Email Author Joy Press

2004 Stories by Joy Press

• Losing It

  published December 21, 2004

  Deadbeat. Flunky. Flop. Ne'er-do-well. Sucker. The U.S.A. may be a cocky, success-obsessed nation, but its citizens sure have come up with a... More >>

• Galloping essays on cappuccino, miscegenation, and more

  published December 21, 2004

  A series of amorphous, autobiographical essays, Open House uses metaphorical rooms as a structure to rein in Nation columnist-law... More >>

• Bad Chef, Good Chef

  published December 14, 2004

  Americans have traditionally regarded the British as a race of literally gentle men, over-civilized wimps stuttering demurely as they doff their... More >>

• Paranoia will destroy you: The never ending anxiety of 24

  published December 14, 2004

  Kiefer Sutherland has aged a lot in three days. That's because, as all 24 fans know, his days as government agent Jack Bauer have been... More >>

• TV

  published December 14, 2004

  THE CHRISTMAS SPECIAL CHRISTMAS SPECIAL December 25 at 1 p.m. on Bravo Why subject yourself to dozens of crappy... More >>

• Screen Gems

  published November 30, 2004

  Television is a pretty bizarro filter through which to view America, but the schizophrenic nature of TV land feels perfectly in sync with the... More >>

• Lowlight Reel

  published November 30, 2004

  SCOWLGATE: After the first presidential debate was televised, a video appeared on the Internet collecting all of the president's scowls and... More >>

• Remote Patrol

  published November 30, 2004

  THE SMOKING GUN YEAR-END SPECIAL December 9 at 10 on Court TV If all those jolly holiday specials rub you the wrong way, take... More >>

• Cult Following

  published November 23, 2004

  Once upon a time, coffee-table books signified luxury, upward mobility, things of quality and distinction. Buying one of those suckers conferred a... More >>

• Bias Crimes

  published November 16, 2004

  A few weeks ago, Bill Moyers, the venerable face of progressive current-affairs analysis on television, warned that the next four years were set... More >>

• The Miseducation of Tom Wolfe

  published November 9, 2004

  I would love to tell you that the dandy in the white suit is back. That he has waded into the sewage tank that is contemporary youth culture... More >>

• The Nanny Diaries Co-Authors Take On the Busted Economy

  published November 9, 2004

  The Nanny Diaries took the book world by surprise with its cheeky look at the battle between Park Avenue parents and their nannies. Writing... More >>

• The Sunshine Girls

  published October 19, 2004

  Talk about a sugar high: Gilmore Girls is still the sweetest show on TV. It's also one of the smartest, weighing in somewhere between... More >>

• That Shrinking Feeling: A New Show About an M.D. in Distress

  published October 19, 2004

  In the ads for Showtime's much hyped new series, Hank Azaria, who plays Huff, is caught with his pants down. More than his pants,... More >>

• Remote Patrol

  published October 19, 2004

  ELECTION EVE DOCUMENTARIES November 1 starting at 7 on Sundance Feeling unmotivated to vote? Sundance has prepared a slate... More >>

• Hannah and Her Dreamers

  published October 12, 2004

  Russell Banks is a major American novelist, a maestro of loss. Yet his name, easily confused with writers like Russell Baker or Iain Banks,... More >>

• American Way, Naked Supremes in Daily Show's Faux Textbook

  published October 12, 2004

  The lefties love Jon Stewart, the Republicans fear him (but appear on The Daily Show for a gentle bout of ball-busting anyway), and the... More >>

• This Is Your Fall Season on Crack

  published October 5, 2004

  Something strange has happened to television drama this fall: It's gone giddy. Maybe the dominance of reality TV has sent producers running in the... More >>

• Liberal Comforters

  published October 5, 2004

  Recent studies suggest that people now seek out partisan news that reflects their own views. Fine in theory, but where are the left-wing... More >>

• Remote Patrol

  published October 5, 2004

  PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE October 13 at 9 Grimaces, denials, long vacant pauses—just some of the emissions we might expect to... More >>

• My Fake Candidate

  published September 21, 2004

  In his 1988 television miniseries Tanner '88, Robert Altman conjured up a scarily plausible Democratic presidential candidate named Jack... More >>

• Strangers in the House

  published September 7, 2004

  When I first heard about the hugely successful U.K. show Wife Swap, I assumed it would be titillating: reality TV finally becoming... More >>

• The End Justifies the Means in a Smoking New Reality Show

  published September 7, 2004

  You know that the reality-cancer has finally metastasized across the entire body of television when Pax, home of wholesome religious programming,... More >>

• Remote Patrol

  published September 7, 2004

  THE WIRE Sundays at 9 on HBO Still one of the most underappreciated crime shows on television, The Wire kicks off... More >>

• The Naked and Embedded

  published August 31, 2004

  Where were you when the bombs started falling on Baghdad? Most of us imbibed the current war entirely via the 24-hour dripfeed of cable. Those... More >>