Ranking Every TV Show of 2015, #s 39-31: Nimble Comedy, Heavy Drama, and Superheroes Light and Dark
The Manifesto is ranking every TV show we watched in 2015. If you missed them, here are the previous installments:
Ranking Every TV Show of 2015, #s 50-40: Greedy Presidents, Corrupt Cops, and Sad Nazis
Ranking Every TV Show of 2015, #s 62-51: Netflix Comedies, BBC Boredom, and Louis C.K.’s Failure
God, I watch a lot of television.
This is both a boast and a confession. In the current era of #PeakTV, it requires a considerable level of dedication to keep up with the overwhelming number of scripted shows that air at all times and across a dozen different platforms. It also requires a pitiful social life, a prohibitive cable bill, and a perpetual lack of sleep. For we deviants who are committed to scouring all corners of the artistic world, watching TV is less a hobby than a calling, a solemn quest to discover the next great prestige drama or quirky comedy.
It is also a losing battle. The forthcoming series of posts will chronicle my thoughts on a healthy (OK, unhealthy) number of TV shows, but what galls me are not the series I disliked but those I haven’t seen. Unless you write about television for a living, it is virtually impossible to consume all of the available programming (at least, not without inventing the 37-hour-day). There is, quite literally, too much damn TV. Read More
Oscars 2015, Prediction Results: The Revenant Leads the Way
My modest goal in predicting this year’s Oscar nominations was to exceed my success rate from last year, when I hit on 80% (55 of 69). Well, things really changed this time around, when I connected on… 80%. (Between the variable number of Best Picture nominees and the category ambiguity with Alicia Vikander, there’s some fuzzy math involved, but you’ll just have to take my word for it.) I can’t decide if this means I’m impressively consistent or consistently mediocre.
In any event, there’s plenty to unpack following yesterday’s announcement. Let’s take a quick category-by-category scan through the lineup and see where things stand. Read More
Oscars 2015: The Manifesto’s Official Nomination Predictions
With the 2015 Oscar nominations being announced in a matter of hours, the Manifesto is racing against the clock to finalize its predictions. Last year, we hit on a pedestrian 80% (55 of 69), so we’re hoping to top that figure this go-round. The good news is that I’ve actually seen most of the movies in contention this year, which will better inform my speculation. The bad news? I’ve seen most of the movies in contention, meaning I can’t trot out the usual “It’s not my fault, I haven’t seen it” excuse as a crutch. So it goes.
On to the predictions. Per usual, we’re predicting the eight major categories, plus five additional below-the-line fields that I consider to be of significant importance. We’ll be back on Friday with analysis of the nominations, with category-specific coverage leading up to the big show on February 28. Read More