ericdeggans

[ericdeggans]

Why hoping Lily Gladstone won an Oscar does not equal valuing race over talent.

Social media is never a great place to have discussions about race and culture. The real issues at hand are way too nuanced and detailed for outrage factories like X/Twitter and Instagram to handle.

Still, I was disappointed to see so many people – perhaps willfully – missing the point online when discussion rose after the Oscars about Lily Gladstone failing to win best actress honors.

No doubt, a win for Gladstone – who would have been the first Native American woman to earn a major acting Oscar – also would have felt like a serious triumph for champions touting the power of diversity in film.

Feeling the love big time today, especially from Indian Country. Kittō”kuniikaakomimmō”po’waw - seriously, I love you all ❤️ (Better believe when I was leaving the Dolby Theater and walked passed the big Oscar statue I gave that golden booty a little Coup tap - Count: one 😉)

— Lily Gladstone (@lily_gladstone) March 12, 2024

Those of us who clock these things regularly knew that Emma Stone’s turn in Poor Things was most likely to spoil that scenario. Stone offered a showy-yet-accomplished performance as a singular character in an ambitious, creatively weird production. A much-loved past winner delivering a career-best effort, she was just the kind of nominee that Oscar loves to reward. And, as Vulture pointed out, modern Oscar voters seem to enjoy turning against expectations in big moments like this.

But when I expressed those feelings online – that Stone was marvelous and more than earned the award, but the Oscar academy really missed a chance to make history by overlooking Gladstone’s more subtle, quietly powerful turn in a better movie – the knives came out.

The gist of most negative reactions was the implication that I and others lamenting her loss were insisting that ethnicity should trump talent. As if the only or most important reason that an indigenous woman could be nominated for such a lofty award, is by people trying to bring social justice to the Oscars. (I guess Gladstone’s wins as best actress at the Golden Globes and Screen Actors Guild awards, among others, were also nods to diversity?)

As if it couldn’t be possible that perhaps -- just perhaps -- some racial cultural preferences were mixed up in Oscar voters’ attraction to the story of a beautiful, young white woman who has loads of sex while learning to define herself in a male dominated world.

What really disappointed me, however, was reading an analysis which reached all the way back to the 2017 Oscars to imply that one reason Barry Jenkins’ masterpiece Moonlight won best picture honors over La La Land was the pressure to bring social justice to the Oscars.

Talk about missing the point by a mile. What I’m driving at, when I advocate for contenders like Gladstone, Barry Jenkins and Jeffrey Wright, isn’t a finger on the scale to make up for past exclusion.

It’s a plea for Oscar voters to see these performances the way I and so many other people actually see them.

I still remember watching last year’s version of The Color Purple in a screening alongside lots of folks from Black fraternity and sorority organizations. And when the moment arrived where Danielle Brooks’ character intoned about her husband, “I loves Harpo — God knows I do — but I’ll kill him dead before I let him or anybody beat me,” it felt like the whole theater said those words with her. That’s how iconic those lines -- first spoken on film by Oprah Winfrey in the 1985 production – have become for Black America.

That same feeling came after I first saw Cord Jefferson’s brilliant American Fiction, centered on a frustrated, floundering Black writer who creates a stereotypical parody of a Black novel as a dark joke, only to see it become a best seller. I felt as if Jefferson had pulled the same bait-and-switch with his movie that his lead character managed onscreen – using the outrageous premise to draw us all into a more subtle and deliberately powerful story of a Black man struggling to connect with his family after huge losses.

I needed three attempts to get through watching all of Gladstone’s work in Killers of the Flower Moon. Not because the movie was so long I had to “get my mail forwarded to the theater,” like Oscars host Jimmy Kimmel joked. But because it was so hard for me to watch a film centered on the historic exploitation and murder of Native American people by white men.

It sounds like a simple idea, but it’s worth repeating: evocative moments in films will speak differently to different people.

