Monday, September 9, 2013

MY BABY DON'T MESS AROUND:Want to feel old?  Outkast's "Hey Ya!/The Way You Move" double A-Side Single came out 10 years ago today.  "Hey Ya!" is rightly getting celebrated a lot, but the Big Boi track is pretty great too--can you feel that b-a-s-s, bass?
IN THE CAFETERIA, EATING MY FEELINGS:  The first three SNL episodes of the year will be Tina Fey/Arcade Fire, Miley Cyrus (double duty), and Bruce Willis/Katy Perry. As Splitsider notes, the last (and only other) time Willis hosted, back in 1989, Miley Cyrus wasn't yet born, and presumably he won't be reviving his singing career for the occasion.
MTV COPS:  Nice essay by Brian Doan on the Ebert site on Miami Vice, Moonlighting, Frank's Place, thirtysomething, and the other great mid-80s tv dramas which set the stage for the modern era. On Moonlighting:
It's sleek and character-driven, but it was when it went to series that it really became something new. In an interview with Rolling Stone a year later, Caron would pinpoint why: "I think it has something to do with the fact that while we may be the fifty-thousandth TV detective show, we know we're the fifty-thousandth TV detective show. That's at the heart of it. The show knows a little bit that it's on TV."
THEY WERE NAZIS, DUDE:  A few thoughts on last night's brilliant Breaking Bad, below the fold:

Sunday, September 8, 2013

MARS CURIOSITY: Really, NFL? Given the diversity of choices in staying local and thematic with this year's Super Bowl halftime show, it's Bruno Mars who gets the nod for the Meadowlands halftime gig?

To be sure, Mars has been a fun live performer since he was four, but ... not Bruce? JBJ? Jay-Z? Fountains of Wayne? Southside?
THE REAL SLIM SHADY:  Yeah, this was awkward. The second time you watch it, just watch Herbstreit try to fit in.
AND WHEN THE REFEREE LIFTED ITS LIMP ARM FOR THE THIRD TIME ...  Following up on our February 2013 story, the IOC voted today to reinstate wrestling for the 2020 Summer Olympics, in a 49-24-22 vote over baseball-softball and squash.