Email Author Robert Abele

2006 Stories by Robert Abele

• Sit Up and Watch

  published December 28, 2006

  The ups and downs of television — its loyalties and betrayals — are always fascinating. But in this season of best-of-the-year... More >>

• Fawlty Programming

  published December 28, 2006

  I’ve been watching TV in London all week, and virtually every time I’ve turned on the set, Fawlty Towers has been on. I... More >>

• America's Previous Top Model

  published December 21, 2006

  I hope fans of America’s Next Top Model have been sticking around past the end of the most recent “cycle” — the... More >>

• Your Own Private Cable Channel

  published December 14, 2006

  Thanks to DVDs, the shelves of many die-hard tube watchers represent millions of separate, distinct, personalized TV Land schedules, each a... More >>

• Is That a Comb in Your Pocket?

  published December 14, 2006

  As of this writing, I’ve only seen parts 1 and 2 of the Sci-Fi Channel’s three-part, six-hour miniseries The Lost Room... More >>

• The Carver's Dilemma

  published November 30, 2006

  I don’t usually watch the guts, gurneys and goo-goo-eyes series Grey’s Anatomy. Okay, I never watch it. I... More >>

• Our Inner Freak

  published November 23, 2006

  In an early scene from the Thanksgiving Day special movie presentation of Cartoon Network’s popular animated series Foster’s... More >>

• That Blankety-Blank Game Show

  published November 23, 2006

  Caught in that polyester-happy, aviator-glasses-shaded, vodka-soaked period between the end of the staid, nerdy quiz-show era and the flowering... More >>

• Too Thin

  published November 16, 2006

  The most disturbing women’s-prison movie to come out in a long time might be the HBO documentary Thin, about four women being... More >>

• Haven't I Seen You Before?

  published November 9, 2006

  Cloning may be a moral issue in the world of science, but in television it’s business as usual. If a new show reminds you of an old... More >>

• Is This Some Kind of Bust?

  published November 9, 2006

  One refresher viewing of the quickly tried-convicted-and-executed 1982 series Police Squad! — finally available on DVD this week... More >>

• Battle of the Network Stars

  published October 26, 2006

  It may not have the violent fireworks or throw-down poetry of a colossal rap feud, but it’s tempting to look at the battle between... More >>

• Oh, Danny Boy

  published October 26, 2006

  Breaking Bonaduce, last year’s must-gape reality series — how low can you go, Danny Partridge? — has returned for a... More >>

• The World According to Sesame Street

  published October 19, 2006

  Anybody who thinks rewarding and entertaining children’s television is a matter of slapping some jaunty music, lesson-learning parables... More >>

• This Roadie's Life

  published October 12, 2006

  Do you have a Brit-humor-obsessed friend who pesters you to get in line and admit once and for all that Steve Coogan is a comedy god? Maybe... More >>

• Killing Them Softly

  published October 12, 2006

  Dexter, on Showtime, prides itself on the creative left turn of presenting us with a “good” serial killer as its star. Of... More >>

• Working-Class Hero

  published September 28, 2006

  The alarming lack of working-class people represented in dramatic television is probably the biggest blind spot to our supposedly golden age.... More >>

• The Ensemble Age

  published September 21, 2006

  It’s like some weird new TV-physics law: As prime-time network viewership declines, the casts on TV shows seem to get bigger. There are... More >>

• Survivor's Amazing Race Theories

  published September 21, 2006

  I’ve watched every installment of Survivor — from season one’s Gervase joking about his nap-based ethic on Pulau Tiga,... More >>

• Child in Time

  published September 14, 2006

  Avibrant, masterful work of art, HBO’s novelistic urban saga The Wire is the best show on television for multiple reasons. And in... More >>

• Sex and the Antigirl

  published September 7, 2006

  Without a doubt, Anne Heche should be starring in a TV series. For all the ways she was sidetracked as a figure of gossipy derision for her... More >>

• Andre 2006

  published September 7, 2006

  Dignity is in incredibly short supply in sports stars these days, so seeing a tear-stained Andre Agassi talk with eloquence and emotion to the... More >>

• Give 'em Helen

  published August 31, 2006

  Cloris Leachman shook her tatas, Kiefer finally won, Bob Newhart managed to get his trademark pause comedy into a telecast hell-bent on... More >>

• Highly Flammable

  published August 24, 2006

  The way the blonde woman with the fatal head wound lies in that chic Malibu swimming pool, blood emanating from her like smoke from a... More >>

• An Idol's Story

  published August 24, 2006

  Last Saturday night’s Lifetime TV movie The Fantasia Barrino Story: Life Is Not a Fairy Tale — yes, they really made a... More >>