Sometimes, when I’m pushing for a win in an awards category, or championing a particular project, it’s not because I’m putting a finger on the scale for the sake of equality. It’s because I’m more invested in that story than some others because of who I am. And I’m challenging some people, who might not see their cultural preferences as preferences, to consider exactly why they love one thing over another.

In many ways, it is sad to see great artists pitted against each other in these contests. Comparing the delightful, dangerous absurdity of Poor Things to the gritty, punishing tone in Killers of the Flower Moon feels like a fool’s errand, anyway.

But with so much that comes from an Oscar win – including proof that inclusion brings success, accolades and a great argument for more equity – it is important to understand why some people value some performances.

And part of living in a diverse society means valuing the wide range of opinions and reactions, not shrugging off those that don’t fit your worldview.

#oscars #gladstone #movies #racism #tv #Youtube

[ericdeggans]

My List of the Best TV in 2023: An Abundance of Quality Even in Adversity

What’s the surest proof that there truly is too much television available these days?

The fact that, even though 2023 featured historic performers and writers strikes in Hollywood which crippled film and TV production for months, there was still enough great series and projects to fill an entire notebook page.

Way too many, in fact, for me to cover in my small part of NPR’s awesome annual listing of the best TV and film of the year, compiled among six different critics. It’s one reason the strikes went on so long in the first place – for fans of great TV, it didn’t really seem like much changed, as streaming services kept dropping cool stuff, thanks to their long production lead times.

Ironically, viewers may notice the strikes’ impact more next year – in part, because a lot of cool TV shows left us in 2023 (pour one out for Barry, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, The Crown, Reservation Dogs, Succession, and, possibly, Ted Lasso) and also because the streamers will spend some time rebuilding lineups which got depleted.

Here, where I have a lot more room is my highly subjective and surprisingly long list of the Best TV of 2024:

TOP PICK - Succession – A show which perfectly captured how the dysfunctions of wealthy families can impact the world delivered a note-perfect finale that surprised – though I did predict Tom would win out – and yet felt completely inevitable. All while the world was second-guessing and writing their own endings. Masterful.

The Last of Us – Who knew reinventing the zombie apocalypse story was simple as coming up with a new cause – fungus, eww! – and the willingness to hand big chunks of the story over to compelling, fully drawn supporting characters. Doesn’t hurt to have ultimate zaddy Pedro Pascal and precocious acting genius Bella Ramsey on the case, either.

The Bear - Speaking of compelling supporting characters…this show’s second season sparkled by giving the other employees in Carmy’s greasy spoon-becoming-a-great-restaurant lots of narrative room. But it took flight with unexpected, brilliant cameos from Jon Bernthal, Olivia Colman, Oliver Platt, Bob Odenkirk, Sarah Paulson, and the legendary Jamie Lee Curtis.

Reservation Dogs – Proof of the amazing, authentic, original stories which come from letting indigenous people tells their own stories, smashing together a crushing realism with the sense that a jarring visit from the spirit world is always around the next corner.

Fargo – Not sure I love the ultimate message on the healing power of suburban, white, upper middle class Midwestern family life (or what happens to the one major Black character). But crackling performances from Juno Temple, Jon Hamm, Jennifer Jason leigh and Dave Foley make this year’s installment the best version in many years.

Shrinking – An emotional and truly funny comedy that reminds us how hilarious Harrison Ford and Jessica Williams can be while not making us spend too much time on Jason Segel’s angsty privileged white guy shtick.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds – The TV series which scored the most by taking the boldest swings, leaning into Trek’s original heritage as an adventure-of-the-week which told the most ambitious stories on the small screen.

(The dancing, dubstepping, boy band-style Klingons on Strange New Worlds powered my favorite TV scene of the year.)

Star Trek: Picard – Yeah, I put TWO Trek series here, because everyone else in critic-land seems to be sleeping on the fact that they made more than one excellent season of a new Trek series filled with nods to what came before, including this show, which reunited the Next Generation cast in a storyline basically about old people saving the universe from young, clueless, mind-controlled pawns.

