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Archive for the ‘Television’ Category


Bond’s Picks for new TV Drama on DVD

by Bond on December 26th, 2012
Bond’s Picks for new TV Drama on DVD Cover Image

It’s never been a better time to be a TV junkie. In my humble opinion, the best shows of the moment are on cable. Fortunately you don’t have to sign a cable contract to check out some of these great series. A few of my personal favorites in the library’s DVD collection are Mad Men and Breaking Bad, which live on AMC; HBO has Boardwalk Empire and Game of Thrones, and Homeland is on Showtime.

Mad Men is polarizing – people seem to either love it or hate it. If you’re not familiar with the show, it follows an ad executive at a firm in Manhattan starting in the late fifties and moving into the sixties. Jon Hamm gets a lot of praise for his portrayal of the main character, a mysterious guy with a lot of secrets in his past. The supporting cast is great as well – and there is humor to be found in some of the side plots. In its most recent season it has grown beyond rediscovering the novelties of bygone eras to a full exploration of character, ethics, and morality. In my opinion, it’s one of the only shows on television that is truly attempting to address women’s and racial issues head on. Though its setting is the sixties, Mad Men somehow feels thoroughly modern in its approach. It’s a serious show, but if you’re willing to invest, it pays dividends. ICPL has all five seasons in the catalog. Season six is scheduled to air sometime in 2013.

For those who like a little more action, I’d suggest Breaking Bad. This show is a great combo – impressive characters and writing along with great action and plot twists. The best part of the show is Bryan Cranston. It’s hard not to want to watch everything this guy does. He plays a high school chemistry teacher who finds out he has cancer, then convinces a former student (Aaron Paul) to help him get into the meth business. If you have any issues with violence and gore, you should probably move on. This is addictive television at its best. The library has seasons one through four on DVD. Season five began airing in the fall of this year, and the series will conclude in summer 2013 with its final episodes.

If you like Downton Abbey and Goodfellas, you’ll love Boardwalk Empire. ICPL has the first two seasons in the DVD catalog (Season three just finished airing this month). HBO spent eighteen million dollars on just the pilot episode, which included Martin Scorsese as its director. I watched for the wonderful period costumes and production design; I stayed for the characters and stories of gangsters and politics in prohibition-era New Jersey.

When I watched the first episode of Game of Thrones, I was hooked. Full confession: I’ve never read any of the books, but I’m a big fan of the show. I do have difficulty keeping track of the many characters and locations in the series (an interesting novelty has the title sequence over a map of the world in which the story takes place, much like you would see at the beginning of a novel). The show follows several kingdoms on fictional continents with lots of fantastical elements thrown in. Game of Thrones is doing some of the most creative and whimsical TV around. We have season one on DVD, and season two’s DVD will be released in February 2013, just about a month before season three begins airing.

Homeland is a show that’s just hitting the radar for a lot of people. It has won a slew of awards this year. Like Breaking Bad, it’s quite addictive. This one is a political thriller following a CIA agent who may or may not be mentally ill following a recently returned POW who may or may not be an agent of Al Qaeda. It’s very twisty turny and really good. The library has season one of this series on DVD, and season two just finished airing.

I hope you’ll stop in and check out all our great TV dramas on DVD!

Published in Television
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Trains, Monkeys, and cats who think they are Chihuahuas

by Kylie Buddin on October 11th, 2012
Trains, Monkeys, and cats who think they are Chihuahuas Cover Image

When I was asked to be a guest blogger for the library I was thrilled. Frankly, I think the Iowa City Public Library (ICPL) is one of my favorite Iowa City jewels. It’s a place that exists with the sole purpose of feeding my soul with words, pictures, and music. How could I not love it? I can’t tell you how many times my wife has chuckled at me when I state that I have library “materials” to return. But truly the library isn’t just a place for me to explore books and ideas. It’s also a place to try new music and watch movies that I might not otherwise have been exposed to. Once over the shock of being asked to write this, I started going over the long list of cool obscure jazz and electronic CDs the library has; the amazing comic trades that I have been reading; or the many great black and white musicals I watched the summer my son was born. Then I was struck by what the library offers my son.

