Primetime TV
To follow, but never to lead…
Tuesday, March 1st, 2011OK, the social media revolution is complete. I joined Twitter.
<rationale>
I’ve been reading too many articles lately in which some newswire is relaying news – typically celebrity news – based on what the celebrity in question has just tweeted. So, I figure, why not use Twitter as the news source it has become? I do not ever intend to tweet (I’m already on Facebook, and I honestly can’t see a reason to be on both, unless I’m caught in a real life, hashtag-worthy event…). Rather, I plan to use Twitter as a kind of “Facebook of the Stars,” in which I can read about what various celebrities are telling the world without having to catch up on them through E! Online or Yahoo! Gossip or some other aggregator that has worked an exclamation point into their name.
</rationale>
So, at the advice of a friend, I googled “Most Twitter Followers,” which led me to this site – a list of the one thousand most popular tweeters. Of the thousand I found there, I “followed” 59 people. Here they are, sorted in order from most followers to least:
| 1) Lady Gaga | 21) Al Yankovic | 41) Hugh Jackman |
| 2) Justin Bieber | 22) Larry King | 42) David Blaine |
| 3) Britney Spears | 23) Wil Wheaton | 43) Drew Carey |
| 4) Barack Obama | 24) Lindsay Lohan | 44) Lea Michele |
| 5) Kim Kardashian | 25) Penn Jillette | 45) Miranda Cosgrove |
| 6) Katy Perry | 26) Bill Cosby | 46) Craig Ferguson |
| 7) Ellen DeGeneres | 27) Dalai Lama | 47) John Hodgman |
| 8) Taylor Swift | 28) Brent Spiner | 48) William Shatner |
| 9) Oprah Winfrey | 29) Alyssa Milano | 49) Steve Martin |
| 10) Justin Timberlake | 30) Kevin Nealon | 50) Sarah Palin |
| 11) Ashley Tisdale | 31) Nick Swisher | 51) Seth Meyers |
| 12) Ryan Seacrest | 32) Yoko Ono | 52) Tina Fey |
| 13) Paris Hilton | 33) Sarah Silverman | 53) Roger Ebert |
| 14) Demi Moore | 34) Neil Patrick Harris | 54) Bill Maher |
| 15) Jimmy Fallon | 35) John Cleese | 55) Joan Rivers |
| 16) John Legend | 36) Dr. Phil | 56) Pamela Anderson |
| 17) Al Gore | 37) Barbara Walters | 57) Miley Cyrus |
| 18) Conan O’Brien | 38) WikiLeaks | 58) Jessica Simpson |
| 19) Dr. Drew | 39) Michael Moore | 59) Howard Stern |
| 20) Stephen Colbert | 40) Kathy Griffin |
In terms of actual entertainment, I am fans of some of these folks and not of others, but they all looked like they might produce interesting tweets, which was my only criteria here (and thus concludes the story of how a Twitter user came to follow both Michael Moore and Sarah Palin on the same day. If only I had a way to share this exciting news with everyone I know. Oh yeah, that’s right: Facebook).
Anyway, first impressions of Twitter as news source:
- It works. In the first fifteen minutes, I learned that Ellen Degeneres had sat down with a seven-year old paleontologist, that Justin Bieber has raised over $7 million for a clean water charity by asking his fans to donate to it in honor of his upcoming birthday, that Roger Ebert hated the Oscar telecast, that Kathy Griffin is going to appear on Glee, that Lea Michelle had pasta with Tom Hanks after the Oscars, that Matthew Morrison has a new single out (quick review: Yuck), that Britney Spears has a new single out (quick review: didn’t bother clicking the link), that Barack Obama will work with anybody! ANYBODY! to improve Health Care Reform, and that Seth Myers wrote a clever line about Charlie Sheen (“Post-Oscars, when I say “The King’s Speech,” I’m referring to stuff Charlie Sheen said.”). Not bad as a quick (and mindless) news source.
- In the time it took me to read 1,000 names and click on 59 of them, 13 people followed me. One is an “online dog community,” one is extremely profane, one describes herself (forgive me for assuming the gender here) as a “Justin Bieber fan.” All thirteen are total strangers to me and likely not even real people. Regardless, all thirteen will be significantly disapointed when they notice that I never tweet. Not even once just to try it. Ever. Seriously.
- Wikileaks releases new, “shocking” information every hour or so. I honestly didn’t realize just how shock-jock they were about their information. I haven’t removed them from the feed yet, but they’re the only ones I’m considering removing at this point.
- And finally, I knew right away this was a mad, mad world when I followed President Obama and saw these two things pop up on my screen:
Yeah – this is gonna get weird fast…
Categories: Blogging about Blogs, Movie Talk, Primetime TV, Words about Music | 3 Comments »
80’s and 90’s TV Stars take on “We are the World,” Beatles style
Friday, December 3rd, 2010There is apparently a TV show in Norway called Gylne Tider, which translates to “Golden Times.” They interview celebrities who were popular some time ago, and catch up on their lives. This is the promo for the show, which includes about fifty stars from the 80’s and 90’s singing the Beatles Let It Be:
Go ahead – pick out your favorite, “Oh my, look at how old he/she looks!” person. Mine is Kelly McGillis, who is fifty-three years old, according to IMDB, but looks, to me anyway, like she’s in her sixties or seventies.