Barry – Wasn’t thrilled about how grim this series’ finale eventually became. But respected the fact that co-creator/star Bill Hader never shied away from the fact that the show was going to be his laboratory for all the directing and storytelling tricks he ever wanted to try, and a dark comedy about a hitman-turned-actor has to be seriously dark to mean something.

Beef – A road rage incident becomes a crackling, entertaining look at everything from Asian family culture to Elon Musk-level mogul dysfunction while also proving my girl Ali Wong can act her ass off.

Still: A Michael J. Fox Story – While other celebrities are executive producing documentaries to show how legendarily cool they are, Fox helped create an up close look at his struggle with Parkinson’s disease which show how hard it is to put on socks and take a walk on a new York street without crashing to the ground right in front of a concerned fan.

Only Murders in the Building – A comedy about over-privileged crime podcasters in an Upper West side apartment building should not stay entertaining over three seasons. But this show pulls it off, tossing in against-the-grain cameos by Paul Rudd and Meryl Streep that provide the best icing on a very fine cake.

Slow Horses – This show about a department filled with failed British intelligence agents not only subverts the spy genre, it subverts the satires which originally subverted classic spy dramas, like Get Smart. Topped by mesmerizing performances from Gary Oldman and Kristin Scott Thomas, I would have subtitled this one, Get Smarter.

Happy Valley - This series about an experienced, ball-busting divorced single mom of a police sergeant in a mid-size town in Britain notched an underappreciated series finale featuring the amazing Sarah Lancashire as Catharine Cawood, finally confronting the man she blamed for her daughter’s suicide and her grandson’s emotional turmoil.

BS High – A great documentary often tells a story which keeps going deeper and better, like a descent into a spellbinding madness. This film achieved that by giving center stage to master manipulator/football coach Roy Johnson, who got ESPN to air a game featuring his Bishop Sycamore High School team; the film contends their crushing loss eventually exposed that the school didn’t really exist.

I’m a Virgo – Creator and activist Boots Riley made an urban parable where Black excellence became superpowers and the world’s exploitive class came for a 13-foot-tall Black teen played by the always compelling Jharrel Jerome. Always inspiring to see how Boots turns mainstream media’s tropes and expectations against itself.

#tv #youtube #npr #best tv of 2023 #succession #succession hbo #the last of us #the bear #beef #reservation dogs #Youtube

[ericdeggans]

Archiving my work in a new place called Authory

When you’re a journalist creating content for many different outlets, sometimes, it’s tough to create a place where all your work can live and be easily accessible.

That’s why I decided to try a new platform called Authory, which places most of my stuff in one, searchable archive where anyone – especially me – can get a good sample of what I’ve been up to at any given time.

Right now, that means all my work for NPR, both on the radio and as print stories on the website, plus guest interviews I do for KCRW’s The Business radio show and podcast, my recent guest host stint on Tampa PBS’ politics show Florida This Week, interviews I’ve given to NPR member stations like LAist, WABE and WNPR, TV appearances on CNN or MSNBC, the often weekly TV talk segments on NPR’s midday show Here and Now, references to my book Race-Baiter, and freelance work I do for outlets like IndieWire and Columbia Journalism Review.

It's still under construction now – the platform is still aggregating material and I’m not sure yet how useful this archive will be. But if you’re curious to see what it all looks like in one spot, click here and check it out. Also, feel free to let me know what you think of it!

#tv #social media #npr #cnn #msnbc #pbs

[ericdeggans]

The Thrill of Serving as Guest Host on WEDU's Florida This Week

When I was a kid, as an only child, I had to amuse myself quite often. So it might not sound so strange to admit now that much of that time was spent pretending to be a news anchor, especially after my mom got me one of the most newfangled of gifts -- a cassette tape player with a microphone which could actually record.

I note all of this to explain why it was so much fun over these past few weeks to fill in as guest host for my longtime friend Rob Lorei on his signature politics and news analysis show for Tampa PBS station WEDU, called Florida This Week.

