Watching – and thoroughly enjoying – The Grinder has prompted me to think about sitcoms and their use of ‘gimmicks’ as both a set-up for an entire series as well as for singular jokes. The Grinder is built around the gimmick of lampooning tropes ...
Read More »Why pseudo-documentaries continue to appeal
I wanted to capture the… the sights, the sounds… the smells of a hard-working rock band, on the road. What is more interesting than the bizarre stories that grace our television news programs? I remember loving the song ‘Horror Movie’ ...
Read More »The tale of two sitcoms: Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Enlisted
The sitcom format had some major wins this year. At the top of the list is award winning (Golden Globe) police comedy Brooklyn Nine-Nine. This series has been relentlessly funny all season. The publicity the Golden Globes brought helped this ...
Read More »The original isn’t always better: TV and film
The American Film Institute voted An Affair to Remember the most romantic film of all time. It is a seminal classic. But how many people know that it was a remake of a film made 18 years earlier – with ...
Read More »Exported Culture
It has always been easy to travel as an English speaker. Over the years, I’ve met many Europeans around my age and I feel terribly ignorant and lazy. Most of them speak numerous languages – fluently. I speak English, and ...
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