TV STUDENTS--NETWORKING OPPORTUNITY!

Please tell your students!!  In the past, several students have found jobs through the contacts that were made at this event.

2013 Career Day - Saturday, April 6 - RSVP today 

Member or student? RSVP at our Career Day RSVP page. Non-member? Purchase a ticket online
Free for Students and TV Academy Members // $5 for all others

Saturday, April 6, 2013 - 12:30 to 3:30 pm
Ferguson Auditorium, Columbia College - 600 S. Michigan, Chgo

Some of the Panelists confirmed include:

Kris Gutierrez- co-anchor of the CBS 2 Chicago morning news
Mary Margaret Bartley – Scenic Designer with M&M Productions.
Jeff Hinkle – Asst. Art Director, WCIU
Kristina Ballas – AD/Director, WGN
Mike Locashio – General Assignment Photographer/Editor, WLS

Hear from outstanding Chicago TV professionals — leaders in their field — about job availability, job qualifications, internships, educational requirements, and the background needed for a television job. After an initial presentation by the panel members, the program will be open to questions and discussion. Please note that this is not a job fair.  

Stray Columbia TV Events (and Other...)

Hello alum and students!

In the past few weeks, Columbia Learning Community students worked with instructor Matt Till to create an instructional video on school safety procedures...Nice to see our students helping younger ones produce their own work for the good of their immediate community! School Safety

We also have coming up in the TV Department some fabulous Box Lunches, where professionals come meet with students to tell stories of life in the trenches of TVLand and give tips (for more info contact clemaster@colum.edu). Here is the current schedule:

March 21st- Kevin Cross, Comcast Sports Net Chicago

April 11- Mary Lou Belli, Emmy Award Winning Director

April 21- Rob Morhaim WCIU Morning Show

The Box Lunches occur mostly in Studio A, 15th floor, 600 South Michigan. HISTORY OF TV STUDENTS...If you attend Mary Lou Belli's tak and find out about the shows she's worked on that pertain to issues of African Americans represented on TV, there's extra credit in it for you! Attend, and then write up a 1-pager about what she said and tie it to what we've learned about race and TV so far for points!)

Famed Latina documentarian Lourdes Portillo is also coming to the TV department the week after spring break! Keep an eye out for when there will be screenings and talks with her...

and last, just for fun...If you're into reality TV (either loving it or hating it), check out Burning Love. The second season is online and the first is airing on E! Anyone in my classes who reads this far and can tell me who is the panda girl gets bonus points...

http://screen.yahoo.com/limo-introductions-093039306.html

Oscars on TV...Eck

OK-- I love me my Oscars...It gives me the chance to wax ad nauseum about the un/deserving films and actors and dish on the poorly dressed (sorry--when you have that much money and support. you best do your best).

My short 2 cents (since it's late and Kimmel is coming on and will be infinitely more entertaining)...(there's your hint...) DO THE OSCARS MAKE FOR GOOD TV? (even when a Colum student is on screen...)

Well, it may depend on how you define TV. In terms of per TV event--eh? Poorly paced...when I can host a party with 2 toddlers and 2 junior high gals AND get them all off to bed and not miss a beat?  That would be the epitome of slow. Hand to holy, I skipped 45 minutes and didn't miss a thing.

Seth McFarlane was top-notch--funny and charming and talented when they gave him some screen time. The front matter was great...and then it went down-hill in terms of pacing and content/order of content:

--How is playing the Bond theme over and over a "montage" of songs? When will the Academy learn to shift smaller categories--as much as I respect short docs and short live-actions--to cable like the Emmys do? Why do I need to see the cast of Chicago--an okay movie... but hardly on a par with something like The Godfather of The Graduate or hell, even ET...referenced over and over again?

Folks, learn about producing live...and I guess scripting live? The only tweets I could find during the actual show were from Britain, which means even McFarlane couldn't rescue this for the key demo they hired him for. One of you out there in Columbia TV should be able to fix this I hope.

Meantime...Semester in LA info sessions are this week...look for the SILA info page on Columbia's website and attend if you think you might be interested in the next 2 years...

(still, happy per Lawrence and her trip up the stairs, and the Argo best pic win--while not my pick--was expected and sweet--esp. if you subscribe to my J-Garner theory)

Come Meet a Real Live TV Producer and Writer!

