Television

Medialoper Bebop Episode 27: Brain Decline

January 11, 2012 by Jim Connelly

In their first podcast of 2012, Jim & Tim wonder if you’ve heard that new Van Halen song. Kirk could care less. But it does lead to a discussion about various band reunions as well as the various incarnations of Van Halen. (4:37 – 11:04)

Then, there is general worry at a British study that says brain decline starts in the mid-40s, not the early 60s. (11:05 – 19:55)

Also, speaking of decline, has any retailer had a swifter decline than Best Buy? Probably, but who can remember? Kirk traces it back to when they got into a public spat with the DuroSport Electronics Corporation. (19:56 – 29:18)

Finally, the latest inductee into the Medialoper Bebop Great Albums Hall of Fame, Horses by Patti Smith. Even though it’s Kirk’s choice, Jim is going to use this opportunity to link to his article about seeing Patti live in 1996, as well as Kassia’s article about her love for Patti Smith. (29:19 – 47:10)

All that, and the new Van Halen song! On Medialoper Bebop Episode 27: Brain Decline.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 54:21 — 74.7MB)

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17 Musical Moments to Die For

August 27, 2009 by Jim Connelly

It has been four months since I’ve done one of these, a far cry from my original plan of doing one a month, and I can’t promise when the next one will be, or even if there will be a next one.

So, really quickly, the ground rules. These aren’t about artists, or albums, or even songs, but rather, moments: that piece of a song that draws you into it; that piece of a song that you wait to happen again; that piece of a song that is running in your head when you can’t sleep; that piece of a song that you find yourself humming at inopportune times.

That piece of a song that you can’t live without.

This is the ninth in a series: The first one had 25; the second one had 24; the third one had 23; the fourth one had 22; the fifth one had 21; and the sixth had 20; the seventh had 19 and the eighth had 18.

20 Musical Moments to Die For

January 23, 2009 by Jim Connelly

Somewhere underneath all of that hair is Neil Young. This month, on Musical Moments to Die For: secrets, influences, and secret influences, all book-ended by the two best bands to ever come from Athens, GA.

We’ve also got the front-runners for greatest guitar and organ solos ever; Neil Young’s most despairing moment; and not one, not two, but three variations of the beat solidified by the late, great Ellas McDaniel.

As always, I’m not necessarily talking about hooks here, more like traps. The parts of these songs that bring me back to them over and over again.

This is the sixth in a series: The first one had 25, the second one had 24, the third one had 23, the fourth one had 22, the fifth one had 21.

And yeah, you probably see the pattern and think you know the endgame, but I can promise you that there’s a twist!

TV Shows of My Life

August 15, 2008 by Jim Connelly

Another Friday, another list! This one is is inspired by the “Favorite Album for Each Year I’ve Been Alive” list.

Essentially, it’s a list of best TV show debuts for every year I’ve been alive.

When researching — Wikipedia, naturally — I determined that the absolute nadir of American television was the 1980s, which is no surprise to anybody who lived through it. On the other hand, there is no doubt that we entered a golden age in 1999, which lasted until the great HBO shows all ended.

Also, there tends to be a pattern where one year has a bunch of fantastic debuts, followed by a couple of down years. Which is why a lot of the greatest shows ever aren’t on this list: they had the misfortune to debut the same year as an even better show (too bad, West Wing! tough luck, Veronica Mars!). The opposite held true: especially in the 1980s, I had to do some stretching to find anything halfway decent.

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The Word On The Not-So-New Fall Television Season

October 25, 2006 by Kassia Krozser

Man 1: I’m not watching TV anymore. They cancelled the only two shows I was watching.
Me: Which two shows?
Man 1: Smith and Kidnapped.
Man 2: They cancelled Kidnapped? But I was watching that. I need to check the TiVo. Did they find the kid?
Man 1: I don’t know. It’s just gone.

Report From The Field: Nobody’s Paying Attention

October 12, 2006 by Kassia Krozser

As part of my Medialoper reporting duties, I often venture into the real world to get a sense of what’s happening outside the walls of the Internet. I have set up a little lab to study the media consumption habits of ordinary Americans. In order to keep the science almost rigorous, the group I’ve assembled is pretty much random, much like, well, what you’d find in an average office setting.

Since the dawn of the 2006-2007 Fall television season, I’ve had two conversations relating to traditional motion picture viewing. The first was a rather bizarre discussion about Lost. It started out as a review of the season premiere, but, well, died. Somehow it was a rehash of Season One — which, thankfully, I had seen enough of to fake my way through the conversation. Never let it be said that we don’t go the extra mile here.
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That’s What We Like: Battlestar Galactica

October 6, 2006 by Rox

Rather than fight over who was going to get to like the Best Show on Television on the day of the premiere of its much-anticipated third season, we figured that we would split the duties. We are nothing if not democratic at Medialoper.

This isn’t quite an oral history, but just like oral histories, when you put it together, it hopefully gives you a well-rounded view of just what makes Battlestar Galactica so fracking awesome. Note: we’ve just gone ahead and spoiled Seasons One and Two because, well, we believe you should have watched them already anyway. And even if we give something away that we shouldn’t, it won’t matter — as they say, it’s all in the execution. And our beloved Battlestar executes in the best possible way.

Playing For One Night Only: The Fall Television Season

September 18, 2006 by Kassia Krozser

As you may have heard (or more likely seen, especially if you’ve been at a red light next to a bus), the 2006 – 2007 television season kicks off officially tonight. Starting tonight, approximately two dozen shows will attempt to find an audience; starting tonight, approximately two dozen shows will be biting their nails and hoping to survive until morning.

Television is not a sport for wimps.

Networks and studios spend months picking just the right shows, millions on production costs, sleepless nights on creating marketing campaigns, and far too many Post-Its to mention on setting just the right programming schedules to tempt our eyeballs. Then they ruin it all by throwing everything they’ve got at us all at once.

There Is A Cure For the Summer Tube Blues

August 23, 2006 by Jim Connelly

Thanks to FOX, who like to start their shows early because they spend October ruining the Baseball Playoffs, the fall television season is starting this week. Which means, finally, rescue from the summer TV doldrums, right?

Wrong.

If you think that there hasn’t good stuff on the tube this summer, you haven’t been paying attention. Or you don’t have cable, which is where these half-dozen good-to-all-time-classic shows live.

When Computers Marry Televisions

August 9, 2006 by Kassia Krozser

In an article at Slate, Paul Boutin muses about the lack of television/computer convergence. While his final conclusion — keep your television close, but keep your laptop even closer — makes sense, he doesn’t seem to consider the way our homes work in his analysis.

In order for a hybrid television/computer to work effectively, we will need a solid broadband connection to the spot where the television works. Cable companies will need to be able to deliver programming and the Internet to the same device. Phone companies will need to do the same — TiVo users generally have a phone line nearby for those nightly calls home. Satellite users will need to either figure out how to Google via DirecTV (not likely at this time) or install a second input method (more likely). Then the television will need to converge all this stuff.