Have you ever contemplated a stack of Tupperware and suddenly seen the genius of the modern movement? No? Well, the 2010 BBC series The Genius of Design is now out on DVD with five episodes spanning the bulk of the modern movement in design. It's a fun, educational romp through the marketplace, mass production, consumerism -- and yes, the invention of the once revolutionary and now uber-dull plastic Tupperware. This series (broadcast last year on the Smithsonian Channel and now available on

2011

Apr

CURRENT TV SUCCEEDS (AND FAILS) BY PURSUING INTERACTIVITY, BAR (KARMA) NONE By Eric Gould

Last week, Bill Maher said that finding the Reelz channel, new home of the orphaned Kennedy miniseries, was harder than finding Al Jazeera. With a thousand channels, narrowcasting, or niche broadcasting, has something for everyone. That includes Current TV, which is something Al Gore actually DID invent...

2011

Mar

HBO'S 'SUNSET LIMITED' RISES By Eric Gould

There is still time to see HBO's adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's 2006 play debating faith and the existence of God. Starring and directed by Tommy Lee Jones, The Sunset Limited is another dark masterwork by McCarthy, and a sterling showcase for Jones and Samuel L. Jackson, two veterans effortlessly at the top of their game in an unforgettable 90 minutes where existential nihilism and devout belief collide...

2011

Mar

GREETINGS FROM TOON TOWN: THE SPY, THE SAVANT AND A ROBOT CHICKEN By Eric Gould

Back in the day, cartoon characters lived on the wrong side of the tracks -- a noirish, seedy Los Angeles neighborhood called Toon Town (1988's Who Framed Roger Rabbit?). The idea was that Toons, as they were slurred, were fully formed cartoons living alongside us in the real-action world: hustling, conniving C-level actors and two-bit criminals not to be trusted. Well, so they remain. Most of the Toons living on cable and the net are still on society's fringe...

2011

Feb

'SOUTHLAND': NO BETTER COPS By Eric Gould

Forget the high-concept procedural grand dames or the bullets a-flyin' action shows. Southland has everything you need. This Tuesday night TNT hour (10 p.m. ET) stays down to earth, delivering an absorbing cop show worth caring about. It's a character-driven drama that doesn't tie everything up with a pretty bow...

2011

Feb

A SHOW ABOUT A SHOW GETTING SCREWED IN HOLLYWOOD By Eric Gould

Those of us waiting for Larry David to return can meanwhile watch a sort of Curb Your Enthusiasm in reverse -- a Seinfeld-Bizarro World of kind, well-intentioned leading characters, with everyone else around them being bitter and inappropriate...And now Showtime's Episodes has British TV writers Sean and Beverly Lincoln (played by Stephen Mangan and Tamsin Greig), a well-meaning couple adrift in a sea of smiling Hollywood backstabbers...

2011

Jan

MAYHEM, DEATH AND FLO By Eric Gould

Even the most popular characters on weekly shows don't get the saturation some recurring advertising characters get on a daily basis. If exposure equals success, then they are huge. My current favorite, Allstate's dark angel "Mayhem," is on every night, pretty much hourly. He's serious, menacing and sometimes gleeful as he orchestrates destruction...

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