Turner Broadcasting and their ad agency are paying the city of Boston $2 million after law enforcement there confused a glowing Mooninite advertising the new AquaTeen Hunger Force movie with a terrorist threat.  Half will be “goodwill” funds given to the agencies for training and equipment.  Does this mean they just got a million dollars for their screw up?  Will they use this to prevent a similar embarrassment?  Doesn’t this provide an incentive for police departments to overreact, forcing a settlement with corporations who will then pay up to prevent a PR disaster?  After all, none of the departments in 9 other cities, who figured out that a glowing Moon Man isn’t a bomb, got any free money.
The companies can’t say what I’m going to: Boston law enforcement overreacted and behaved in a bumbling and incompetent manner.  The more we are willing to kowtow to our fears of terrorism, the more effective it becomes as a tactic.

Categories: America, Entertainment Media, Governance, Incentive Centered Design, Law, Marketing, Television
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In Slate:

But the more I thought about Cramer, the more I realized that pointing out that he gives terrible investment advice would be like pointing out that the sun rises. Worse, I would be dismissed as a wet blanket who didn’t get that the point of Mad Money was just to have a bit of ironic fun. I mean, of course Jim Cramer gives terrible investment advice—we all know that, right?—and we only watch the show because, well, because he does possess a certain bizarre type of market and entertainment genius—if there’s a pundit out there with more opinions about more stocks, I’ve never seen him—and he’s irreverent, madcap, and, yes, even brilliant, in an idiot-savant, freak-show sort of way. (Moreover, Cramer is mesmerizing reality TV. Admit it: You watch because you wonder if this is the night he finally has a heart attack, kills someone, or explodes in a tirade of expletive-laced slander.)

That is precisely why I watch Mad Money, and I love watching the show (though I can never stomach a full episode at a time). I think CNBC personalities are awesome, and although Jim Cramer is great in small doses, he’s nothing compared to personal finance guru Suze Orman, who will help you fix up your crappy finances and crappy relationships at the same time.

Categories: Business and Economics, Entertainment Media, Information Asymmetries, Information Markets, Television
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The character’s hair is generally mousy and flat, and the lettuce lends it no body. Her wardrobe is mannish, and she’s disdainful of the traditional female sexuality. You sense that Liz Lemon would push Sex and the City’s Carrie Bradshaw under a bus, claim she did it on principle, and cackle about it for ages. In this sense, Jenna—whose heart is in her cleavage, whose deepest conviction is that her sexuality is a weapon—is something of a foil. As is Liz’s assistant, Cerie, a clueless little nymph who cannot comprehend her boss’s suggestion that she not wear short shorts to the office. On the occasions that Liz dolls herself up, Fey lays the snark on thicker yet: In the third episode, “Blind Date,” she put on a cocktail dress, and her producer, admiring, said, “You look like a fancy prostitute.” Liz made a flattered little bounce.

A Slate Review of 30 Rock.

30 Rock, The Office, and the under-rated How I Met Your Mother all compete for the title of Best Comedy on Television.

Categories: Entertainment Media, Television, Winter of Dave
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In contrast to The Simpsons, Futurama permitted the writers to let their mathematical fancies run wild and to cram in math references for their personal delectation, Keeler says. “That’s why it’s not on the air any more,” he jokes.

The Simpsons writers are math nerds!

Futurama, which had even more math nerds as writers, along with Al Gore’s daughter Kristen Gore, remains one of my favorite TV shows, even in reruns.  That’s why I’m psyched it’s coming back.

Categories: Entertainment Media, Metrics, Science, Television
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