Category Archives: Television

Why this year’s Best Picture award dooms the Oscars to irrelevance

Posted on March 28, 2022 by Katherine Wikoff

The last film that students watch in my film and media studies course is whatever has won the Best Picture Oscar that year. I was a little nervous to see what won this year because some of the nominees were … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Higher education, Media studies, Movies and film, News, Popular culture, Television | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

Linking to an old (2017) but freshly updated post about SCTV’s “CCCP 1” episode and today’s crisis in Ukraine

Posted on March 1, 2022 by Katherine Wikoff

I noticed that this old post was getting lots of views tonight, so I decided to go in and check on whether the embedded video was still live. Nope. So I found some new clips and also added some commentary … Continue reading →

Posted in Political Analysis, Popular culture, Television | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Remembering the “Star Hustler”

Posted on November 19, 2021 by Katherine Wikoff

There was a partial lunar eclipse visible from Milwaukee last night, which I really wanted to go outside and see but which I didn’t because I also needed to be asleep at 3:00 a.m. so I could do my job … Continue reading →

Posted in Life, Milwaukee, Nature, Popular culture, Science, Television | Tagged , , , , , | 5 Comments

Look for the Union Label (some thoughts prompted by the Alec Baldwin on-set shooting incident)

Posted on October 24, 2021 by Katherine Wikoff

When I saw this “poster” today, I realized that I haven’t seen any union promotions in a really long time. It also put me in mind of this old TV ad. I’ll bet every American above a certain age still … Continue reading →

Posted in Movies and film, News, Political Analysis, Popular culture, Television | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments

For want of a nail . . .

Posted on July 22, 2021 by Katherine Wikoff

I was doing research on something else (always the way it works for me 🙂 ) when I came across this October 2020 Hollywood Reporter article on Shonda Rhimes and got sucked in by the title (Shonda Rhimes Is Ready … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Life, Popular culture, Television | Tagged , , , , , | 5 Comments

Inspiring article on Reese Witherspoon to get you unstuck

Posted on December 12, 2019 by Katherine Wikoff

Truly enjoyed this fascinating and substantial Hollywood Reporter profile of Reese Witherspoon, especially how she took charge of her career when the entertainment industry’s existing system offered limited opportunity. You can find the article here.

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A “jaw-droppingly” creative television ad

Posted on October 8, 2019 by Katherine Wikoff

The “Golden Age” of television advertising” (think “Mad Men”) is generally considered to be the 1960s through sometime in the 1980s. TV commercials were often extremely creative and fun to watch. Like this clever VW commercial from the very early … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Popular culture, Television | Tagged , , , | 11 Comments

Eleanor Roosevelt on “What’s My Line” and other famous things

Posted on July 22, 2019 by Katherine Wikoff

I stumbled across a reference to this while doing something else online and couldn’t resist watching. In October 1953 Eleanor Roosevelt appeared as a “mystery guest” on the stump-the-panel quiz show “What’s My Line?” This episode, posted in its entirety … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Popular culture, Television | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

April “Fake News” Fools

Posted on April 1, 2019 by Katherine Wikoff

These videos have been around for over a year but didn’t receive as much attention as I’d have expected. Given the strong resemblance to “pranks” in their inherent trickery and potential for malicious intent, it seems appropriate to highlight them … Continue reading →

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Warped Time

Posted on November 2, 2018 by Katherine Wikoff

It’s fascinating to notice those weird moments when historical eras overlap. My husband, who is 10+ years older than I am, can remember seeing milk being delivered to homes in his neighborhood via horse-drawn wagons in the 1950s. Here is … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Life, Movies and film, Music, Popular culture, Television | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments