A List Of Things Thrown Five Minutes Ago

THE GREAT DIVIDE: As of today, the average domestic gross of the 10 Best Picture Oscar nominees is just over $126M, and at least 5 (possibly 6) of the nominees seem likely to cross the $100M barrier by the end of their domestic runs, and Toy Story 3 is both the top-grossing and one of the best-reviewed films of last year. However, over on the television side, there's a massive divergence between critical and commercial favorites--look at last week's overall ratings, with a top 10 made up of Idol x2, a Hallmark Hall of Fame movie, the Pro Bowl, NCIS, Criminal Minds, Blue Bloods, Bones, Two and A Half Men, and House. Nary a one of those is even remotely a critical favorite (though House used to be), and Two and A Half Men may be the biggest critical punching bag on TV. Heck, in the Top 25 shows, the closest to a critical favorite is Big Bang Theory (#19, but it was a repeat). Admittedly, the key demo Top 25 looks more critically friendly--Parks and Rec at #10, a Modern Family repeat at #13, 30 Rock at #16, and Community at #25. Add to that that audiences have staunchly rejected a number of critical faves (both on broadcast and cable) over the past few years--Lone Star, Terriers, Pushing Daisies--and I wonder, has television ever been so divided, not just between critics and audiences, but between younger and older, with some shows apparently exclusively watched by the young (Parks and Rec, Community) and some shows exclusively watched by the old (Harry's Law and Blue Bloods)?