Rob is a Tampa Bay area institution, at the helm of Florida This Week for more than 20 years. WEDU began airing a news/analysis/interview show many years earlier, when Syl Farrell began hosting a show in 1990 called From a Black Perspective, changing the name to Tampa Bay Week a few years later.

The program has always been a haven for substantive talk on political issues, featuring journalists, political leaders, activists, area business people and others who might have insight into important news affecting the region and the state.

I've had a loose connection to the show for quite a while. I profiled Farrell for the then-St. Petersburg Times (now Tampa Bay Times) newspaper back in 1998. I've also been a guest on the show countless times -- including a special instance when I debated the ludicrous hysteria over Critical Race theory in schools with Christian Ziegler, now the embattled chair of the Florida GOP who has seen his powers and salary stripped down after he was accused of sexual assault by a woman who previously had a sexual encounter with Christian and his wife, Bridget.

So it was a treat when the opportunity arose to try and fill the host chair temporarily for Rob. I mostly just mimicked his affable and knowledgeable style, while trying to say everyone's name right and ask halfway intelligent questions.

Did I get it right? Watch the video below of my last stint as guest host in 2023, which aired Friday, and tell me what you think!

Personally, I'm convinced that time in front of the cassette player eventually paid off!

#tv #Florida #WEDU #politics #ziegler #Youtube

[ericdeggans]

Celebrating 10 years at NPR: The coolest job I never thought I'd ever have.

How to sum up the most amazing professional experience in a 30-plus-year journalism career?

That’s the challenge when it comes to talking about my 10 years at NPR.

My official decade anniversary was Oct. 1, marking the date my first contract with the network took effect back in 2013. Of course, I had been providing NPR with freelance commentaries about TV for more than two years before that – by the time I was hired on staff, I was probably appearing on air as much as most full-time correspondents, anyway.

(talking TV with Linda Holmes at NPR West.)

Working at NPR was the culmination of a dream I wasn’t even sure I had. I was a longtime fan of shows like Car Talk, Fresh Air and Wait, Wait…Don’t Tell Me, along with the newscasts, which I listened to religiously on Sirius XM back in the day. (To this moment, one of the things I love most about the NPR One app is that it allows you to listen to the latest newscast on demand.)

But I had also written a story in 2004 for the then-St. Petersburg Times (now known as The Tampa Bay Times) headlined “NPR’s White Noise,” where I documented how lacking in diversity the network could be back then. NPR continues to have its blind spots and issues with living up to its ideals regarding diversity and inclusion – but the network of today has made a lot of progress from what I wrote about back then.

I didn’t realize it in 2004, but seven years later, I would become a part of that effort – first, as a freelance commentator in the mold of Frank DeFord or Andrei Codrescu and later as a staffer who could talk about everything from how Black people are marginalized on CBS’ Survivor to the roots in civil rights and Black history of the song This Little Light of Mine.

(guest hosting Weekend All Things Considered earlier this year.)

For me, joining NPR brought professional benefits right away. I was asked to join the judges panel for the Peabody Awards the same year I was hired, which was also when I got to guest host CNN’s media analysis show Reliable Sources three times – allowing a transition from past host Howie Kurtz to its final host Brian Stelter.

But most of all, I gained a national voice as an arts critic at a place whose core journalism values I really respect – in an organization I would have never predicted I could join, even a few short years before I actually did.

This is something I tell young journalists all the time; keep professional goals in mind. But be willing to take chances that get you where you want to be in ways you might not have predicted. That’s certainly happened for me.

Now I've spent a decade at a job where I’m still grateful to feel challenged with new opportunities every day. And 33 years into this crazy career as a professional journalist and critic, that’s a truly wonderful place to be.

#tv #npr #journalism #anniversary #Youtube

[ericdeggans]

When your job is explaining race and media, what happens when you find a situation you don't want to explain?

