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Leonard Cohen’s career had reached a low point when he wrote “Hallelujah.” It was 1984, and he had been out of the spotlight for quite a long time. His 1977 LP, Death of a Ladies’ Man, a collaboration with Phil Spector, was a commercial and critical disappointment, and his next album Recent Songs fared no better. When Cohen submitted the songs for his subsequent LP, Various Positions, to Columbia, label execs didn’t hear “Hallelujah,” the opening song of Side Two, as anything special. They didn’t even want to release the album,...

On April 8th, 1988, Columbia Records released Rodney Crowell’s breakthrough album, Diamonds & Dirt. Having released his debut LP Ain’t Living Long Like This a full decade earlier for Warner Bros., the former guitarist in Emmylou Harris’ Hot Band had, in his estimation, finally made a record his father would enjoy. While his earlier efforts veered into rock & roll territory, Diamonds & Dirt was a sharp, focused — but never pandering — stab at widespread commercial acceptance. How widespread was that acceptance? Five consecutive Number One singles. . . a full 50% of the original album’s 10 cuts.

Amazon won’t bring back “Good Girls Revolt” for a second season.

The series, which premiered in October, garnered strong reviews and appeared to attract a decent audience vs. other Amazon series, according to data from Symphony. But according to insiders, Amazon Studios head Roy Price was not a fan of “Good Girls Revolt” (and didn’t see it as an awards contender) and decided that the show’s first season would be its last.

Read More: “Good Girls Revolt” Spotlights the Real-Life Women Who Fought for Newsroom Equality

“Good Girls Revolt” is produced by Sony Pictures TV, which is believed to be looking to find a new home for the show. Insiders noted the timeliness of the series, given that women’s rights played a major role in the recent presidential election.

Set in 1969, “Good Girls Revolt” centers on a group of women looking to be treated fairly as...

Benedict Cumberbatch has legions of fans ("Cumberb*tches" and "Cumberbabes") who go crazy over the British actor's good looks, but not everyone understands his appeal. Saturday Night Live attempted to get to the bottom of why Benedict drives women so crazy when the Doctor Strange actor hosted the show over the weekend. After playing a mullet-wearing stripper and making out with a dead grandma, he appeared in a skit alongside cast members Aidy Bryant, Beck Bennett, and Vanessa Bayer aptly titled, "Why Is Benedict Cumberbatch Hot?" Neither Vanessa or Aidy could pinpoint why they're so attracted to him, and Benedict couldn't either. "I mean, some people say I look a bit like a hammerhead shark or a lizard man," he joked. "I think I look a bit like Sid the sloth from Ice Age. But I guess it doesn't really matter, because Glamour magazine named me one of their sexiest men alive.

Benedict Cumberbatch has stolen the hearts of fans around the world — but Saturday Night Live‘s Beck Bennett just doesn’t get it.

Bennett was determined to find out exactly why the Dr. Strange star was driving the female cast members wild in a mock game show bluntly titled “Why Is Benedict Cumberbatch Hot?”

After Vanessa Bayer and Aidy Bryant failed to adequately put the 40-year-old actor’s charm into words, Bennett turned to Cumberbatch himself to explain.

“I don’t know either. I mean, some people say I look a bit like a hammerhead shark … or a lizard man,...

San Diego Comic-Con 2015 has released their full schedule for Saturday, July 11. For your convenience, we have pulled out all of the movie, TV and DVD related panels and events below, but you can can visit Comic-Con.org to check out the full schedule including comic book and video game panels. Take a look at all of the movie, TV and DVD events that will take place during the first day of Comic Con.

10:00am - 11:00am SpongeBob SquarePants

The cast of SpongeBob is back! All your Bikini Bottom favorites are on hand to perform Idiot Box at a live table read as chosen by the fans online. Featuring Tom Kenny (SpongeBob), Bill Fagerbakke (Patrick Star), Rodger Bumpass (Squidward), and Dee Bradley Baker (all other Biukini Bottomites.. Following the performance will be a Q&A with the cast and creative director, Vincent Waller. Plus, a sneak peek at a...

The following contains spoilers from the Season 3 premiere of USA Network’s Graceland.

It took a couple of commercial breaks, but the Graceland Season 3 premiere eventually answered the question viewers had been left grappling with for months: Had FBI Agent Mike Warren in fact died?

RelatedGraceland Creator Discusses Briggs’ Deadly Dilemma, ‘Unpopular’ Paige’s Guilt… and, Oh Yeah, Mike!

As it turns out, yes, Mike did die.

But is alive.

Meaning, for some six minutes after Sid Markham fatally closed off hospitalized Mike’s oxygen supply, Mike had crossed over, only to be resuscitated by some doctors with defibrillators, after Briggs found his bud flatlining.

As Graceland — USA Network’s initial foray into darker programming with fewer “blue skies” — has demonstrated in its first two seasons, its beach house full of federal agents are prone to bad decisions, and then must contend with the consequences.

VideosGraceland Season 3 Sneak Peek: Is Paige’s Guilt About to Kill Her?

Having based the drama series on a real-life assembly of assorted federal agents under one (now-defunct) vacation home’s roof, Eastin in his research came to realize, “There was sort of a morality that became the house morality. And it wasn’t necessarily by the book. It was,...

Eddie Vedder teamed up with Paul Shaffer and the CBS Orchestra for a rousing, fitting performance of Pearl Jam's "Better Man" on The Late Show Monday night as David Letterman began his final three-night stand as host.

As Letterman noted, Vedder has taken the Ed Sullivan Theater stage numerous times since Pearl Jam first appeared on The Late Show in 1996, even once trying his hand at comedy ("I think that will probably be the highlight of the man's career," Letterman cracked). Vedder's riveting performance on Monday, however, undoubtedly earned...

