Copyright 2008 The New York Sun Wed, 18 Jun 2008 16:34:35 -0400 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss David Blum :: Stories from The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/authors/David+Blum istoll@nysun.com (Ira Stoll) webmaster@nysun.com en-us DAVID BLUM http://www.nysun.com/arts/buzz-comes-back-to-the-public-theater/59788/ Fri, 3 Aug 2007 00:00:00 EST Can the Public Theater be saved? That question had loomed over Lafayette Street for so long that no one seemed to bother asking it anymore. The long shadow of Joseph Papp, its founder, had disappeared behind a succession of second-rate productions and mega-misfires, mostly under the aegis of the then-artistic director George C. Wolfe — a worthy director (at times) but unworthy successor to the role. Where audiences had once flocked for the crazy, brilliant mix of avant-garde Shakespeare and... DAVID BLUM http://www.nysun.com/arts/vanity-vinyl/58820/ Fri, 20 Jul 2007 00:00:00 EST Those of you with only four different versions of "Still Crazy After All These Years" in your record collection can rest a little more easily today. Warner Bros. Records has just released "The Essential Paul Simon," a two-CD, 36-song set on sale for $23.97 on Amazon.com. This marks the ninth collection of Paul Simon's hits now available for purchase. Other Paul Simon best-of CDs include "The Paul Simon Collection," "The Paul Simon Anthology," "Paul Simon's Greatest Hits," "Negotiations & Love... DAVID BLUM http://www.nysun.com/arts/joining-the-wait-for-the-latest-scoop/58357/ Fri, 13 Jul 2007 00:00:00 EST At this moment on a block of Broadway near 76th Street, at least a dozen New Yorkers have likely suspended their harried existence to stand on line for a half-hour and contemplate their need for expensive, imported ice cream — a need so powerful, so strong that it will keep them waiting despite delicious and far cheaper options available only a few feet away. I'm talking about Grom–the latest milk fat Mecca imported from Italy for trendy New Yorkers who, notwithstanding their strong independent... DAVID BLUM http://www.nysun.com/arts/ibacklash-builds-against-iphone-spawning-a-smash/57905/ Fri, 6 Jul 2007 00:00:00 EST A 24-year-old computer repairman in Miami, Rob V. Burr, stumbled onto YouTube stardom last weekend after applying a hammer to a brand new iPhone and breaking it into several pieces. His 59-second opus, "iPhone Smashed," has gotten almost 400,000 page views. That's huge. "I had no idea it would be a hit," Mr. Burr (known on YouTube as "thatnimrod") told me the other evening, after discovering the ancillary market in fame for anyone who dares to demolish something as precious as a $600 iPhone. "I... DAVID BLUM http://www.nysun.com/arts/live-with-paris-hilton/57371/ Wed, 27 Jun 2007 00:00:00 EST "NBC News doesn't pay for interviews, period." That categorical denial came this week from Allison Gollust, a spokeswoman for NBC News, in explaining the reason her network wouldn't pay $1 million for the post-prison Paris Hilton interview that will air instead on tonight's "Larry King Live." But she's wrong. NBC News has paid for interviews. So have CBS and ABC. They just don't like it when the seller goes public with the terms of the deal — or when, as in the case of Hilton, it's not worth... DAVID BLUM http://www.nysun.com/arts/mother-of-reinvention/57129/ Fri, 22 Jun 2007 00:00:00 EST Did anyone besides me catch the recent Lifetime movie "Write & Wrong," with Kirstie Alley as a washed-up screenwriter who hires her hunky young nephew to market her work in Hollywood as his own? I liked the premise enough to suffer through two seriously painful hours of television, including commercials for several prescription medications I plan to ask my doctor about. Despite Ms. Alley's atrocious performance — sadly, she's not even believable as a pathetic has-been anymore — it played with... DAVID BLUM http://www.nysun.com/arts/whacking-the-critics/56363/ Tue, 12 Jun 2007 00:00:00 EST Nothing will ever beat "The Sopranos" as fodder for critical confusion and excess — not even Shakespeare, who would have loved the Monday morning quarterbacks who tried to figure out its meaning. (Two critics have compared Tony Soprano to King Lear in this newspaper alone, and I'm one of them.) Had "Hamlet" appeared first on HBO, Shakespeare