http://www.inthesetimes.com/archives/tags/television/ In These Times features award-winning investigative reporting about corporate malfeasance and government wrongdoing, insightful analysis of national and international affairs, and sharp cultural criticism about events and ideas that matter. en-us Expression Engine jessica@inthesetimes.com seamus@inthesetimes.com Thu, 19 Feb 2004 16:56:11 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/514/what_the_fcc/ I am sure that if you, like me, see the footage of the “wardrobe malfunction” one more time you’re going to hurl your TV out the window. An entire week of the Dean scream, and now this. (Will we see, except on “The Daily Show,” repeated images of Bush’s multiple flubs on “Meet The Press”?) How much lower can TV news go, expressing its faux outrage so that it can show the offending video clip for the billionth time? It would be nice if the details of the Bush energy bill, or of Medicare “reform,” or of how many homeless people are freezing this winter had gotten a fraction of the coverage. And don’t you love the newly sanctimonious FCC… media television David Sirota Thu, 18 Mar 2004 10:00:53 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/152/the_untold_tales/ When Naima married Hatem, she expected to leave the tragic past behind in East Jerusalem. She never thought her Chicago husband would become an activist like her brother—the one who paid with his life. José has the chance of a lifetime, recruited by the Dodgers. But as we watch him kiss his third girlfriend goodbye in the Dominican Republic, we already know that he’s got more on his mind than baseball. At home, Barine worries that her twin teenage girls are in danger of losing their Nigerian heritage. On the school bus, though, Nina and Zina chafe under the teasing and finger-pointing about their foreign accents and clothes. The New Americans, an extraordinary new TV mini-series, lets us in on… international television David Sirota Thu, 21 Apr 2005 07:59:36 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/2075/too_much_media/ Our media environment is very noisy, abundant, even polluted. Columbia journalism professor Todd Gitlin calls it “media unlimited.” while writer David Shenk calls it “data smog.” We have never had more stuff to hear, see, scan, play, select, view. We’ve never had more channels, and we’re about to get so many more—check your cell phone for updates, and plug in that iPod. The problem of having too much media is where to start when we think about media reform. Our own efforts to control our selections, combined with the efforts of large corporations to channel our choices, pose new challenges for people who know that democratic action depends on trustworthy communication. Big media corporations—let’s just call them Big Media—like to… media television David Sirota Fri, 02 Jun 2006 06:00:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/2666/pow_shazaam_it_inoriteam/ Dr. Wang is the epitome of nearly every Asian stereotype etched into American consciousness. His skin has a bright yellow cast; his eyes are set in an exaggerated slant. He owns a laundromat, speaks with a ludicrous accent, drives poorly and is incredibly good at math. But Dr. Wang is more than just your garden-variety racial caricature. On "Minoriteam," he is a crusading, wheelchair-bound superhero with a 40-pound brain, who uses profits from his laundromat to head up an equally preposterous group of ethnic superheroes devoted to overthrowing their nemesis: the omnipresent White Shadow. "We use power of racial stereotype to destroy White Shadow," he cries out during one of the episodes. It's Dr. Wang's way of saying, perhaps, that… art and culture television race David Sirota Fri, 09 Jun 2006 06:00:01 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/2671/veronica_mars_class_warrior/ Progressives have an annoying habit when it comes to pop culture. Anytime they fall for a particular TV show, movie or Top 40 hit, they proceed to spend inordinate amounts of time and mental energy convincing themselves that while most of what the corporate media produces is reactionary crap, this particular product is actually subversive, laced with a cutting critique of capitalism, patriarchy or the Bush administration.  I mention this only because I'm about to do the exact same thing. But of course, in this case, it's really, really true: My current television obsession, UPN's "Veronica Mars" (Tuesdays at 8 p.m. CST), is the single most compelling exploration of class anxiety and class friction on the little or big screen… television economy David Sirota Thu, 06 Jul 2006 06:06:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/2721/what_not_to_watch/ Everyone knows fashion is pain, but on television it also involves a generous dose of emotional abuse. Not content with tormenting women with double-zero-sized clothing, arthritis-inducing stilettos, and the self-inflicted wedgie that is the thong, fashion experts have found a way to increase the level of violence: The makeover show. On cable, shows that transform the average ugly duckling into a well-coiffed swan have become ubiquitous: "How Do I Look?" and "Look for Less" on Style Network, "Style by