The cover of the Boston Globe Sunday Movies section on March 17, 2002, which led with my essay about the return of "E.T."
I discovered how fun writing could be in journalism classes in high school, which was good because my writing pretty much sucked up until that point. Since then, my writing life has been shaped by that foundation, whether I’m writing creative nonfiction or a blog post, exploring my own life or immersing myself in the lives of others.
My writing and journalism has covered subjects including the media, technology, and popular culture, but mostly I write about television, primarily because I need a reason to justify how much TV I watch.
Below are links to some of my favorite pieces; the rest are archived by publication. Thanks for reading what I’ve written.
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msnbc.com / NPR / The Daily Beast / magazines / newspapers
Salon / online magazines / Student.com / other writing
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Reality TV and Porn Collide / The Daily Beast / As people have become more comfortable turning their real lives into entertainment on reality TV shows, people have become more comfortable being even more intimate on camera. In this reported piece, I explored the increasing overlap between television’s newest genre and the not-so-new practice of depicting sex. 1.27.10
‘Survivor: Samoa’ Rises To New Season Of Challenges / NPR’s Morning Edition / From Samoa, I reported for NPR News about the creation of the first challenge of Survivor’s 19th season, from conception to construction to completion. / 9.17.09
‘Survivor’ will shine spotlight on pristine Gabon / msnbc.com / In June 2008, I traveled to Africa to report on the 17th season of Survivor, and the stories I wrote included this piece, which focused on the impact the reality show would have on the country. / 9.21.08
Who’s the Mystery Man in Epcot’s Garage? Neither Woz nor Jobs / Wired / When Epcot’s Spaceship Earth attraction reopened, competing rumors suggested that a new scene featured Steve Jobs or Steve Wozniak. As I found out, it’s neither. / 1.08
Sounds good / RealScreen / There’s more music than dialogue on MTV’s docusoap series The Hills, and that proves music can be more important than actual content. / 3.08
‘Family Guy’ is no cheap ‘Simpsons’ knockoff / msnbc.com / The Simpsons may have impacted popular culture more than Family Guy ever will, but as I argue here, Family Guy has, in recent years, proven that it is now the better series. / 11.5.07
Auditions make ‘Idol’ a joke / msnbc.com / During its fourth season, American Idol began with more cruelty than it ever had before. The audition episodes made the show’s conceit clear: entertainment always trumps talent. Producers paraded ridiculously untalented individuals in front of the judges, including a recognizable stand-up comic who pretended to know how to sing. Idol has a reputation for being uplifting, positive TV, but the auditions gave it away. / 2.2.05
Don’t be ashamed to love ‘The OC’ / msnbc.com / From the day it debuted, I’ve been deeply absorbed in the drama that is FOX’s “The OC.” Why is it so addictive? In this essay, I argue that it’s because that despite the “flawless, bright FOX aesthetics,” the series “is actually subversive: masquerading as a poppy soap opera, it’s subtly a complex drama/comedy.” / 11.1.04
Home decorating and other lies / Salon / On the set of Trading Spaces, I shadowed designer Doug Wilson and his producer Aimee Kramer. Although I visited after the show had achieved cult status, I was the first writer to hang out with the cast and crew throughout an entire shoot. The result of that immersion was this exploration of how the show is constructed and what that means about the way we perceive reality. / 11.26.02
Me and E.T. / The Boston Globe / Twenty years after I was first terrorized by E.T., the film was rereleased. On that occasion, I confronted my fears and examined why I was so terrified. / 3.17.02
Don’t call it a comeback / Salon / In 1999, the NAACP reacted to the lack of black characters on prime-time TV. Two years later, I followed up with this report, examining the changes that networks had made in response to the criticism, and discussing issues related to the representation of African-Americans on television. / 5.23.01
reality blurred: the reality TV news digest / I tend to forget that most of my writing every day is on reality blurred, my reality TV-focused web site (okay, blog). The stories range from summaries of newsworthy stories to analysis of that news, commentary to satire. Read today’s stories, browse the archives, or check out the annual satirical April Fool’s Day editions (2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002, 2001)