Tina Fey Had the Best Job in New York

TiVo grabbed the premiere of 30 Rock for us. Comparing it against Studio 60 is like comparing the past 15 years of Saturday Night Live against anything funny. Tin Fey’s work on Weekend Update was a small glimmer of hope in Lorne Michael’s otherwise deserted, stale series. Like the paper the next morning, the only …

Amazing Race Season 10 – Episode 2

Outer Mongolia. It’s a threat in my mind. Somehow worse than Siberia. A place where you “get sent”. A bit of romance there if only for the seemingly still nomadic lifestyle. Until the rain storm, seemed like a nice, quiet vacation spot. Like northern Wisconsin in autumn. Remote. If only I had a hand-cranked Russian …

Amazing Race Season 10 – Episode 1

If having racers rappel up the Great Wall of China on the first leg is any indication, the Amazing Race is on an upswing. The lame events, purposeless pitstops, and music-video editing might be a thing of the past – much like the awful Family Edition. Despite my continual confusion between the cheerleaders and the …

Tivo HD vs Apple iTV

Jen and I talked about Baby Tivo recently. It’s a paltry 40gig, single-tuner. But, sans-cable, it serves us well. Today, Apple announced their iTV, shipping sometime next year. Priced at $300, plays HD video, HDMI ports, wifi, Front Row (or something like it), everything you’d expect (maybe a DVD drive?). Then later today, I received …

To Fox’s House Producers: Limp Not The Problem

The short write up on Fox’s House in the Fall TV Preview issue of Entertainment Weekly reports the producers are asking what happens if House doesn’t have his limp anymore. That’s easy. There’s no show. Poof. I said this a year ago on the subject: “House is a great character because of the contrast of …

The All Commercial Television Channel is Nearly Here

A decade ago, I had this vision of a television channel – MTV for commercials. Above is the logo I drew up for it. Commercials would be presented in a structured way – by theme, brand history, actor, etc. In other words, the ads themselves would be the program. Fast-forward to today, and I think …

Tivo Time Travel to Late 80’s Videoblogs

Some how, early last month, Tivo found a Saturday Night Live from 1989 and obediently recorded it. Dana Carvey, Dennis Miller (does the map behind him remind you of Rocketboom?), Al Franken’s one-man mobile uplink (early video-blogger?). This is the SNL I caught on satellite TV working late as a farmhand. Low budget effects, talent …