On Thursday February 21st, the Television Department will be hosting TV writer-producer Jeff Vlaming in a Q&A session moderated by me :D. Jeff Vlaming is a television writer and producer who has worked extensively in Hollywood.  He’s written and produced a number of notable genre and non-genre series alike, including The X-Files, Northern Exposure, Fringe, NCIS and Battlestar Galactica.  Most recently he was co-executive producer of MTV’s Teen Wolf. He's also worked on Xena and Reaper, so he knows the world of cult, netlets, and original syndicated programs.

Jeff will be visiting various writing classes throughout next week, but the Q&A is a chance for those of you not in TV writing classes to hear him speak and ask questions. (Feel free to tell me if there's anything you'd like me to ask him specifically about.)

The Q&A is in Studio A (TV Department, 15th floor, ACC). Please arrive by 12pm and the talkin' will run through 1pm.

scholarship opp--due soon!

ANY College Student (grad or undergrad) may apply for the Feb. 15th, 2013 deadline.  It is a new year and applicants are needed for College Improvement's Cash Scholarship.  Students may apply directly and get details at
http://www.collegeimprovement.org/collegescholarship.html or students may print the attachment.

BACK FOR SPRING!

Welcome back, everyone! I thought I'd start off spring (rather literally feels like it's spring, too, today) with my 2 cents on awards season so far...It's one of the best parts about the first few weeks of the semester :D.

I have yet to see Lincoln or Les Mis (and am waiting til cable, as I'm not terribly interested in either enough to fork over the money--unless any of you tell me differently?) I'm thinking this year's Oscars should actually be fun for betting, with so many awards going to Argo and Affleck and him not being nominated. My votes so far are going to Silver Linings PlayBook, which I found infinitely better than Zero Dark Thirty on pretty much every count. I'm actually fascinated with how much I disliked 0D30--maybe it's just the hype that's irritating me...or that the acting in SLP was top notch, and that SLP actually had a cohesive narrative and a point to make...

Per TV, the awards are coming in as I expected from the Golden Globes, SAG, AFI--though I continue to insist that Amy Poehler is being robbed more each year.

For best TV of last week, please make sure you see the pentultimate episode of 30 Rock--the Willy Wonka referencing alone was worth it. Be watching BunHeads as that's returned in fine form. And join me in mourning the passing of Don't Trust the B_ in Apt. 23, sadly cancelled which now means there's a loss in my sitcom life--that show was so much fun!

Looking forward to your career future this term? Then look into the ATAS internships this summer (deadline March 15th); it's a paid gig and a great opportunity to break your way directly into the industry in categories ranging from writing to casting to kids TV--just about every category you might imagine (see emmysfoundation.org).

Looking just to get through the first week? Look for Beaver's Donut truck on Wabash and Van Buren, 7:30-11:30am, 1/30/13.  Beyond delicious and will get you through that 9am class (http://beaversdonuts.com/). (Bring cash...)

And this week in TV...

So I am now officially swamped with TV viewing, and some shows have had to be sacrificed--bye bye Elementary (just not good enough to make me ditch any of my tried and trues), and sadly bye bye Last Resort (on too heavy of a TV nite and my DVR can't accommodate it--hoping it sticks around and gets shifted to another nite and slot). Not sure about the 666 show--any thoughts on if I should stick with it?

If you like Revenge (which you should :D), try Nashville. Great pilot and I can't wait to see all these fabulous actors chew the scenery each week; and the songs are actually pretty good as well. (Speaking of which--Glee so far is doing quite well at weathering the shift to a new cast...) And while I respect Taylor Swift and find some of her stuff catchy, I rather enjoy the digs at her expense via Hayden Pantierre. Need to watch Arrow, too.

Lots of solid returns so far, with ABC Wednesday leading the way. Good Wife is stellar (and finally not being bumped off my DVR via football) with Nathan Lane and Kristin Chenoweth (would like to see Matthew Perry return here--he was so amazing last season). And anytime I can catch Lucy Lawless (Parks and Rec) I'm a happy camper.

For my TV comedy buffs out there--and for my History students trolling for extra credit--please check out "The Greatest Event in Television History." True story: my husband DVR'd it and I deleted it because I thought he'd recorded some PBS special that there just wasn't room for on the machine.  We watched it tonight and I had tears streaming from my eyes--slam dunk funny!

(Check it out here:

No major news that I know of this week in the department, except: Registration for J-term and Spring begins in a few weeks, which means you should start planning to meet with your faculty advisor...And Oh yeah!  TV Department students, faculty, and alum got quite a few Midwest Regional Emmy nominations (so check out the TV page for news on that).

Until roughly midterms, yours in shared "how do I watch all the good shows" misery...