That moment came for me this week, as memes were rocketing around social media connected to the brawl in Montgomery, Ala., where a crowd of mostly-Black bystanders ran to help a Black ferry co-captain who was being assaulted by a group of white men.

Video filmed by a group of mostly-Black bystanders on a nearby boat captured it all: The co-captain throwing his hat in the air, once a white man pushed him harshly; an older Black man whaling on people with a folding chair, including a white woman who was just sitting on the ground by then; a young Black man on a boat close by who jumped into the water and swam with amazing speed to the scene, jumping up to throw hands.

And, in moments, Black Twitter jumped to life (I know he’s renamed it X, but we ain’t recognizing that, and the term refers to people being Black across social media anyway. Harrumph).

There was the quiz asking which folding chair are you? There was the graphic pointing out that an early version of the folding chair was invented by a Black man (seems to be true). The photoshopped picture showing glowing rings around Black folks rushing into the fight, mimicking the climax of Avengers Endgame, where superheroes rushed in to save the day. Images dubbing the young swimmer Black Aquaman, Aquamayne and Blaquaman.

And two of my personal faves: A photoshopped image of the Martin Luther King Jr. statue holding a folding chair. And a version of the brawl video remade as the opening to classic Black sitcom Good Times, with acerbic credits noting the show was “created by Consequences and Repercussions.”

I was blown away by how quickly Black folks across social media were converting horror over a narrowly averted, racialized beat down into funny memes celebrating the reflex of Black folks to stand up for one another, especially when we’re faced with danger from white people.

But when I posted the photo of MLK’s status with the folding chair on my social media feeds, I just added one word: Wow.

I wanted the image to speak for itself. And I wanted people who had questions about what it meant to jump into social media and find out for themselves. I felt the image and its implied humor – that the nation’s most revered civil rights leader might be hoisting a folding chair to defend Black folks in the modern age – was most powerful when not explained.

Unfortunately, some people on my social media platforms insisted on an explanation. One was pretty persistent about it. And I realized I just didn’t want to explain the image, for some reason I couldn’t quite put my finger on.

Yeah, it’s sometimes tiring to always be asked to explain your cultural nuances to the world. But that’s the gig I signed up for, many years ago. And yes, the joking was hiding a fear that today’s climate has left racists emboldened enough to attack a Black man in broad daylight for doing his job. So explaining only resurfaces those darker feelings in ways I wasn’t quite ready to process.

Still, something else was also at play. I always say social media is often like a giant dinner party, where people forget they are sometimes listening in on conversations between other people. In this case, being asked to explain the folding chair memes felt like having someone barge into an ongoing conversation to ask for an explanation. This was a moment where Black folks could be hilariously Black online and we could all share that moment together, laughing and consoling each other in one viral, social media moment.

Sometimes, in situations like that, understanding comes best by sitting back, listening widely and learning. Even for me.

I don’t know if this reaction is fair – especially given how much I’ve encouraged discussion about race over the years. But its all I have left, in a world where I increasingly feel like a frog in pot of steadily heating water, wondering when the heat will begin to burn me, my loved ones, my family, my friends and my people.

[ericdeggans]

My current TV obsession: edited clips on Law & Order's official YouTube channel

It may be cheesy and full of copaganda. But Law & Order remains a TV show that I love so much, I'm glued to edited clips of episodes on YouTube.

Note I am not talking about the new revival now airing on NBC, which is so wedded to the classic formula of creator Dick Wolf it’s been leached of nearly all creativity. And not the various spin offs, especially long-in-the-tooth Special Victims Unit, which mostly rely on the charisma of longtime stars like Mariska Harguitay to keep viewers hooked.

I’m talking the original flavor of the show, which ran from 1990 to 2010 -- especially during its heyday in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Wolf, who was a writer on the classic cop show Hill Street Blues, built a series which captured the gritty, world-weary atmosphere of New York City, welding cops and lawyers stories into a formula which felt revolutionary at the time.