would have been up all night afterward, surfing the Internet to gauge the response to the slings and arrows of his title character's outrageous fortune... DAVID BLUM http://www.nysun.com/arts/ready-for-prime-time/55859/ Tue, 5 Jun 2007 00:00:00 EST If politics is theater, then Joseph Biden is Brian Dennehy. The Delaware Democrat plays to the cheap seats like no one else in the 2008 presidential campaign, bellowing his opinions as though he'd been reliably told that the loudest candidate wins. Senator Biden's stage style is a classic case of overcompensation, from those cheesy hair plugs to his wild-eyed commitment to a no-fly zone in Sudan, and it's great fun to watch. So are all the candidates, Democrat and Republican; we're hugely lucky... DAVID BLUM http://www.nysun.com/arts/tough-times-for-teenagers/55395/ Tue, 29 May 2007 00:00:00 EST The drunk driving arrest of Lindsay Lohan on Saturday reminds us yet again what lousy role models our culture offers its population of teenage girls. And that's just when that demographic group has proven itself more valuable than ever to the entertainment industry. Nearly every time Ms. Lohan appears on screen, it's a hit — and every time she crashes her Mercedes convertible, it's a cautionary tale of how Hollywood breeds movie stars too young, and unleashes them on the world before they're... DAVID BLUM http://www.nysun.com/arts/cbs-betrays-flaws-with-cronkite-slight/54970/ Tue, 22 May 2007 00:00:00 EST Last Friday night at 8 p.m., when no one in America was looking, CBS broadcast an hour-long tribute to its former anchorman, Walter Cronkite, on the occasion of his 90th birthday. It was a classic backhanded gesture by CBS, the kind that demonstrates just how callous and insensitive the network has become to its great traditions and legacies. A Friday night timeslot for a news special practically begged audiences not to watch. At the same time, the special served as a reminder of just how far... DAVID BLUM http://www.nysun.com/arts/how-not-to-write-a-best-seller/54492/ Tue, 15 May 2007 00:00:00 EST "Then We Came to the End," first-time author Joshua Ferris's satirical narrative of office life in a Chicago advertising agency, got the sort of universal acclaim from book critics that novelists dream of, and almost never happens. First came the coveted cover of the New York Times Book Review, which declared Mr. Ferris's book "expansive, great-hearted and acidly funny"; then came an over-the-top rave from the Washington Post, which said that "categorizing 'Then We Came to the End' as anything... DAVID BLUM http://www.nysun.com/arts/ripped-from-the-airwaves/53601/ Wed, 2 May 2007 00:00:00 EST "Creative people come up with creative solutions," Dick Wolf recently told the New York Times in a story about the dwindling prospects for keeping "Law & Order" on television next year. Who am I to quibble with the genius who devised "Law & Order" back in 1990 and got millions of us hooked on its endlessly adaptable formula? But now Mr. Wolf needs an equally creative inspiration if he wants to save his show and its spin-offs from cancellation later this month. Yelling at NBC executives isn't it... DAVID BLUM http://www.nysun.com/arts/baldwin-gets-caught-in-an-odd-parent-trap/53011/ Mon, 23 Apr 2007 00:00:00 EST Alec Baldwin once yelled into my answering machine, too. It was at 4:00 in the morning and he was on a movie set in Canada, and I had been trying to reach him for an interview about his political activities. He was mad at me for having left him so many requests on his machine and apparently felt the best revenge was to awaken me from a good night's sleep. "Pick up, pick up, pick up, pick up," he kept repeating. It wasn't until a few weeks later that he stood with me in front of Café Luxembourg... DAVID BLUM http://www.nysun.com/arts/will-ferrell-vs-the-zimmers/52819/ Thu, 19 Apr 2007 00:00:00 EST Feeling a bit uneasy about the lack of Will Ferrell in your life? I know I am. It has been almost three weeks since the release of his hit film "Blades of Glory," two weeks since Variety reported the sale of his comedy pilot to HBO, and it will be months before the arrival of his next silly sports comedy, "Semi-Pro." With the season of "Saturday Night Live" drawing to a close, a cameo seems unlikely. How am I going to survive without more opportunities to