Sunday, April 27, 2014

Spring Feverrr!

 The rabbit ears got a big boost with Aereo this week - let's go wild with it while it's still legal!
*PBS NewsHour - I grew up with MacNeill/Lehrer, so the Ifill /Woodruff combo fills a special place of in-depth coverage in my news heart.
*Independent Lens - I caught two great documentaries on here, Brothers Hypnotic (about a brass band) and Medora (about a small town basketball team) - both really compelling portraits of their subjects.
*Frontline - The solitary confinement episode was terrifying. It's truly terrible that this is the reality for 80,000 people here. They did a great job closely following a few inmates. It's a stark reminder of how ill-equipped the criminal justice system is to address mental health issues. There was a little less context than I usually like, but the materials on the website supplement it well, and it makes sense to keep the focus on the individuals whose voices are so rarely heard. I look forward to the next segment on incarceration more broadly.
*Bob's Burgers - I missed an episode here or there, but still good for a laugh.
*Good Wife - Excitement's leveled out for a bit, and it's back to its formulaic interesting case per episode.
*Mad Men - The first episode was online for free, so we watched it, but it wasn't that great. Not sure it's worth buying a season pass or just waiting for it to come out on Netflix.
Bonus bunny picture in honor of the holiday!
*Silicon Valley - This show is what I wished The Circle had been, a hilarious look at tech start-ups.
*Game of Thrones - Early-season excitement!
*House of Cards - Finally finished out the season - the conniving goes all the way to the end, but now what are they going to do?
*Colbert Report - The spot on Cliven Bundy  is so good! I had watched the sober coverage of the controversy on the NewsHour, and was awaiting a good Colbert take on it. As sad as I am to know that Colbert's moving along, I also look forward to what he does next.
Not much reading to report - just finished Americanah; enjoyable but a little lacking in the plot made it slow going. I just started The Flamethrowers.