Tag Archives: Television

Film & Movies, Love & Relationships, Memories & History, Pleasures, Television

Why ‘Frasier’ Is Peak Comfort Television – The Atlantic

Frasier is a time capsule of its era—and yet, has aged remarkably well.

By Kevin Townsend, Megan Garber, Sophie Gilbert, and Spencer Kornhaber, January 21, 2022

Gale M. Adler / NBC / Getty / Charlie Le Maignan / The Atlantic

Over the past two years of the pandemic, old, reliable shows with new lives on streaming platforms have been a mainstay for audiences. (Who wants new plotlines when headlines about COVID-19 variants offer enough of that already?)

And the deepest well for comfort watches may be the ’90s sitcom. Friends, Seinfeld, and the rest of “Must See TV” add up to hundreds of hours of cheery sets filled with familiar faces.

Of these shows, Frasier may be the strangest—as well as the most rewatchable.

The sitcom topped ratings charts and won 37 Emmys in its 11-year run, but the fact that, over the course of a decade, one of the most popular shows in America followed two opera-loving snobs playfully sniping at each other still seems like something of a marvel.

Source: Why ‘Frasier’ Is Peak Comfort Television – The Atlantic

Current Affairs, Food & Drink, Memories & History, Pleasures, Television

Bobby Flay Sets New Deal With Food Network After Stalled Negotiations – Variety

By Cynthia Littleton, Nov 22, 2021 4:00am PT

David Giesbrecht

Bobby Flay and Discovery’s Food Network have reached an agreement on a new three-year contract, a deal that comes about six weeks after negotiations stalled because the sides were too far apart on financial terms.

The celebrity chef, restaurateur and author has set an exclusive pact that will keep him in the Discovery family through the middle of the decade and up to his 30th on-air anniversary with the cabler.

The new contract also expands the scope of content opportunities available to Flay’s Rock Shrimp Productions, which produces most of his shows for Food Network. And the wide-ranging deal comes just as Discovery is poised to grow significantly through its pending merger with WarnerMedia.

Source: Bobby Flay Sets New Deal With Food Network After Stalled Negotiations – Variety

Books & Reading, Film & Movies, Pleasures, Television

When “Foundation” Gets the Blockbuster Treatment, Isaac Asimov’s Vision Gets Lost | The New Yorker

The TV version of the classic sci-fi saga sidelines its source’s most pressing questions about power and precarity.

By Julian Lucas, November 1, 2021

Illustration by Nicholas Law

An innocent viewer of the new Apple TV+ series “Foundation”—a lavish production complete with clone emperors, a haunted starship, and a killer android who tears off her own face—might be surprised to learn that the novels it’s based on inspired Paul Krugman to become an economist.

Isaac Asimov’s classic saga revolves around the dismal science of “psychohistory,” a hybrid of math and psychology that can predict the future. Its inventor, Hari Seldon, lives in a twelve-thousand-year-old galactic empire, which, his equations reveal, is about to collapse.

“Interstellar wars will be endless,” he warns. “The storm-blast whistles through the branches of the Empire even now.” His followers establish a Foundation on the frontier world of Terminus—a colony tasked with conserving all human knowledge—where they spend the next millennium fulfilling “Seldon’s plan” to reunite the galaxy.

Left ignorant of its details (such knowledge would play havoc with prediction), each generation must solve its own crises. The Foundation confronts barbarian kingdoms, imperial revanchists, and shadowy telepaths who elude psychohistory’s grasp.

Source: When “Foundation” Gets the Blockbuster Treatment, Isaac Asimov’s Vision Gets Lost | The New Yorker

Current Affairs, Food & Drink, Television

Bobby Flay to Leave Food Network After 27 Years, Report Says | Insider

By Jake Epstein and Rachel Askinasi, Oct 8, 2021, 12:35 PM

** Chef Bobby Flay and the Food Network are set to part ways after 27 years, Variety reported. Since the early days of the Food Network, Flay has been a beacon in its programming.

** Flay dropped out of high school and became a head chef by age 20.

Bobby Flay is reportedly parting ways with Food Network.
Michael Tran/FilmMagic/Getty Images

Legendary chef Bobby Flay and the Food Network are set to part ways after 27 years, Variety’s Cynthia Littleton reported on Thursday.

Flay and the network were reportedly in the middle of contract negotiations, ahead of the expiration of his current three-year deal later this year, and sources told the publication the network ended the talks. Variety reported that a source close to the network cited disagreements over financial terms as reasoning behind the TV giant wanting to cut ties. Food Network didn’t immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.

When reached for comment by Variety, Flay’s representatives at WME reportedly declined and cited a “policy of not commenting on active negotiations.” WME did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment. 

Source: Bobby Flay to Leave Food Network After 27 Years, Report Says