howl uproariously at Mr. Ferrell's... DAVID BLUM http://www.nysun.com/arts/true-feminine-mistake/52594/ Tue, 17 Apr 2007 00:00:00 EST It must be nice for Leslie Bennetts to have the luxury to write a book as unnecessary as "The Feminine Mistake." It's a topic she chose, no doubt, from a list of ideas she nurtured in spare moments between raising her children and writing sycophantic celebrity profiles for Vanity Fair. Was it on the plane trip home from interviewing Jennifer Aniston at her Los Angeles mansion when she realized that full-time moms need jobs to be truly, emotionally fulfilled? Maybe the sight of the former... DAVID BLUM http://www.nysun.com/arts/couric-in-the-eye-of-plagiarism-case/52279/ Thu, 12 Apr 2007 00:00:00 EST For $15 million a year, wouldn't you think Katie Couric could find the time in her day to reflect on her own feelings in her Couric & Co. blog on the cbsnews.com Web site — and not on those of a Wall Street Journal reporter named Jeffrey Zaslow? "I still remember when I got my first library card," the April 4 Katie Couric's Notebook video blog on cbsnews.com began. Much of what followed apparently wasn't written by Ms. Couric, but instead by a Web producer who had read Mr. Zaslow's essay about... DAVID BLUM http://www.nysun.com/arts/whos-laughing-now/52142/ Tue, 10 Apr 2007 00:00:00 EST Is it genuinely funny to see an animated, overweight, middle-aged dude on a living room couch, waiting for the chorus of the "Maude" theme song to kick in? To me it's mildly amusing, but I don't think I'm supposed to be the target audience for Fox's "The Family Guy," where that reference turned up on a recent episode. Very few 12-year-olds have a working knowledge of theme songs from 1970s sitcoms, and those who do need to get into something more useful, like stamp collecting. But this is what... DAVID BLUM http://www.nysun.com/arts/beyond-criticism/51167/ Mon, 26 Mar 2007 00:00:00 EST Joan Didion's writing has a particular way of taking root in one's consciousness. Her voice slips into the brain and settles in as a familiar friend, sipping wine and telling stories, and massaging those parts of the cerebral cortex that take the most pleasure in soft rhythms and simple words. For me, this happened while reading "Slouching Towards Bethlehem," her astonishing collection of essays first published in 1968. "I Can't Get That Monster out of My Mind" (a perfect title) has resonated... DAVID BLUM http://www.nysun.com/arts/whither-the-golden-age-of-television/37879/ Tue, 15 Aug 2006 00:00:00 EST This week I was going to devote my review to the new Fox series "Vanishing,"until I discovered that I was the one vanishing. My last television review comes just in time to avoid attacking the FOX network, yet again, for its obsessive fixation on brainless hotties who work for federal crime units.It's almost uncanny how many full-lipped, flaxen-haired sweet things (and that's the guys I'm talking about) get jobs investigating disappearances and homicides. Am I the only person left on the planet... DAVID BLUM http://www.nysun.com/arts/growing-stronger-by-the-year/37766/ Fri, 11 Aug 2006 00:00:00 EST There's no actress on television to compare with captivating and luminous Mary-Louise Parker, who single-handedly makes Showtime's "Weeds" an impossible show to miss. She defines the series the way James Gandolfini has come to personify the spirit of "The Sopranos," and exerts an almost magical, mystical hold on us that compels us to keep watching. It's so rare to see a woman on television who isn't controlled or defined by men, and Ms. Parker's acting triumph, coupled with smart writing and... DAVID BLUM http://www.nysun.com/arts/talk-about-the-passion/37095/ Tue, 1 Aug 2006 00:00:00 EST On a recent edition of "Larry King Live," the embittered former CBS News anchor, Dan Rather, declared repeatedly that his successor, Katie Couric, must demonstrate that she "loves the news" in order to prove truly successful in the job. Even the obsequious Mr. King had to wonder what exactly that meant. How does one love the news? "In other words," Mr. King inquired of Mr. Rather, sounding somewhat mystified about his meaning, "you get up in the morning, you love the story? You love war... DAVID BLUM http://www.nysun.com/arts/trapped-on-an-island-with-really-dull-people/36670/ Tue, 25 Jul 2006 00:00:00 