I've taken the liberty of compiling a list of New Year's resolutions for TV -- just some goals to aspire to in this shiny new year, including fewer monkey and mob doctors, more love for ABC's Thursday night programming, and the end of Honey Boo Boo.
Ah, celebrities. So unpredictable. After all, who'd have thought that just over a year after her over-the-top wedding to Kris Humphries, Kim Kardashian would be carrying Kanye West's child?
It depresses me to think that people -- especially women -- in the 21st century believe that these out-of-date gender roles should be reintroduced as the norm. And It depresses me even further that TLC felt like this was an appropriate show to air.
What "Downton" does well is worth the price of admission, and the actors in this cast are a continual treat, yet I feel compelled to list the problems and pleasures I find in the drawing rooms and the servants' quarters.
This show has no place on television and its production must be halted immediately. The time has come to stop rewarding ignorant, irresponsible behavior; stop exalting foolishness.
I will say there is more than one wedding, more than one birth, more than one death, and eventually even a madwoman in the attic (not necessarily Downton's attic).
Raylan, as usual, has more than his work cut out for him, but lucky for fans of Justified, he is always up for a challenge!
A recluctant admission: I can be a little too highbrow. When presented with the opportunity to direct Fawzia Mirza's new Web series, Kam Kardashian, chronicling the day-to-day adventures of the long-lost lesbian Kardashian sister, I was less than thrilled.
An Amish Murder isn't a study of the Amish way of life but there is enough involvement of the Amish community in the script to make those seeking information happy. The movie itself is run of the mill but any production that offers a chance to see Neve Campbell in a lead role is worth watching.
I could not help but feel my parents' story was left out, as were many others: the interracial marriages of the Iranian Diaspora. We are the forgotten ones, often times frowned upon for not being Iranian enough.
Meet the Press is the oldest and most treasured public affairs show on television. This is why the ongoing silence of David Gregory and NBC News -- following his apparent on-air violation of D.C. gun laws -- is so disconcerting.
There are numerous other series that deserve hindsight recognition as we say goodbye to 2012 and move into the New Year.
Downton Abbey is nothing if not entertaining. But it is also intensely political, raising questions that would surely interest the Obamas, given their recent history. Among them: Who at Downton was allowed to vote?
These are certainly not the best ten sketches of 2012 (going back to the last half of the 2011-2012 season), because they are only my favorite ten sketches. Regardless, I decided to keep the title of "best sketches" even though it's a lie.
Downtown excels at drawing the reader in, using what we writers call "bridging conflict" -- an incident or event that sets the stage for the larger story.
So I decided to put some words down about the HBO show Girls. I'm going to assume that anybody who is reading this has seen the show. And since I have no idea what I'm about to write, I'm just going to spit some stuff out and you can take the ride with me.
Guy Fieri's no-nonsense approach to food and eating, and to creating just enough random chaos wherever he shows up, makes him a man after my own heart.
Why, for example, would Hitchcock offer Tippi the coveted part of Marnie on June 7, 1962, during filming of the sand dune scene, only to deliberately attempt to physically harm her (as depicted in the drama) by smashing the glass telephone booth, which was filmed on June 12 -- only a few days later?
I had a chance to chat with Melora Hardin about Roxie, Wedding Band and her knack for writing songs with make-you-blush double entendres.
My resolution for the new year should be to watch less TV, because let's face it -- I watch a lot of TV. But since I love it and it's kind of my job, I'd rather just complain about the characters I don't like on some of my can't-miss shows.
Remember the film Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer? Well, in real life, the 9-inch tall Claus and 5-inch tall reindeer puppets used in the making of this 1964 production wound up spending the next 40 years under less than ideal conditions.
Maria Rodale, 2013. 4.01
Lisa Steinberg, 2013. 3.01
