POSTED // Jun 11,2007 - Laughter is the mortal enemy of comedy. OK, more specifically, canned laughter is the mortal enemy of comedy. Television networks use obnoxious pre-recorded laughter to “sweeten” sitcoms all the time, whether they’re actually filmed...

POSTED // Jun 11,2007 - Unless you’re watching Caught on Tape, Cops or one of those $19.95 late-night infomercial tapes—like Girls Gone Wild: Spring Break Uncensored, with drunken college girls giddily flashing their boobs, or Backyard Wrestling, with drunken boobs...

POSTED // Jun 11,2007 - Digimon: The Movie (PG, Fox, 82 min.) Not to be confused with Digimon: The Broadway Musical. The good Digimons and their unblinking kiddie pals must stop a bad Digimon loose on the Internet bent on destroying worldwide communications! Soon, he’ll...

POSTED // Jun 11,2007 - The Contender (R, DreamWorks, 126 min.) A sordid sex scandal from a female senator’s (Joan Allen) past nearly derails her shot at the vice presidency, which only came because the male VP dropped dead. Is the glass ceiling half-empty or half-full?...

POSTED // Jun 11,2007 - With the spectacular February 2001 Sweeps period over (thrilling, wasn’t it?), your friendly broadcast networks are now rolling out the really good stuff. Are you buying that? Didn’t think so. Mid-season replacement shows are usually lamer...

POSTED // Jun 11,2007 - XFL is not an abbreviation for “Xtreme Football League,” it’s just what it is: XFL. The simplicity is almost Zen-like, and dig this name for the new franchise’s version of the Super Bowl: The Big Game at the End.Tube Stops Thursday,...

POSTED // Jun 11,2007 - Brace yourselves: The Only TV Column That Matters® is not the bottomless well of television information its dozens of fans believe it to be. Yes, it’s better written and far more entertaining than your other options, but Tube Town as definitive...

POSTED // Jun 11,2007 - The synthesized Serious News Program music swells, a globe graphic symbolizing an impending Serious World News Report spins, and attractive Serious News Anchor Victoria Sinclair comes into focus. She glides through the first news item concerning an American...

POSTED // Jun 11,2007 - Electra Woman & Dyna Girl had everything a late-’70s young boy could want on a Saturday morning: Two gorgeous women in tight spandex-and-leather costumes, high-tech gadgetry, a tricked-out superhero car, cheeseball villains, a stone-funk rocker...

POSTED // Jun 11,2007 - The Chris Isaak Show (Showtime, Mondays, 11 p.m.) Somewhere between Seinfeld, The Larry Sanders Show and This is Spinal Tap lies The Chris Isaak Show, a self-deprecating send-up of the handsome crooner’s rock-star lifestyle. Isaak usually separates...