By The Beachwood Adult Swim Affairs Desk

“As if the two 12-foot-tall, fog-shrouded golden owls that stood sentry over the crowd at a party for the Adult Swim cable television channel on Wednesday night weren’t imposing enough, they also shot lasers out of their eyes,” the New York Times reports.
“We couldn’t see what nightmarish owls were meant to convey at the advertiser-courting party. But they didn’t faze the guests at Roseland Ballroom, many of whom seemed to be archetypes from the TV show 30 Rock: corporate sharks and ironically bespectacled comedy writers – the sorts of people who create, profit from or watch animated programming for adults.”
*
Jay-Z To Rock Stoner Set With Adult Swim Deal.
*
“Is there any popular TV genre that Adult Swim won’t knock off and tear down,” the Los Angeles Times’ “Show Tracker” blog wonders in “Adult Swim Adds a Soap Opera, Crime Parody and Animated Blaxploitation.”
–
The Beachwood Inn proudly airs Adult Swim on late Monday evenings with the closed-caption on and the jukebox rocking.
Here is the new slate direct from Adult Swim PR (all times Central):

Read More

Posted on May 26, 2011

By The Beachwood CSI: Chicago Code Affairs Bureau

Were you stunned?
A round-up of reviews.
*
“And so The Chicago Code comes to an end, with a rushed, overstuffed episode that nevertheless poses provocative questions related to the central themes of this series: How do you really fight crime in a city where the politicians are in league with the racketeers? What good is the code of honor among policemen if it works against the closing of cases? And how do you weigh true justice against the needs of the many good people who might be hurt by it?” Noel Murray writes for The A.V. Club.
“That’s The Chicago Code in a nutshell: How do you fix a city where the only way to make progress is to make illegal deals? The very act of cleaning up corruption splashes the filth back on you.”

Read More

Posted on May 25, 2011

Call Every Available Unit!

Expect the unexpected! Empires are crumbling! Careers in jeopardy! Who will cross the line? The answer will leave you stunned!
1. Preview:

Read More

Posted on May 23, 2011

By Steve Rhodes

“I suspect she also has a future in high public office,” Ebert wrote this week in the preface to his puffball interview with Oprah.
Really, Roger? You too?
I never thought I’d write these words, but this is just how crazy the Oprah phenomenon is: I wish Richard Roeper had conducted that interview.

Read More

Posted on May 20, 2011

By Steve Rhodes

One thing we won’t get while the press breathlessly “reports” on Oprahfest is the truth about how whacked-out and delusional Oprah and her followers really are. To put it politely, she’s a hypocritical crackpot. “She puts the cult in popular culture,” media critic Mark Jurkowitz once wrote. So as is often our duty here at the Beachwood, we hereby offer an antidote to the madness in the form of our favorite Oprah moments. We trust you’ll get the picture.
1. Eternity with Oprah, what a treat!

Read More

Posted on May 18, 2011

First the video, then the transcript

Read More

Posted on May 17, 2011

By The Beachwood CSI: Chicago Code Affairs Bureau

The cancellation of our “favorite” TV show means the final two episodes of the season will really be the final two episodes. While viewers were promised last week a two-part season finale, show creator Shawn Ryan says the two parts will run tonight and next Monday – just like usual. The finale is called Mike Royko’s Revenge. Let’s take a look.
1. Promo for two-part finale.

–

Read More

Posted on May 16, 2011

By Samuel C. Memoh

Grady Davis appears in this promo reel to shed more light on the talk show Focus On Africa, hosted by Samuel C. Memoh on Chicago Access Network Television, CAN TV.

Read More

Posted on May 13, 2011

By Steve Rhodes

The next original thought to appear in a column by veteran Tribune Op-Ed writer Clarence Page will be the first. He is expert at being the last pundit in America to write what everyone else has already written – and in the same manner. He’s an aggregator of conventional wisdom who is expert at distilling and plagiarizing the standard narrative and regurgitating it in as cliched a manner as possible.
Today’s column on the vapidity of television – A Plea For Better Junk On TV – is particularly egregious. Let’s take a look.
*
“Fifty years ago this week, then-Federal Communications Commission Chairman Newton N. Minow famously skewered the nation’s daily television programming as ‘a vast wasteland.’ Today, it is still largely a wasteland, in my view, because that’s mostly what people want.”
People are stupid! Unlike me.Tsk, tsk!
*
“I have tried to avoid getting too excited about that over the years. After all, bad TV has its good qualities. It provides me with much less of a distraction from life’s more useful and rewarding activities – like reading.”
Because books are so superior. Just look at the the No. 1 seller on Amazon that hasn’t even been released yet!

Read More

Posted on May 12, 2011

By The Beachwood CSI: Chicago Code Affairs Bureau

Two-part season finale to air over the next two Mondays, and that’s it.
“Chicago Code took over for Lie to Me as Fox’s House lead-out on Mondays, but just couldn’t hold on to its audience. It premiered with a 5.7 rating/9 share on Feb. 7, but finished with a 3.4 household rating last week, according to Fast National overnights from The Nielsen Co.,” Inside Blip notes.
“In the end, Chicago Code did fare better than the now-canceled Lie to Me, but only managed to keep 75 percent of House’s audience. Not bad, but not good enough to continue based on its high production costs.”

Read More

Posted on May 11, 2011