The Golden Age of television doesn’t seem to be losing steam. In fact, the era of captivating TV has crossed over to streaming services which stepped up their presence in 2015; many of the year’s best shows were provided by sites like Netflix. These days their appeal doesn’t come solely from our ability to binge watch […]
Stephen Stanton of Life Itself, The 7D and The Legend of Korra
Director Steve James still gets questions about how he got Roger Ebert to record narration for Life Itself. But as he always tells the audience, that isn’t really Mr. Ebert talking – it’s Stephen Stanton. While you may not have heard of him, you’ve almost certainly heard his voice. Mr. Stanton is a renowned voice actor who has lent […]
Obvious Child
I tried stand-up comedy once. I wasn’t very good at it. But as any successful comic will tell you, this is how everyone’s first, second, and hundredth attempts at stand-up go. Some have even gone so far as to call stand-up one of the world’s hardest professions. Still, the whole process terrified me. After that first […]
Breaking Bad and the Protagonist Problem
This discussion began with a focus on the episode “Ozymandias,” but then extended to a broader debate on Breaking Bad, Deadwood, and Game of Thrones. For the record, both Søren and I enjoyed this show – I just liked it a bit more than he did. And this should go without saying, but this conversation […]
The Excision of the Protagonist
Television has apexed once again. If the Emmys have proven anything over the past few years, it is that we live in what celebrated filmmaker Steven Soderbergh refers to as “a second golden age of television.” The networks — cable and streaming, more than broadcast — are investing more than ever in smart, original and […]