This review contains spoilers.

7.22 Dead From New York

It’s hard to know where to start this week.

You see, when you review something, you’re not supposed to be objective, because honestly, that’s impossible. A review is inherently an opinion. And there are no objective opinions, right? But you are supposed to come at it with as little baggage as you can in order to at least give the episode a fair shake.

So I’m gonna just fess up now and admit it: I have a lot of baggage when it comes to this week’s Castle, Dead From New York. Like most people in my generation (X), I spent a lot of Saturday nights watching Saturday Night Live—some of it good (the first few years and the late 80s-early 90s), some of it bad (much of what happened in between; seriously, as Rolling Stone pointed out,...

We’ve got questions, and you’ve (maybe) got answers! With another week of TV gone by, we’re lobbing queries left and right about shows including The Strain, Sons of Anarchy, Graceland and Project Runway!

1 | During that super-awkward sex scene on The Strain, was there really not a single editor who noticed that Ephraim’s jacket is on in one shot, then off in the next — without him putting Nora down? And did Gus actually throw away the guard’s gun after escaping the prison transport? He didn’t suspect he’d, you know, need it again, with these creatures on the streets?...

Los Angeles – It’s a pioneering TV show practically lost to history. Sid Caesar hosted and performed in “Your Show of Shows,” a 90 minute live 1950s sketch comedy program, and also helped to launch a who’s who of 20th Century comedy. Coming out of his writer’s rooms were such comic greats as Mel Brooks, Neil Simon, Larry Gelbart, Carl Reiner and Woody Allen. Sid Caesar died February 12th at his home near Los Angeles, according to a newsfeed from Larry King on Twitter.

Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca in ‘Your Show of Shows’

Photo credit: New Video

Sid Caesar emerged as one of televisions first big stars – along with his show partner Imogene Coca – after he was launched in “Your Show of Shows” in 1950, and the series lasted four legendary seasons with a mix of vaudeville style comedy and TV/movie satires. Brooks, Simon (and his brother Danny...

It's been more than a decade since the 1990s ended, yet the Internet can't seem to go a day without a reminder of the neon slap bracelets that may have been banned from your school.

Yes, we get it. Times are tough and there's comfort in reflection, but enough is enough.

Below, a final goodbye to the 90s to end the nostalgia once and for all. (We're not kidding. There are 1990 items below.)

1. Scrunchies

2. "The Wild Thornberries"

3. Dawson and Joey

4. "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys"

5. Mr. Feeny

7. MTV playing music videos

8. Snick

9. The premiere of "Freaks and Geeks"

10. Levar Burton

11. "Daria"

12. "Arthur"

13. "The Powerpuff Girls"

14. "Smart Guy"

15. Comedy Central globe logo with buildings

16. "The X-Files"

17. Rosie O'Donnell

18. Bill Nye

19. "Dawson's Creek"

20. The Mighty Ducks"

21. "Are You Afraid of the Dark"

22. Cornholio

23. Rachel Green

24. Tim Allen

25. "All That"

26. "Beverly Hills 90210"

27. "Step by Step"

28. "The Ren & Stimpy Show"

29. "The Famous Jett Jackson"

30. "Buffy the Vampire Slayer...

DVD Playhouse—February 2012

By Allen Gardner

To Kill A Mockingbird 50th Anniversary Edition (Universal) Robert Mulligan’s film of Harper Lee’s landmark novel pits a liberal-minded lawyer (Gregory Peck) against a small Southern town’s racism when defending a black man (Brock Peters) on trumped-up rape charges. One of the 1960s’ first landmark films, a truly stirring human drama that hits all the right notes and isn’t dated a bit. Robert Duvall makes his screen debut (sans dialogue) as the enigmatic Boo Radley. DVD and Blu-ray double edition. Bonuses: Two feature-length documentaries: Fearful Symmetry and A Conversation with Gregory Peck; Featurettes; Excerpts and film clips from Gregory Peck’s Oscar acceptance speech and AFI Lifetime Achievement Award; Commentary by Mulligan and producer Alan J. Pakula; Trailer. Widescreen. Dolby and DTS 2.0 mono.

Outrage: Way Of The Yakuza (Magnolia) After a brief hiatus from his signature oeuvre of Japanese gangster flicks,...

After flash-forwarding more than a year, True Blood has now settled into its more typical, semi-real time pacing. In fact, half of this week's episode takes place on the same night as last week's events, and the other half is the following day.

And what a day that proves to be for Eric and Jason, both of whom wind up changed men in ways they (and we) could never have imagined. Let's break it down, storyline by "What the Fang?" storyline …

Sookie's Nosy Landlord Problem

After outing himself as her new landlord and baring his fangs (how rude!), Eric follows Sookie around the house claiming he did it all for her own good. She doesn't realize, he argues, how tantalizing she is to vampires. In fact, she smells like "sunshine in a pretty blonde bottle" – which is funny because the blonde part also comes from a bottle.

If he wanted to,...

Got plans for Valentine's Day? No? Does the thought of getting back into dating give you cold feet? Don't panic—Atom.com has got you covered with its newest original web series My Anime Girlfriend. The four-episode series, created and directed by Daniel J. Powell, premiered last week on the Comedy Central web portal, and features Saturday Night Live's and King of the Hill's Abby Elliott as the voice of the lovely animated japanese cartoon character Yuruki, who helps Sid (played by Patrick Shepard) ease back into the dating game. It's like Cool World, but even creepier. From the show page: Sid is getting back in the dating game, and his friend John has the perfect girl for him, Yuruki. She's cute, fun, and extremely animated. If anything, maybe too animated. In the first episode we learn that the self effacing Yuruki is actually a bad ass assassin,...