Half the episode focuses on discovering the crime and the search – usually by two acerbic NYPD detectives – to find a suspect. The other half of the episode follows the district attorney’s office as they try the accused and attempt to put them behind bars.

It’s a rigid formula, with act breaks punctuated by the trademark Dun! Dun! sound effect, that packaged a surprising amount of creativity and style.

So imagine my delight when I discovered the show’s official YouTube page offers edited clips of episodes ranging from Season 20 in 2010 all the way back to the first season. I binged them like televised potato chips, inspiring me to write a passionate essay about Law & Order on YouTube for NPR’s digital series on obsessions, I'M REALLY INTO.

To check out the full essay, which takes on the show’s drawbacks and features shout outs to both John Mulaney and Idris Elba, please click here.

Read the essay, check out the YouTube clips and after you’ve spent an evening falling down the rabbit hole of suburban moms-turned-murderous sex workers and teenage high school students who turn out to be murderous twentysomething grifters, you can feel free to come back to this page and thank me.

For more cool stories, check out my obit for Law & Order star Jerry Orbach (on the far right above), where I recall hanging with him during a visit to the show’s set in 1998, and a fun feature on the Law & Order character Tony Profaci, a minor role which turned out to be the only character who had appeared in every season of the show when I stopped by the production back then.       

#tv #law & order #youtube #NBC #NPR #Youtube

[ericdeggans]

The thrills and challenge of guest hosting Weekend All Things Considered...again

It is always a challenge to tackle something new when you have been at the journalism game long as I have. And there has not been a job more rewarding or educational for me in the past year than guest hosting the weekend version of All Things Considered on NPR.

As I write this, I’m in NPR’s Washington DC headquarters prepping for the show we’ll do today, Sunday. President Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy have announced a deal to raise the nation’s debt ceiling, a pivotal election is underway in Turkey and there’s a way cool TV series ending its run on HBO this evening. Lots to think about and marshal coverage for.

This is my second stint as a guest host for the show, and its been wonderful to learn about a different side of NPR. As a critic/columnist/analyst, my day-to-day work is often very different than most of the traditional journalists who fill the organization, and guest hosting gives me a chance to learn about how these shows come together in a different way.

As a guest host, you can still help lead coverage by shaping questions, suggesting interview subjects, brainstorming on reporting approaches and more. And even though the weekend is usually a place where you can take time to tell more feature-style stories, sometimes changing news events take control and you’re at the mercy of unfolding events.

If you want to hear how it all turns out today, please join us by tuning into your local NPR affiliate to hear All Things Considered (we’re often on at 5 p.m. in many localities). I’ll also be gust hosting the show next weekend on June 3 and 4, so I hope you’ll also come back then!

Here’s some of the stuff we reported on yesterday, including a wonderful tribute to the Queen of Rock and Soul, Tina Turner.

[ericdeggans]

Eric on TMZ sticking up for...Kim Kardashian?

Went on TMZ yesterday to push back against criticism of FX and Ryan Murphy for hiring Kim Kardashian to co-star on American Horror Story. Didn't realize until that segment aired how many people watch that TV show!

To watch the clip, CLICK HERE.

[ericdeggans]

This is where I was last week! Fun story to come!

#TheDailyShow TV Media

[ericdeggans]

Eric narrates Wes Bound, new documentary on jazz guitar giant Wes Montgomery

Back when I was growing up in Gary, Indiana, I was mesmerized by the covers for albums by jazz guitar legend Wes Montgomery.

Fans will remember that he had a string of popular records on A&M back in the day, with evocative covers that didn’t actually feature Wes or his band. One, for A Day in the Life – yes, it featured Wes’ cover of that amazing Beatles tune – featured a close up of an ashtray, with ground up butts and spent matches. Another, for Road Song, showed the image of a road at dusk, a long fence to the left, with the red lights of an automobile visible in the distance.

