If you’re like me, you’ve always been somewhat dissatisfied with the annual Academy Awards telecast — and, for that matter, with the Emmys and Golden Globes — because they waste precious time handing out trophies to all kinds of boring…
Those of us who grew up in the 1960s have fond memories of one of the best World War II television series — 12 O’Clock High. The series ran on ABC for three seasons — from September 1964 to January…
It’s hard not to binge read a Dean Koontz novel. Koontz’s prose is beyond tight. His suspenseful plots hurl readers headlong into raucous adventures in which the stakes for his protagonists are extreme and, for humanity, often dire. His heroes…
Gone are the days when parents could turn on the Disney Channel or a Disney movie and walk away. A new 50-minute documentary called Walt’s Disenchanted Kingdom exposes the radical agenda pushed by Disney to indoctrinate America’s children. “Once upon…
The franchise of Bond, James Bond has suffered the same fate as some other companies in corporate America: it has lost its brand identity due to a lack of focus. It is both confused and confusing. And the franchise has…
That scrambling you hear is not Tom Brady trying to avoid hot pursuit by 290-pound tacklers with ill intent. It’s sports writers and sportscasters scrambling to find what they will write or talk about now that Tom Brady has called…
In this episode of The Spectacle podcast, what was planned to be a regular discussion of American politics quickly turned into something else altogether. Melissa Mackenzie begins with a discussion of a YouGov poll that covers political orientation and how…
Roald Dahl: Teller of the Unexpected: A Biography By Matthew Dennison (Pegasus Books, 272 pages, $24) The iconic children’s book writer Roald Dahl (1916–1990) concluded his last book, The Minpins (1991) with these poignant words: “And above all, watch with…
In an episode of the late, great sitcom The King of Queens, Doug Heffernan (Kevin James) and his wife, Carrie (Leah Remini), meet their friends Deacon and Kelly at a cineplex for a night at the movies only to discover…
Many comedians root their humor in the images they’ve chosen to project. The premise of Jack Benny’s comedy was that he was cheap. Rodney Dangerfield didn’t get any respect. Phyllis Diller was unsightly. Woody Allen was a nebbish. Back when…