television Archives - Hey Dullblog, the Beatles fan blog

Why Those Screaming Beatlemania Girls Matter

By Nancy Carr|2015-11-30T12:09:11-08:00November 30, 2015|Beatlemania, Beatles Criticism, books, pre-Beatles, Television|

Those videos of Beatlemania girls screaming have have always made me squirm. All that howling, weeping, and writhing bug me for multiple reasons. As a woman, they make me cringe because rock criticism defined itself against them: screeching gals over there, analytical guys over here. As a Beatles fan they make me wince because they (superficially) reinforce the argument made by many non-fans that the Beatles “were just a boy band.” At a time when Why-Can’t-The-Boomers-Just-Get-Over-The-Beatles-Already is a definite thing (see this Washington Post piece), it's worth asking: Really, why all that screaming? And why should any of us post-Boomers care? Measured [...]

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I’ve just seen (part of) a face: McCartney on the Colbert Report

By Nancy Carr|2014-10-13T15:28:42-07:00June 24, 2013|Colbert Report, John Lennon, Paul McCartney|

Paul McCartney on The Colbert Report, 6/12/13. NANCY CARR • Paul McCartney's hour-long June 12 appearance on The Colbert Report was great fun -- if you missed it, you can watch it all here. Colbert's introduction was characteristically hilarious and pointed. McCartney plays so many instruments he's "a one-man karoke bar without the weird videos," and Colbert is hosting a "150-person Paul McCartney concert. So Oprah, you and your free cars can suck it." And the interview featured McCartney seeming looser and happier than he's been in many others. Partly this had to be knowing Colbert was a fan who [...]

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The Beatles and Mad Men

By Michael Gerber|2015-11-02T10:13:30-08:00June 13, 2012|1967, Beatle-inspired, Sgt. Pepper, Television|

The original Mad Men. Look at that hat, for example; that's MAD. Did Matthew Weiner follow the structure of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band in the recently-completed fifth season of “Mad Men”? Yi! News site contributor Emily Viviani thinks so, and has developed this thesis over three posts, the first of which you can read here. Thanks go to commenter Craig for drawing the attention of Hey Dullblog to her pieces. -- Nancy Carr Viviani's case Some of the parallels Viviani draws are interesting (“At the Codfish Ball” as a take on “Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!”, [...]

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Doctor Who?

By Devin McKinney|2014-07-23T16:22:22-07:00March 26, 2011|1965, John Lennon|

DEVIN McKINNEY • I'm not a Doctor Who fan myself, but if you are, this must be the cat's whiskers. Courtesy of Archie McPhee's Endless Guyser of Awesome!.

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The News in Welsh

By Mollie W. O'Reilly|2015-09-18T23:36:20-07:00March 31, 2008|Television|

MOLLIE WILSON REILLY • I've been thinking about Patti LuPone over at Restricted View, and I never think of Patti without thinking of Life Goes On, the TV series she starred in when I was growing up. Though the role was not officially a musical one, Patti did lead the cast in singing the theme song: "Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da." It was bouncy and fun, and it was my introduction to the song. You won't hear it on the DVDs -- high licensing costs -- but you can hear a really bad recording of it here. Recalling it got me thinking about other Beatles songs [...]

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