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Staff Writer Todd Levin on the End of Conan O'Brien's Tonight Show

The next afternoon we had another staff meeting, presided over by a very different Conan. Yesterday’s Conan was an immovable object. Today’s Conan looked drained. He entered the studio unceremoniously, dressed in a leather jacket and baseball hat—like someone getting ready to leave—then slumped into the guest couch and fixed his gaze on the far wall as he addressed us, never really making eye contact. It was a sight that shook your faith a little, like seeing your dad on crutches.

Doctor Who on Netflix

Netflix has four seasons of Doctor Who available on its Instant Queue streaming, except for three specials that they only have on DVD. To watch everything in the right order:

  1. Watch the first three seasons.
  2. After season three, you’ll need to watch the Christmas special “Voyage of the Damned” on DVD, then season four.
  3. After season four, watch “The Next Doctor” and “Planet of the Dead” on Instant Queue, then get the DVDs for “The Waters of Mars” and “The End of Time”.

Then, while you’re waiting for season five to come out (it’s airing now), you can watch three streaming seasons of spin-off Torchwood. The other spin-off, The Sarah Jane Adventures, isn’t available for streaming as of now.

I’m woefully late to the party on Doctor Who. It definitely has some cheesy sci-fi stuff in there that you’ll either love or have to get past, but when it’s on, it’s absolutely fantastic. I think it’s very well served by the BBC’s shorter season length. US series like Flashforward suffer from having to fill twenty-something episodes. Doctor Who, with only thirteen episodes, can have a few one-off shows and slowly build it’s season-long story without too much filler.

Twin Peaks on iTunes

Twin Peaks is now for sale on iTunes, in HD. I’m not quite sure what “HD” means in this context, since it aired long before HDTV existed. The important thing is that the proper US pilot is for sale. The version of the pilot on many VHS and DVD copies contains footage from later episodes, which is very confusing.

If you’ve never seen it, I can’t recommend the series enough. I like the whole series, but there’s no question it does down hill in season two. Watch the complete first season and the first nine episodes of season two (through “Arbitrary Law”).

Strange set of TV shows to be on sale next to each other on iTunes. Click for high-res photo

Strange set of TV shows to be on sale next to each other on iTunes.

Mad Men Barbie Dolls

Mattel is releasing a line of high end Barbie dolls based on Mad Men characters Don and Betty Draper, Roger Sterling, and Joan Holloway Harris.

Anybody who likes the show for its attention to detail will get that from the dolls,” [show creator Matthew Weiner] added, which earned approval from him; Janie Bryant, the costume designer for Mad Men; and Scott Hornbacher, an executive producer.

As an example of their scrutiny, Mr. Weiner said he told Mattel that the sideburns on the Don Draper doll needed “to be higher” and the haircut needed “to be tighter.”

Saturday Night Live: Burn Notice Game Show

I don’t know what precisely I like about this sketch, but I find it damn hilarious.

The End of Dollhouse

Well, Dollhouse is over, and I loved its crazy ending. The storytelling over the last half of the second season reminded me somewhat of Final Crisis’s “channel-zapping” approach: take out all the filler and just give us the action. Viewers can infer what happened in between. Geoff Klock on the final episodes:

But these guys did something I feel like I have never seen before — they went for goddamn broke. They took out the show bible, with all their best ideas for like the next five or six years or more — and ran ALL OF THEM in the last 5 episodes. Every episode became like a different season finale.

[…]

Dollhouse is a total mess, but I don’t think I have ever seen a TV show just go INSANE like that before and it was pretty awesome to watch.

Why Do Late-Night Hosts Always Keep Their Desks on the Right?

Flight 815 Crash in Real Time

The plane crash from Lost, cut together to show all the footage the show’s ever aired of the event all together.

“
All I ask is one thing, particularly of young people that watch. Please do not be cynical. I hate cynicism. It’s my least favorite quality and it doesn’t lead anywhere. Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you’re kind, amazing things will happen.
Conan O’Brien

Saturday Night Live: Larry King Cold Open

Saturday Night Live: Laser Cats 5

Jay Leno: The Self-Styled Forrest Gump of Late Night?

Andy Ihnatko’s article about the current late night skirmish is the best I’ve read on the matter. (Contrast with, say, the Washington Post’s article, which merely quoted Conan’s press release and interjected a few comments. Why not just reprint Conan’s letter and then write an opinion piece about it?)

Nothing Suits Me Like a Suit

Neil Patrick Harris’s musical number from this week’s How I Met Your Mother is a free HD download from iTunes.

Jay Leno Losing His Audience to DVR Machines