Category Archives: Television

Sergei Eisenstein’s Google Doodle (and cinema tropes)

Posted on January 24, 2018 by Katherine Wikoff

Monday’s Google Doodle honored revolutionary Russian filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein. Here is a cool video I found that provides a little biographical info along with the actual Google Doodle. Sergei Eisenstein was the first “modern” filmmaker. He basically invented modern film … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, History, Milwaukee, Movies and film, Music, Popular culture, Television | Tagged "A Hard Day's Night", "Battleship Potemkin", "Drake & Josh" sushi line, "I Love Luch", "Modern Times", "Odessa Steps", "The Hunger Games", assembly line trope, homage, Odessa Staircase, Phil Collins, Sergei Eisenstein, Sergei Eisenstein Google Doodle, The Beatles, tropes | 5 Comments

Al Jarreau as “The Jazz Singer” (SCTV)

Posted on February 13, 2017 by Katherine Wikoff

Among my favorite moments from Al Jarreau (who was born in Milwaukee and passed away yesterday) is this parody of Neil Diamond’s 1980 remake of The Jazz Singer. You know it’s going to be great the moment you see Sid Dithers … Continue reading →

Posted in Life, Milwaukee, Movies and film, News, Popular culture, Television | Tagged "the jazz singer" 1980, al jarreau, neil diamond, SCTV | 6 Comments

Is Hollywood Over?

Posted on January 31, 2017 by Katherine Wikoff

Really interesting article in Vanity Fair Magazine this month, “Why Hollywood as We Know It Is Already Over.” Basically it says that Hollywood is too bloated and calcified, producing unoriginal action movies that it hopes will hit big in foreign … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Movies and film, Popular culture, Television, Writing, blogging | Tagged actors, AI, CGI, fiction, Hollywood, movies, novels | 4 Comments

Remembering CCCP 1

Posted on January 20, 2017 by Katherine Wikoff

Last week’s 10-minute interruption by a state-run Russian television network of the CSPAN 1 television feed of Rep. Maxine Waters speaking from the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives reminded me of SCTV’s prescient programming back in 1981. First, … Continue reading →

Posted in News, Political Analysis, Popular culture, Television | Tagged CCCP 1, Cold War, CSPAN 1, Maxine Waters, RT interruption, Russian hacking, SCTV | 15 Comments

A Downton Abbey Anachronism?

Posted on January 2, 2017 by Katherine Wikoff

(Note: See comments for an updated answer to the question asked in this post’s title.) My daughter and I both had projects to work on last night and, wanting some familiar, companionable television in the background, decided to put on … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Life, Popular culture, Television | Tagged "After You've Gone" song, "Downton Abbey", "Hazel" television show, "That Girl" television show, anachronism, Ethel Merman, history, memory | 12 Comments

Wildebeests at the Watering Hole

Posted on July 3, 2016 by Katherine Wikoff

A new series is beginning on BBCA (BBC America) tonight, “The Hunt,” originally broadcast last December on BBC One. Narrated by David Attenborough (who also narrated the brilliant “Planet Earth” documentary series), this new series apparently does something I’ve really never … Continue reading →

Posted in Life, Nature, Television | Tagged "The Hunt", predators, prey | 4 Comments

12 Days of Christmas Songs (#2) – “Have a Merry Merry Merry Merry Christmas”

Posted on December 24, 2015 by Katherine Wikoff

During my childhood in Ohio in the 1960s, my mom (and grandmother and great-grandmother, for that matter) were fans of Ruth Lyons, a pioneering Cincinnati radio and television personality who began her career in the earliest days of commercial radio in the 1920s. … Continue reading →

Posted in Food, Life, Television | Tagged "Have a Merry Merry Merry Merry Christmas", "Let's Light the Christmas Tree", Christmas, Christmas songs, peanut butter fudge recipe, radio, Ruth Lyons, Ruth Lyons peanut butter fudge, television talk show pioneer | Leave a comment

Stream of YouTube Consciousness: Fred Astaire, Bob Hope, and Elmer Bernstein at the 1970 Oscars (plus Ellen DeGeneres’s selfie; Janis Joplin’s riveting Monterey Pop Festival performance; and the themes from “Ironside” and The Magnificent Seven)

Posted on June 8, 2015 by Katherine Wikoff

Long title, but bear with me 🙂 I came across this clip of Fred Astaire dancing at the 1970 Academy Awards ceremony the other day—and marveled that one could have watched the Oscars broadcast that year and witnessed such entertainment. (If you … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Movies and film, Music, Popular culture, Television | Tagged "Ironside", 1970 Academy Awards ceremony, 1970 Oscars, 42nd Academy Awards, American Idol, Bob Hope, Clive Davis, Ellen, Ellen DeGeneres selfie, Elmer Bernstein, Fred Astaire, Janis Joplin, John Williams, Magnificent Seven, Mama Cass Elliot, oscars, product placement, Quincy Jones, The Magnificent Seven | 5 Comments

Wham! Pow! Ooof!

Posted on March 19, 2015 by Katherine Wikoff

Fun article the other day in the Wall Street Journal—or, as they like to style themselves: The Wall Street Journal. (← with a period at the end, I have no idea why)—about all the over-the-top villains in the old “Batman” … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Life, Popular culture, Television | Tagged "Batman" television show, camp | 4 Comments

Brian Williams, Jonah Lehrer, and kleptomania

Posted on February 10, 2015 by Katherine Wikoff

By now, who hasn’t heard the news about NBC anchor Brian Williams? That he lied multiple times, over a period of many years, about his helicopter being hit by ground fire in Iraq. That he apparently lied about many other … Continue reading →

Posted in Books and reading, Life, News, Popular culture, Television, Writing, blogging | Tagged Brian Williams, compulsive disorders, Jonah Lehrer, kleptomania, pathological lying, plagiarism | 2 Comments