Television

6 ways J.D. Salinger influenced modern pop culture (Book commentary)

Like everyone, I think “Catcher in the Rye” is a brilliant book. I think J.D. Salinger’s other three books (actually compilations of his magazine short

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Midseason preview: My favorite actresses return, but will their shows be any good? (TV commentary)

Three of my favorite actresses return to TV this midseason, and that’s probably a good thing, but I’m a little ambivalent. In TV, I often

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‘24’ Season 8 starts tonight. Is there reason for optimism? (TV commentary)

“24” Season 8 starts with a two-hour premiere at 8 Central tonight (another two-hour block follows at 7 p.m. Central Monday). I haven’t been this NOT

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Happy 20th anniversary to the still-funny, still-important ‘Simpsons’ (TV commentary)

Last week, “The Simpsons” was the clear winner in the laugh tally against “The Cleveland Show” and “Family Guy.” I can’t say that every week, but I

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John’s top 10 TV shows of 2009

Although two shows on this list are much missed and a third (“Dollhouse”) is on its way out, 2009 was generally a year when TV

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What are your favorite Christmas stories? (Commentary)

My question for this post is: What are your favorite Christmas stories (movies, books, comic books, TV episodes, etc.)? When you think of Christmas entertainment,

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John’s favorite TV shows of the Aughts (Commentary)

Next, here are my top 10 TV shows. Some started in the ’90s, but for this list, I am just showing the years they aired

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John’s favorite entertainers of the Aughts (Commentary)

First, my top 10 entertainers. These are the people (and one fictional robot) who put a smile on my face in every project they tackled.

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The best TV shows of the Aughts … as it happened (Commentary)

I thought it might be fun to look back on my picks for “best of the year” this decade as those years were ending (mostly

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The really cool stuff of the Aughts wasn’t found in the mainstream (Commentary)

Time Magazine called it the “decade from hell,” but Entertainment Weekly argued, in its latest issue, what about the entertainment? However, they failed to make

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