Copyright 2008 The New York Sun Sat, 19 Jul 2008 12:47:32 -0400 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Television :: Stories from The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/television istoll@nysun.com (Ira Stoll) webmaster@nysun.com en-us Associated Press http://www.nysun.com/arts/basic-cable-breaks-into-emmy-noms/82118/ Fri, 18 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST "Mad Men," AMC's sleek drama set in the advertising world circa 1960, and FX's legal thriller "Damages" made Emmy nominations history Thursday as the first basic cable programs to gain best-series nods. The HBO historical drama "John Adams" was the overall front-runner with 23 bids, including a lead-actor nomination for Paul Giamatti's turn as one of America's Founding Fathers. "30 Rock," last year's best-comedy Emmy winner, was the top nominee among sitcoms with 17 bids. "Mad Men" was the... BRENDAN BERNHARD http://www.nysun.com/arts/heidi-fleiss-dreams-of-a-brothel/82139/ Fri, 18 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST From "b----es to birds" — that would be the crude but accurate summation of Heidi Fleiss's journey from being Hollywood's "Madam to the Stars" to a reclusive collector of macaws, African gray parrots, cockatoos, and other brilliantly plumed creatures in the arid scrubland of Nevada. Furthermore, the words are her own. If Nick Broomfield's 1995 BBC documentary, "Heidi Fleiss: Hollywood Madam," memorably exposed Hollywood's putrid underbelly, then the new HBO documentary "Heidi Fleiss: The... LYNN ELBER http://www.nysun.com/arts/mad-men-damages-get-emmys-best-series-nod/82107/ Thu, 17 Jul 2008 09:05:44 EST LOS ANGELES — Basic cable TV looked more like a pop-culture bargain today as AMC's "Mad Men" and FX's "Damages" snared historic best-series Emmy nominations, while stars from cable's less glamorous channels also made a splash in major acting categories. Meanwhile, premium channel HBO and broadcast networks saw their share of awards glory erode. RELATED: The Complete List of 2008 Primetime Emmy Award Nominees. In the lead drama actor category, four of the six nominees were stars of cable shows... BRENDAN BERNHARD http://www.nysun.com/arts/the-cleaner-invokes-a-higher-power/81864/ Tue, 15 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST Who says the sun always shines in Los Angeles? In "The Cleaner," a new series on A&E beginning Tuesday at 10 p.m., the streets are wet, the neighborhoods downscale, and the prevailing atmosphere more reminiscent of the cold junkie dawns of a William Burroughs novel than the glossy, bright-eyed metropolis usually depicted in television shows set in Los Angeles not named "The Shield." The subject matter of "The Cleaner" is grim: addiction. Not just to drugs or alcohol, but to sex, gambling, and... BRENDAN BERNHARD http://www.nysun.com/arts/generation-kill-introducing-the-latest-generation/81653/ Fri, 11 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST You may not be interested in war, but HBO is interested in you. "Generation Kill," an ambitious seven-part miniseries beginning Sunday at 9 p.m., rubs the viewer's face smack into the first weeks of the invasion of Iraq. The series re-enacts the journey of a colorfully foul-mouthed group of Marines in under-armored Humvees as they push through the desert toward Baghdad, meeting sporadic resistance and occasional smiles from the locals along the way. "Salaam aleikum, vote Republican," Sgt. Brad... Associated Press http://www.nysun.com/arts/actors-union-reaches-deal-with-studios/81483/ Tue, 8 Jul 2008 21:59:59 EST LOS ANGELES — Members of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists have ratified a new contract with Hollywood studios that boosts payments for actors whose work appears on the Internet. Aftrasaid in results disclosed today that 62.4% of voting members approved the three-year deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. The vote comes amid fierce opposition by the rival Screen Actors Guild, the last major Hollywood union still negotiating with the studios for... BRENDAN BERNHARD http://www.nysun.com/arts/burn-notice-firearms-and-foreplay/81380/ Tue, 8 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST Matthew Weiner, the creator of AMC's "Mad Men," may have been last summer's most critically acclaimed television auteur, but it was another Matthew, 36-year-old Matt Nix, who came up with the summer's biggest and most neatly conceived new cable show. If nothing else, his USA series, "Burn Notice," lit