Robert Thompson
Robert Thompson
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When Ellen came back with the Emmys (in November 2001), she was coming back to a culture that had been put on total and complete hold, ... a felicitous coincidence.
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There's a history in American culture about animals. You have sincere animals such as Rin Tin Tin and Lassie who are essentially heroic. And you've also got your wise-cracking animals. ... You turn an animal into something that becomes a commentary on the silliness of human life.
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I think the American culture right now is in a state where we have an unlimited appetite for irony. The great thing about a weird pageant is, if you don't win, is that really a bad thing?
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By the time this happened, the whole Martha Stewart style was beginning to show its age. What is strange is her being elevated beyond her fan base to world-class celebrity, thanks to a trial and conviction, and brought to a place in our culture that is much bigger than before.
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How television and the culture are absorbing Katrina is certainly different than how they absorbed Sept. 11. Four years ago, all culture was put on pause. But people have continued to watch comedies and dramas and reality shows throughout, even when things were at their grimmest.
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Already in our culture telethons are beginning to wear out a little bit simply because we do have so many of them,
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These are fundamental, foundational themes in American culture. And they all get played out here in ... the journalistic perfect storm.
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These kinds of characters are so satisfying to male viewers because culture has told them to be powerful and effective and to get things done, and at the same time they're living, operating and working in places that are constantly defying that.
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You can redefine the place of Mars in pop culture. It's close enough to interact with.
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When all the smoke is cleared, the way the evening news is done after (NBC's Tom) Brokaw, Rather and (ABC News's Peter) Jennings will look very similar to how it looked before -- a single anchor reading the news, passing it to reporters who will do little pieces.
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The star approval in OK! makes it less sleazy on one level and therefore less interesting.
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These are the things that make the Oscars fun.
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Elvis Presley Ate Here' is the cultural equivalent of 'George Washington Slept Here', ... Every time a place makes a claim that Elvis ate there, it becomes a memorial to his memory, to his life and to his legend.
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Even if it stopped now, its combination of longevity and quality has never been matched, ... is one of the great comic creations. ... He's complex in his own lack of complexity.