REM - So. Central Rain. live on Letterman 1983

The first national television appearance for REM was on the David Letterman show in 1983. I thought it was cool that Michael Stipe didn't chat with Letterman, only Peter Buck and Mike Mills.

toob'd | The Big Round-up

Collecting items of interest related to Television.



Rammed: Chef featured on first season of Kitchen Nightmares jumps to death. [bbc]
Crossed off the List: What TV should learn from the cancellation of Heroes. [wired]
Sitcom 3.0: Three web-smart Sitcoms to know. [wired]
At the Post: Comedies off to strong start as TV season begins. [nyt]
Lifestyle Studies: Too much TV may shorten lifespan. Duh. [cnn]
MadWatch: The Footnotes of Mad Men. [MMunbuttoned] [via kottke]

toob'd | Mad Men

The third season of the television show Mad Men will begin tonight, Sunday August 16, at 10:00pm eastern, on AMC (American Movie Channel). [buzzSugar]

You can watch the first episode of the second season streaming on the web. [amc]

If you have not seen this show, we encourage you to watch it. Don't just take our word for it: You know it has to be good, because even Sesame Street will be doing a parody this year. [tvSquad] There have already been some casting suggestions made... [jezebel]

Some interesting articles... also known as "a wander through the hype-scape"... on General Topics and the Writing. [nyt] [nyt] [slate] [ffc] Costume Design. [slate] Character Study. [slate]

And Jason Kottke loves the show too... [kottke] ...he's the one that pointed us in the direction of these next two posts: And for more information check out Vanity Fair's excellent overview of the show. [vanityfair] And check out the Wall Street Journal coverage about the women writers behind the show. [wsj]

"Behind the smooth-talking, chain-smoking, misogynist advertising executives on "Mad Men" is a group of women writers, a rarity in Hollywood television. Seven of the nine members of the writing team are women. Women directed five of the 13 episodes in the third season. The writers, led by the show's creator Matthew Weiner, are drawing on their experiences and perspectives to create the show's heady mix: a world where the men are in control and the women are more complex than they seem, or than the male characters realize."

When you're ready: go Mad Men yourself! [amc]

(And you might not get this one, but: the Vancouver Sun had a report about a man that stole a dead baby's identity being at risk of losing the assets aquired under that identity through the Civil Forfeiture Act. [VanSun] )

(And from the related-but-unrelated file: here's a brief history of the bikini.)

Interlude | Twin Bricks (Twin Peaks in LEGO)

The (real) West Wing...

People We Outlived | Khan and Number Six

This will be a short post. I have to go to bed and cry myself to sleep.

The star of the '70s-era hit television program Fantasy Island, Ricardo Montalban, is dead at the age of 88. (He may be more familiar to some as the reason for William Shatner's most-famous-Kirk-scream: the Star Trek villian Khan Noonien Singh. Khaaaaannnnnnn!!!)

The CBC write-up is here.
The wired write-up is here.
And his bio on wikipedia.
And his entry in IMDB.



And, if that all were not bad enough.

The star of the '60s-era George-Orwell-meets-Timothy-Leary-meets-Franz-Kafka television program The Prisoner, Patrick McGoohan, is dead at the age of 80.

The CBC write up is here.
The wired write-up is here.
And his bio on wikipedia.
And his entry in IMDB.



Be seeing you.

Wow! A hologram...?! NO!

During the U.S. Presidential Election coverage on November 4th, CNN, the same folks that give us segments like "Keepin'em Honest", broadcast a couple of interviews using "holograms."



As it turns out, the world of Star Wars is still a little ways off. (CBC) Oh, and the take-away message: even the most trusted name in news can be a big fat liar.