a fuse to "Mad Men" in terms of viewership: 2.9 million Americans tuned in to it weekly, compared with the 900,000 who made it over to AMC to catch up with "Mad Men" and its painstaking... ERICA ORDEN http://www.nysun.com/arts/back-to-the-spotlight/81117/ Wed, 2 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST If there is one thing about which the acquaintances of painter Chuck Connelly can agree, it is that Mr. Connelly is his own worst enemy. A successful and prolific artist in the 1980s, Mr. Connelly had a hotshot dealer, Annina Nosei. He had soon-to-be-idolized colleagues, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Julian Schnabel. And the press saw the potential of his Neo-Expressionist work: "Chuck Connelly is one of a number of promising artists intent on making ambitious paintings," the New York Times wrote in... BRENDAN BERNHARD http://www.nysun.com/arts/obama-ties-comedians-tongues-soccer-takes/80985/ Tue, 1 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST There was an interesting, possibly pivotal moment on "The Daily Show" last week when Jon Stewart, in the midst of poking gentle fun at Senator Obama for his faux-presidential seal and his decision to opt out of the public finance system in the general election, reminded his studio audience that they were "allowed to laugh at" the man compared in this week's edition of New York magazine to "Lincoln, Gandhi, Cicero, Jesus, and all our most cherished national acronyms (MLK, JFK, RFK, FDR)." Mr... Associated Press http://www.nysun.com/arts/nbc-dramatically-ups-online-olympics-coverage/80876/ Mon, 30 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST NBC is making more than 2,200 hours of live competition from Beijing available online, giving Olympic junkies more action than they could ever devour in a day. After barely dipping its toe in the digital world during past Olympics, the network will dive into the deep end: live Web logging, 3,000 hours of highlights on demand, daily recaps and analysis, and even fantasy-league gaming. That's in addition to the 1,400 hours of coverage planned on six television networks, more than the combined... RUTH GRAHAM http://www.nysun.com/arts/television-ponders-our-childrens-children/80522/ Tue, 24 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST From "Rebel Without a Cause" to "Thirteen," pop culture focusing on teenagers traditionally tends toward the alarmist. Youngsters on screens big and small are forever driving too fast, running with the wrong crowd, and getting pierced in all the wrong places. In reality, though, adults today don't have much to fear from the teenagers in the house. As David Brooks observed in his important 2001 Atlantic Monthly article "The Organization Kid," the youngest generation of Americans is cheerful... GABRIELLE BIRKNER http://www.nysun.com/arts/yes-but-why-isnt-the-doctor-hot/80517/ Tue, 24 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST The new medical series "Hopkins" features telegenic surgical residents and attending physicians with complicated personal histories, and it comes in a Thursday night time slot on ABC. It's a prescription that sounds suspiciously similar to that of "Grey's Anatomy," the network's most successful drama since 2005. But what distinguishes "Hopkins," first and foremost, is that everything unfolding on-screen has actually happened. The six-part reality series, produced by ABC News, was filmed inside... BRENDAN BERNHARD http://www.nysun.com/arts/take-the-money-and-make-more/80521/ Tue, 24 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST The rich are different from us; they have worse taste. Well, the "super rich" do, at any rate, and they are the subject of CNBC's welcome documentary (though it should really be a series), airing Thursday at 10 p.m., "Untold Wealth: The Rise of the Super Rich." There is a scene in which a 43-year-old hedge fund executive named Anthony Scaramucci is seen rising at dawn in his Long Island mansion, frighteningly awake and ready to do battle in the canyons of downtown Manhattan. Before you know it... Staff Reporter of the Sun http://www.nysun.com/arts/brokaw-to-helm-meet-the-press-through-election/80446/ Mon, 23 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST Veteran NBC newsman Tom Brokaw is filling in as host of "Meet the Press," a role left vacant by the death of Tim Russert, and will continue to moderate the show through the November presidential election, the network announced Sunday. Mr. Brokaw retired as anchor