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19 Jul 2010 10:46

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U.S.: The Washington Post’s been busy the last two years or so

  • The amount of work that went into this is impressive. Beyond the stories themselves – an early Pulitzer contender about how the government’s intelligence apparatus has grown so huge that nobody knows how big it is – is an immaculately-designed mini-site, full of huge amounts of data about where all that intelligence money goes. It includes a pretty smart use of the jQuery carousel feature, immersive graphics (above), and data to last you for weeks. The Post has long been the ugliest of major old-guard newspapers, cluttered in all the ways that the Post itself is clean and classy. This – to us – proves that they have the capacity to turn that ship around. (Edit: Scott Clevenger notes that this series will also become a Frontline special on PBS.) source

24 May 2010 20:53

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Culture: On the scale of “Dallas” to “M*A*S*H,” the “Lost” finale doesn’t rank

  • 13.5 million wasted their night watching the finale source
  • » As ratings go, meh: While prime-time television is nothing like it was in 1983, it’s worth noting that this total is a eighth of what the “M*A*S*H” finale brought in, and a fourth of the 2004 “Friends” finale. According to junk culture hotbed Wikipedia, it’s only the 55th-most watched finale of all time. Sucks to be network television in 2010.

23 May 2010 10:35

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13 May 2010 20:41

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U.S.: “Law and Order” possibly canceled? Say it ain’t so, guys!

  • The show may or may not survive after its 20th season. It’s a show you can seemingly make new plots for without even trying. That’s a characteristic that’s served it well through two decades and multiple spin-offs. But NBC may be ready to move on, according to a Deadline Hollywood report (which NBC is currently keeping mum about). Above, we put the cast of the most classic era. Let’s face it, Jerry Orbach was born to be on this show! While Anthony Anderson and Jeremy Sisto are great, they just can’t hold a candle to this fabulous foursome. source

28 Aug 2009 16:51

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09 Jun 2009 11:06

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Culture: Good news, everyone! Futurama is making a series comeback!

  • Word on the street is that Bender, Leela, Fry, Zoidberg and the rest of the crew will be headed back to Comedy Central for a 13-episode run. To celebrate, here’s some Hypnotoad. We’ll be back after the hypnosis wears off. source

31 May 2009 10:47

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Sports: Sorry your season went up in smoke, Lebron James. :(

 

18 May 2009 20:52

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Culture: Fox gets rid of some shows, gets some new ones. Neat.

  • fresh Fox, in announcing its new schedule, added six shows, including a Fall edition of “So You Think You Can Dance,” a bunch of comedies (including “Family Guy” spinoff “The Cleveland Show”) and a Wanda Sykes riff-on-news late-night show.
  • stale The coming of the new means the old stuff has to go, and the biggest casualty may be the Terminator spin-off TV series “The Sarah Connor Chronicles.” Some reality series will go, and “King of the Hill” will be sent off properly in the Fall.
  • solid But the more interesting story may be what they kept and how they kept it. Joss Whedon’s latest series, “Dollhouse,” is sticking around despite low ratings, and hit drama series “Fringe” will upgrade to the tough Thursday night schedule. source

20 Mar 2009 16:46

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Music: So, why did VH1 take “Behind the Music” off the air, anyway?

  • It felt like the time is right. There’s all sorts of new artists on the scene who have emerged and have these great stories. And there’s other artists that we always wanted to do the first time around.
  • Jeff Olde • VH1 executive VP of Original Programming, on the return of everyone’s favorite way to laze around on the couch on a Saturday afternoon. That’s right, the ultimate rock-documentary series “Behind the Music” is coming back, fresh with new shows on Scott Weiland and Lil Wayne, among others. • source