EST What if you put 11 people inside a snow globe and shook it? That appears to be the sum total of the thinking behind "One Ocean View," which may set a new record for the fewest plot developments in a single hour of prime-time television. The pilot episode of ABC's latest reality television series, debuting next Monday night at 10 p.m., introduces 11 good-looking young New Yorkers to each other in a Fire Island beach house rental and follows them around as absolutely nothing happens. No sex, no... DAVID BLUM http://www.nysun.com/arts/reporting-the-wrong-story/36556/ Mon, 24 Jul 2006 00:00:00 EST Does Hud Morgan's girlfriend ever forgive him for putting parties ahead of their relationship? Does Tony Scalfani's fianceé mind that he has to chase down an interview with Christian Slater on the eve of their wedding? Does Kerry Burke ever get a new umbrella to replace his dilapidated mess? These are among the many potentially compelling questions left unanswered by the narrative-deprived new reality series, "Tabloid Wars," which premieres tonight at 9 on Bravo. Instead of using the New York... DAVID BLUM http://www.nysun.com/arts/exploring-old-frontiers/36189/ Tue, 18 Jul 2006 00:00:00 EST The minor issues that plague "Eureka"could easily overshadow the larger problem, which is its very existence. This is not to say that this hybrid concept couldn't appeal to someone — a fan of "Northern Exposure," perhaps, who loved the rural Alaskan setting of that quirky 1980s CBS series and its obsession with eccentric small-town charms. Other potential viewers might include those who devoted entire months of their lives to the fate of Laura Palmer on David Lynch's 1990 dissection of American... DAVID BLUM http://www.nysun.com/arts/four-seasons-of-making-jeopardy-look-easy/35770/ Tue, 11 Jul 2006 00:00:00 EST It isn't just the Schwab that has me addicted to the wonderful ESPN Classic sports-trivia game show "Stump the Schwab," now in its fourth season, even though he's reason enough to watch. The Schwab — whose full name is Howard Schwab, and who works as ESPN's in-house statistician — wears a permanent scowl, a team jersey, and perhaps the ugliest haircut on television, but nonetheless manages to parlay his oddball charisma into a funny, fastpaced, and information-packed half-hour (it airs weekdays... DAVID BLUM http://www.nysun.com/arts/two-brothers-in-a-sordid-and-predictable-world/35642/ Fri, 7 Jul 2006 00:00:00 EST Ideas that sound good on paper often belong on paper — like Showtime's plan to offer hungry "Sopranos" fans an organized-crime drama to fill the void while we wait for its final season to start in January. It's too bad, because the notion of "Brotherhood," which makes its premiere this Sunday at 10 p.m., has the rich promise of a novel: Two brothers, a politician and a criminal, circle each other in a sordid world of petty crooks and lowlife government officials amid the corruption of... DAVID BLUM http://www.nysun.com/arts/drama-without-much-mystery/35426/ Wed, 5 Jul 2006 00:00:00 EST My formative years in studying the crime-fighting craft on television were spent watching "Columbo." Something about the manner of Lieutenant Columbo (no first name) combined with the bang-up storytelling skills of its writers and directors - young dudes like Steven Bochco and Steven Spielberg - made for first-rate mystery. Its oddball narrative approach didn't hurt, either; it was fun to see the crime first, and then follow Columbo's crooked path to the criminal. Peter Falk's winning... DAVID BLUM http://www.nysun.com/arts/make-way-for-the-new/35083/ Tue, 27 Jun 2006 00:00:00 EST Please consider, for a moment, some rather remarkable statistics that you will not find in any recent CBS News press releases. In June 2004, the average age of the "60 Minutes" team of correspondents and its then-executive producer, Don Hewitt, was 73 years old. In June 2006, the average age of the "60 Minutes" team and its new executive producer had dropped more than 20%, to 59 years old. If you take 86-year-old Andy Rooney out of the mix, that number drops to 56 years old. The average age of... DAVID BLUM http://www.nysun.com/arts/another-vicious-circle/34295/ Tue, 13 Jun 2006 00:00:00 EST There is an unexpectedly profound message lurking in the background of CBS's new summer reality series, "Tuesday Night Book