Rick Porter

Either the Bluesky bots are choosing country singers as their fake names now or I just blocked Morgan Wallen, Kenny Chesney and Blake Shalton (sic).

Very heavily battered jalapeno poppers

How ‘The Rookie’ Embodies the Streaming Era for Network Series The ABC show gets the biggest lift from streaming and other delayed viewing of any broadcast series.

No secret that network TV is on the decline, but thanks mostly to streaming, it’s not as dire as the first set of ratings makes it seem. Case in point: “The Rookie.”

At my high school it was a history/sociology teacher who started dating a girl a year ahead of me right after she graduated.

F Kristi Noem forever, but Markwayne Mullin is a first-order dipshit so that’ll be no better.

Abolish DHS.

I had the same thought and oh good god I hope we’re not correct.

Fun fact: 3 1/2 generations of my family worked for NCR. After my grandfather, my dad was there his whole career and my brothers (who are a good bit older than me) spent 2-3 and 15+ years there. I worked for a couple days as a temp in their shipping department one summer.

Office boy->salesman->manager/vp at National Cash Register, arborist for the Bartlett company

Not just you, I’m sad to report.

I didn’t even see it! It was in the last season of the show and Comedy Central moved it to some weird times while burning it off.

I once won $800 of Ben Stein’s money.

One thing I’m curious about is Kelly Macdonald’s “Fargo”-adjacent accent, but I like her enough that I hope to be able to get past it.

It is in fact Garret Dillahunt

‘Lanterns’ First Teaser Shines Light on Kyle Chandler, Aaron Pierre’s Chemistry and Conflict The HBO/DC Studios series also sets an August premiere date.

I like what I see in the first trailer for “Lanterns,” including (especially) Kyle Chandler saying “One of them’s a fuckin’ squirrel.”

The one exception to the rule.

Kevin Bacon, Ted Danson, Tom Selleck and Dolph Lundgren to Host History Channel Shows Here’s what your dads and uncles will be watching in the near future.

Wake up Dad, there’s a bunch of new History Channel shows fronted by famous actors.

Gap Inc: Welcome to our new rewards program, better than ever!
Me: Cool, how’s it work?
Gap: 5 points for every $1 you spend!
Me: Sweet
Gap (whispers): for500pointsyouget$1off
Me: I have to spend $100 to get a buck off anything at all? How is that better?
Gap: If you spend $1,000 we give you socks!

De La Soul: Tiny Desk Concert YouTube video by NPR Music

This is a lovely way to spend a third of an hour. Happy De La Day.

Ari Aster Ventures into TV With Media Res Deal (Exclusive) The ‘Eddington’ director and producing partner Lars Knudsen sign a first-look pact with the company behind ‘The Morning Show.’

Ari Aster’s gonna do some TV now too.

🚨 Calling all aspiring film critics in the Chicagoland area! 🚨

Applications for the Chicago Critics Association and Rotten Tomatoes Emerging Critics Program are now open!

Details and how to apply here: chicagofilmcritics.org/grant

Deadline to apply is March 27th, 2026!

I wish I could tell you something definitive, but I don’t think there’s an answer for that yet.

HBO Max and Paramount+ Will Become One Streamer But HBO will continue to "operate with independence," David Ellison said on a Monday investor call.

We are living through “Demolition Man’s” franchise wars, but it’s media instead of food, and it sucks.

TV Ratings: ‘Survivor 50’ and ‘Scrubs’ Revival Post Solid Starts Network TV parties like it’s 2002.

Mildly suprised “Survivor 50’s” premiere ratings weren’t a little bigger (they were still solid), and medium surprised that “Scrubs” did as well as it did Wednesday. Numbers here:

I don’t know where I picked it up, but I’m sure I could find some examples of my 1990s writing where I did that. Also, having trained as a print newspaper reporter, one- and two-sentence paragraphs were the ideal: easier to digest in a skinny column and easier for copyeditors to flow onto a page.

It’s Not You, It’s WB: A Brief History of Warners’ 21st Century Mergers and Breakups The pending split of Warner Bros. Discovery will be the third undone merger for the media giant since 2009.

Here’s the history of those past mergers, which I wrote about 8 months ago. 2/2

Warner Bros. has been part of three mergers, ranging from ill-fitting and messy to catastrophic, *just in the past 25 years.* But in all those, WB was sort of bolted onto an adjacent or different business. This one is with a direct competitor that, presumably, will subsume it. 1/2

Yep.

Oof. Neither deal was going to be good for people below the C-suite, but I feel like this one’s gonna be worse.

T-minus four weeks until we enter the Detective Hole. Prepare accordingly.

‘Scrubs’ Returns to Sacred Heart, Older and (a Little Bit) Wiser The show’s returning cast and writers discuss their “surreal” return to the show nearly 25 years after it debuted.

I mostly liked the “Scrubs” return and talked to several of the principals about it here. Also, nice bit of business in the opening credits to have JD, instead of hanging an x-ray film on a light box, swipe it from his tablet to a monitor.