Posts Tagged ‘ TNT ’

TNT Apologizes for Morgan’s Palin Comment

January 28, 2011
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TNT Apologizes for Morgan’s Palin Comment

Turner Network Television has issued an apology for a comment made by comedian Tracy Morgan in an interview before last night’s NBA game broadcast. Asked about the appeal of former Alaska governor and Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and invited to compare her with comedienne Tina Fay (his costar on the NBC comedy 30 Rock), Morgan said that Palin is “good masturbation material,” making sure to repeat the phrase for emphasis, calling her “great masturbation material.” TNT apologized publicly. “It’s unfortunate Mr. Morgan showed a lack of judgment on our air with his inappropriate comments,” said Turner representative Jeff Pomeroy in a press statement. I happened to be watching at the time, and I found the exchange rather startling but, well, also rather charming and amusing, given what one has come to expect from Tracy Morgan as a comedian and public figure. Too bad there were probably a good many pre-adolescent boys watching that pregame show and wondering what Morgan’s phrase meant. It will undoubtedly open up a whole new world for them, but one that the culture would have shoved them into in due course anyway.

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TNT’s ‘The Closer’ Jumps Back on Political Hobbyhorse

September 14, 2010
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TNT’s ‘The Closer’ Jumps Back on Political Hobbyhorse

As I noted a few weeks ago, the TNT crime drama series The Closer has long been largely nonpolitical while exploring interesting and important ideas in a fair manner. Unfortunately, as I pointed out at the time, an episode this season broke from that pattern and made an awkward, overt political statement characterizing opposition to illegal immigration as a violent, dangerous impulse. The showmakers were back at it again last night, this time tarring opposition to affirmative action as the evil du jour. The story follows the elite LA crime unit led by brilliant detective Brenda Leigh Johnson (Kyra Sedgwick) as it pursues a middle-aged white male who is planning a major mass killing, having failed at an attempt a few years before and escaping capture. In setting up the mass killing, he murders two paramedics, which is how the crime unit picks up his trail. (Note that there are really no spoilers here, as the episode has no whodunit aspect, nor any real suspense of any kind.) You’ll notice that I describe the killer as white, male, and middle-aged. That’s because the very point of the episode is to convey approval of identity politics. The killer, you see, is

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Weak Resolution Mars ‘Rizzoli and Isles’ Episode

July 27, 2010
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Weak Resolution Mars ‘Rizzoli and Isles’ Episode

Yesterday, you may recall, I pointed out two TNT crime dramas with overt political messages parroting Democrat Party/Obama administration talking points. So, naturally, TNT ran another such program last night. First, I will note that last night’s episode of The Closer was free of any political posturing. It’s good to see the program back on track after the previous week’s nonsense, and the episode was far more dramatically effective than its predecessor, as should be expected given the way didacticism tends to ruin fiction narratives. That happy event was followed by episode three of the new crime drama series Rizzoli and Isles, about a Boston homicide detective named Rizzoli (Angie Harmon, Law and Order, The Women’s Murder Club) and her friend, Isles (Sasha Alexander, NCIS). Each episode follows the two characters as they try to solve murder mysteries in Beantown. Last night’s episode dealt with the murder of a black teenage male. Intimations are made that he may have been murdered by a street gang with which he may or may not have been involved. Also under suspicion is a weird, local West African church which engages in rituals with voodoo overtones, the pastor of which is an ex-con who

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‘Closer, ‘Saving Grace’ Return

July 14, 2008
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‘Closer, ‘Saving Grace’ Return

Two superb TV series, The Closer and Saving Grace, both return this evening, on Turner Network Television (TNT), at 9:00 and 10:00 EDT, respectively.

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TNT’s “Shattered” Gives Moral Twist to Suspense Cliches

September 5, 2007
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TNT’s “Shattered” Gives Moral Twist to Suspense Cliches

Judging by its story line, one could be forgiven for thinking the new Turner Network Television made-for-TV movie Shattered is another of the many woefully undermotivated suspense stories featuring an insane villain and sensational, violent, titillating subject matter. Consider TNT"s official description: A happy couple with a seemingly perfect life has their daughter abducted. Over the course of a day, the kidnapper dismantles the family’s lives with brutal efficiency. And that’s pretty much how it plays out. For the first three-quarters of the film’s running time.

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More Thoughts on “Saving Grace”

July 25, 2007
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More Thoughts on “Saving Grace”

"Bubba," a regular reader of this site, has sent us his thoughts on the new TNT TV program Saving Grace, in a comment on my article on that show and AMC-TV’s Mad Men. I think readers will benefit from Bubba’s analysis, so I append it here with gratitude to their thoughtful author. Sam: I was wondering whether you would review Saving Grace and what your opinion would be. I looked at the show from a few angles (from the couch, from the kitchen grabbing a snack, from the recliner)and generally liked what I saw. For what its worth, I offer a few of my observations.

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"Culture is the expression of the guiding philosophy of the day."—Murray Rothbard
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