Comedian John Hodgman Englert Theatre — Friday, Sept. 25 at 8 p.m. The characters of “John Hodgman” include resident expert, deranged millionaire, and stockpiler of mayonnaise and urine for the impending apocalypse. He has appeared on The Daily Show, Bored to Death, Parks and Rec, Community, Married and a slew of other awesome television shows, […]
Melissa Zimdars
Melissa Zimdars is a doctoral student in Communication Studies at the University of Iowa, specializing in all things television.
Posted inArts & Entertainment
The Tube: Losing the stigma, not the weight
As excited as we are for our annual respite from the cold, the heat of summer—also known as “swimsuit season”—can bring with it anxiety, and for some, feelings of shame. What does television have to do with swimsuits and bodies? For one, television has a long history of contributing to and exacerbating body anxiety both […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Feminist Police Procedural: ‘The Fall’ successfully avoids crime show cliches
American television is known for being especially violent against women, or for depictions of sexual violence. Crime shows like CSI, Criminal Minds, Stalker and True…
Posted inArts & Entertainment
How to Mission Creek: A guide to Saturday and Sunday
Hopefully, you’ve been Mission-Creeking-it-up all week (seriously, Amen Dunes! Silver Apples! Real Estate! Freddie Gibbs! How to Dress Well! Foxygen!), but if not, there’s still enough music, film and literature to satiate your soul for weeks — all happening in just one weekend.
Posted inArts & Entertainment
How to Mission Creek: A guide to Thursday night
Here, Little Village‘s Tube columnist, Melissa Zimdars, offers her recap of last night at Mission Creek, and her plans for this evening. I know only nerdiest television columnist would fact-check a comedic routine, but in case anyone in Iowa City raised an eyebrow at the Cameron Esposito show last night like I embarrassingly did between […]
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How to mission creek: LV’s Melissa Zimdars shares her plan of attack
Little Village television columnist Melissa Zimdars offers her plan of attack for Mission Creek week. Follow her updates online throughout the week on Little Village…
Posted inArts & Entertainment
The Tube: TV shows for hibernating
The following list of must-watch TV shows got started when the air outside my apartment felt like negative 35 degrees, and I wanted something to look forward to besides the thoughts of sun and drinking on my porch. These new and soon-to-air shows should keep you occupied until the grass is green again. Empire (FOX) […]
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Opinion: Stop over-funding the bloated UI administration
Recently, the University of Iowa has been making some questionable decisions in the name of finances. Courses are being cut in Intermedia (despite waiting lists and TA’s ready to teach them), fellowships that traditionally fund underrepresented minorities are being eliminated, graduate students are inconsistently funded or underfunded and the number of part-time, non-benefit-receiving adjunct faculty […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
The Tube: Bridging TV’s caricature gap
A couple issues ago, I put the ABC sitcom Black-ish on the list of new fall TV to skip. I rarely admit to something like this, but I was wrong. It may not be the funniest or most innovative show on television, but I think it’s a socially and politically important one. Black-ish features an […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Regents proposal offers no wage increase for grad students, slashes reimbursement for quarter-timers
Within the last 10 days both the Campaign to Organize Graduate Students (COGS), the University of Iowa’s Graduate Employee Union and bargaining representatives…
Posted inArts & Entertainment
The Tube: Rectify’s slow and deliberate pace makes for one of the most unique shows on television
“I can’t quite get a handle on the concept of time yet.” These words by Daniel Holden (Aden Young) in the first episode of Rectify describe both his experience…
Posted inCommunity/News
Student Debt: Graduate students are finding that the world of academia is shutting them out
Denied for student requirement.” This is what a teaching assistant at the University of Iowa, who prefers to remain unnamed, was informed by the Iowa…
