Linda Holmes

Credit Chris Hartlove
for NPR

Linda Holmes writes and edits NPR's entertainment and pop-culture blog, Monkey See. She has several elaborate theories involving pop culture and monkeys, all of which are available on request.

Holmes began her professional life as an attorney. In time, however, her affection for writing, popular culture and the online universe eclipsed her legal ambitions. She shoved her law degree in the back of the closet, gave its living-room space to DVD sets of The Wire and never looked back.

Holmes was a writer and editor at Television Without Pity, where she recapped several hundred hours of programming — including both High School Musical movies, for which she did not receive hazard pay. Since 2003, she has been a contributor to MSNBC.com, where she has written about books, movies, television and pop-culture miscellany.

Holmes' work has also appeared on Vulture (New York magazine's entertainment blog), in TV Guide and in many, many legal documents.

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Monkey See
5:04 am
Tue November 27, 2012

Running A Comedy Machine: How Chuck Lorre Makes Hits

Credit Sonja Flemming / CBS
Johnny Galecki and Jim Parsons in The Big Bang Theory, one of Chuck Lorre's three popular comedies currently on CBS.

Originally published on Tue November 27, 2012 5:51 pm

On Tuesday's Morning Edition, NPR's Neda Ulaby has a story about Chuck Lorre, the producer whose name is attached to three of the five highest-rated comedies on American television last season: The Big Bang Theory, Two And A Half Men, and Mike & Molly.

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Monkey See
5:01 pm
Wed November 21, 2012

Rob Delaney Talks About Gratitude, Perspective, Spaceships And A Career With Teeth

Credit
A screenshot from Rob Delaney's standup special, "Live At The Bowery Ballroom."

Originally published on Wed November 21, 2012 5:57 pm

Full disclosure: The first thing I said when I saw that Rob Delaney would be talking to NPR's Audie Cornish on today's All Things Considered was that I was curious to see whether he had ever said anything on Twitter — where he has almost 670,000 followers (including me) as of this writing — that they thought they could read on the radio. It's an exaggeration. But not by that much.

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Monkey See
7:34 am
Tue October 16, 2012

A Judge Dismisses 'The Bachelor' Discrimination Lawsuit, But Not Its Concerns

Credit Mark Humphrey / AP
Seen here in April 2012, Christopher Johnson and Nathaniel Claybrooks sued over the casting of The Bachelor.

Yesterday, a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit brought by Christopher Johnson and Nathaniel Claybrooks, two black men who had auditioned for The Bachelor, who claimed that the show discriminates against people of color both in choosing the primary bachelor/ette and in choosing the people he or she will have to choose from.

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Monkey See
9:00 am
Mon October 15, 2012

A Day Later, The Space Jump Guy Is Okay, But How About The Rest Of Us?

Credit Red Bull Stratos / AP
Felix Baumgartner of Austria as he jumps out of the capsule during the final manned flight for Red Bull Stratos on Sunday.

Originally published on Mon October 15, 2012 9:23 am

More than 7 million people were watching as Felix Baumgartner sat at the edge of his space capsule yesterday 24 miles off the ground and got ready to jump, in what was known as the "Red Bull Stratos" project, better known as the "space jump." I saw it myself; he opened the door, and there was something there that certainly seemed to be space.

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Monkey See
6:07 am
Sat September 29, 2012

Damian Lewis On The Conflicts And Complexities Of 'Homeland'

Credit Bob Leverone / Showtime
Damian Lewis as Nicholas Brody in Showtime's Homeland.

Originally published on Sat September 29, 2012 3:17 pm

There weren't a whole lot of upset winners at last Sunday's Emmy Awards, but one of the few was Homeland star Damian Lewis, who beat out, among others, Mad Men's Jon Hamm and three-time winner Bryan Cranston of Breaking Bad to take home the award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series. Lewis' co-star, Claire Danes, won for her lead performance as well, and the show ended a four-year Mad Men streak when it was named Outstanding Drama Series.

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Monkey See
11:34 am
Mon August 6, 2012

Good Business, Bad Quality: How NBC Is Both Right And Wrong On The Olympics

Credit Alexander Hassenstein / Getty Images
Usain Bolt of Jamaica celebrates winning gold in the Men's 100m Final yesterday. If you get your Olympics coverage on television, you didn't see it live.

Originally published on Mon August 6, 2012 3:36 pm

The following exchange has played out over and over in the last ten days:

Point: "NBC's coverage of the Olympics stinks, because everything is tape-delayed and cut to shreds, and also the announcers are awful and they only care about American athletes, and by the time I get to watch anything, I already know what happened."

Counterpoint: "People are watching in huge numbers."

Point: "But quality."

Counterpoint: "But business."

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Monkey See
6:08 am
Sat June 16, 2012

Explaining Muppet Theory: Are You An Ernie Or A Bert?

Credit Matthew Simmons / Getty Images
Sesame Street's Bert and Ernie in the 2005 Tournament of Roses Parade. They even look like a clash between Order and Chaos, don't they?

Originally published on Sat June 16, 2012 2:22 pm

Most of the time, Slate's Dahlia Lithwick covers the Supreme Court. She's been doing that for the last 13 years. But recently, you may have seen her name floating around in connection with the piece she recently wrote that she discusses with Scott Simon on Saturday's Weekend Edition.

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Monkey See
4:03 am
Fri June 15, 2012

Neil deGrasse Tyson Investigates The Space Science Of Summer Movies

Originally published on Fri June 15, 2012 10:56 am

If you make movies that have anything to do with science, please note: Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, director of the Hayden Planetarium, pays attention.

