AC Slate

I simply love Slate. Sorry for being repetitious, I have mentioned this before and I'll certainly mention it again. I haven't been reading as much Slate as I would like, certain decisions have taken a good deal of my time. Fortunately the Slate I have been reading has been superb.

Slate's TV critic, Troy Patterson, writes with a smugness that is both an obnoxious TV critic trend, and a necessity when writing about TV. He is, however, quite funny and his columns will clearly hold your attention, if not thoroughly entertain. He's clearly won me over (for the most part). Check out his insightful and probing column on a recent episode of Entourage and the large blip of melodrama and not funny that was Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.

For anyone wondering how silly and inane the network upfronts (their new shows for the upcoming television season) are, and simply curious about them, take a gander at Patterson's recent writeups from the events:
NBC Upfront
ABC Upfront
CBS Upfront
CW/FOX Upfronts

For me, Patterson seems to be at his best when he's skewering the empty, crass absurdity that is, unfortunately, much of modern television. The E! Network, always a sign of the apocalypse, recently debuted a reality series about a tanning salon. In his latest column, Patterson reviews Sunset Tan. It's a funny, sobering read. A mother takes her pre-teen daughter to the salon in preparation for her school pictures. Learning that Lindsay Lohan uses a particular procedure, the mother asks the young'n if she'd like to look like Lohan. The cost? $1300. I don't know whether to laugh or cry.