05.31.13 |
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Matt Zoller Seitz on today’s great era of TV direction:
Where’s their MoMA retrospective? Why is there no auteur theory of TV?
One explanation is that movies have a half-century head start on TV, so there’s been more time for critics to settle on terms and definitions. I like to tell people that TV, as both business and art, is at roughly the same place in its development as cinema was in the late fifties, around the time that the French floated the auteur theory. We’re still figuring out who the “author” is on TV shows. We’re still taking into account whether we’re talking about the show as a whole or a particular episode, and why. We rarely think of TV as being directed, unless the show’s main creative force has already been identified as a theatrical director (as David Lynch was before Twin Peaks) or doubles as the show’s star (like Louis C.K. or Lena Dunham).
I’ve become more aware of reoccurring TV directors on shows as varied as Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones and even New Girl. I know there’s a “voice” there, but I admit I rarely make a connection with what’s onscreen the way I do with a “name” film director. Seitz helps explain why.
04.17.13 |
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It’s a new season of Mad Men which means a new set of Tom and Lorenzo posts on the series’ costume design and fashion choices. If you don’t believe costume design is a critical cinematic influence, read these posts, you’ll be a believer. I especially liked a reference to Sally’s first appearance on season six:
It’s notable how much Sally stands apart. Betty and Mama Francis are tied together; Betty and Sandy are tied together; but Sally, in her brilliant blue dress and simple hair (the simplest female hair in the scene, if not the entire show, signaling the adoption of more relaxed hairstyles for young girls in the post-hippy period), she’s a bolt of sarcasm cutting the room in half.
03.29.13 |
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Giancarlo Esposito, best known as Gus Fring from the Breaking Bad series has a really thorough, highly entertaining talk with The A.V. Club on his past roles, from Miami Vice to Malcolm X and of course Breaking Bad.
Esposito is incredibly charming and eloquent, consistent with the other journalistic appearances I’ve seen him in. A few surprises here as well, like way back in 1982 where he worked on Sesame Street (!):
But what I learned from that show was that there are never any small parts or any small characters. You could be inside a bird costume and still have an incredible effect. I absolutely loved that job, because it was like taking care of a big kid! Mickey’s all practical; he’s a guy who’s Big Bird’s camp counselor for a couple of weeks. But that provided me with a couple of weeks’ work and an opportunity to work with a master. You see Big Bird, but you rarely see who he is. You kind of do, though. You feel his mastery. How wild is life, that you only see him through his feathers? [Laughs.] He affected my life in a major way.
03.05.13 |
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I’m aware we’re a good few months before the Breaking Bad craziness starts again for one last time, but this Youtube breakdown of Walter White’s mental state (or psychosis?) is awesome. Nice static graphics as well. Fair warning: major spoilers are contained for seasons one through four.
02.14.13 |
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The A.V. Club‘s Todd VanDerWerff:
But I’ll still miss the idea of everybody watching everything together. With every new freedom comes a kind of loss, and sometimes, those can’t be quantified. We’ve been consuming content in serialized fashion for centuries now—people made weekly visits to theaters long before the novel was even a glint in Cervantes’ eye—and that habit will likely die hard. And maybe I’m being a stick-in-the-mud here, tied to a method of TV watching that was already in its death throes when I was a child. But when I can watch a great episode of TV with my watercooler—real or virtual—around me, that increases the value of it to me, increases the sense that I’m a part of something.
02.12.13 |
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Columbia professor Tim Wu, writing for The New Yorker:
That doesn’t mean the cable industry has no prospects. But this year or next, cable companies will have to accept that they are no longer the gatekeepers for the best content. It means, eventually, that the industry will probably have to embrace the idea of simply carrying the content of others (which was its original business model), and essentially function as what used to be called an “Internet-service provider.”
Wu is a very smart guy, and his points about the potential impact of House of Cards are argued well. But I’m not as optimistic that the ‘best content’ will move as rapidly away from cable as he predicts.
12.28.12 |
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Gaming site Giant Bomb has always distinguished itself with stellar video work, but they have outdone themselves with their game of the year recap videos. Their TV spoofs, especially their dead on 60 Minutes send up (“reporter” Brad Shoemaker has the vocal cadence down cold) linked here, just kills.
12.21.12 |
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Adam Davidson for The New York Times:
This business model, perhaps as much as artistic creativity, is responsible for TV’s current golden age. Networks have effectively entered into a quality war. Basic-cable channels have to broadcast shows that are so good that audiences will go nuts when denied them. Pay-TV channels, which kick-started this economic model, are compelled to make shows that are even better. And somehow, they all seem to be making insane amounts of money.
We’re clearly in an amazing TV era, but, as Davidson surmises, how much of it is dependent on the quasi-monopolistic system cable providers run now? What happens when content shifts to the web?
11.20.12 |
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The Verge’s Nilay Patel:
The final moments in the battle to replace the cable box will be easy to recognize — it’s when you can simply flip on an Apple TV or a PS3 or a Roku box and it’s already playing something. It’s when the streaming services start making choices for you — choices that up until now have been made by network executives acting on a hunch and a prayer. Netflix’s recommendation engine is great at showing things you might want to start watching, but imagine if Netflix was just already playing your own personal Mad Men marathon when you flipped on the TV. Or if your Xbox was smart enough to know that you’d be watching the Nets game if you only knew it was on.
Very smart article. Nilay really outdid himself with his writing here.
10.08.12 |
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I’ve had a soft spot for actor Kyle MacLachlan ever since watching him as Jeffrey Beaumont in Blue Velvet. The guy has had a pretty varied career as well: six years of Sex In the City and lots of smaller, quirkier roles spanning both TV and film. So naturally he’s a pretty stellar fit for The A.V. Club‘s regular Random Roles interview feature.
Love his commentary on watching Showgirls (Kyle had a starring role) for the first time:
It was about to première, I hadn’t seen it yet, and I wanted to. So I went to see it and… I was absolutely gobsmacked. I said, “This is horrible. Horrible!” And it’s a very slow, sinking feeling when you’re watching the movie, and the first scene comes out, and you’re like, “Oh, that’s a really bad scene.” But you say, “Well, that’s okay, the next one’ll be better.” And you somehow try to convince yourself that it’s going to get better… and it just gets worse. And I was like, “Wow. That was crazy.” I mean, I really didn’t see that coming.