I was similarly drawn to the music on those records, featuring Montgomery’s agile, confident playing, with a jazz guitar tone that full, yet soothing. Some might find those arrangements, with massive orchestral arrangements featuring sweeping string lines, a bit on the Muzak-y side – that’s what someone close to me called the songs when I played them once.

But I found them powerful and calming all at once; featured on albums that my mother bought on her schoolteacher’s salary. They felt like an important link to the times and to my childhood.

So imagine my reaction when Kevin Finch, a documentary producer and professor at Washington & Lee University, asked if I would be willing to read the narration for a film on the career and Indiana roots of Wes Montgomery.

The result, Wes Bound, is a wonderful look at the groundbreaking jazz guitarist, who aspiring players still revere today, even though he died in 1968 of a heart attack in his Indianapolis hometown.

For the film, Kevin joined with one of Wes’ children, Robert Montgomery, to trace the guitarist’s roots through the journey of a son trying to more fully understand his father. Turns out, Wes didn’t share much about his inner life with his children, and Robert learned a lot about his dad’s work life by talking with musicians who knew him and experts who studied him.

This may be a surprise for some, but Indianapolis was a jazz mecca decades ago. Its clubs along Indiana Avenue provided an early platform for artists like Wes, J.J. Johnson, Freddie Hubbard, Slide Hampton and David Baker.

All this and more is covered in Wes Bound, which features Robert interviewing people like Pat Metheny, George Benson, Lee Ritenour and rocker Slash.

And its topped off by a bit of narration from a wide-eyed kid for Gary who only wishes his music-loving, jazz DJ father and choir-singing, music fan mother were alive to see it.

WATCH BY CLICKING HERE. 

[ericdeggans]

Had loads of fun at #SXSW2023, talking the future of media and leading a Q&A for Boots Riley’s new Amazon TV show, I’m a Virgo. Here’s a few fun pics. Now, onto the #Oscars. https://www.instagram.com/p/CpshxMRuL0q/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

#sxsw2023 #oscars

[ericdeggans]

After years interviewing others at Austin's South By Southwest conference, I'm now the SUBJECT of a panel. Join me at 4 p.m. Saturday to talk the future of TV and media, interviewed by Bill Adair, founder of PolitiFact. #SXSW2023 #TV #MEDIA DETAILS at link in bio. https://www.instagram.com/p/Cpf1OP6pvoB/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

#sxsw2023 #tv #media

[ericdeggans]

Honored to announce I'm joining Poynter Institute's National Advisory Board -- thought leaders who help the institute chart its strategic course for the future. I'm joining w/new members @anitakumar01, @KatriceRHardy, @markkatches, @schick_will. DETAILS at link in bio. https://www.instagram.com/p/CoXwO9BJXFv/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[ericdeggans]

Jimmy Kimmel 20 years in: A late night TV nerd visits the longest tenured late night host still on air

Have to admit it now. I am a late night TV nerd.

I still remember waking up on a Saturday night in 1976, after my mom and I had fallen asleep in front of the TV, to see a re-run of George Carlin hosting Saturday Night Live’s first episode. 

Later, I would wind up sleep deprived through much of my high school years watching David Letterman (especially his amazing band, with Will Lee on bass, the awesome Steve Jordan on drums and the iconically eccentric Hiram Bullock on guitar. RIP). 

As a professional journalist, I’ve reported in person on David Letterman 10 days before his retirement, Arsenio Hall’s original show, Questlove’s work on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, Late Night with Conan O’Brien and Seth Meyers, Stephen Colbert, Aasif Mandvi on The Daily Show, Kenan Thompson’s status as the longest-serving castmember on Saturday Night Live and many more.

So I was really excited to add Jimmy Kimmel to that list, hanging out at his show last week for a feature story on the 20th anniversary of Jimmy Kimmel Live!.

(Mandalit del Barco, who produced my radio story on Kimmel for NPR, with me and host himself in his office last week.)

I ask him about rumors he was going to quit the show and whether some jokes centered on his longtime sidekick Guillermo fall close to classic stereotypes about Latino men. Check it out at NPR.org.    

