TV Update
Shows We Hear Too Much About:
There has always been a whiff of “this show is for teen girls” about American Horror Story, but season three is dishing out more than a whiff. Teen witches at a boarding school might pass for scary on the Disney Channel (“Let’s bring the cute dead boy back to life!”), but not so much anywhere else. Grade: B
I simply can’t watch The Walking Dead anymore. The zombies are silly, there is very little suspense, and there are way, way too many “heartfelt” conversations. Grade: C
Shows We Hear Too Little About:
Spiral on Netflix (below). Cool show, similar to American police procedurals but with French actors, French music, and French sets. Did I mention that the show is French? It’s also smart and more cinematic than most cop shows. Caveat: There are lots of lawyers, and that means lots of talking, and that means lots of subtitles. Grade: B+ Clips
I don’t know about you, but when I hear the phrase “miserable Russian peasants,” I don’t automatically think, “Funny stuff!” But that’s what Harry Potter’s been up to on Ovation’s A Young Doctor’s Notebook (top). Daniel Radcliffe and Jon Hamm star in this black comedy about a city-boy doctor stuck in the boonies of 1917 Russia. The first two episodes are so-so, but the third has some truly inspired slapstick. Grade: B+ Clips
*****
Anderson Cooper and Alex Castellanos (above) discussed Tea Party darling Ted Cruz:
Castellanos: A friend explained to me today, finally, what Ted Cruz is doing. And I finally understand: He’s having bunny sex.
Cooper: Wow. This is the late-night edition of 360.
Castellanos: In nature, there are boom-and-bust cycles. The snowshoe hare, every ten years, multiplies sixfold.
Cooper: Are you high? What are you talking about?
Castellanos: I am high. Let me explain. Let me explain … the bunny, the snowshoe hare — I thought it’s a marvelous explanation — every six years, every ten years multiplies sixfold. Bunnies like sex, apparently.
There was more, but at this point I began to feel sorry for poor Cooper, who has had to deal with this kind of thing before. Click here and scroll about halfway down.
*****
Misused Word of the Week: Brilliant
Piers Morgan, a brilliant journalist, interviewed Alan Dershowitz, a brilliant legal scholar, this week on CNN. I would argue that there are only a handful of “brilliant” humans — generally toiling in the world of science — in each century. Einstein was brilliant. Stephen Hawking is brilliant.
Steve Jobs was not brilliant; he was pretty good at figuring out what people wanted from their computers. Adrian Peterson is not brilliant; he’s pretty good at running with a football. As for Morgan and Dershowitz, well ….
*****
Here’s a rat video. But it’s a funny rat video.
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