Robert Thompson
Robert Thompson
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The only difference is that television is such a predominant medium. ... Radio used to have sitcoms and doctor shows and cop shows and game shows and all the different genres, and television wrestled that primary entertainment away from it. But I think in terms of its impact on the medium of radio, yes, this is going to be a very big deal.
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I think we have yet to realize how much we are going to miss that. I don't think it's a total coincidence that it's happening at the same time there's an increasingly divisive nature in the country. What the consensus medium of television used to do, and radio before that, was to provide this enormous center that everybody had to go to now and then. ... Now, there is a lack of cultural consensus that even extends to what we consider the body of facts we used to debate.
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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.
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Even Candy Land (a child's game invented in 1949) has a special anniversary edition. Old-fashioned board games are enjoying a real renaissance.
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Farrah Fawcett was in the prime of her big-haired, buxom beauty. She was the kind of person who could completely make 'Battle of the Network Stars' work. She was kind of goofy and she was such a huge star and you really wanted to see what she was like. And what you saw was a little peculiar and that made it fun.
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There simply are not a lot of really good movies that people were interested in. Every time a new element enters the field -- movies have to be better to attract people.
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Reality has taken a major hit. But it's far from dead, and some form of this stuff is going to be on television for at least the next century, if not longer.
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Reality TV comes along and it proceeds to marry with every other type of program and have offspring. We've got reality TV married to a talent show ? 'Nashville Star' and 'American Idol.' And now I think the same is happening with home improvement shows.
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People expected to go in to see a movie, and it was like a guerrilla attack. No one was expecting it, especially in Manhattan.
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The tape was the key. Without it, no one would believe you. The video is not perfect, a little grainy, but that's what makes it so quaint, so appealing.