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Monkey See
6:43 am
Sat June 2, 2012

For Impressionist Jim Meskimen, The Voice Is 'A Sample Of Who We Are'

Credit Vince Bucci / Getty Images
Jim Meskimen arrives at the premiere of Frost/Nixon in November 2008.

Originally published on Sat June 2, 2012 11:50 pm

Monkey See
1:44 pm
Fri June 1, 2012

John Edwards: Once More With (Or Without) Feeling, He Takes Full Responsibility

Credit Sara D. Davis / Getty Images
Former U.S. Sen. John Edwards addresses the media alongside his daughter Cate Edwards and his parents Wallace and Bobbie Edwards yesterday after the conclusion of his trial on campaign finance charges.

Yesterday, after being acquitted of one of six campaign finance fraud charges against him and seeing the jury deadlock on the other five, John Edwards held a brief press conference in which he said this:

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Monkey See
8:58 am
Thu May 31, 2012

It's The Day Of The National Spelling Bee Finals, A.K.A. Know-Nothing Thursday!

Credit Mark Wilson / Getty Images
Kitty Shortt spells a word correctly during the third round of the 2012 Scripps National Spelling Bee yesterday.

Originally published on Thu May 31, 2012 11:39 am

The Scripps National Spelling Bee is down to the 50 semifinalists. Today at 10:00 Eastern, they'll compete in the semifinals (broadcast on ESPN2), and then tonight at 8:00, they'll hold the finals (broadcast on ESPN). You can also follow an online streaming version at ESPN online, but to be honest, it's an extremely cumbersome process that I haven't yet gotten to work for me.

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Monkey See
4:03 pm
Fri May 25, 2012

'Route 66': A Country-Crisscrossing Series Comes To Home Video

Originally published on Fri May 25, 2012 5:24 pm

When you've seen a lot of movies where Toronto plays the part of New York, you come to appreciate location shooting. And on today's All Things Considered, you'll hear from the star of one of television's more ambitious series when it comes to location shooting: Route 66, which followed two guys around the country in a cool Corvette as they looked for a place to settle.

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Monkey See
4:54 pm
Mon April 30, 2012

Can The Networks Ever Create Another Night Of 'Must-See TV'?

Originally published on Mon April 30, 2012 5:34 pm

Monkey See
1:59 am
Sat April 28, 2012

Garry Marshall On His 'Happy Days'

Originally published on Sat April 28, 2012 12:22 pm

Director Garry Marshall has worked on so much popular comedy in his career — television like Happy Days and The Odd Couple, movies like Pretty Woman and Beaches — that something he's done has probably made you laugh. And now he's written a memoir called, fittingly, My Happy Days In Hollywood: A Memoir.

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Monkey See
12:01 am
Sat April 14, 2012

The Fourth Stooge: Memories Of 'Uncle Shemp'

Originally published on Mon April 16, 2012 10:02 am

This weekend, the Farrelly Brothers' version of The Three Stooges arrives in theaters. You'll see plenty of Larry, Moe and Curly. But who won't you see? Shemp. Or, as NPR's Sue Goodwin calls him, "Uncle Shemp."

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Monkey See
4:57 pm
Sun April 8, 2012

Lena Dunham's 'Girls': Still Sex, Still The City, Different Show

Credit Jojo Whilden / HBO
Lena Dunham stars in HBO's new series, Girls, premiering April 15.

Originally published on Mon April 9, 2012 8:15 am

Lena Dunham's new series Girls debuts on HBO on April 15. Dunham, who got quite a bit of attention for being the star, director and writer of the 2010 indie film Tiny Furniture, fills the same three roles in this ensemble show about four young women in New York.

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Monkey See
3:45 pm
Thu April 5, 2012

Kerry Washington On Bringing Washington 'Scandal' To TV

Credit Danny Feld / ABC
Kerry Washington plays Olivia Pope on ABC's new drama, Scandal.

Originally published on Thu April 5, 2012 5:58 pm

Kerry Washington knows that her new drama, Scandal, will inevitably be compared to another drama about D.C.: The West Wing. Scandal tells Audie Cornish on today's All Things Considered that it even has Josh Malina, a West Wing cast member, for a little of what she calls "secret D.C. credibility."

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Monkey See
12:01 am
Fri March 23, 2012

'Mad Men' Returns On Sunday, To The Delight Of Its Excitable Fans

Credit Frank Ockenfels / AMC
Jon Hamm plays Don Draper on Mad Men, which returns this Sunday night.

On Friday's Morning Edition, Elizabeth Blair investigates one of television's pressing questions: Why has Mad Men been off the air so long? It's returning this Sunday night with a two-hour season premiere, but it's still puzzled some viewers that it has been off for such a long time.

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Monkey See
4:00 pm
Thu March 22, 2012

Spiders And Fighting And Trees, Oh My: Filming 'The Hunger Games'

Credit Murray Close / Lionsgate
Jennifer Lawrence on the set of The Hunger Games.

Originally published on Fri March 23, 2012 12:24 pm

There's a movie freshly out this weekend — perhaps you've heard of it.

The Hunger Games?

On Friday's Morning Edition, director Gary Ross and star Jennifer Lawrence talk to NPR's David Greene about the film.

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Monkey See
12:09 pm
Wed March 21, 2012

Tebow, Tailgating, And Team Loyalty: Why The NFL Needs Nice Guys More Than Ever

Credit Al Bello / Getty Images
Tim Tebow of the Denver Broncos kneels and prays with teammates and members of the New England Patriots after the Patriots won 45-10 during their AFC Divisional Playoff Game at Gillette Stadium on January 14, 2012.

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