[ericdeggans]

I contributed an essay about The Wire’s fifth season to a new picture book about the series. Check it out: Available on Amazon! https://www.instagram.com/p/CmhjGpEJNvW/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[ericdeggans]

My Best TV of 2022: A (Unexpectedly) Long List

This is not a problem I expected to have, early in 2022.

Back then, the quality of TV shows was so disappointing, I considered writing one of those cranky, old-school critic’s columns complaining about how the glut of shows in our modern, streaming-fueled media environment was ruining everything.

I should have just waited around a bit. Because, even though I was mightily disappointed by some of the biggest TV projects on the docket – everything from CNN+ to Lords of the Rings: Rings of Power (the repetition in the title should have been warning enough) – lots more TV shows surprised and delighted me this year. Too many to fit on a top ten or top 12 list.

In fact, there were too many to fit on this excellent roundup prepared by me and five other critics at NPR.org (we each got about eight choices). And I will fess up now – I didn’t vibe with FX’s Reservations Dogs in its first season, so I didn’t keep up with the second and it’s not on my list. Many apologies to devoted fans of a show I’m very glad exists and so many love. But I’m not among you devotees (at least not yet).

Here's my list of fave shows from 2022, in no particular order. It’s by design very subjective, so I welcome debate, but it’s about what touched ME on TV this year:

Andor (Disney+) – Started slow, but turned into a masterful reinvention of the Star Wars universe, focused on the gritty, merciless beginnings of the Rebel Alliance. Who knew a Star Wars show with no lightsabers, no Jedi Knights and no Force could be just what the franchise needed? REVIEW

Atlanta (FX/Hulu) – The last two seasons, both released this year, weren’t nearly as impactful as its first two. But this show remains an excellent showcase for creativity and ambitious storytelling in portraying the lives of a quartet of Black millennials.

Here’s a Q&A I moderated w/Atlanta cast and producers at SXSW

Better Call Saul (AMC) – This Breaking Bad spinoff stuck the landing in series finale that capped both the origin AND ending stories of criminal lawyer Saul Goodman. REVIEW

Abbott Elementary (ABC) – Sidesplitting mockumentary-style comedy about teaching in a Philadelphia school that is so good, because it’s absurd humor is so close to the actual truth. PROFILE of star Quinta Brunson.

The Patient (Hulu) – Steve Carrell delivers his most impressive dramatic role as a therapist interrogating his own messy personal history while kidnapped and forced to help a serial killer. REVIEW.

The U.S. and the Holocaust (PBS) -- Star documentarian Ken Burns reveals how antisemitism in America busted the myth that the U.S. was always on the side of the angels as Adolf Hitler took power in Germany and began implementing his Final Solution.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (Paramount+) – Focused on the Starship Enterprise 10 years before James T. Kirk would take command, it’s a welcome return to a rollicking, adventure-a-week series that recalls the spirit of the original Trek series better than any other modern reboot/revival. REVIEW

Severance (Apple TV+) - for review, click here

Only Murders in the Building (Hulu) - REVIEW

Euphoria (HBO) - for review, click here 

A League of Their Own (Prime Video) -REVIEW

This is Us (NBC) - interview w/creator Dan Fogelman here

Sidney (Apple TV +) - REVIEW here

Under the Banner of Heaven (FX/Hulu) - for review, click here

We Own This City (HBO) - for interview w/EP David Simon, click here

Barry, season three (HBO) - for review, click here

Stranger Things (Netflix) - REVIEW

We Need to Talk About Cosby (Showtime) - PCHH discussion here

Harley Quinn (HBO Max) - 

The Sandman (Netflix)

As We See It (Prime Video) - REVIEW

The Good Fight (Paramount+)

The Dropout (Hulu) - 

The Crown (Netflix) - DISCUSSION here

The Handmaid’s Tale, season 5 (Hulu)

Ozark, season 4 (Netflix) - REVIEW here

Ms. Marvel (Disney+)