Club," that premieres tonight at 10 p.m. Past the apparent superficiality of the seven real Arizona women it plans to follow is their struggle with the unsettling discovery that all of us eventually make as we grow up, marry, and have children: Life is hard. Sounds simple. But most television shows try to hide that simple truth, or shade it in such a way that we can avoid... DAVID BLUM http://www.nysun.com/arts/hbo-finds-a-way-to-curb-enthusiasm/34143/ Fri, 9 Jun 2006 00:00:00 EST For those few hardy souls who hold out hope for the future of situation comedies taped in front of a live audience, the highly anticipated debut of HBO's "Lucky Louie" this Sunday night at 10:30 p.m. will not prove to be a memorable landmark, except as a low point in the history of HBO. What was supposed to be a bold venture by the top programmers in the television business has turned out to be yet another lifeless assortment of sex jokes for the studio audience's titillation - the only variant... DAVID BLUM http://www.nysun.com/arts/dollar-20-dreams/33910/ Tue, 6 Jun 2006 00:00:00 EST Apparently, people who win $20 million in the lottery seem to enjoy jumping up and down for a few seconds before resuming their mopey existence. At least that's the standard response on "Windfall," the new NBC summer soap about a gaggle of lottery winners and their woes, which debuts Thursday at 10 p.m. Maybe that's because the actors knew this potentially clever series concept had been hopelessly mangled by its creators, who envisioned nothing even remotely interesting about the consequences... DAVID BLUM http://www.nysun.com/arts/girls-just-wanna-be-blond/33492/ Tue, 30 May 2006 00:00:00 EST There's a long tradition of ditzy blondes on television, and it wouldn't be fair to criticize MTV's newest reality series, "The Hills," just because its resident company of bimbos can't exactly form full sentences.These gorgeous girls (led by Lauren Conrad of last year's MTV hit "Laguna Beach," have come to Los Angeles to bypass the American educational system and become full-time party animals. When Lauren is asked at one point if she would take a job in retail sales, her normally tawny... DAVID BLUM http://www.nysun.com/national/choice-of-gibson-leaves-sawyer-facing-questions/33272/ Wed, 24 May 2006 00:00:00 EST At last, all the anchorman jobs have been permanently filled. Everyone may now resume whatever they were previously doing. Diane Sawyer, please stop kicking your chair. ABC News announced yesterday that Charles Gibson will take over as the solo anchor of "World News Tonight" in June, which leaves a few unanswered questions for Ms. Sawyer, his "Good Morning America" co-anchor. Why did Mr. Gibson get to leave first? And what's she supposed to do without him? Ms. Sawyer now has to battle for... DAVID BLUM http://www.nysun.com/arts/words-you-cant-say-on-television-even-today/33222/ Tue, 23 May 2006 00:00:00 EST What has changed in the 34 years since the great comedian George Carlin first enumerated the seven words you couldn't say on television? Almost nothing. Only three of the original words Mr. Carlin listed - tame by contrast to the lexicon of contemporary cursing - have since been uttered on network television, and those only in passing, after 10 p.m. and under the strict supervision of Steven Bochco. The networks fight nickel-and-dime battles with the Federal Communications Commission over... DAVID BLUM http://www.nysun.com/arts/remember-the-waldorf/32758/ Tue, 16 May 2006 00:00:00 EST When was the last time someone genuinely funny hosted the Tony Awards? Nathan Lane only had one solo year in 1996 to prove himself before being rudely replaced. Before that you'd have to go back to 1961. That's the year Phil Silvers handed out the annual prizes to Broadway's best in the Grand Ballroom of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, while the audience laughed and drank. Why wouldn't that simple formula work today? The ater people have far more experience and skill at drinking and carousing than... DAVID BLUM http://www.nysun.com/arts/say-goodbye-to-washington/32365/ Tue, 9 May 2006 00:00:00 EST When Aaron Sorkin's "The West Wing" first aired on September 22, 1999, its fictional president had just suffered a sprained ankle from riding a bicycle into a tree. From this comic conceit grew a series rich with