Pop Culture Memo

To: Tim Allen

October 17, 2011

In “Last Man Standing,” Allen treads familiar territory playing Mike, father of three girls and a catalog photographer for an outdoor lifestyle business. When his boss decides to sideline the catalog in favor of the company’s online presence, Mike is put in charge of increasing web sales. He starts an online video segment where his angry rants bemoaning the loss of tough, rugged, ‘real’ men become an internet sensation. Mike is, you guessed it, a man’s man.

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To: “New Girl”

October 10, 2011

Ever since “Friends” set a high standard for situation comedies featuring the ’singles as dysfunctional family’ concept, new additions to the formula (see: “How I Met Your Mother” and “Big Bang Theory”) have tried with varying degrees of success to meet that benchmark. How “New Girl” fits into the legacy established by “Friends” will depend upon how much viewers like the character of Jess Day (Zooey Deschanel).

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To: “Pan Am”

September 29, 2011

There are two things that are almost guaranteed when I’m on a flight: 1) A fellow passenger will block the aisle trying to shove a ‘how is that regulation size?’ carry-on in an overhead compartment. 2) It will feel like I have aged an entire year before the sea of people ahead of me exit the aircraft.

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To: Kim Kardashian

September 12, 2011

It turns out that Kim has the incurable autoimmune skin condition which she discovered, in true Kardashian style, while on a filmed visit to her dermatologist’s office during an episode of E!’s “Keeping Up with the Kardashians.”

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To: “Switched at Birth”

August 16, 2011

There’s more to this family friendly series than safe plots and happy endings.

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To: MasterChef

August 8, 2011

There’s no better candidate for anger management in unscripted television than Gordon Ramsay.

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To: Summer TV

July 29, 2011

Re: Shows that need a permanent vacation.
When is it time to call it quits on a television show? When your favorite actor leaves? When the story lines become predictable? When tuning in becomes more a routine than a choice? There are bad habit TV shows and shows that simply have become bad. My bad habit [...]

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To: Expedition Impossible

July 19, 2011

“Expedition Impossible” is a new adventure race reality show on ABC this summer. It’s basically “The Amazing Race—Morocco Edition.” I’m sure the network is hoping to draw viewers with the obvious similarities. The problem is there’s nothing amazing about this series.

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To: “Platinum Hit”

July 11, 2011

If you’ve ever wondered what goes into writing a hit song, the new show “Platinum Hit” will satisfy your curiosity. Or at least that’s the goal. The reality of this latest addition to contest shows is that it doesn’t satisfy much except mayb Kara DioGuardi’s need to get back on television after losing her spot on “American Idol.”

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