Monthly Archives: October 2010

The Rally Takes a Capra Turn

By Roger Catlin | Published: October 31, 2010

After its morality plays and its songs, its crow participation and its scripted skits, The Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear, having vanquished Fear, in the form of Steven Colbert’s character, turned serious. In was a moment where John Stewart, the comic turned fake newsman turned generational leader. A guy so powerful he could command [...]

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How Glenn Beck Spent the ‘Rally to Restore Sanity’

By Roger Catlin | Published: October 30, 2010

It seemed the opposite of sanity that on the day of Jon Stewart’s big rally with Steven Colbert on the National Mall, that Glenn Beck, who inspired the gesture with his own late summer rally, that would be here, in my town, West Hartford, at a Barnes & Noble to which I can easily walk. [...]

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Playlist 10-29-10

By Roger Catlin | Published: October 30, 2010

Started with some random songs loosely associated with Halloween, then heard some stuff from the new Elvis Costello and the release of early Bob Dylan demos. Was inspired by last Saturday’s reunion of Buffalo Springfield at Neil Young’s annual Bridge School benefit to play some of the selections from their set list. Heard some new [...]

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Easing into ‘Sherlock’

By Roger Catlin | Published: October 30, 2010

Benedict Cumberbatch, who plays the wiley new”Sherlock” in the current series on “Masterpiece Mystery” on PBS, said the Holmes character was a bit daunting to try. “It is the most played literary fictional character,” he says, a bit dazed. “It’s in the Guinness Book of Records for it. I follow in the footsteps of about
 [...]

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Syfy Seeks ‘Hollywood Treasure’

By Roger Catlin | Published: October 30, 2010

Of the several reality shows that find valuable things in the attic, from “Antiques Roadhouse” to “American Pickers,” one concentrates soley on artifacts from movies. “Hollywood Treasure” began this week on what some may think is an odd outlet for it, the Syfy network. But, producer Jerry Sheick says, “Syfy was actually our first choice [...]

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Playlist 10-22-10

By Roger Catlin | Published: October 22, 2010

Strange to come in and turn on the transmitter, bringing up the station to air after someone shut it off. So started with some wake up songs, delved into the Mark Ronson some more, played new stuff from Tricky, Undeworld and the Wavves. Played soem Peter Case and Richard Thompson (and Melanie!) in honor of [...]

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Cee Lo’s Rock and Soul

By Roger Catlin | Published: October 20, 2010

Cee Lo Green, who enjoyed an underground summer hit this summer with 55 million hits on YouTube, hits that other tube tonight with his new talk show “Lay It Down.” It’s an interview program with fellow musicians including, tonight, Ludacris. As a member of Gnarls Barkley, Cee Lo has been known to wear a variety [...]

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The Secretaries of Don Draper

By Roger Catlin | Published: October 18, 2010

The plot turns in the fourth season finale of “Mad Men” Sunday puts us to mind of all the secretaries who have worked for Don Draper from 1960 to 65. Peggy Olson. How did such a newbie end up as Don Draper’s secretary? Brassy office queen bee Joan Harris tried to fill her in on [...]

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Idris Elba Returns as ‘Luther’

By Roger Catlin | Published: October 17, 2010

British-born actor Idris Elba, a standout on “The Wire” as Stringer Bell, returns to cable tonight, starring in the BBC America series about a detective on the edge. Part of his role as Det. John Luther, title character of “Luther,” is exploding into anger. “John doesn’t have a mechanism for containing his anger. So he [...]

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The Situation’s Bad Week

By Roger Catlin | Published: October 15, 2010

Everybody wonders what makes “Jersey Shore” so watchable. Some guess it is the ebullient, drunken ball of Snooki. I say it’s the essential sadness of the central character who insists on calling himself The Situation. The problem with the Situation is that he calls everything a situation. Trawling for a laugh or something to say, [...]

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