of "NBC Nightly News" in 2004, after 21 years as the face of the program. A close friend of Russert, Mr. Brokaw has become a more regular presence on television this year as a political analyst for MSNBC, and he delivered the on-air... Associated Press http://www.nysun.com/arts/takei-to-wed-longtime-partner/80164/ Wed, 18 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST "Star Trek" star George Takei is ready to "live long and prosper" with his partner of 21 years. Mr. Takei will marry 54-year-old Brad Altman on September 14 in Los Angeles. The 71-year-old actor, known for his role as Sulu on the "Star Trek" science-fiction television series, was the first to pay $70 for a marriage license in West Hollywood early Tuesday. The marriage license is good for 90 days. Mr. Takei appeared jubilant, saying that "it's going to be the only day like this in our lives and... ALLEN BARRA http://www.nysun.com/arts/turner-classic-movies-rescues-raoul-walsh/80106/ Tue, 17 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST Note to aspiring filmmakers: If you're looking for a film school, give Raoul Walsh's curriculum a try. It's called life. Between 1915 and 1961, Walsh (1887-1980) directed or co-directed some 140 features in every conceivable genre. No other director has done more to establish and sustain the careers of so many great film actors. John Wayne, James Cagney, Errol Flynn, Humphrey Bogart, Sidney Poitier, Ann Sheridan, and Ida Lupino all either made their breakthrough films or did their best work... BRENDAN BERNHARD http://www.nysun.com/arts/weeds-growing-out-of-control/80109/ Tue, 17 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST For three years, Showtime's "Weeds," which kicked off its fourth season last night, has tried, sometimes successfully, to be funny and subversive in a deadpan, hipster way. But at last it has grown weary of trying to impress what's left of the bourgeoisie, and now it is attempting to be evil in a deadpan, hipster way. It's as if Jenji Kohan, the show's creator, were performing an experiment on America's high-end cable audience: "How vicious and sick can I make this series and still win... BRENDAN BERNHARD http://www.nysun.com/arts/call-girl-dresses-down-the-world-of-prostitution/79916/ Fri, 13 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST Blame it on Showtime's delay in getting "Californication," its raunchy hit from last summer, back on screen as soon as possible for a second season. To plug the gap, and provide a second place-setting alongside the return of "Weeds," HBO's rival has imported an eight-part British show with the super-subtle title "Secret Diary of a Call Girl." Wonder what that's about. Billie Piper, the 25-year-old pop star (she's charted three no. 1 singles in Britain) and actress ("The Canterbury Tales,"... BRENDAN BERNHARD http://www.nysun.com/arts/models-of-inconsistency-tv-lands-shes-got-the-look/79615/ Tue, 10 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST Gore Vidal was once questioned as to whether his first sexual experience had been with a male or a female. "I was too polite to ask," he replied. I was reminded of this bit of drollery, for reasons which will become apparent, during the first episode of TV Land's "She's Got the Look" (the second episode airs tomorrow at 10 p.m.), a somewhat staid but not entirely uninteresting six-part reality series in which 10 women over the age of 35 compete for a modeling contract with the renowned... Associated Press http://www.nysun.com/arts/aftra-brass-approve-contract/79509/ Mon, 9 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST Leaders of Hollywood's second-largest actors union approved a new contract with studios that grants actors more money for Internet work — an issue that sparked a crippling writers strike this year. The board of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists approved the three-year deal late Friday, and it will go to the union's 70,000 members for ratification this month, the union said Saturday. The existing contract was set to end June 30. The agreement "makes sense for all... BRUCE BENNETT http://www.nysun.com/arts/motives-and-excuses-for-roman-polanski/79432/ Fri, 6 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST 'People have a right to their own opinion about what happened," the attorney Douglas Dalton offers in Marina Zenovich's excellent new documentary "Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired," which makes its debut Monday at 9 p.m. on HBO. "But they don't have