Jury" on Women's Entertainment Network, and the over-hyped metrosexual sensation, "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" on Bravo. And that doesn't even include the innumerable makeover segments on talk shows hosted by the likes of Tyra or Oprah. With the exception… Television Gender David Sirota Fri, 04 Aug 2006 06:00:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/2745/in_politics_comedy_is_central/ Lewis Black is irate. "The last year and a half is by far the toughest time I've ever spent as a comedian," he confides to the audience in his HBO special, "Red, White and Screwed." "It used to be easy--one or two things might happen in a week. And now, something will happen, and I'll read about something and I go 'I'm going to make that funny,' and then"--here he starts to yell and pace--"the next day, 30 other things would fucking happen! Who can keep track of this shit? I don't even have a ports of Dubai joke, and we're on to immigration." The audience hoots in sympathy. Perhaps this abundance of absurdities helps explain the recent boom in… Media Elections Television Politics David Sirota Fri, 29 Sep 2006 06:00:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/2836/youtube_in_meworld/ Americans are hams. Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness? The country's motto should be "look at me, look at me!" It's too easy to dismiss such behavior as exhibitionism or acting out. Today large swaths of the populace feel nonexistent without an audience. This tendency to seek attention has accelerated with the recent explosion of social networking and video sharing Web sites. Ostensibly, these sites help us to connect with friends, families and the like-minded, but their names belie this. On MySpace and YouTube, making friends is secondary to generating a virtual fanbase, an online altar to yourself. Why has this compulsion to see and be seen overtaken so many of us? Anthropologist Thomas de Zengotita explores this question… technology television art and culture David Sirota Mon, 12 Mar 2007 06:00:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3067/is_wikipedia_the_new_town_hall/ Public broadcasting everywhere is in crisis, and in part it's because technology seems to be turning pubcasters into dinosaurs. In fact, not just them, but all broadcasters. Consider the business leaders: NBC formally declared itself an "Internet company" and is slashing its analog TV investments. Mega-media mogul Rupert Murdoch bought MySpace last year and is now considering dumping his satellite assets because he's looking forward to wireless digital TV. Pubcasters used to be providers of trusted information. But when bloggers are so busy linking to each other that they hardly have time to watch television or read newspapers, is the mainstream media--even the PBSes and NPRs--becoming irrelevant? No wonder pubcasters are suffering heartburn these days. But why should the rest… media television David Sirota Thu, 22 Mar 2007 06:00:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3082/why_does_cnn_suck/ As the news media struggle to find equilibrium in an era of increased competition and decreased trust, we have some lessons that defy current conventional wisdom. The most important is that newspapers--yes, old, print-based, non-digital, non-instantaneous, so-1950s newspapers--still matter enormously. The other is that the outlet best equipped to provide instant 24-7 news, the cable channel--and CNN in particular--has become a massive failure, especially under the control of Time-Warner. Does CNN really have no shame anymore? The day that Britney Spears shaved her head, the story seemed to be in a 6-minute rotation, lest inquiring minds somehow missed this irrelevant flotsam. The following day it was still a top story, CNN reminding us that her head was, yes, indeed still… media television David Sirota Fri, 14 Mar 2008 06:00:07 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3565/kenyas_indy_media/ While news reports across the world have displayed images of chaos shaking Kenya, an alternative media system driven by ordinary Kenyans is emerging in the East African country to help raise the voices of the seldom heard. The violent aftermath of President Mwai Kibaki's disputed election in December has detonated Kenya's festering ethnic, land and power struggles, leaving hundreds dead and displacing hundreds of thousands. But it has also energized the country's independent media-makers, many of whom see their work as key to overcoming the crisis. Fusing mass communication with political organizing, the Kenya Independent Media Center (IMC) has aired local activists' perspectives on the violence and its root causes. Through its growing network of independent reporters, IMC Kenya aims… africa television media David Sirota Sun, 14 Sep 2008 06:00:55 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3906/the_70_billion_spectrum_rip-off/ Digital television -- or DTV for short -- is being hailed for its pristine picture, sound quality and explosion of new channels. Judging from the graphic of a flower and a nearly cloudless sky on the FCC's digital television Web site, sunny days are ahead for TV viewers. Now, it's never nice to rain