« Previous  |  Next »

How to score chicks on the Disney Channel.

The Suite Life on Deck (Disney Channel, Fridays at 8:30 p.m. ET) is a follow-up to The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, itself a kiddie sitcom about identical-twin boys kicking it Eloise-style at a Boston hotel. Last week, the sequel ranked as the No. 4 show ...

From TROY PATTERSON, Slate,  20 Nov 2009

Related Topics: Paris Hilton

Do books really need Hollywood-style trailers?

This month brings the publication of Eating Animals—a vegetarian's memoir and manifesto, a Peter Singer sort of guide to a Michael Pollan world, the third book by novelist Jonathan Safran Foer. In support of it, the author and his publisher have ...

From TROY PATTERSON, Slate,  18 Nov 2009

Related Topics: Peter Singer,  Michael Pollan,  Jonathan Safran Foer,  Google Inc.,  Stephen King

The many charms of Glee.

In some social circles—those of dirty East Coast liberals, for instance—the fashionable new comedy of the season is Modern Family. Good for it. Good for wit that contributes to screwball tartness on network TV. But, for the record, the best new comedy ...

From TROY PATTERSON, Slate,  11 Nov 2009

Related Topics: Ryan Murphy,  Steve Perry,  William McKinley,  Matthew Broderick,  Jane Lynch

A journey through the Travel Channel.

We can see clearly that the channel offers pointers to globetrotters and fantasies to armchair vacationists, but we see less clearly who its ideal viewer is. The lineup is confusingly diffuse. Does any one person above the age of 12 appreciate both the ...

From TROY PATTERSON, Slate,  6 Nov 2009

Related Topics: Travel Channel,  David Foster Wallace,  SIX FLAGS INC,  Marco Pierre White

The new V reviewed.

V (ABC, Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET), a show about killer iguanas from outer space, reworks the '80s science-fiction smash of the same name. In its first incarnation, V was pulp with a seriousness of purpose. It quickly emerged that the space lizards, ...

From TROY PATTERSON, Slate,  3 Nov 2009

Related Topics: Federal Bureau of Investigation,  Natalie Portman,  Barack Obama

A TV critic journeys through the cheerful hell of exercise shows.

Flip the channel and feel the burn. The history of exercise on TV stretches to 1951 and The Jack LaLanne Show. Amazingly, despite the advent of home video, LaLanne's successors are still on the air, lifting and thrusting and smiling too hard. By way of ...

From TROY PATTERSON, Slate,  30 Oct 2009

Related Topics: PBS,  Jack LaLanne,  Yoko Ono,  Alicia Keys,  FitTV

Finally, a great comedy about fantasy football.

On The League (FX, Thursdays at 10:30 p.m. ET), a merry comedy about the miseries of contemporary masculinity, five overgrown adolescents engage in their bonding over fantasy football. In America, 27 million adults count themselves owners of ...

From TROY PATTERSON, Slate,  28 Oct 2009

Related Topics: Mark Duplass,  Nick Kroll,  Paul Rudd

A show about the people who actually buy guns.

Lock 'N Load (Showtime, Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET) is a lighthearted docu-series about gun culture and customer service as practiced in Denver. Practically an infomercial for a mom-and-pop weapons emporium called The Shootist, it celebrates small ...

From TROY PATTERSON, Slate,  23 Oct 2009

Related Topics: Wal-Mart,  Al Pacino,  Scarface (musician),  National Rifle Association,  Michael Moore

30 Rock's season premiere reviewed.

Jack Donaghy, GE's vice president of East Coast television and microwave oven programming, framed last night's very fine, very class-concerned season premiere of 30 Rock (NBC, Thursdays at 9:30 p.m. ET) by breaking the fourth wall. At the top, he ...

From TROY PATTERSON, Slate,  16 Oct 2009

Related Topics: Jay Leno,  Tina Fey

Parking Wars and All Worked Up repossess reality TV.

A select few TV shows leave you needing to take a cold shower. A squalid few others—e.g., Rock of Love Bus With Bret Michaels (VH1)—may trigger a sudden desire to give yourself a high-pressure hosing with sanitizing solution. Rarest of all are the ...

From TROY PATTERSON, Slate,  15 Oct 2009

Related Topics: Bret Michaels,  VH1,  Dan Rather,  Samuel L. Jackson

« Previous  |  Next »

Who is This?

Help us add to our database, by linking this writer their entry in Wikipedia or Source Watch, or by suggesting that we remove it from our index.

Suggest an Entry