I’m going to a place that is not like L.A.

Recently, comedian Jay Black began (or maybe restarted) doing a column called TV 101 over at TVSquad.com.  He’s good.  His submission today is a tongue-in-cheek yet straight-shootingly correct appeal to network television, that they should change their business model or be made dinosaurs.

Skip the first two paragraphs and get to the meat of a great article:

TV 101: An Open Letter to TV Executives About Why You Should Stop Worrying and Learn to Love PIRACY

Time Magazine has published their Top 10 Everything lists for 2008.

Their television list is gorgeous.  Rare is the top-ten list that neither panders to pop nor eschews favorites just to feel more artsy.  I thought my favorites this year were pretty esoteric, so I was greatly pleased to see how much they agreed with the way I spent my television-watching hours:

Read the rest of this entry »

The ABC web site is almost a very good viewing experience.  Almost the best of the networks.  What keeps it from being the best?  Seriously annoying insertion of commercials.

Now, I don’t mind commercials.  They pay for this industry.  It’s great to see media via the internet moving to a legitimate sponsor model, and after all the networks need some revenue not to share with the writers.  But ABC’s site insists that you “click to continue” every time a commercial ends.  That means you can’t park your butt and veg.

But I discovered a workaround this morning.  If you watch all the commercials at the beginning, then the whole thing will play through.  Click on the beginning of each act before you watch, and endure Essentially, you “unlock” each section by watching its commercial.  Sure, it’s a pain in the ass to sit through six overproduced cutesy fake Christmas pageants rhyming about Target.  But it’s less of a pain in the ass than getting up every ten minutes.

Still not perfect, but now at least it’s the best.