on someone's parade, but bad news is bad news. Because when it comes to the DTV transition, the forecast looks gloomy. On February 17, just five months from now, all U.S. analog TV stations will switch to digital broadcasting, creating thousands of new channels. (Digital broadcast technology allows several separate TV channels to be compressed into subchannels for what is called "multicasting.") Broadcasters may go from… television media David Sirota Thu, 18 Sep 2008 06:00:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3910/hospital_flacks_spread_fake_news/ When Glen Mabie's boss at WEAU-TV-13 told him he would have to start running stories suggested by a local hospital, featuring its staff and services, Mabie quit in protest. The agreement with the hospital would have prevented the Eau Claire, Wis., station from using sources from other area hospitals in its stories. "I was between a rock and a hard place," says Mabie, who had been news director at the NBC affiliate for a year. "I didn't want to be insubordinate to my superior and there was no way I could go into the newsroom and tell my staff this is a good thing." WEAU ultimately scratched the plan after newsroom employees continued to resist it in the wake of… media ethics TV David Sirota Mon, 03 Nov 2008 12:02:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/4019/millions_of_americans_still_crawling_with_dial_up/ Brian Beaudet lives in what's locally called a "holler" in rural Marshall, N.C. "It's very secluded but my family likes the privacy and the nature that surrounds us," he says. A software developer, Beaudet and his family moved to Marshall because he has the luxury of working wherever there's a "broadband connection to the outer world." When they purchased their house on 13 wooded acres, they were assured that it was cable-ready. But it wasn't long before Beaudet learned that there was no cable connection, and no possibility that the cable company would build one. His family's dream house was becoming a nightmare. Faced with either a crawling dial-up connection or an astronomically expensive and spotty satellite connection, Beaudet opted… technology internet television David Sirota Thu, 20 Nov 2008 06:00:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/4044/our_vampires_ourselves/ Welcome to Bon Temps, La., where all the women are innocent, all the men have secret obsessions and all the vampires -- save for a few -- try to recapture their lost humanity. A small, swampy, fictional town set deep in (ahem) "real America," Bon Temps is the central locale in HBO's frothy new vampire series, "True Blood." The series centers on Sookie Stackhouse (played by Anna Paquin), a wide-eyed waitress and reluctant telepath who hears other people's thoughts on a constant loop. Despite suffering the ritual abuse of growing up "different" -- that is, a mind reader -- in a small town, Sookie has managed to maintain her natural sweetness and charm. She's also learned to be emotionally resilient… television True Blood vampires David Sirota Tue, 26 May 2009 14:45:33 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/4447/colin_powell_skates_free_on_torture/ There is no one, it seems, that the U.S. mainstream news media loves more than Colin Powell, a "moderate" Republican who gives a careerist journalist the chance to do some smart positioning in the "center." But the truth about this retired four-star general is that he is the ultimate careerist. That was apparent again during Powell's May 24 interview on CBS' "Face the Nation" as Powell juxtaposed himself as the reasonable Republican in contrast to former Vice President Dick Cheney, who vowed last week that there was "no middle ground" in the "war on terror." The press coverage of Powell's CBS appearance focused on his reaffirmation of his membership in the Republican Party--after Cheney and talk show host Rush Limbaugh… media television national security David Sirota Sun, 27 Sep 2009 16:17:50 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/4959/broadcast_duel_wolf_blitzer_michael_moore/ David Sirota Mon, 05 Oct 2009 06:00:16 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/4912/mad_men_2.0/ It's difficult to know exactly why AMC's Mad Men has become such a hit, but it is a safe bet that its popularity is not merely a product of the television show's smooth writing, superb acting and retro-cool clothing. What has taken the program from Law & Order-watchable to Sopranos-style phenomenal is its exploration of advertising and public relations--the psychological manipulations that we're immersed in but rarely talk about. In Mad Men's early 1960s, the dark art of selling and spinning were being perfected and modernized. Before television, advertising was largely based on the repetition of anodyne fact--the theory being that if you simply hard-sell a product's virtues, ingredients and effects, that product will eventually fly off the shelves. In… David Sirota Fri, 09 Oct 2009 14:13:39 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/5029/limbaughs_nobel_sound_and_fury/ David Sirota Tue, 13 Oct 2009 11:15:45 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/5045/bill_moyers_on_democracy_and_climate_change/ David Sirota