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Television

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The Search for America's Biggest A-Hole

Grossest casting couch in History Dept.
This week in Boston, Spike TV held auditions for its new sub-low-culture program, America's Biggest Asshole . You're right — all reality show tryouts are essentially auditions for America's Biggest Asshole, but this one is transparently egregious, as if the NHL re-named hockey "Kill the Man with the Puck."
By CHRIS FARAONE  |  July 15, 2009
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Interview: Russell T Davies

Davies on atheism, American TV, and five decades of Doctor Who
"I certainly knew from Queer as Folk that gay male stories attract a lot of women viewers."
By ROB TURBOVKSY  |  July 15, 2009
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Boys' life

Hung and Entourage measure success
The premise for HBO's new half-hour comedy Hung (Sundays at 10 pm) is so over-the-top as to be cringe-worthy: high school basketball coach Ray Drecker (Thomas Jane), divorced and broke, starts whoring himself to ladies on the basis of his giant schlong. I know: ugh.
By JON GARELICK  |  July 14, 2009
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Sarah Palin, Inc.

The biggest brand name in conservative politics is about to enter the burgeoning right-wing marketplace — and she's perfect for it. Ka-ching!
Confused commenters have no clue as to the opportunities that await Palin — because few understand the extraordinary, multi-billion-dollar marketplace that has developed for movement conservatives.
By DAVID S. BERNSTEIN  |  July 17, 2009
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Cirque du Dieu

Arundel Barn's Godspell
Charisma, daring, showmanship, whimsy — these are just a few of the character qualities expected under any given Big Top. But they might be just as at home in the discovery and passing on of religious ideas, as a teacher delivers and seekers explore the possible tenets of spirituality.
By MEGAN GRUMBLING  |  July 01, 2009
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Local news blues

With layoffs, plummeting revenue, and dwindling viewership, TV news departments are getting desperate.
There has been plenty of hand-wringing, in these parts, over the decline of the local broadsheet. The Providence Journal is the paper of record, after all, the agenda setter. And the agenda is decidedly thinner these days.
By DAVID SCHARFENBERG  |  June 24, 2009

Living Colour, Michael Madsen, and Rhody's new media

Rhode Island has seen its share of media strife in recent years.
The travails of the Providence Journal are the stuff of coffee house and talk radio chatter. And the troubles afflicting the local newscast fill the pages of this week's Phoenix .
By DAVID SCHARFENBERG  |  June 24, 2009
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Review: Imagine That

Forces you to follow its eponymous directive
Eddie Murphy proves he doesn't need a fat suit to play soft in Karey Kirkpatrick's surprisingly nuanced family comedy.
By ALICIA POTTER  |  June 10, 2009
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Photos: American Idol Season 9 Auditions in Boston

June 12-14 at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough
Thousands of American Idol hopefuls lined up very early outside the Gillette Stadium to register and secure an audition for the show.  
By MATT TEUTEN  |  June 16, 2009
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Interview: Kathy Griffin

D Girl
"I think Ryan Seacrest and Oprah will finally be together, and it will be like one of those great '70s cover-up movies and I'm playing the body."
By JIM SULLIVAN  |  June 11, 2009
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Female Trouble

A shocking dearth of Republican female pols should have the party in a panic. So why doesn't it care?
Conventional political wisdom says that for a party to oppose a woman — or a women's issue — it's best to send out a female spokesperson.
By DAVID S. BERNSTEIN  |  June 03, 2009

Mixed messages

Letters to the Boston editor, May 29, 2009
I’ve always thought it bizarre that an aggressively conservative, Republican-channeling TV network such as Fox would be so enthusiastic about featuring sex (and other sensationalism), but I guess they know their audience.
By BOSTON PHOENIX LETTERS  |  May 27, 2009
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Dale Bozzio sentenced to jail

Feline Trouble
Two months after being convicted of animal cruelty, new-wave pop icon Dale Bozzio feels trapped in her own personal witch trial.
By ASHLEY RIGAZIO  |  May 27, 2009
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Going Mental

Fox's new psych-doc drama
Fox's new drama Mental (Thursdays at 9 pm on Fox) is House with a thoroughly likable doctor at its center, but it won't have half the shelf life of its predecessor.
By DAVID KRONKE  |  May 27, 2009
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Odd couples

The Lyric's Grey Gardens; Trinity's Shapeshifter
The East Hampton Board of Health would doubtless approve Grey Gardens: The Musical , since it comes minus the crapping cats, feral raccoons, and piles of garbage that form the supporting cast and unsanitary milieu of the famed documentary on which it's based.
By CAROLYN CLAY  |  May 12, 2009
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World gone Wong

Chinese-born biochemical-engineer-turned-comic Joe Wong has conquered Letterman. You're next.
"I'm an immigrant," says Joe Wong. "And I used to drive this used car with a lot of bumper stickers that are impossible to peel off. One of them said, 'If you don't speak English, go home.' And I didn't notice it for two years."
By SARA FAITH ALTERMAN  |  April 29, 2009
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The Big Hurt: Jacko solvent! Boyle swelling! Lupus dissed!