We all, as adults, take for granted the experience we have when we go to a coffee shop or local pub to meet people and have fun. For little people there really aren’t that many places to meet a new friend and enjoy so many good times over trains. My son and his best friend, Mose, have regular play dates at the library and it is always met with great celebration. To be truthful, we can’t drive towards downtown without the prospect of going to the library coming up. ICPL provides not only a great space but a great collection of toys for Hamish and Mose. If you have never seen the wonder of a 3 year old playing with Thomas trains, you really should try it. Whenever a new child shows up we get to practice sharing by taking a train over to them.

The massive collection of puzzles is beyond astonishing to Hamish. Many times, the puzzles are just so tempting that they won’t even make it out of the library before they have to be solved.

The kitchen is simply heaven as Hamish runs from table to table making sure everyone has tea.

To top it all off, the ICPL is where he discovered two favorite series of books. The first being the Five Little Monkeys. The Five Little Monkeys have taught him not to jump on the bed, how to sell a car, and how best to celebrate Mama’s birthday. The second is Skippyjon Jones. Skippy is one hip cat who thinks that he is a Chihuahua. This hip dude with a great sense of song has taken Hamish on a trip down the Nile and to outer space. ICPL is also where he discovered the love of Bugs Bunny on the Golden Collection. Watching my son’s wonderment while we watched the Three Little Bops together for the first time will always be one of my favorite memories of his childhood.

In the future, I will submit something about Neu! or John Coltrane. But today, I tip my hat to trains, puzzles, plastic food, Five Little Monkeys, Skippyjon Jones, and Bugs Bunny.

The Iowa City Public Library is pleased to welcome Kylie Buddin to its blog. Guest Blogger Kylie Buddin is an Iowa City native. He has been an active member of the Iowa City music scene since 1982. He also works with young people at United Action for Youth in music programming.

Published in Children's Materials, Music, Popular, Television
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When does an inside joke work?

by Beth on October 7th, 2008

When your audience is part of the same "inside” you are, they’ll probably get the joke.  If they aren’t, they usually end up scratching their heads in confusion.

Such is the case with Jake Kasdan’s 2006 film The TV Set. Starring David Duchovney, Sigourney Weaver and a cast of other people you might recognize from someplace, The TV Set is the story of writer Mike Klein, and the pilot he’s trying to get made.   Sounds fun right?  Well, if you’re on the inside, then you’ll get the humor.   If you’re not.. it’s a 50/50 shot.

The TV Set is a comedy about making a TV pilot. The often painful and sometimes humorous process that writers go through in an attempt to bring their ideas to television.  From the first script presentation,  to network negotiations about casting, plot, sets, locations, and audience, to filming and audience testing of the finished pilot and beyond, it’s all compromise. There are so many production and network executives involved and so many changes made that the finished pilot is often very far from the original kernel of an idea.  And we the viewing public never know the difference.

In The TV Set we meet writers, producers, and television executives – all with their own agendas.  We meet new kids on the block trying to prove themselves, and assistants who’s job seems only to agree with their bosses and keep them moving.  All of who, when it comes down to it, are just people trying to do their job and have a life.   But it just isn’t all that funny.  I kept wanting to hit fast forward to move the plot along.

If you’re are now or ever have been part of the television or film industry (or now write movie reviews for a living) you’ll probably get all the inside jokes that must be there.  Critics really liked this movie.

Me, I was one of those outsiders left scratching my head and wondering what I missed.  Which probably explains why this one went from one film festival to another before coming out on DVD.   

Published in Movies & Documentaries, Television
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Astrospies

by Anne on August 27th, 2008

Astronauts and spies are both exciting in their own right, but who knew the US military was trying to merge the two professions together?  After Francis Gary Powers’ U2 was shot down over the Soviet Union, the US Air Force had to find an alternative to flying over the USSR for reconnaissance missions.  At the time, unmanned satellites were out of the question because the inability to control them from the ground led to some nice pictures of clouds.  Enter the $3 billion MOL (Manned Laboratory Orbital) project.  The project intended to send up two military-trained astronauts in a Gemini spacecraft with a special compartment that included a large telescopic camera. The camera was powerful enough to take pictures of relatively small (from space) things, such as battleships, missile silos, and aircraft.

But, this was the space race and the Soviets had their own program called ALMAZ.  Which country put their program in space first?  You’ll have to watch NOVA’s Astrospies to find out.  The documentary provides an interesting history about the two programs, how the two countries differed on the physics, as well as their fates.

Published in Movies & Documentaries, Nonfiction, Science, Nature & Technology, Television
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