But since I am a bright-eyed naif, I will assume that Nick’s executives were simply wowed by the artistic daring and intricate storylines of a show whose idea of a television event is a guest spot by an annoying vlogger. Now, a cynical man might think the reason is simply a boldfaced attempt to capture the preteen girl audience with hypermaterialism and relationship drama. One such has become rather famous recently, with a recent movie release and tons of merchandise related to her stage name, Indiana Jones.Īnd that’s the model Nickelodeon decided to follow, ditching nearly all their prime-time cartoons for a host of virtually identical live-action sitcoms. The protagonists are usually girls with odd names that are the same as animals or states. It is well-known by now that Disney is where innovation goes to die, and the new channel quickly settled down to formula: sitcoms about attractive “teenagers” who have low-key, brightly colored adventures and inexplicable side jobs in show business. Hey, remember things from your childhood? I do too!Īlas, somewhere along the way a serpent was introduced to this animated Eden, and its name was The Disney Channel. So what do we make of it when a network suffers a mood swing? Usually, it means a change in ownership, such as when AMC got sold and went from being the poor man’s Turner Classic Movies to being the stupid man’s Turner Classic Movies, then suddenly picking up two critically-acclaimed series and exposing my framing device for the tenuous fiction that it is. FOX, as ever, is the crass class clown, hollering from the back of the room about boogers and boobs and desperately hoping someone is shocked. CBS is the prudish old man of the group, churning out Nielsen-friendly detective shows and lame sitcoms like a well-oiled, incredibly boring machine. TV critics seem to think so, and they have a habit of characterizing networks’ “personalities” based on their programming. But can companies really be thought of as individuals? Does the much-derided groupthink of corporate boards really translate into a unifying personality? Here’s a linguistic quirk to chew on: in America, we refer to corporations in the singular: “Coca-Cola did this, General Electric is building a new that.” In Britain they’re referred to in the plural: “McDonald’s are suing so-and-so, Starbucks are closing stores in wherever.” It’s been suggested that referring to corporations as individuals in speech might have been a factor in the legal rules treating them as such, rules which are not looked upon kindly by those not in charge of corporations. Move over, Sarah.First off, a Happy Birthday to my good friend and colleague Sarah. Instead he’s making his cartoon reservations. He certainly showed no courage in saying them. I hope that at least one of the Republican candidates will be courageous and stand up to Giuliani’s spurious statements. Instead of seriously considering questions of patriotism and “loving America,” Giuliani takes the position that “he doesn’t think like me, so he does not love America.” Foolish and insulting.įollowing Giuliani’s comments, we now see the crop of likely presidential candidates responding it actually tells us more about their character than would a two-hour policy speech. Preposterous and irritating statements make for great headlines, but show a grim lack of perspective and an ignorance of history. Giuliani now joins the likes of Donald Trump, Jesse Ventura and Sarah Palin in the “cartoon graveyard” that Paul Simon wrote about. A figure like Giuliani takes such a position just for the headlines and what it shows that he has crossed the line from a respected moderate leader, albeit 15 years ago, to a trivial cartoon political figure for today. Tyra Banks rep says graveyard-themed shoot Americas Next Top Model contestant participated in hours after her friends death wouldve been near impossible to change. Unfortunately there is a large portion of the populace that eats up ridiculous accusations against President Barack Obama, jumping on board and clapping for justification of their already lopsided view of the president. Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani speaks utter nonsense in trying to promote “Americanism” through his pretense and through outrageous statements. Thank you for the well-stated piece by Rekha Basu in the Feb.
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