Festivals & Awards
Oscars 2024: The View from the Room
The Oscar sandwich: a slab of gloriousness between two slices of bad
The Oscar sandwich: a slab of gloriousness between two slices of bad
Despite some flashes of inspiration, protest and pizzazz, the 96th Academy Awards were too routine to capture the spirit of 2023’s brilliant films and the uncertain world outside the multiplex.
The Pulitzer Prize-winning TV critic brought insight and acerbic wit to his reviews
On three disappointing dramas from TIFF with star-studded casts.
Tomris Laffly reports on being inside the Dolby Theater and later at the Governor's Ball on Oscar night.
A tribute to the late, great Fred Willard.
An essay by Fran Hoepfner on Mission: Impossible - Fallout and Free Solo, as excerpted from the latest issue of Bright Wall/Dark Room.
The success of shows like "Inside Amy Schumer" and "Broad City" has opened the door for more shows with female comedians front and center, including "Idiotsitter" and "Another Period."
Tom Shales looks at "Carson on TCM," a weekly series of shows culling great Carson interviews.
(ABC photo)
Roughly five months ago, back in the summer of '12, the spectacularly popular Robin Roberts, co-anchor of ABC's "Good Morning, America," left the show for a sabbatical of indeterminate length. She might be gone for six or eight months, viewers inferred, or for a year. Or, forever.
By Tom Shales
Jimmy Kimmel still comes across like a guy who crashed a party and got caught at it, yet adamantly refuses to leave. He has no real business being there -- hosting a late-night network talk show, that is -- and may even know in his dark little heart that he's out of his depth, but he's gotten away with it for ten years, so why pull out now? Since he's probably making $25 million a year or so, and ABC has agreed to underwrite the subterfuge, it's hard to imagine Kimmel voluntarily getting the hell out of Dodge.
Rarely does a TV show arrive with lower expectations than the annual Emmy Awards telecast. It's a given that the thing will suck. Even so, this year's -- the 64th -- managed to come up short and disappoint. And it wasn't one of those "so bad it's good" campy things you can enjoy making fun of, either. It was more like one of those "so bad it's lousy" things that leave you incredulous and drained of the will to live.
August, 2012, marks the 20th anniversary of the debut of "The Larry Sanders Show," episodes of which are available on Netflix Instant, Amazon Instant, iTunes, and DVD. This is Part 2 of Edward Copeland's extensive tribute to the show, including interviews with many of those involved in creating one of the best-loved comedies in television history. Part 1 (Ten Best Episodes) is here.
"Unethical? Jesus, Larry. Don't start pulling at that thread; our whole world will unravel." -- Artie (Rip Torn)
by Edward Copeland
Unravel those threads did -- and often -- in the world of fictional late night talk show host Larry Sanders. On "The Larry Sanders Show," the brilliant and groundbreaking HBO comedy that paid attention to the men and women behind the curtain of Sanders' fictional show, the ethics of showbiz were hilariously skewered.