Writing Worth Reading
Writing Worth Reading
Remembering Intervision, Soviet Union's version of Eurovision song contest. Concept came from Wladyslaw Szpilman, hero of Polanski's film The Pianist. Aim was "to prove to the West that 'anything you can sing, we can sing better'"
Writer of The Social Network and Moneyball returns to TV with The Newsroom. Will it generate such a dedicated TV audience as The West Wing? Kaplan goes on set to see how the show's coming along
The people who control what gets commissioned for TV shows are generally 40-somethings. Their nostalgia is for the era of and just before their birth. Hence "Mad Men" now. For meanings of the Obama era, tune in in the 2050s
"As women continue to gain power and influence, they will be tested as heroes, and many, no doubt, will fail and turn to corruption, just as their male predecessors have done. But for now, the female superhero may be our last hope"
Revised, updated. Read it if only to avoid quoting from it. And please do add to it. So far it's only 131 entries long, which scarcely does justice to the prefabricated quality of most scripted—and unscripted—conversation
Entrepreneur sits down with his children to watch "Shark Tank". All weekend. Reality TV show in which start-ups pitch to investors for funding. Remake of British "Dragons' Den". With bells on. Here's what Altucher made of it
One for fans of the long-running TV series, as broadcasting exec who acquired Law & Order for the UK compares the British and American versions. In particular the US episode "Mayhem" and its UK remake "Dawn to Dusk"
Special for Downton Abbey fans. Language nerd downloads scripts, runs them through Google Ngram database, checks period authenticity. Hmmm. "The language is about 50-50. Half is more common in 1995, half is more common in 1917"
On host of fake news show The Colbert Report. Satire that blurs parody and the parodied. Tried to buy naming rights for presidential primary. And add referendum question on whether "corporations are people". Nearly succeeded
Engaging piece, with video, on history of ghosts on television. Not fictional ghosts but "real" ones, or reports of their appearances. And why the BBC promised not to show its 1992 programme Ghostwatch ever again
"The secret services are the only real expression of a nation’s character." Not a bad motto for Le Carré's Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. This is an engrossing comparison of book, 1970s TV series and recent film
Enjoyable, complimentary profile of talk show legend. "Oprah, more than any other broadcaster ever, understands the ways men can hurt women, and it is this knowledge that has allowed her to forge such a powerful bond with her fans"
