believe critics must exist — a willingness to look yourself in the eye. A willingness to say, "This is the absolute truth as I experienced it."

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Monkey See
7:48 am
Wed June 13, 2012

How We Talk About A Bacon Sundae

Credit Noel Barnhurst / AP
This is the bacon sundae.

Originally published on Wed June 13, 2012 1:32 pm

I come not to praise the Burger King bacon sundae, nor to bury it. I come merely to point out that sometimes, the particular flavor of contempt with which you choose to address something is as important as the contempt itself.

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Monkey See
9:57 am
Mon June 11, 2012

'Bunheads' Doesn't Need To Be Studied, Just Enjoyed

Credit Adam Taylor / ABC Family
Sutton Foster stars in Bunheads, premiering Monday night on ABC Family.

The advent of serious, thoughtful, artistically ambitious television has brought us many marvelous shows: Mad Men, Breaking Bad, The Good Wife. And the growth of comedies with strong points of view has allowed oddball projects like 30 Rock and Community to emerge and earn praise.

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Monkey See
10:53 am
Fri June 8, 2012

Pop Culture Happy Hour: An Exploration Of Strange Creatures

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Monkey See
8:23 am
Thu June 7, 2012

Television Critics Association Nominees: 'Homeland' Comes Up Big In Its First Year

Credit Kent Smith / Showtime
Claire Danes as Carrie Mathison in Homeland.

The Television Critics Association (which I'm part of) has announced the nominees for its annual awards, which will be handed out during press tour in late July.

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Monkey See
8:56 am
Tue June 5, 2012

Why Every '70s Game Show Must Bow Down To 'Match Game'

Credit GSN
The participants on an early episode of Match Game, including Richard Dawson in the lower center position.
Monkey See
7:27 am
Tue June 5, 2012

Lindsay Lohan As Elizabeth Taylor: Trying Again To Transform

Credit Richard McLaren / Lifetime
Lindsay Lohan and Grant Bowler as Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton.

Lindsay Lohan has tried a lot of things to escape her own image, which has been battered for years by her legal, personal, and substance difficulties. You may remember that in 2008, she sat for a series of photos in New York Magazine specifically calling back to a Marilyn Monroe shoot six weeks before her death. (Some of those, by the way, are topless photos, so use your judgment if you look at them.)

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Monkey See
7:58 am
Mon June 4, 2012

'Push Girls': A Fresh Take On Women Riding On '26-Inch Rims'

Let's say this first: Popular television is bad at lots of things, and one of them is representations of people with disabilities. Even where they're present – Artie on Glee, or Walter, Jr. on Breaking Bad – they tend to be in isolation. When there's more than one person in a wheelchair, for instance, like when Jason Street was in rehab on Friday Night Lights, the story is usually about the disability itself.

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Monkey See
6:54 am
Sun June 3, 2012

What The MTV Movie Awards Get Right That The Oscars Don't

Credit Christopher Polk / Getty Images
Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart accept the MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss (really!) at the 2010 ceremony.

I admit it's a bold statement, suggesting that the most glamorous and prestigious awards ceremony Americans watch all year could learn something from an event that once had a category called "Biggest Badass Star." Certainly, I wouldn't want to see the Oscars replaced with the MTV Movie Awards, given that the first Twilight movie won five of them.

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