ambition; as our country found itself with far more serious problems than its commander in chief's clumsiness, the breakout hit series deepened alongside it. Seven seasons later - the rest of us have lived through a terrorist attack, two wars and two tight presidential campaigns - "The... DAVID BLUM http://www.nysun.com/arts/meet-the-mets-at-their-new-home/31952/ Tue, 2 May 2006 00:00:00 EST The most endearingly wacky part of any Mets game on television these days comes when Gary Cohen, the primary play-by-play announcer for the team's new network, SportsNet New York, appears on camera alongside his color commentator, usually Keith Hernandez or Ron Darling, both former Mets stars. Mr. Cohen, a wiry, bald, bespectacled baseball geek, takes the opportunity of being on television to lean in so close to his partner that he almost shoves them out of the frame.When this happens, Messrs... DAVID BLUM http://www.nysun.com/arts/why-nice-guys-finish-last-in-the-tv-industry/31531/ Tue, 25 Apr 2006 00:00:00 EST Bill Carter's supposedly red-hot "Desperate Networks" (Doubleday, 384 pages, $26.95), due in bookstores next week, went on sale two weeks ago for $10 from the guy who sells books out of a shopping cart at 73rd and Broadway.That kind of distribution isn't a good sign for the book - or the networks. I wasn't expecting much; I'd been cringing at Mr. Carter's obsequious reporting on the television industry in the New York Times for years and had come to dread his fawning over executives like CBS's... DAVID BLUM http://www.nysun.com/arts/always-a-groomsman/30763/ Tue, 11 Apr 2006 00:00:00 EST Now that "The Sopranos" and "Big Love" dominate the Sunday television equation, shows like ABC's "What About Brian" don't stand a chance - and for that we owe HBO even more gratitude and respect. This new series from the J.J. Abrams factory (he's the co-creator of "Lost") has only the hope that addicts of "Desperate Housewives" and "Grey's Anatomy" have room in their television diets for yet another dumb series about the crazy things that happen to attractive people. Part of what makes "The... DAVID BLUM http://www.nysun.com/arts/trumped-by-a-smile/30677/ Mon, 10 Apr 2006 00:00:00 EST Last week wasn't a happy one for the Blond Goddess of television news, and this week will likely be no better. It's never much fun when you stare at the chessboard and discover you have no more moves to make. But now that Katie Couric has moved to the CBS anchor desk and Meredith Vieira has taken over "Today," it's time to acknowledge the fate she has been taught to dread by the savvy strategists who have mentored her for so long and so well. It's checkmate for Diane Sawyer. The game is over... DAVID BLUM http://www.nysun.com/arts/squandered-moment-for-rebecca-romijn/30343/ Tue, 4 Apr 2006 00:00:00 EST "Pepper Dennis," which may well be the last show ever launched by the WB, serves as a perfect epitaph for a network that never knew its audience. This one-hour "dramedy" (a better term for this one would be "coma") concerns the pitfalls of being a gorgeous 6-foot-tall blonde with a great job and a fabulous apartment. Only in the offices of male television executives struck dumb by beauty could such a concept have emerged with a multiepisode order. If the WB executives who bought this bogus... DAVID BLUM http://www.nysun.com/arts/slick-new-thriller/29886/ Tue, 28 Mar 2006 00:00:00 EST Andre Braugher, the star of "Thief," FX's ambitious new crime drama, doesn't just inhabit his character's skin. It's as though he comes through the television set and into your living room - practically daring you not to give him awards for his brilliant interpretations and enunciations. Until now there has been a self importance that accompanied him onstage - a righteous indignation that permeated his roles, especially the overbaked Detective Frank Pembleton on "Homicide: Life on the Street"... DAVID BLUM http://www.nysun.com/arts/case-of-the-stolen-show/29471/ Tue, 21 Mar 2006 00:00:00 EST It seems only fitting that all heist stories now routinely steal from each other. The makeup of a heist gang has achieved the level of cultural archetype: the older gentleman, the techno geek, the gorgeous brunette, the handsome daredevil, and the devious mastermind. (Sadly, heist gangs rarely include smart-alecky television critics.) I personally