TV

At January’s Consumer Electronics Show, the annual industry orgy in Las Vegas, manufacturers are going to introduce about a zillion new television sets. They’ll come armed with a bevy of specs: Full HD 3-D. 4K. OLED. Wi-Fi. Moth Eye. (Yes, Moth Eye.) The sets will be Internet-ready. They’ll harbor more ports than the eastern seaboard Continue Reading →

What made this year of television notable, one way or another, notable for me? Let’s count a few of the ways… Best ongoing broadcast TV series: Modern Family (ABC) Everything about this comedy gets smarter, more inventive and truer to life season after season. The comedy standard-setter and breaker for this still young century. Honorable mention: The Good Continue Reading →

Amazon Studios, the online retailer’s department responsible for sourcing scripts and developing original video content, announced on Thursday the development of six original comedy series pilots. When production is completed, the series will air on Amazon’s Instant Video platform, which delivers video content like TV and movies to users’ set top boxes, phones, tablets, and Continue Reading →

Super Bowl XLVI was one of the biggest online video events of the year, and so it makes sense that the National Football League would bring the Big Game back online again. On Wednesday, the league announced that for a second year running, the Super Bowl will be streamed online, this time by CBS. Like Continue Reading →

We’ve been waiting for the Wii U’s cable box/television-controlling TVii features to make it since the system launched late last month. As of Wednesday, it’ll finally be here. But without a few key components. The big omission is DVR capabilities through TiVo. That’s the only way to use the Wii U as a DVR, so Continue Reading →

Nielsen and Twitter just announced a deal for something called the Nielsen Twitter TV Rating, which they’re hoping to turn into the standard metric for measuring the conversation that a TV show spurs on Twitter. The companies say they’re planning to make the rating available commercially in the fall of 2013. The new Twitter ratings Continue Reading →

We could fill many columns with extensive analysis on the assortment of memorable developments from the TV scene this year, but let’s boil it down to just one over what you should take away from 2012. The takeaways below, for sure, come from one vantage point, and you’re welcome to accept them, or create your Continue Reading →

[wpaudio url=”https://media.shellypalmer.com/wp-content/images/usrn/121217_SHELLYPALMER_GEN_BED.mp3″ text=”Click to play … ” dl=”0″] Imagine for a moment that you’re on your couch, enjoying a new episode of Modern Family. Phil Dunphy cracks a joke, you laugh and ABC cuts to a commercial. All of a sudden, your TV’s speakers go into overdrive as you face overly-loud commercials, demanding you buy Continue Reading →

Lawmakers praised a new law that took effect on Thursday aimed at prohibiting commercials from playing at a louder volume than the programming they surround. The rules have been a long time coming. President Obama signed the Calm Act in December 2010, and the Federal Communications Commission approved rules to implement the law a year Continue Reading →

Amazon’s just launched Free Time Unlimited for its range of Kindle Fire tablets. It offers unlimited access to age-restricted movies, games and books for kids, for $3 a month. Essentially a subscription service for children, the service lets you tell Amazon your offspring’s gender and age, and then a custom library of books, movies, apps Continue Reading →