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- Reviews: Currents (2026)
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- sheila on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Hamlet
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- Dave on Review: The Chronology of Water (2025)
- Biff Dorsey on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Hamlet
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Category Archives: Television
“Monster. End.”
My beautiful niece Lucy, who is now 18 months old, with a brand new baby brother, just saw Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer for the first time. While she is quite taken by the idea of Santa (or “Sintah”, as she … Continue reading
Look Out. Here Come the Tough-Talkin’ Beach Detectives
These guys are tough. They squint a lot, in a menacing manner, and sigh wearily and knowingly. Like big tough guys. They’ve seen it all. They shake their heads to themselves at the folly of this world. However, there’s one … Continue reading
Happy Birthday, Johnny Carson
Two emotional clips from Johnny Carson’s farewell show. Here is the tribute piece by Steve Martin, written after Carson passed away. I still miss Carson.
“I said, ‘Hi, Cary Grant! You look good, Cary Grant! Are you really Cary Grant??'”
Because I never get sick of watching this.
“Mr. Churchill, I think you ought to know what you did for me.”
“This is a White Russian, not a Red Russian. This is a hustling semi-Armenian Russian.” Great anecdote about Orson Welles and Winston Churchill, one of Welles’s favorite stories to tell.
“He has a way of coming on as a great thinker. Which should be stopped.”
Part 2 of the same interview. I could watch these two guys go at it for days.
“Does Jerry Lewis ring a bell?” “A rather dim gong.”
Charming. Beautiful. Fun. Every second.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, Sir John Falstaff…”
It is difficult to imagine anything like this ever being on television today, let alone a popular show like The Dean Martin Show, aimed at a broad audience. The “skit” is languorous, it takes its time, it is self-conscious in … Continue reading
First slide: Burt Hummel (Mike O’Malley)
Friend Matt Zoller Seitz has a great slideshow up in Salon right now called “Great Dads in Pop Culture Not Named Atticus Finch“. First slide of the bunch? Cousin Mike. Naturally. The man is everywhere right now. Matt writes: Burt … Continue reading