prefer the slick solo operator, such as Steve McQueen's incarnation as heistmeister Thomas Crown, but enjoy the occasional gang heist, too - I loved... DAVID BLUM http://www.nysun.com/arts/trying-to-break-the-curse-of-seinfeld/28976/ Mon, 13 Mar 2006 00:00:00 EST The most courageous element of the new Julia Louis-Dreyfus sitcom that debuts tonight on CBS is its title. That a television network dares to embrace a female sitcom character as "old" - even when intended only as ironic juxtaposition - is almost reason to rejoice. But not quite. "The New Adventures of Old Christine" never quite manages to escape its overly familiar premise and mediocre execution. Its jokes, setups, and performances taste like recycled sitcom feed you've choked on before. But... DAVID BLUM http://www.nysun.com/arts/final-whack/28883/ Fri, 10 Mar 2006 00:00:00 EST It's every man for himself in the final season of "The Sopranos." The New Jersey crew of captains, thugs, and murderers, led by its charismatic general, no longer manages its mid-range Mafia business with precision; the money doesn't flow the way it used to, and neither does the blood. Loyalty has given way to doubt. The polluted air they breathe - from those hideous smokestacks and sickening stogies in the background of the show's still-mesmerizing credit sequence - has poisoned them at last... DAVID BLUM http://www.nysun.com/arts/another-generic-male-from-moonves/25966/ Tue, 17 Jan 2006 00:00:00 EST The pilot episode of CBS's "Love Monkey" delivers the opposite of its implied message - that we should follow our own passions, our own dreams, and hold out for what we really want. The real meaning of "Love Monkey" seems to be that if you want to keep your job, you'd better give your boss exactly what he wants. And by the boss, I'm not referring to the record-company executive played by Eric Bogosian in the pilot, who fires Monkey halfway through for daring to speak from his heart in a staff... DAVID BLUM http://www.nysun.com/arts/no-winks-for-cleverness/25580/ Tue, 10 Jan 2006 00:00:00 EST Sometimes television reminds us why we go to the movies. There's something about the self-contained dramatic arcs, charismatic star turns, and widescreen images in films that takes us over the edge; sometimes it's hard to fully suspend disbelief when you know there are dirty dishes waiting in the sink, only a few steps away. That was my experience watching "Hustle" - the slick BBC series that premieres on AMC this Saturday at 10 p.m. and wants desperately to be better than most movies, but... DAVID BLUM http://www.nysun.com/arts/desperately-seeking-friends/25224/ Tue, 3 Jan 2006 00:00:00 EST When will they ever learn? Over the next few weeks, beginning with this Thursday's debut of NBC's amusing but ordinary "Four Kings,"the broadcast networks will renew their never-ending quest for a new sitcom to match the mega-success of "Friends." But in doing so they demonstrate their continued inability to deconstruct the basic truth that made "Friends" (and most other successful sitcoms of the last half-century) a hit: the presence of appealing, funny women, and the bumbling, inept men who... DAVID BLUM http://www.nysun.com/arts/images-of-the-afterlife/24727/ Tue, 20 Dec 2005 00:00:00 EST Before I get to "Heaven," not the place but the goofy documentary of that title by Barbara Walters that airs tonight at 9 p.m. on ABC, I need to talk about the last episode of "Curb Your Enthusiasm." Larry David's loony take on the afterlife kept up the hopeful, lighter tone of this season; Larry has become almost likable, and more willing to embrace new notions and beliefs. When Larry leaves Los Angeles to meet his supposed Gentile birth parents - and to become, briefly, a God-fearing... DAVID BLUM http://www.nysun.com/arts/never-ending-battle-for-big-money/24375/ Tue, 13 Dec 2005 00:00:00 EST There's something intoxicating about a well-executed game show - and I'm not just saying that to justify the hours I spent watching "The $25,000 Pyramid," "The Match Game," and "Password" as a child. As a deeply cynical adult, I still find myself almost unnaturally engaged and entertained by the sight of people losing money on television. On the best game shows it's easy to lose; that's the producers' plan to begin with, and the path to "big money" (as contestants on "Wheel of Fortune" so...