The sun rose blood red this morning. Sunlight stained the pine of my bedroom bookshelves a shade of Indian paintbrush. For minutes I just stood there, ambushed by the angled light in the silent room. As the sun crept across the carpet, I knew I was watching – even thought… More
Here at the Norman Lear Center, we are fascinated by the convergence of politics and entertainment (#PoliticsAsEntertainment). This includes the proliferation (and real-life impact) of comedic “news” shows and political fiction TV series, as well as the ongoing transformation of the political landscape into a 24/7 reality-show, populated with stranger-than-fiction… More
Twenty-plus years later and the O.J. Simpson murder case continues to shock and fascinate us. As if you didn’t think there was anything more to learn, a pairing of television offerings this year retold the story in both dramatic and documentary form. FX’s outstanding 10-part “People vs. OJ Simpson: American… More
If you weren’t whiplashed, heartsick, nauseated, outraged and exhausted last week, you weren’t paying attention. Within the span of 24 hours, we were pummeled by horrifying images and unbearable grief — nothing as awful as personally enduring it, but real and real-time enough to scar our spirits, and to put… More