From Friends to The Thick Of It, the TV sitcom has evolved – but it’s no longer in rude health. Enter offbeat shows like Stath Lets Flats, bringing joy and potential redemptionThe sitcom has a long history of being dead. According to the former NBC president of entertainment, Warren Littlefield, in the early 1980s many people believed the sitcom was over. In 1999, Entertainment Weekly noted the genre’s demise. In 2005, so did Victoria Wood. The following year, the former ITV director of programmes, David Liddiment, made a programme called Who Killed the Sitcom? In the decade and a half since, similar questions have been posed repeatedly by publications on both sides of the Atlantic. Declaring the sitcom dead now seems more like an annual ritual than a convincing take on the state of comedy. But what if this time it’s actually true?There are a few reasons why the sitcom seems, if not comprehensively deceased, then at least less responsive than it has ever been. In terms of the comedy zeitgeist, the sadcom – a frequently bleak drama hybrid – continues to rule (see: I May Destroy You, Feel Good, This Way Up, Insecure). Streaming giants increasingly shape our viewing habits, and they don’t tend to make sitcoms (their discrete episodic plots mean they are not very bingeworthy, for a start). The newly established National Comedy Awards, meanwhile, doesn’t include a sitcom category, while Bafta dropped its sitcom award in 2015 and replaced it with one for scripted comedy: this... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2021-10-26 14:35:04 UTC ]
Phoenix Publishing and Media Group offers a bilingual selection of the avant-garde poet’s works spanning the past 40 years. (Sponsored) Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-08-25 04:00:00 UTC ]
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“No one needs my opinion about books.” Longtime indie bookseller Josh Cook against the cultural authoritarianism of “good taste.” | Lit Hub Criticism When folk went mainstream: On Harry Everett Smith and the cultural paradigm shift that his Anthology of American Folk Music. | Lit Hub Music... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-08-23 10:30:23 UTC ]
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By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University) ‘Happiness’ is a poem by the American writer Raymond Carver (1938-88). Carver is probably best-known for his short stories, especially the anthology favourite ‘What We Talk about When We Talk about Love’, but he was also a gifted poet, and his poetry... Continue reading at Interesting Literature
[ Interesting Literature | 2023-08-12 14:00:47 UTC ]
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Indigenous-Minority Poets from China: 15 Recordings for International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, by Ming Di Audio Poetry [email protected] Tue, 08/08/2023 - 14:48 Photo by Nicolas Winkler / Flickr To celebrate the International Day of... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2023-08-08 19:48:59 UTC ]
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Alice Oseman’s tale of queer romance is a global success story built on fans who want to feel good about themselves in tough timesAfter boy met boy in a crowdfunded graphic novel set in a British grammar school in 2018, hearts began to flutter and tills started to ring around the world. This... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-08-03 17:41:27 UTC ]
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Radio and television producer who was head of plays at the BBC and steered productions of work by Harold Pinter, Alan Plater, Ibsen, Strindberg and Athol FugardNo BBC radio or television producer in the postwar era was more admired within his profession than Michael Bakewell, who has died aged... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-08-01 16:09:15 UTC ]
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The Primetime Emmys won’t take place on September 18th, according toVariety. The publication reported on Thursday that vendors scheduled to work the event have been told the ceremony is delayed because of the writers’ and actors’ strikes that have shut down all Hollywood productions and... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2023-07-28 16:49:58 UTC ]
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The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences has announced this year's Emmy nominations and there's lots of good news for the team behind The Last of Us. HBO's massively successful series scored 24 nominations, more than any other show this year except Succession (27). The White Lotus (23) and... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2023-07-12 17:11:17 UTC ]
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Decades after “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret,” an anthology and a novel let readers see periods through the eyes of diverse protagonists. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-06-02 09:00:39 UTC ]
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Apple’s big developer conference kicks off June 5th, and all the signs point to the company’s mixed reality headset making its first appearance. The tech giant has been acquiring headset-friendly startups for years, and if the rumors are true, Apple’s stand-alone device (possibly called Reality... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2023-06-01 11:15:35 UTC ]
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The four-year wait is almost over. Netflix has set a June 15th premiere date for the sixth season of sci-fi anthology series Black Mirror. This latest season has been in the works for at least a year and creator Charlie Brooker has stated the new episodes would “keep things fresh” by tackling... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2023-05-31 16:30:54 UTC ]
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Following a three-year hiatus, Netflix revealed on Wednesday that Black Mirror’s latest season will begin streaming in June. In an interview on the Tudum blog, series creator Charlie Brooker claimed Black Mirror’s latest episodes would surprise fans. “Partly as a challenge, and partly to keep... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2023-04-26 16:27:40 UTC ]
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Soon, when you go to stream Succession or The Last of Us, you'll no longer be looking for an app called HBO Max. As has been rumored, Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) is changing the name of the streaming service to simply "Max." The company is folding content from Discovery+ into the platform to... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2023-04-12 17:16:11 UTC ]
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Did you ever want to see how the creators of Wallace and Grommit would handle the Star Wars universe? You're about to get your chance. Disney has released a trailer for Star Wars: Visions Volume 2, and it includes a peek at Aardman's short film "I Am Your Mother." To no one's surprise, it... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2023-04-10 15:13:55 UTC ]
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Whether or not you’ve watched season 2 of The White Lotus, Mike White’s anthology series, you’ve witnessed Jennifer Coolidge’s frenzied intonations onboard a yacht: “These gays, they’re trying to murder me!” Coolidge plays Tanya, a wealthy woman who finds herself at the center of a conspiracy to... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2023-03-21 11:05:00 UTC ]
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Alexa Hagerty decodes the messages of trauma written in the skeletons of Argentina’s death flights victims. | Lit Hub History “Just when you think you’re about to get a thick and steamy anthology of what women want, we find the same censorship and control at play.” Is Gillian Anderson’s new... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-03-16 10:30:52 UTC ]
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As if starring in three seasons of Sex Education wasn’t enough, Gillian Anderson’s embarking on a brand new project set to get our pulses racing. At Bloomsbury, Anderson is leading an update of Nancy Friday’s My Secret Garden, a groundbreaking 1973 book that collected anonymous sexual fantasies.... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-03-16 08:54:18 UTC ]
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Warsick: Testimonial Plays Share Ukrainians’ Experience of War, by Oleksandra Wallo & Anna Halas Essay [email protected] Wed, 03/08/2023 - 14:54 Scene from Performance Survivor’s Syndrome, based on a work by Andriy Bondarenko, Harmyder... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2023-03-08 20:54:52 UTC ]
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In response to educational bans, Haymarket Books and Kaepernick Publishing are collaborating on a compilation of essays by African American scholars and other Black intellectuals writing in defense of African American/Black Studies. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-02-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Star Wars: Visions is returning for a second 'season,' this time with a more international scope — including a studio you might not have expected. Disney has announced that Star Wars: Visions Volume 2 will premiere May 4th (aka Star Wars Day) with shorts from nine countries, including one from... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2023-02-02 15:41:49 UTC ]
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