a right to their own facts." To be sure, "Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired" is solidly anchored in facts. More important, it is a film whose real-life characters — from Mr. Dalton, who defended Polanski on charges that the Polish director... Associated Press http://www.nysun.com/arts/ed-mcmahon-fights-foreclosure/79301/ Thu, 5 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST Ed McMahon, who for decades appeared as Johnny Carson's sidekick on "The Tonight Show," is fighting to avoid foreclosure on his multimillion-dollar Beverly Hills home, according to published reports. The former "Star Search" host was $644,000 behind on payments on $4.8 million in mortgage loans when a unit of Countrywide Financial Corp. filed a default notice February 28 with the Los Angeles County Recorder's Office, the Wall Street Journal first reported late Tuesday. Mr. McMahon, 85, has been... Associated Press http://www.nysun.com/arts/university-of-houston-names-school-for-valenti/79302/ Thu, 5 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST The University of Houston is naming its school of communication in honor of LBJ adviser and film industry lobbyist Jack Valenti, who instituted the modern movie ratings system. Valenti, a World War II aviator and 1946 UH graduate, died last year. He was 85. He was an aide to President Lyndon B. Johnson before going on to lead the Motion Picture Association of America. The UH commemoration of Valenti, who was from Houston, was announced Tuesday... Staff Reporter of the Sun http://www.nysun.com/arts/simpsons-to-return-for-20th-season/79203/ Wed, 4 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST The Fox network announced Tuesday that it has ordered a 20th season of "The Simpsons," which will tie the cartoon with "Gunsmoke" as the longest-running series in the history of prime-time television. "The Simpsons" is the longest-running prime-time animated series in history and the longest-running comedy series currently on television, with more than 400 episodes in the can. Matt Groening's groundbreaking series has won a Peabody Award and 23 Emmy Awards... BRENDAN BERNHARD http://www.nysun.com/arts/this-isnt-mr-rogers-neighborhood/79126/ Tue, 3 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST Those were the days. (Were they really the days?) Yes, they were, at least according to the pilot episode of CBS's enjoyably swinging new series "Swingtown," which takes us back to the summer of 1976, when Quaaludes, martinis, health shakes, cigarettes, open marriages, jogging, orgies, and un-self-conscious patriotism all blended into a hedonistic swirl. This, after all, was the decade when Jimmy Carter confessed to having "lust in [his] heart" to Playboy magazine, so why shouldn't everyone... BRENDAN BERNHARD http://www.nysun.com/arts/a-bumpy-road-to-reconciliation-on-the-sundance/79129/ Tue, 3 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST 'On the Road in America," a 12-part series about four young Arabs visiting America, makes its premiere tomorrow night at 9 p.m. on the Sundance Channel. The creation of Jerome Gary, a producer of the 1977 documentary "Pumping Iron," it has already been shown on the Saudi-owned television channel MBC, drawing millions of viewers in the Middle East. At the start of the program, one of the hundreds of young Arabs considered for the show states his belief that "There no longer is a country that... BRENDAN BERNHARD http://www.nysun.com/arts/in-plain-sight-a-professional-protector-who/78917/ Fri, 30 May 2008 00:00:00 EST Mary Shannon (Mary McCormack), the heroine of "In Plain Sight," a new series on USA making its debut at 10 p.m. Sunday, is a U.S. Marshal in the most secretive and dangerous branch of the federal witness protection program. She's also one tough broad. She has a handsome, bronzed lover, Raphael (Cristiαn de la Fuente), but he's the one who yearns for emotional connection, while she's all wham-bam-thank-you-man, zipping up her jeans and donning her leather jacket and shades without bothering to... Staff Reporter of the Sun http://www.nysun.com/arts/cosby-donates-cosby-sweaters/78891/ Fri, 30 May 2008 00:00:00 EST Three of the famous patterned sweaters worn by Bill Cosby in episodes of "The Cosby Show" will be auctioned off to benefit a charity established in memory of the comedian's late son, Reuters reported Thursday. "My mother and father were going through a storage closet, and I happened to be there and pounced on these sweaters," Mr. Cosby's daughter, Evin