Neda Ulaby

As Audiences Shift To Cable, TV Programming Changes, Too

Neda Ulaby — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 07:18:00 +0000

Mad Men comes back for its sixth season Sunday at an opportune moment for basic cable. Last weekend, 25 million viewers combined watched The Bible and The Walking Dead on basic cable channels. That's more than triple the audience for The Good Wife on CBS that same night.

So are we looking at a convergence between scripted shows on broadcast and cable? It's hard not to wonder, when you see broadcast networks rushing to replicate gruesome death scenes like the ones relished by The Walking Dead's enviably sizable audience.

Why Are TV Remotes So Terrible?

Neda Ulaby — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 07:23:00 +0000

Let's call it the baby sitter's dilemma.

If you go to someone's house and pick up the TV remote, chances are, you won't know how it works. You know the situation's bad when even a tech writer who also majored in physics at an Ivy League school is confused by her own TV remote.

"It's unbearable to me," moans Ars Technica writer Casey Johnston, of her remote's many cryptic buttons. "Sub.code? Comp/mix?

2013 Pritzker Winner Toyo Ito Finds Inspiration In Air, Wind And Water

Neda Ulaby — Sun, 17 Mar 2013 19:19:00 +0000

Toyo Ito, a 71-year-old architect based in Japan, is the winner of the 2013 Pritzker Architecture Prize. The jury honored Ito for his more than four-decade career, in which he has created architecture that "projects an air of optimism, lightness and joy ... infused with both a sense of uniqueness and universality."

On the phone from his offices in Tokyo — the most densely populated city in the world — Ito says "air and wind and water," are the forces that drive him aesthetically.

From Louisiana To Versailles, Funding 'Vital Stories, Artfully Told'

Neda Ulaby — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 10:34:00 +0000

The movie Beasts of the Southern Wild is a fairy tale of a film. It might not seem to have much in common with documentaries about evangelical Christians in Uganda or the billionaire Koch brothers. But these films were all funded by a not-for-profit group called Cinereach. It was started by a couple of film school graduates who are still in their 20s.

Toy Fair: Markers That Don't Blot Walls, Sand Without The Mess

Neda Ulaby — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 19:00:00 +0000

Toy Fair 2013 in New York started Sunday and runs until Wednesday. NPR's Neda Ulaby had the tough assignment of sizing up the acres of fun offerings. She brings us this report:

The venerable industry convention Toy Fair celebrates its 110^th anniversary this week. But it might as well be the 1970s or '80s within the great glassy expanse of New York City's Javits Center.

Vast acres of displays baldly appeal to the nostalgia of today's 30-to 40-something parents.

Reg Presley, The Voice Of 'Wild Thing,' Dies

Neda Ulaby — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 21:56:00 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9DVJE_bhVU

Competition, High Bills Hurt Cable Companies

Neda Ulaby — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 10:27:00 +0000

Transcript

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

OK. In the next few days, cable companies announce how they did financially in 2012. Most industry watchers expect some negative trends to continue. More people are canceling their cable subscriptions. They are called cord cutters, because they are getting TV from the Internet and over the air, not their cable cords. But they're not the only problem the cable industry needs to worry about. NPR's Neda Ulaby reports.

NEDA ULABY, BYLINE: Meet Comcast's worst nightmare.

JOE GOULD: Hi.

In A Fragmented Cultureverse, Can Pop References Still Pop?

Neda Ulaby — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 08:41:00 +0000

On a recent episode of Saturday Night Live when the comedian Louis C.K. played host, one skit parodied his eponymous show on F/X. It riffed on the theme song and the discursive style of his comedy.

But here's the thing: Fewer than 2 million people watch Louie. About 7 million watch Saturday Night Live. That means even optimistically, at least two-thirds of the audience is missing the joke.

Decades ago, Saturday Night Live skewered topics most people in the country knew about: Mister Rogers, Dirty Dancing, who shot J.R.?

'Adventure Hour' Is A New Take On Old-Time Radio

Neda Ulaby — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 22:52:00 +0000

The creators of The Thrilling Adventure Hour proudly call it "fake radio." It's less an homage to old-time radio and more of a clever update. A live monthly performance at Largo, a 200-seat, scruffy-chic Hollywood nightclub is also available as a popular podcast through Nerdist.

One of the show's episodic heroes is a kind of mashup of Buck Rogers and the Lone Ranger, called Sparks Nevada, Marshal of Mars.