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The Wheel of Fortune One-Letter Solve
Thursday, November 11th, 2010It’s been years since I watched Wheel of Fortune regularly, but this came across my news feed today and gave me quite a chuckle:
This, to me, addresses the true magic of the Wheel of Fortune game. If you’re looking at a puzzle and you don’t know the answer, it seems impossible that anyone else could ever figure it out. Once you solve it, though, it seems just as odd that everyone else in the world doesn’t see it too. I mean, seriously – “I’ve Got a Good Feeling About This.” What else could it be? It’s so OBVIOUS…
Categories: Primetime TV | 6 Comments »
And now…a Muppet News Flash
Wednesday, October 20th, 2010Someone on Facebook pointed me to this. I don’t know if it’s the complete collection, but it’s certainly an excellent sample:
I know – 100%, world-class cheese. But it still makes me smile.
We now return you to your regularly scheduled program…
Categories: Primetime TV | 2 Comments »
Grover’s Take on Those Old Spice Ads…
Monday, October 11th, 2010If you have Internet access, you’ve likely seen those Old Spice ads – the ones where the shirtless man speaks confidently about, well, nothing in particular (except himself?). I must admit, I’ve never quite understood them, except to say that they’re memorable and instantly recognizable, which I guess is the goal when it comes to commercials. But funny? Maybe an occasional chuckle, but that’s about it. Which is what makes this very clever:
I’m sure Saturday Night Live has done it’s send-up of these ads, and while I haven’t seen it, I’ve gotta believe Sesame Street has them beat this time around…
Categories: Primetime TV | 1 Comment »
Two of these things are not like(d by) the others…
Thursday, September 23rd, 2010
This story is strange on a wide variety of levels.
But first, the facts: Pop singer, Katy Perry, recorded a segment for Sesame Street, in which she sang a (child-friendly) version of her hit song, Hot N Cold, with everybody’s favorite montser, Elmo. The segment was posted on Sesame Street’s YouTube channel as a “sneak peek” at the show’s season premiere. After more than one million views, the folks at the Sesame Workshop received a number of complaints that Ms. Perry’s outfit was too revealing, making it inappropriate for a TV show aimed at preschoolers. The Sesame Street folks decided not to air the segment on television and removed it from the Sesame Street YouTube channel, although they did allow it to remain on other YouTube channels and websites, including Katy Perry’s own YouTube channel and katyperry.com.
Oh, strange story, let me count the ways…
1) Sesame Street pre-releases clips of its shows on YouTube? Is this really such hotly anticipated content that we can’t wait for the actual show to air?
2) Parents actually watch pre-release clips of Sesame Street on the Internet? Are there folks out there who really want to pre-screen Sesame Street on a regular basis?
3) To Sesame Street’s target demographic, cleavage doesn’t suggest anything naughty – it suggests lunch!
To be honest, I don’t very much care that they didn’t air it on television. One of the great things about the times we live in is that television isn’t our only source of media content. Anyone who wants to see Katy Perry sing with Elmo (or just ogle her cleavage) can do so on the Internet just as easily (or, some would argue, more easily) than on television. And if your two-year old is a big Katy Perry fan, you’re free to sit him/her down in front of the computer and let him/her watch. So the TV show becomes the “extremely safe zone.” That used to matter a lot, because the decisions of a select few affected the choices of the masses. Today, not so much.
For those who are curious, here’s the video. But be forewarned – if you click on it, you have to stop claiming that you read my blog just for the articles…
Categories: Primetime TV, Words about Music | 1 Comment »
Newspapers as Product Placement
Thursday, June 10th, 2010Pop quiz: what’s so interesting about this screen grab from Desperate Housewives?
Answer: you’ve probably seen this newspaper before. Click here for more.
Categories: Primetime TV | 1 Comment »
My American Idol 2010 Prediction (with a little help from Facebook)
Sunday, May 23rd, 2010Crystal and Lee both posted status updates about eight hours ago. Note that Lee has more than twice as many “Likes” and more than twice as many comments. Assuming Facebook is a fairly random sample of American Idol viewers (isn’t basically everyone on Facebook at this point?), I think we have our winner, folks.
Oops – I guess I should have said ***SPOILER ALERT***, huh?
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Animal’s Secret Identity . . . Revealed!
Saturday, April 24th, 2010So, good news! The awesome Viral Videos from Muppets Studio have been nominated for two Webby Awards. Animal is very excited:
Interesting thing, though – I don’t think I’d ever heard Animal speak (other than one or two words at a time – between the screaming and the banging on the drums…). Now that I get a listen, though, I’ve come to a startling conclusion.
Animal has the same voice as The Cookie Monster! Watch:
Google as I might, I wasn’t able to find a video that showed both Animal and Cookie Monster on screen at the same time. From this investigation, I can only conclude that Animal is actually Cookie Monster in disguise! This is the biggest news since the whole Kermit the Frog / Ernie debacle…
Categories: Primetime TV | 3 Comments »
Conan, it’s yours!
Thursday, January 21st, 2010My, what a difference five years makes, huh?
Yeah – glad we avoided that whole mess this time around…
Categories: Primetime TV | Comments Off on Conan, it’s yours!