Cosby, told Reuters. "I told them that the price of what some of these sweaters might sell for could make a big difference in the lives of... Associated Press http://www.nysun.com/arts/television-union-announces-3-year-deal/78784/ Thu, 29 May 2008 00:00:00 EST Hollywood producers and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists announced a tentative three-year contract deal yesterday, which puts more pressure on a larger actors union to do the same in order to avoid a crippling strike. AFTRA, a 70,000-member union, said its deal establishes higher fees for downloaded content and residual payments for ad-supported streams and clips while preserving actors' right of consent to online use of clips containing their images or voices. The deal... Associated Press http://www.nysun.com/arts/fareed-zakaria-gets-cnn-chat-show/78597/ Tue, 27 May 2008 00:00:00 EST CNN is starting a weekly talk show on international issues led by Newsweek's Fareed Zakaria that will make its debut next Sunday with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who left office last June, as an interview subject. "Fareed Zakaria — GPS," which stands for "global public square," will air Sundays at 1 p.m. and be rebroadcast at a yet-to-be-determined time on CNN International. CNN U.S. chief Jonathan Klein approached Mr. Zakaria about a year ago and was told that "the only show I want to... Staff Reporter of the Sun http://www.nysun.com/arts/aftra-studios-near-deal/78598/ Tue, 27 May 2008 00:00:00 EST The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists and major studios are nearing a deal on AFTRA's prime-time contract after 16 days of negotiations held at the headquarters of the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers at Encino, Calif., Variety reported Monday. Neither side issued an official announcement this weekend, after eight consecutive days of bargaining over the contract covering a number of prime-time shows, including "Cashmere Mafia," "Curb Your Enthusiasm," "Rules... BRENDAN BERNHARD http://www.nysun.com/arts/a-prison-chaplains-death-row-choice/78609/ Tue, 27 May 2008 00:00:00 EST 'At the Death House Door," which premieres Thursday at 9 p.m. on IFC, is a somber, moving, and slightly manipulative examination of the Texas death penalty system. It is also a riveting character study of Pastor Carroll Pickett, a sturdily built, white-haired man who, as a prison chaplain, reluctantly, stoically, and at times even heroically presided over 95 executions at the "Walls" prison in Huntsville, Texas, until he could stomach no more and quit after 13 years' service in 1995. Mr... BRENDAN BERNHARD http://www.nysun.com/arts/whos-counting/77323/ Fri, 23 May 2008 00:00:00 EST "What's his motivation?" That's the Hollywood mantra for analyzing a character when a film is still in the larval stage and hasn't yet cost anyone a fortune: What does he or she want? It's hard to conceive of a film in which more principal characters have clearer motivations than in "Recount," Jay Roach's smooth, if bland, choreographed account of the fevered five weeks in late 2000 when the country waited to learn whether George Bush or Al Gore would be declared President of the United States... Associated Press http://www.nysun.com/arts/idol-finale-outperforms-last-years/77316/ Fri, 23 May 2008 00:00:00 EST The duel between Davids brought an estimated 31.7 million viewers to the Fox finale of "American Idol," 1 million more viewers than last year's showdown between Jordin Sparks and Blake Lewis, Nielsen Media Research reported Thursday. That preliminary estimate beats last year's audience of 30.7 million. That would be a coup for Fox, which has seen ratings for its franchise slide during the past month. But the final competition between winner David Cook and runner-up David Archuleta proved... S. JAMES SNYDER http://www.nysun.com/arts/a-e-vaccinates-crichtons-creepy-crawler/77331/ Fri, 23 May 2008 00:00:00 EST One would think that a modern adaptation of "The Andromeda Strain," in these times of rogue viruses and flu pandemics, would arrive as a relevant story of fright and intrigue. But strangely, the 2008 version of "Andromeda," set to air as a two-night A&E miniseries beginning Monday, is more naive and simplistic than its source material, which was published 39 years ago by a young Michael Crichton. With his 1969 novel, Mr. Crichton, the immensely popular scribe of so many frivolous thrillers and... MEGHAN KEANE http://www.nysun.com/arts/sex-on-tv-isnt-what-it-used-to-be/77332/ Fri, 23 May 2008 00:00:00 EST As the continued presence of tour buses parked throughout the West Village and lines outside Magnolia Bakery prove, it's hard to ignore the effects of HBO's "Sex and the City" on Manhattan, even four years after it went off the air. Michael Patrick King's film of the series, which opens next Thursday, is well aware of this fact. "Sex and the City: The Movie" begins with Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) reminiscing about the descendants of the show's characters: "Year after year," she... Associated Press http://www.nysun.com/arts/david-cook-wins-american-idol/76872/ Thu, 22 May 2008 00:00:00 EST LOS ANGELES — The "American Idol" finale got under way Tuesday with a startling disclosure: The contest between David Archuleta and David Cook wasn't even close: Mr. Cook won "American Idol" by 12 million votes after Mr. Archuleta's "knockout." With a record 97.5 million audience votes cast by phone and text, the split between the two contestants was 56% for one David and 44% for the other, host Ryan Seacrest announced at the start of the show. Mr. Seacrest, of course, left in question who got... ELIZABETH GREEN http://www.nysun.com/new-york/tears-glee-greet-a-gossip-girl-copycat/76895/ Thu, 22 May 2008 00:00:00 EST Life is imitating television on the Upper East Side, where an anonymous eighth-grade girl has founded a gossip Web log modeled after the one that is the backbone of "Gossip Girl." While on the TV show the fictional parents and school leaders appear oblivious to the catty Gossip Girl blog, the real-life provocateur, who calls herself Miss ITK (for Miss In The Know), has caused an incredible stir. School hallways are buzzing with the name of her URL; eighth-grade girls across the city are... BRUCE BENNETT http://www.nysun.com/arts/stewart-goes-west/76691/ Tue, 20 May 2008 00:00:00 EST Given how effective Jimmy Stewart's forays into the Western genre were, it remains astonishing that, on the eve of his centenary, the late actor is still remembered almost entirely for his aw-shucks "Harvey" and "It's a Wonderful Life" personae. A recent tribute by the San Francisco Chronicle's Mick LaSalle, for instance, praised the extremes of emotion lurking beneath the surface of Stewart's do-right everyman roles prior to World War II, and the flawed but graceful neurotics he played for... BRENDAN BERNHARD http://www.nysun.com/arts/men-will-be-men/76701/ Tue, 20 May 2008 00:00:00 EST Tim Vine, one of the three stars of "Not Going Out," the new BBC America sitcom beginning tonight at 8:40 p.m., holds the Guinness World Record for telling the most jokes (499) in one hour. Yet here he plays the straight man (Tim) to fellow comedian Lee Mack (Lee), a verbally hyperkinetic wisecracker who sounds as if he could tell at least as many jokes in half the time. This is a pretty good sign for a sitcom, even a fairly conventional one about a group of 30-somethings who float on a vague... Associated Press http://www.nysun.com/arts/eggheads-converge-to-discuss-sopranos/76467/ Thu, 15 May 2008 00:00:00 EST More than 60 college professors from around the world will gather at Fordham University's Lincoln Center campus to analyze the HBO mob drama "The Sopranos." The symposium is called "The Sopranos: A Wake," and was created as a way to define the show's position in popular culture, according to event organizers. It will be held May 22-25 and will include sessions on gender, parenthood, ethnicity, and cuisine, all based on "Sopranos" episodes. Fordham communications and media studies department... BRENDAN BERNHARD http://www.nysun.com/arts/who-do-we-think-we-are/76335/ Tue, 13 May 2008 00:00:00 EST How you react to "Molotov Alva and His Search for the Creator: A Second Life Odyssey," a half-hour documentary airing Thursday on HBO, Cinemax, YouTube, iTunes, and possibly on the soles of your sneakers, is likely to depend on your familiarity with online gaming, virtual reality, and other high-tech ways of dribbling away your time. For the uninitiated, Second Life, the subject of this documentary, is an online community in which people can live a virtual existence either as themselves or as... BRENDAN BERNHARD http://www.nysun.com/arts/visions-of-debasement/76161/ Fri, 9 May 2008 00:00:00 EST Even the most skillful actors occasionally find themselves saddled with roles they can't make sense of. This is Catherine Keener's misfortune in "An American Crime," a dramatization of a horrific act of communal sadism that took place in Indiana in 1965, culminating