Wednesday, November 11, 2009

News Round-up: Zander, Reality TV, MSN, GLEE

Chad Brannon back for an episode of GENERAL HOSPITAL
Fan fave Chad Brannon, who played the troubled drug dealer turned mob errand boy Zander Smith from 2000 to 2004, will be back for one episode in mid-to-late December as part of the Rebecca storyline.

Tonight's GLEE a "game changer"?
This episode is the turning point for the show," says Ryan Murphy. "Certainly, after this, it remains a comedy, and it’s fun. But writing this made me feel the responsibility of showing the truth of the pain that outcasts go through. It’s not all razzle-dazzle show business. It’s tough, and it’s painful, and it was for me growing up, and it is for most people."

MAD MEN is one of the few shows to treat viewers like adults
The AMC series doesn't pander to its audience, says Tim Goodman. "It's not every day that a faltering marriage, built on a lie grasped in fear and protected with admirable, unwavering confidence by the main character, collapses so sublimely over the course of three seasons. For that matter, it's a rarity when viewers are given insight into the human condition not by quick-cut witticisms or explosive, violent action sequences but in everyday ordinariness that can be drab or meandering – just like life."

TV Guide Canada's unveils 30 of the most stunning human specimens in the soap world
Included in the list are Chappell, Beemer, Bjorlin, Hendrickson and Leccia.

Microsoft Merges MSN, Bing Video
Microsoft is revamping its signature online video site, MSN Video, and combining it with its Bing video site to create a new video destination. The new Bing Video site will be accessible from Bing.com and MSN.com, and will combine original content from MSN with content from partners such as Hulu, TV.com and YouTube.

Has Reality TV ruined television? And America?
"The influence of Reality TV has been insidious, pervasive," James Wolcott complains in Vanity Fair. He goes on to list the damage reality is responsible for:
1) Reality TV has lowered network property values
2) Reality TV has annihilated the classic documentary
3) Reality TV wages class warfare and promotes proletarian exploitation
4) Reality TV has debased the time-honored art of bad acting
5) Reality TV encourages and rewards vulgar, selfish, antisocial, pissy-pants behavior
6) Reality TV gives voyeurism a dirty name

1 comment:

  1. Thats strange that Zander would be coming back for the Rebecca storyline...unless she does turn out to be Emily, dies, and Zander ushers her into the afterlife...since if she is Emily she never died during that ball.

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