Who's Gay On TV? Dads, Journalists, Investigators And Footmen

Neda Ulaby — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 15:27:00 +0000

The pop culture gay flavor of the minute? White gay dads.

"We're having a baby, Bri!" croons one of the leads on NBC's The New Normal. "This is our family. You, me and that kid forever."

It's a mini-boomlet, says real-life white gay dad and sociology professor Joshua Gamson.

In Rapid-Fire 2012, Memes' Half-Life Fell To A Quarter

Neda Ulaby — Thu, 27 Dec 2012 08:29:00 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OBlgSz8sSM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4MnpzG5Sqc

At A Real-Life Santa's Workshop, Christmas Comes Early

Neda Ulaby — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 21:56:00 +0000

"Everyone calls me Geppetto," announces Lou Nasti. "I mean, look at me: The glasses, the gray hair — and I play with dolls. Come on."

Being with Nasti at his Brooklyn company, Mechanical Displays Inc., is like hanging out in Santa's workshop. The walls are lined with tools and dozens of molds for elf heads, all in different sizes. Dancing mice and snowmen are being prepped in a chorus line for HBO's headquarters in Manhattan. For another display, a plush mother polar bear is being wired to cuddle her baby.

That's So Random: The Evolution Of An Odd Word

Neda Ulaby — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 20:22:00 +0000

Random is a fighting word for young Spencer Thompson. The comedian posted a video to a Facebook page entitled I Hate When People Misuse the Word Random.

"The word random is the most misused word of our generation — by far," he proclaims to a tittering audience of 20-somethings.

R. Kelly's Queer, Campy 'Closet' Reopens

Neda Ulaby — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 21:05:00 +0000

There's really been nothing like Trapped in the Closet ever before.

R&B star R. Kelly has been making (and remaking) a series of short music videos that tell a flamboyant narrative in less-than-five-minute installments. The first batch of several dozen appeared online in 2005. Now, there's a total of 40 "chapters" that aired last Friday on IFC, with the latest ones being released online one at a time for the next week.

"He's really an experimentalist and a kind of innovator," says Jason King, a professor of recorded music at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts.

In North Dakota, A Tale Of Two Ticket-Splitters

Neda Ulaby — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 13:48:00 +0000

Transcript

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

Voters in North Dakota famously like to mix things up - sending one party to the White House; the other, to Congress. In a closely watched Senate race there, Democrat Heidi Heitkamp narrowly leads the count vote - the vote count. But Republican Rick Berg says he won't concede the race until a recount is complete.

The race hinged on voters like those our reporter Neta Ulaby found.

NEDA ULABY, BYLINE: It's a tale of two ticket-splitters.

Ratings Success? It's All In The (ABC) Family

Neda Ulaby — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 08:33:00 +0000

In a sterile white boardroom in ABC Family's headquarters in Los Angeles, two young women are assiduously ignoring a spread of cookies in favor of two more important things: their laptops and a live broadcast of the show Pretty Little Liars playing on a large flat-screen TV.

Dalia Ganz, 28, is the show's social-media manager. She's patiently teaching one of the beautiful young actors on the show how to live-tweet this episode.

"Include #prettylittleliars in your answers," she instructs.

Jessica Lange, Back In Black For 'Horror Story'

Neda Ulaby — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 19:34:00 +0000

To speak with Ryan Murphy about his show American Horror Story is to hear this declaration repeatedly: "She classes up the joint."

Murphy is referring to his star, Jessica Lange, who recently won an Emmy for her role in the show's first season. If you've been a fan of Lange's film career, from Tootsie to Frances to Blue Sky, you might wonder why this treasure of the American theater, this two-time Oscar winner, is slumming in a lurid cable TV horror show.

"I was at a low point in my life," Lange laughs, recalling when she decided to take the role.

Making A Comedy Pilot? You Might Want To Call James Burrows

Neda Ulaby — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 15:13:00 +0000

"It's staggering."

That's Warren Littlefield, the former president of NBC, talking about the track record of sitcom director James Burrows. Tonight's premiere of Partners is his latest effort, but he's also directed more than 50 other pilots, including Cheers, Friends, Frasier, Taxi, Night Court, 2 Broke Girls, The Big Bang Theory and 3rd Rock From The Sun. As Littlefield puts it, "That's unheard of." Not emphatic enough?

Are All Young Artists 'Post-9/11' Artists?

