I’ve mentioned many times that I believe we’re in the Golden Age of Television.  I’m not alone in that, and I’ve heard it a number of other places. But many of us were saying so even before shows like Mad Men, Treme, Community and Parks and Recreation.  Even as The Sopranos,...

I’ve stated a number of times the ’00s were the Golden Age of television, when HBO and a number of network shows officially blew the film industry out of the water. When we look back on the great stories of this decade, we’ll remember books like Marilynne Robinson’s “Gilead”,...

Only one of these people was actually funny. Every year around this time, like clockwork, naysayers commence tossing barbs at Saturday Night Live, about how it’s going downhill, about how it’s become a dinosaur. Admittedly, I did it last year, about a week or two before SNL proceeded to kick...

Ah, fall: when a young woman’s thoughts turn to warm fires and books, a young man’s thoughts turn to college football, and Phoenicians dream of going outside once more. I used to be a summer man, but now I’m all about autumn.  This week’s forecast dips down to a balmy 99 degrees! ...

My love of opening credit sequences, especially at HBO, is well-documented (by me), but last night I was reminded of the greatest opening sequence of all-time. Seriously, I defy you to find one better. Even “Wonder Years” falls short. I mean, isn’t this nostalgia at its finest? ...

Over the last couple years, I spent a lot of time thinking about story. Partly, this was based on discussions with Don, who’s wrapping up a book about story, and partly because it’s because I want to learn the gears and cogs that make certain stories work. One of the most fascinating aspects...

Watching television at the Green household is often an individual experience. While Mindy relishes the over-wrought drama of Grey’s Anatomy, I like to delve into the rich and important themes of shows like The Wire, the lyric profanity of Deadwood and the depth and character study of Mad Men....

As an ardent defender of television as a valid art medium, I came across two quotes on The Onion AV Club this week eloquently backing my position. “It does thoroughly enrage me, though, when anyone brags about the fact that they don’t watch television. Congratulations. I understand not having...

35 seconds into HBO’s miniseries, John Adams, I realized why I’m not more nationalistic. When a country’s most stirring anthems consist of a British drinking song, contains the line “we’ll put a boot in your ass” or was written by a former cokehead/blackjack dealer,...

Despite my love of books, I’m not often a library guy. I usually like to own the books I read, because I can put them on a shelf and make it seem like I’m cultured. Of course, sometimes I don’t read them at all, as Dan Gibson pointed out on a recent visit. “Wow, you have almost...