Look, the nimble television networks are seamlessly transitioning into recession-era programming! Instead of sitcoms about upwardly mobile whites, it's sitcoms about downwardly mobile whites. With product placement for the poors! ABC is leading the way with two new pilots for the upcoming post-boom ...

The problem with “unfilmmable” pieces of literature is that they usually wind up getting filmed anyway. Everyone, as late as 1999, said the Lord of the Rings trilogy was unfilmmable because of the fantastic characters that inhabited the story and, indeed, the scope of the story itself. E...

Rappers have been dropping brand names in their lyrics for cash for years; it's tasteless, but widespread. But why would you turn a memorial track for your dead friend into a Coogi ad? In January Notorious, the biopic about the life of deceased hip hop legend Biggie Smalls, was released. One of the ...

Last week we totally harshed on NBC's 30 Rock for writing McDonald's McFlurry into its script in such a sellout-y way. But it was all natural, no ad money, just for fun, allegedly! Last week Tina Fey herself said that there was no product placement deal involved in this. And today, Ad Age did some "...

Way back in October, people were already saying that NBC's 30 Rock had exhausted its "Yes it's a product placement, but it's also a funny storyline!" justification. Oh, how wrong they were. Mmm, McFlurry! This week's episode featured Alec Baldwin and Salma Hayek sexily purring over the greatness of ...

I spent most of the NYC ComicCon lurching in circles with my mouth half-open, hunting for a copy of Detective Comics # 587 and spending way too much money on plastic bullshit that reminds me of my childhood. The experience was spectacular. I haven’t been to a comic book convention since 1991, ...

Remember a while ago when I told you all to rush to Kmart and buy some Abstinence Pants? Since then, of course, we've all had our Abstinence Pants in a drawer, unworn, because we just never could find the perfect top to go with them (the "Jesus Loves Porn Stars" shirt clashed). Until now: Other desi...

If someone handed you $100 right now, could you spend it? How long would it take you to decide what to buy? Not long at all, right? Well, I seriously fail at retail therapy. I was given a $100 Visa gift card as a Giftmas 2008 present, and I can’t think of a single thing I want to buy with it. ...

Now that Hollywood has, over the course of just about four weeks, finally met its “Nazi movie” quota for 2008 and all the other serious-minded awards bait movies have been released it’s time to turn our attention to lighter fare. And a Bride Wars shall lead us. Bride Wars tells the...

ADOTAS — All you need is an expensive camera, cheap fabric and a dream, and you too can become a (relatively) rich man. So says the NYTimes in this flattering article about some Internet personalities hitting it big by attracting viewers and then advertisers, whether using sponsored ads or pro...