MJ's ranch, Hoppus and Wentz on Twitter, and Susan Boyle
If you had your heart set on picking up a gently used chimp tuxedo or a suspicious child skeleton, you're outta luck
By DAVID THORPE  |  April 28, 2009
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Review: Every Little Step

Dancers willing to do anything for their dream
Dancing with the Stars may be all the rage, but what of those who dance their little hearts out in obscurity?
By TOM MEEK  |  April 28, 2009
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Review: Pedro

An inspiring life reduced to sound bites, clichés, and hugs
There's no other reason to see the film.
By PETER KEOUGH  |  April 28, 2009
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Taking the B-boys to School

The Other MIT Crew
You may have noticed, hip-hop dance has gone legit — or at least slightly commercial.
By LISA SPINELLI  |  April 22, 2009
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On the couch

Reality Check
TV show therapist
By DAVID SIPRESS  |  April 22, 2009
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Middling earth

Too much talk spoils the images
At times, the images in Alastair Fothergill & Mark Linfield's documentary adapted from the BBC nature series of the same name elicit that rare cinematic response: wonder.
By PETER KEOUGH  |  April 21, 2009
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Interview: Jonathan Katz

Katz brings his show One Man, Many Games  to ImprovBoston
The moment I step into the Newton home / sound studio of comedian Jonathan Katz, he warns me that he's a show-off and invites me to admire his kitchen.
By SARA FAITH ALTERMAN  |  April 15, 2009
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My two Dads

Chazz Palminteri recycles A Bronx Tale
For those still jonesing for The Sopranos , Chazz Palminteri's A Bronx Tale (at the Colonial Theatre through April 5) may provide a somewhat sanitized fix.
By CAROLYN CLAY  |  April 07, 2009
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Video vérité

'Acting Out' at the ICA, plus Eileen Quinlan
Javier Téllez's 2007 black-and-white film "Letter on the Blind, For the Use of Those Who See" starts with a catchy premise: he gathered six blind New Yorkers at an empty public pool in Brooklyn to act out the fable of the blind men and the elephant.
By GREG COOK  |  April 01, 2009

Why local TV news will suck

Plus the return of the Remains, judging the judges, and best wishes for Charlie
For the past few weeks, the phones at Casa Diablo have been ringing off the hook with word of what was about to transpire at Channel 10/WJAR-TV.
By PHILLIPE AND JORGE  |  April 01, 2009
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Review: The Edge of Love

A soap opera about Dylan Thomas
John Maybury evoked the genius of Francis Bacon in Love Is the Devil , but he goes off the deep end with this ludicrous soap opera about Dylan Thomas.
By PETER KEOUGH  |  April 03, 2009
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Black and white and red all over

The stylish ultraviolence of MadWorld
The most common problem afflicting video games these days is a deficit of imagination. So many releases look alike, sound alike, and play alike.
By MITCH KRPATA  |  April 02, 2009

21. JASON MESNICK

BACHELOR, NUMBER TWO
As creepy as it was to see a single dad trying to find his son a stepmom on a reality dating game, at least Mesnick had the sympathy vote going into this season’s The Bachelor , thanks to the screwing he took during the final rounds of the previous season’s The Bachelorette . But by the time his star-turn season ended in travesty — in quick succession he proposed, un-proposed, then turned around and propositioned another comparably useless bimbo — his name had become synonymous with “two-timing douchebag.” He also revealed himself as an incurable chin-grabbing kisser, which is arguably even worse.
By Boston Phoenix Staff  |  March 25, 2009

89. Greg Behrendt

HORSEFACE KILLAH
We’re just not that into you, either. And not just because this unfunny self-help writer belittles desperate women, or because he looks like the offspring of Dane Cook and an old banana. This so-called author/comedian is one of those one-hit wonders who can’t accept his destiny, but who for some reason will have opportunities to produce a new failed talk show on E! every few years.
By Boston Phoenix Staff  |  March 25, 2009

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