It was the ‘80s, and I was a kid who had trouble sleeping. In the wee small hours of the morning, there was one station that remained on the air: PBS. Watching on my black-and-white TV with a screen no bigger than a deck of cards, I remember wondering who the hell “Doctor Who” was. […]
Category: TV & Film
Posted inTV & Film
What Do I Want for Christmas? Two Words: Glen Powell.
Let me start with Michelle Randolph. Congratulations on securing Cuffing Season’s #1 Draft Pick. I saw you in that TikTok two stepping with Glen Powell at Donn’s Depot. It feels like a scene out of one of the many romantic comedies, thrillers, and action films that Powell has starred in. “Twisters” is the first one […]
Posted inOpinion
A Moment With Rob Reiner That Meant Everything
The year was 2015. I was not in a good place. I had quit my lucrative (ha) job in newspaper journalism to enter the equally lucrative world of local television, hosting a late-night comedy show on The CW in Austin. It was exhilarating, but I had no idea what I was doing. I was the […]
Posted inTV & Film
Nicolandria’s Love Is a Balm for Black Women from the South
When I first read 27-year-old Olandria Carthen’s post-“Love Island USA” interview in Vulture, I knew exactly what she was trying to communicate to the American public about being in a highly visible, interracial relationship with Nicolas Vansteenberghe, 24. The couple, deemed “Nicolandria” by throngs of obsessed fans, went viral on the seventh season of the […]
Posted inNews
The Day Austin ‘Lost Its Innocence’: HBO’s Newest Crime Doc Tackles Haunting Unsolved Murder
For tried and true Texans, HBO’s newest docuseries might hit close to home. “The Yogurt Shop Murders” digs into a 33-year-old cold case in Austin — a murder so haunting, the then-mayor proclaimed it the day Austin “lost (its) innocence.” In December 1991, when Austin was still a relatively small college town, not yet on […]
Posted inNews
‘Love Is Blind’ Is Coming to Austin, Home of Horribly Behaved Singles
Tech bros, it’s your time to shine — “Love is Blind” is casting in Austin. The mega-popular show, where faceless singles meet behind a screen, fall in love, and get engaged (to varying degrees of success), bases itself out of one city for each season. The eight-season show has already had its moment in Dallas […]
Posted inTV & Film
Richard Linklater’s Indie Classic ‘Slacker’ Is a Time Capsule of a Bygone Austin
Texas hasn’t gotten its due as a major piece in the complex puzzle of American art. We’re here to rectify that. Every three weeks, H. Drew Blackburn will conduct a thoroughly scientific analysis of the 254 integral (one for every county) books, movies, tv shows, albums, podcasts, songs, and magazine articles — you name it […]
Posted inTV & Film
Texas Was the Perfect Location for ‘The Leftovers,’ and Other Things We Learned at the 10 Year Reunion
Life was a little different when HBO’s “The Leftovers” premiered in 2014. Carrie Coon wasn’t an A-lister. Joe Rogan hadn’t brought a certain type of attention to Austin. No one had heard of Covid-19. But the show, based on Tom Perrotta’s novel of the same name, developed a cult following (pun intended) that continues to […]
Posted inNews
Alright, Alright, Alright. Lawmakers Just Passed a Celebrity-Endorsed Bill to Make Texas a ‘New Hollywood.’
When naming some of Texas’ biggest industries, a few might come to mind. Oil, gas, weird rockets. But you hardly ever hear of Hollywood productions. Now, the Texas Legislature is trying to change that, with the help of a casual billion dollars. On Monday, the Texas House voted 114-26 on the Matthew McConaughey-approved “film incentive […]
Posted inCulture
Meet the Texas Librarians on the Front Lines in the War Against Books
In recent years, Texas has become an epicenter of the rapidly-spreading book banning movement. This year alone, our state lawmakers lead the nation with at least 31 proposed bills that the American Library Association says would effectively restrict librarians’ abilities to do their jobs. One such bill, Senate Bill 13, passed through the Texas Senate […]