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What The Telecoms Could Learn from Nordstrom and Why I’m Finished Doing Business with AT&T

I just got off the phone with Nordstrom. It was another easy, well-oiled customer service experience.

By contrast, a few days ago, I had yet another head-on with the AT&T brick wall. It will be my last. We've decided to unwind all of our residential, cell and business telephone relationships with them. I wouldn't even consider U-Verse at this point.

Yet, the headline from yesterday’s NY Times was: "AT&T Downplays Damage From Economic Slowdown"

Rick Lindner, the chief financial officer, said AT&T, like other communications companies, was indeed seeing the impact of a softer economy on its operations. But, he added, “they are not very severe at this point.” Even in a downturn, consumers are going to want to stay connected, either online or on the phone. “I think for us that continues to point to more of the defensive nature of our business,” he said.

Well, for me, the end-user and lowly consumer, the cost and the hassle of doing business with this company outweighs the benefit.

CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT WHY I'M FINISHED WITH AT&T

SCI FI Channel Acquires CBS' Jericho

It's a little Valentine for Jericho fans. SCI FI Channel has acquired seasons one and two of the CBS cult fave drama. The series launches on Monday, February 11 with a four-hour marathon from 7p-11p.

A week later, >Jericho settles into its regular time slot - Mondays at 10p.

SCI FI says the series will be simulcast in HD on SCI FI HD.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE about >Jericho!

HBO's The Wire as Living Anthropology

(first published Sunday, Jan. 20)

The latest episode of HBO's The Wire – “Not for Attribution” - is airing right now. In this episode another round of budget cuts threatens to bring the already battered Baltimore Sun newspaper to its knees.

Simultaneously, this NY Times headline popped up on my computer.

Los Angeles Times Editor Forced Out

The top editor of The Los Angeles Times has been forced out for resisting newsroom budget cuts, executives at the paper said Sunday, marking the fourth time in less than three years that the highest-ranking editor or the publisher has left for that reason… The Los Angeles Times had a newsroom staff of more than 1,100 people at the start of this decade, but the number has declined to below 900, officials say. Its weekday circulation has dropped to about 800,000, from 1.1 million.

The LA Times and the Baltimore Sun are both owned by Tribune Media, taken over just last month by Chicago real estate magnate Sam Zell, self-nicknamed the “Grave Dancer.”

Watching tonight’s episode (yesterday, as new episodes are available one week early On Demand), my husband turned to me and said, "The Wire is like watching living anthropology."

CLICK HERE FOR THE REST OF THE REVIEW

BBC America's High-Octane Torchwood: Car Chases! Shoot-outs! Brawls! & The Big Snog

It’s late. The streets of Cardiff, Wales are empty, and shiny from a recent rain. One elderly woman totters to an intersection as a spicy red convertible pulls up. The driver – an alien with a spiny head – peers over the door.

The walk sign shifts from red to green. “Ehhhhhh,” hisses the creature. It motions the woman safely across, then rips away.

Seconds later, a black SUV approaches. “Excuse me,” asks the passenger ever-so graciously, “have you seen a blowfish driving a sportscar?”

The elderly pedestrian silently points up the street and the SUV charges off into the night.

“Bloody Torchwood!” grumbles the woman.

It’s the opening scene in BBC America's season two Torchwood which premieres Saturday, January 26, 9:00 p.m. ET/PT.

The launch is an action-packed, blazing hour of non-stop television fun. A car chase, a shootout, and a bar brawl ensue – and that’s just the first fifteen minutes or so!

CLICK HERE FOR MORE OF THE TORCHWOOD REVIEW

AMC’s Breaking Bad: Gutsy, Fresh Television

A meek, depressed high school chemistry teacher, Walter White, revivifies and mans-up by cooking and selling methamphetamine.

Premiering January 20 at 10p.m., Breaking Bad is another daring series from AMC, the network responsible for Mad Men (my pick for best 2007 drama).

In a media universe of the moth-eaten, the warmed-over, the formulaic, Breaking Bad is gutsy, groundbreaking, fresh television. With Breaking Bad and an upcoming second season of >Mad Men, AMC (along with Showtime) is poised to wrest the gold standard of scripted drama from the hands of venerable HBO.

CLICK HERE FOR AN EARLY LOOK AT BREAKING BAD!

Stargate Atlantis Mid-Season Premiere Brings Down The House

Tired of the same old, same old on the broadcast networks? The same stale romances and police procedurals? Then tap into the Stargate Atlantis mid-season opener, tomorrow (Friday) night at 10p on SCI FI Channel, for some pure escapist fun.

CLICK HERE FOR THE REST OF THE STARGATE ATLANTIS REVIEW

2007's BEST TELEVISION SERIES: AMC's MAD MEN Tops The List; Runners-Up: Dexter, Ugly Betty, Californication, Pushing Daisies, Brotherhood

Two shows this year stand out as pure appointment tv. These series required no DVR’ing; the air time was burned in my brain - Showtime’s Dexter and AMC’s Mad Men.

Because of the rich setting, superb ensemble cast, and feature film production values, Mad Men edged out Dexter as my pick for the best scripted series of 2007. 42 year-old creator Matt Weiner (the Emmy-winning executive producer of The Sopranos) is channeling an intimate period piece, set circa 1960 in a Manhattan ad agency.

The Mad Men season finale contains one of the most memorable scenes in the history of television. Don Draper (Jon Hamm), the maestro of the Sterling Cooper agency, pitches Kodak on an ad campaign, using photos of his own beautiful wife and children as models.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE on Mad Men, Dexter, Californication, Pushing Daisies, Brotherhood, and Ugly Betty. with clips!