with the death of a teenage girl. As Gertrude Baniszewski, the chain-smoking, drug-addicted single mother of seven who acted as the ringleader, Ms. Keener does her best to humanize a woman who behaved monstrously without losing... BRENDAN BERNHARD http://www.nysun.com/arts/how-sweet-the-sound/75903/ Tue, 6 May 2008 00:00:00 EST In the 1940s, the great American novelist and composer Paul Bowles remarked that, all in all, the modern world was so rife with irritating noises that the thought of losing one's hearing was not entirely without appeal. But Irene Taylor Brodsky prefaces "Hear and Now," her superb new documentary about the decision of her deaf parents, Paul and Sally Taylor, to undergo cochlear implant surgery at age 65, with a well-known epigraph from Helen Keller to the effect that being deaf is worse than... Associated Press http://www.nysun.com/arts/espn-sued-over-use-of-rockwell-painting/75823/ Mon, 5 May 2008 00:00:00 EST The owner of Norman Rockwell's "Bottom of the 6th" — showing three umpires looking skyward as first raindrops fall — is steaming over the use of the classic illustration in the television series "The Bronx Is Burning." Curtis Publishing Co. has filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Manhattan seeking to stop ESPN Inc. from rebroadcasting the series about the 1977 New York Yankees until it withdraws use of the painting. Curtis sent an e-mail to ESPN lawyers notifying them that ESPN did not... Staff reporter of the Sun http://www.nysun.com/arts/nobel-foundation-cancels-tv-deal/75576/ Wed, 30 Apr 2008 00:00:00 EST The Nobel Foundation has canceled its agreement with the Swedish broadcaster TV4, which owned the exclusive rights to air the annual Nobel Prize ceremony, saying that Chinese television censored a speech about freedom given at the event, Variety reported. The foundation claims TV4 violated the contract by allowing China Central Television and Shanghai Media Group to edit remarks made by the foundation's chairman, Marcus Storch, at the December ceremony. TV4, which had the sole rights to... BRENDAN BERNHARD http://www.nysun.com/arts/happiness-is-a-steel-bun/75494/ Tue, 29 Apr 2008 00:00:00 EST Thou shalt pound treadmills, pump iron, and worship the gods Ab, Pec, and Quad. Thou shalt submit to the caliper and the scale. Thou shalt throw out the junk food and bow down to the Salad. Thou shalt be thin, thou shalt be defined, and thou shalt be fabulous. Thou shalt also probably be "hetero-flexible." Thou shalt not be hung up. All this I have gleaned from the first two episodes of the third season of "Work Out," whose third episode airs tonight on Bravo. "Work Out," it should be stated at... BRENDAN BERNHARD http://www.nysun.com/arts/real-men-real-danger-real-reality/75112/ Tue, 22 Apr 2008 00:00:00 EST Captain Sig Hansen, taking a break from the rigors of the Bering Sea, dropped in on "The Martha Stewart Show" on Friday to discuss Alaskan king crab, being an industrial fisherman, and, of course, "Deadliest Catch," the hit reality series on the Discovery Channel on which Mr. Hansen is one of the stars. With him was his little brother, Edgar Hansen, and Ms. Stewart asked the latter what he absolutely had to have with him onboard before setting sail for another perilous season of crab fishing... BRENDAN BERNHARD http://www.nysun.com/arts/sending-a-get-well-card-to-ourselves/74702/ Tue, 15 Apr 2008 00:00:00 EST "Sick Around the World," the title of a new Frontline documentary airing tonight on PBS, is arguably a misnomer. Voyaging to five different countries — Britain, Germany, Switzerland, Taiwan, and Japan — the veteran Washington Post foreign correspondent T.R. Reid discovers that under various forms of nationalized health care, those fortunate enough never to deal with an HMO are practically drowning in wellness. This is an election year, and as interest in the war in Iraq wavers, the drive to... DARRELL HARTMAN http://www.nysun.com/arts/silence-deafens-the-congo/74339/ Tue, 8 Apr 2008 00:00:00 EST We talk about the battle of the sexes, but in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, that term means something completely different. For the last 10 years, rape has become shockingly common in this war-torn nation. The primary accomplishment of Lisa Jackson's documentary "The Greatest Silence," which makes its premiere tonight on HBO, is to expose the horrors of what is surely the world's most uneven gender conflict. Another worthy cause, another dead-earnest depiction of the sorrow and the pity...