Around the Web

• “We are only 50 percent of the way to knowing what trees really do for us,” says botanist Lester Rowntree in Jill Jonnes' article about the role of trees in the life of the city
• "I've never had colleagues in the sense that I do here," says Jonathan Lethem who's headed for liberal arts college bliss at Pomona (I wondered if he planned write a book that doesn't take place in New York but, alas, this article says his next book is set in Queens)
• I've made my picks for Slate's Oscar Pool game
• "By the time I got around to Vampire’s Kiss and then Bad Lieutenant and now this movie, Drive Angry and then also Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, I had realized that I’d developed my own style and process and school of acting which is called Nouveau Shamanic. That’s the new style of acting and at some point I’ll have to write a book.” -Nicholas Cage (!), quoted by Movieline

 

Around the Web

Quick non-sequitor: what a great Masters Tournament.

• Vanity Fair profile of General Petraeus praises his drive and competence but also portrays him as unyieldingly ambitious
• The latest salvo in Matt Taibbi's tussle with David Brooks.  Granted, Taibbi's writing tends to be a little hyperbolic.  But sometimes things are more fun that way. In this particular post, I don't think he's taking any unfair shots
• The Daily Show on the recent Catholic disgrace: “If any other organization had done anything close to what the Church is being accused of, they’d be done! the Church is barely showing any contrition - for God’s sakes, look how sorry Domino’s was just for their shitty pizza! They had a bad sauce recipe, (and) they’ve been out there nonstop - ‘Oh, we’re so sorry. Here, have some Crazy Bread!’”

Update:

Also,  the trailer for the new A-Team movie

Around the Web

• An interview with Contested Will  author James Shapiro (the Shakespeare guy from the previous post)
• NY Times article on the passing of H. Edward Roberts, the inventor of the personal computer (and an alumnus of Oklahoma State University)
• Joshua Green (at The Atlantic) suspects Larry Summers is on his way out
• Senator Coburn (R-OK) surprises the folks back home with interesting thoughts on Speaker Pelosi and Fox News

Is this a Golden Age of (Scripted) Televsion?

When people talk about the Golden Age of Television, they are usually assumed to be talking about the post-War era (unless you are with my friends from college, in which case it is assumed one is talking about the "Transformers" era). And, generally speaking, I think it's fair to call this period a "Golden Age;" it's nearly impossible to deny that for all sorts of cultural and historic reasons, this time period (late 40s to early 60s) was a really interesting and important time for television.

Still, having thought about TV a bit during this weekend's awful weather, I think you could make a strong case that the last ten years have been something of a second (or maybe third?) Golden Age of Television.  At the very least, I think you could say it's a Golden Age of Scripted television.

Consider some of the shows and miniseries that have aired or mostly aired in the past decade (I don't regularly watch all of these but I've seen a few episodes of most of them): The West Wing, The Wire, Friday Night Lights, Arrested Development, BattleStar Galactica, Flight of the Conchords, 30 Rock, The Office, House, Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Sopranos, Deadwood, Lost, John Adams,  and Mad Men.

In short, lots of rich, well-written dramas, fresh comedies (often off-beat or satirical) and several shows with remarkably high production values.

If you accept the premise that this is a Golden Age, I can think of a few possible and mostly pretty obvious reasons:

1. Networks can now pick the low-hanging fruit with relatively cheap reality TV options, so there is less need to try and fill prime-time spots with dramas and comedies that don't show exceptional promise.
2. The trend away from the laugh-track.  Think "The Office," "30 Rock," and "Curb Your Enthusiasm."
3. DVD sales have created a secondary market for high quality television programming.
4. Shows with well-constructed plots, like Lost" (which I never got into, but can understand the appeal of), and interesting, well-written characters, like "House," seem to make almost as much money in DVD sales as they do in advertising sales.
5. More segmentation in the marketplace.  It seems even network shows like "West Wing" and "Friday Night Lights" have been given leeway to find and satisfy a particular niche, instead of being continually under pressure to post "E.R."-level ratings.
6. More premium cable programming.  This is closely-linked to #5.  Networks like HBO, Comedy Central and AMC can put out programs like "John Adams," "Deadwood," "The Wire" and "Mad Men" precisely because they don't have to be all things to all people.

A few more reasons might be posted later (work beckons).  I'd be interested to see if this Golden Age pet theory holds up on second consideration and what other people think.