Neda Ulaby — Sun, 09 Sep 2012 09:47:00 +0000

When museum curator Nicholas Bell was putting together the show Craft Futures: 40 Under 40 at the Smithsonian Institution's Renwick Gallery, he realized the artists had something in common besides their under-40 status.

Hey, I Know That One: How SongPop Got Millions Of Players Naming That Tune

Neda Ulaby — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 12:51:00 +0000

Today, four million people all over the world will log on to Facebook — or take out their phones — and play SongPop. This summer, it's become the fastest growing social game on Facebook, taking a run at old standards such as Farmville and Words with Friends.

Here's how it works: You pick a category like "Funk" or "Classic Rock." It plays you a little bit of a song and lists four titles or artists that might be what you're hearing.

YouTube Trends: Politics And Pop, Yes, But Education And Science, Too

Neda Ulaby — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 12:37:00 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZGINaRUEkU

'2016: Obama's America' Shows Up Strong When Most Box Office Is Weak

Neda Ulaby — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 20:36:00 +0000

The movie 2016: Obama's America just did something that's hard for any political documentary to accomplish: it took seventh place on the list of this weekend's highest grossing movies. Usually, when any documentary pulls in more than five million dollars, it's about, say, Katy Perry. But 2016 looks at the ideologies and global movements that it says helped intellectually mold the President of the United States from a critical, conservative perspective.

David Rakoff Saw The World In All Its Dark Beauty

Neda Ulaby — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 21:00:00 +0000

When writer David Rakoff died Thursday at the age 47, he was barely the age he said he was always "meant" to be. In his 2010 memoir, Half Empty, he wrote, "Everyone has an internal age, a time in life when one is, if not one's best, then at very least one's most authentic self.

Marfa, Texas: An Unlikely Art Oasis In A Desert Town

Neda Ulaby — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 09:32:00 +0000

This tiny town perched on the high plains of the Chihuahua desert is nothing less than an arts world station of the cross, like Art Basel in Miami, or Documenta in Germany.

The Ghostly Grandeur Of A Desert Graveyard

Neda Ulaby — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 08:56:00 +0000

It's a raggedy moonscape; no lush green grass or tranquil arbors here. Concordia Cemetery in El Paso, Texas, just a few blocks from the Mexican border, is stark and dusty. It's overrun with crumbling concrete markers and old wooden crosses gone askew. And it goes on ... and on ... and on.

"It's 52 acres," says Bernie Sargent, chair of the El Paso County Historical Commission. "Sixty thousand people buried here.

It Was All A Dream (Or: Turns Out Spoilers Are Good For You)

Neda Ulaby — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 19:48:00 +0000

Chances are, if you're a regular reader of this blog you've read (or perhaps even posted) an incredibly vitriolic comment or two accusing the writer of the despicable crime of spoilers.

Well, here's a surprise twist: Spoilers might actually make reading stories more enjoyable, according to a study conducted by researchers at the University of California San Diego. They gave their subjects short stories they hadn't read before, spoiling one group of readers but not others.

Kitty Wells, Pioneering Country Singer, Dies

Neda Ulaby — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 22:22:00 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYij4OpOY6E

Pieces Of AIDS Quilt Blanket Nation's Capital

Neda Ulaby — Wed, 27 Jun 2012 21:47:00 +0000

The AIDS Memorial Quilt is too big to display all in one piece. Since 1987, it has grown to more than 48,000 panels that honor the lives of more than 94,000 people who have died of AIDS. The last time the whole quilt was shown together was in 1996, on the National Mall. Now it's back in Washington, D.C., for its 25th anniversary.

Because of its size — put together, the whole quilt would stretch more than 50 miles — it's being displayed in pieces all over the city.

Ephron: From 'Silkwood' To 'Sally,' A Singular Voice

Neda Ulaby — Wed, 27 Jun 2012 03:00:00 +0000

Nora Ephron brought us two of the most indelible scenes in contemporary cinema — and they're startlingly different.

There's the infamous "Silkwood shower," from the 1983 movie, with Meryl Streep as a terrified worker at a nuclear power plant, being frantically scrubbed after exposure to radiation.

Then there's the scene in which Meg Ryan drives home a point to Billy Crystal at Katz's Deli, in 1989's When Harry Met Sally.

Richard Adler, Broadway Composer And Lyricist, Dies

Neda Ulaby — Fri, 22 Jun 2012 20:02:00 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0szHqIXQ2R8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqolSvoWNck