Cue the Twilight Zone theme as we submit this clip from the 1958 CBS western Trackdown, featuring a character named Trump promising the townsfolk special protection from a wall he alone knows how to build...

2017

Jan

SCRAMBLED DREGS By Eric Gould

As Idina Menzel premieres this weekend in the Lifetime remake of the 1988 Bette Midler/Barbara Hershey film, Beaches, we're thinking her most remembered moment wasn’t her run as the original Elphaba in Wicked on Broadway. Or, as part of the Glee cast, or even with her voicing of Queen Elsa in Frozen, singing the smash hit “Let it Go"...

2017

Jan

HAIL TO THE TELEVISED CHIEF By Eric Gould

Here’s President Harry S. Truman’s address, January 20, 1949, from the first presidential inauguration to be televised. Truman, although having run as an incumbent after the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt, trailed his opponent in many polls of the day, similar to the data stream of 2016...

2017

Jan

'THE OA' REWARDS WITH BRAVE NEW TERRITORY By Eric Gould

What to say about The OA, since any discussion of it would result in major spoilers in the streaming universe, which like the metaphysical space the series inhabits, is unmoored in time and reference?...

2017

Jan

A MOMENT OF (GREEN) ZEN By Eric Gould

After last year’s wild ride, we’re kicking off 2017 with a five-minute meditation; a bit of reality programming from a middle-of-the-night chauffeured view from the dashboard cam of driver Noah Forman — who made 236 green lights (and one yellow) in New York City in 26 minutes...

2016

Dec

WHY 'RECTIFY' MATTERED By Eric Gould

Small dramas usually mean even smaller audiences, but Rectify, the little show that could, proved that there remains a market for stories where nothing explodes, a psychopath isn’t waiting around the next corner and life moves at a pace that is credible — it mirrored our own...

2016

Dec

LARRY DAVID’S ORIGINAL MANIA… THE BEATLE KIND — By Eric Gould

Among the many interviews David conducted for his look at the evolution of TV’s Platinum Age, he talked with another David, Larry, about the genre of “Splitcoms” — situation comedies like Seinfeld that are set half in the lead character’s home... But before all that, he was cast in the 1980-82 ABC late-night comedy series Fridays. One recurring bit, a character named Solly Mullins, was a temp worker who showed up to all sorts of preposterous gigs, like standing in for John Lennon who does not show up for a world-wide Beatles reunion...

2016

Nov

THREE LAUGHS AND A FUNERAL By Eric Gould

With Grant Tinker’s passing, there are many milestone moments in the MTM archive that helped transform television into what it is today... One of our favorite MTM moments was from the 1975 Mary Tyler Moore Show episode, “Chuckles Bites the Dust." Mary, stricken by grief at the news of Chuckles the Clown's death, had been scolding the WJM staff for making repeated clown jokes about the tragedy. Except that all, memorably, changes at Chuckles’ funeral...

2016

Nov

OK, HERE WE GO AGAIN By Eric Gould

We’re big fans of the the band OK Go who have really taken the idea of music videos into what we might all agree is the realm of fine art. For the past few years, they have been the high priests of the single take, fusing mind-boggling choreographed performance and colorful op-art into 4 minute masterwork achievement...

2016

Nov

MODERATING HOLIDAY HEARTBURN By Eric Gould

Ellen DeGeneres envisions a new service which will be the perfect antacid for all that ills at the Thanksgiving table after an unprecedented and divided presidential season. It’s an app called Mobile Moderator...

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Eric Gould

Associate Editor

Eric Gould is a writer in Boston and Associate Editor for tvworthwatching.com. With prior stints in art, music, photography and design, he casts a wide net across the media pool fishing for the smart, the surprising and the oddly compelling. He will have essays on Rectify, Six Feet Under and Girls in the upcoming “Finale: Considering the Ends of Television Series” from Syracuse University Press. Email him at gould@tvworthwatching.com

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