Television Without Pity -- Front page Sunday Arts & Leisure feature on the smuttiness of television writers' rooms. Great fun to report and blast to write, coming as it did amidst the slog of writing book...
I Don't Want to Grow Up -- Feature for the Sunday Style section of the NY Times about "rejuveniles," adults dedicated to indulging their inner child. From adult readers of Harry Potter to hipsters in Converse sneakers and Sesame Street T-shirts, a whole new breed of grown up is redefining maturity.
Getting Back in Shape at 50 -- Preview of ABC's 50th anniversary special provided a chance for a broad-stroke assessment of the network, its history and current bailout effort.
Is
the Pope Catholic... Enough? -- Feature for New
York Times Magazine about Mel Gibson and his connection
to an ultraconservative Catholic splinter group.
Mad Mel -- Follow-up to my New York Times Magazine feature on Mel Gibson, in which I attempt to describe the deeply surreal experience of having Mad Max trash talk me live on Fox TV. Was it brilliant marketing, or pathological paranoia? Published in Salon.com.
He's
Taking a Walkabout on the Wild Side -- Brief
profile of Steve Irwin, host of "The Crocodile Hunter."
This was one of the first major media stories written
about Irwin, who was just as hyper and cartoon-like on
the phone as he is on TV.
People
Just Strange Enough to Be Real -- Feature about
two new documentary programs including "First Person,"
the half-hour interview show created by the great Errol
Morris.
Jaleel
White ('Don't Call Me Urkel') Grows Up -- Cover
story for TV section about former child star and his
struggle to rid himself of the "Urkel factor." I went in
skeptical, but couldn't help but like the
guy.
