July 14, 2008 4:14

JPTV: Aging Out of the Demo

Recent photograph of the author. / FOX

Age ain't nothing but a number. A number that inexorably grows larger, bringing you ever closer to your death, but a number nonetheless.

If the recent nostalgia posts about Liz Phair and the Brothers Krofft were not enough of a hint, I turned 40 over the weekend. I have therefore revised my worldview to reflect the following:

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July 14, 2008 1:34

Corporate Press Release Theater: Bravo Grudgingly Acknowledges Runway's Existence

In today's CPRT, Bravo begins the massive two-day runup to the season premiere of Project Runway, a.k.a., That Show That's Going to Lifetime That We Never Really Liked As Much As Real Housewives Anyway, But Whatever, Watch It If You've Got Nothing Better To Do:

16 NEW DESIGNERS STRUT THEIR STUFF AS "PROJECT RUNWAY" RETURNS FOR A FIFTH SEASON ON BRAVO WEDNESDAY, JULY 16 AT 9 PM ET/PT

Guest Judges To include Diane Von Furstenberg, Sandra Bernhard, Apolo Ohno, Brooke Shields, LL Cool J, RuPaul, Rachel Zoe, Cynthia Rowley, Francisco Costa

NEW YORK – July 14, 2008 – Bravo's highly-anticipated fifth season of the Peabody Award-winning and seven-time Emmy-nominated creative competition series "Project Runway" returns Wednesday, July 16 at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT. It's time to introduce the designers who will strut their work in front of host supermodel Heidi Klum and judges Michael Kors and Nina Garcia with high hopes of avoiding the dreaded "auf Wiedersehen." In what is sure to be the most talked-about* season yet, some of the biggest names in movies, fashion, sports and music including Diane Von Furstenberg, Sandra Bernhard, Apolo Ohno, Brooke Shields, LL Cool J, RuPaul, Rachel Zoe, Cynthia Rowley and Francisco Costa will take to the panel as guest judges for season five of "Runway."

* Where "most talked-about" = by those not employed by Bravo network or NBC Universal, unless they're working on the litigation.

See the cast here, but don't tell Bravo I told you about it.

(Massive) list of cast bios, episode descriptions and guest judges after the jump. (Note to self: change name to "Suede."):

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July 14, 2008 11:47

The Morning After: Big Brother Turns 10

Cliff Lipson/CBS

A few questions for those of you who tuned in to the premiere of Big Brother 10 on CBS:

* Is it really that great an idea to incorporate the number into the title, as if it were the Super Bowl or a World War? Do you want to be reminding the audience that we've been going at this for ten damn seasons now?

* This can't actually be the first time a Hooters waitress has been a contestant on a reality show, can it? There must be examples in the past I just haven't noticed. I mean, if anything, I'd think they'd give you the reality-show waiver along with your job application there.

* For a supposed die-hard patriot, isn't bringing the Stars and Stripes into the Big Brother house a form of flag desecration?

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July 14, 2008 10:28

That New Yorker Cover and the Irony Gap

...also known as: I'm Writing About That Damn Picture Too, Are You Happy Now, David Remnick?

So that cover. Does it confirm the lies that Obama is a closet Muslim, and his wife a dangerous radical? Or does it reaffirm them? Does it add to the fog of half-truth and send the subliminal message—even to people who know it's a joke—that Obama is dangerously "other," or does it do a service by forcing a discussion about suspicions that are festering out there anyway? There's the simple question, Is it tasteless?, but ultimately that one is personal. The question that matters politically is: what effect will the picture have on other people?

Questions like this—which involve citizens guesstimating how other citizens will receive a particular message—always fascinate me, because they usually come down to one universal: as a rule, Americans are united in a belief that other Americans are dumber than they themselves are.

Someone has to be wrong.

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July 14, 2008 10:05

Generation Kill: Iraq and Roll

Stark Sands and Alexander Skarsgard as Fick and Colbert. / HBO photo: Paul Schiraldi

As I mentioned last week, I'll consider doing a weekly Generation Kill post if it seems like the miniseries is generating sufficient interest out there, but having just reviewed it, I'll go light the first week, mention a few things I couldn't fit in my review, then turn it over to you:

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July 14, 2008 9:01

TCA Weekend Roundup

* Cartoon Network's animated Star Wars series: sneak-previewed it is.

* Will PBS allow Sir Ian McKellen to expose America to Sir Little Ian McKellen in a production of King Lear? It's not saying. The network will also air a Ken Burns docu-series about the National Parks, which will air in about the same amount of time it takes to grow a redwood.

* Less than a week into press tour and the critics have started to interview each other.

* Turns out Starz's first drama series, Crash starring Dennis Hopper, will have almost nothing in common with the movie. That doesn't guarantee it will be any good, though.

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