Robert Thompson
Robert Thompson
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Sometimes a performance is best experienced with other people. The real advantage of television - that theater and the movies don't have - is you're allowed to talk through it.
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rough contrivance to lift from the social conscience a burden that should not be either lifted or lightened in any way.
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Then, all of a sudden, it was big money. It went from small stakes to huge stakes, but at the same time, it was still very challenging.
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The music is secondary. The real pull is watching people grab for the brass ring. They're climbing the ladder. This is the great American story.
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Farrah Fawcett was in the prime of her big-haired, buxom beauty. She was the kind of person who could completely make 'Battle of the Network Stars' work. She was kind of goofy and she was such a huge star and you really wanted to see what she was like. And what you saw was a little peculiar and that made it fun.
animals becomes commentary culture history human lassie sincere tin turn
There's a history in American culture about animals. You have sincere animals such as Rin Tin Tin and Lassie who are essentially heroic. And you've also got your wise-cracking animals. ... You turn an animal into something that becomes a commentary on the silliness of human life.
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You're seeing law enforcement falling apart and a modern, industrialized city brought to a complete breakdown, and these stories about the looting and the sniper fire are very much playing into this.
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This is a pretty big deal. Last year, we had New Year's Eve without Dick Clark and now New Year's Day without college football games. What's become of the holiday?
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This is one of Ellen DeGeneres' specialties. When you do an Emmy awards after a crisis like this, you need to fulfill the purpose of the awards show and yet not seem too self-important. She seems to be very good at it.
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This is pretty prevalent these days. Everyone knows of a kid like this. Then to see him go out and do this ...
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So when we're watching The Sopranos in reruns ten years from now, on a big-screen, it will still look good.
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The big thing is going to be when it becomes standard equipment in cars.
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Alcoholic beverages are to New Year's as a turkey is to Thanksgiving and a jack-o'-lantern is to Halloween. It's the central iconographic image. There's not much else.
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And the most amusing thing is when they would start behaving as if this were the Super Bowl.