The Extratextuals

In case you don’t know, there’s been a whole lotta protestin’ goin’ on in Wisconsin. Saturday was day five for me. For more on what’s behind all this, see these posts here at Antenna.

Here, though, I want to discuss the many pop culture-related signs I’ve seen at the protests, with an eye towards then thinking through what we’re to make of them. To some, they might seem frivolous, a refusal to take the event and issue seriously, and hence no better than the doofuses holding up pro-pot signs at the rally. I disagree.

But first, the signs (and costumes): Read more…

poster art AT AT, comedy, imperial walker, political fandom, protest signs, Scott Walker

Via Ken Levine’s neat blog, I see that AOL came up with a Top 50 TV Comedies, Ever list. Their top 10 — The Simpsons, Seinfeld, All in the Family, Mary Tyler Moore Show, Cheers, M*A*S*H, The Cosby Show, Roseanne, I Love Lucy, and Friends — are all quite deserving in their own ways. But from there on, there are some seriously dodgy choices. Namely:

• though the list’s title doesn’t specify sitcoms, there are no non-sitcoms. No Jon Stewart, no Stephen Colbert, no Kermit
• it’s all American. I’m really tired of this oversight when lists don’t specify nationality. American TV’s good enough that its best shows could flood many a list anyways, so why do they have to play such games to fill all the spots?
• some whacked-out choices and rankings. Married with Children? Gee, let’s just add Andrew Dice Clay’s standup specials, shall we? Malcolm in the Middle does the dysfunctional family so much better, as do Arrested Development, Family Guy, and The Simpsons.

For further grumbling about the rankings, go to Levine’s blog and read the comments.

I decided, though, to take things into my own hands, and make my own list. More after the fold
Read more…

lists comedy, lists