Media Carnivores

Are you caught up on Game of Thrones? What about Orange is the New Black? The Americans? The Good Wife? Oh, and The Wire was so good, you should go back and watch that too. Can...

How do you write a book? How do you get from Chapter 1 to those magical two words … The End? (Not to mention writing 80,000 words or so in the middle.) Brent and Erik tackle the...

Tom Cruise has been a movie star for more than thirty years. We have to figure that’s not an accident. How has he done it (often in the face of some pretty bad personal publicity)?...

Guess what? Brent’s new book is out. It’s called “Barefoot in the City of Broken Dreams” and it’s the second book in “The Futon Years” series that follows Russel into adulthood. Brent and Erik talk...

It’s never been easier to create and distribute your own movie. But should you? Are you crazy to produce your own movie? Brent and Erik bring on movie producers Julia Verdin and Matt Dean—our first guests!—to...

When is it good to be bad? When do you root for the villain, and when you root against? When does evil come from within and when does it come from without? Brent and Erik look at...

The portrayal of gay and lesbian characters in movies and TV has changed over time—and quite dramatically over the last few years. With the recent Supreme Court ruling on marriage equality, we thought it was time to look...

With a slate of new programming and several Emmys, Netflix is taking TV by storm. Which leads to the question… Is Netflix the new black? Are they the model that everyone should be looking to...

Sometimes when books, TV shows, and movies kill key characters, fans get outraged. And sometimes a great death scene will make a character even more memorable. What’s the difference? Brent and Erik investigate. Your Hosts Brent Hartinger Erik...

Why are so many sequels so much worse than the original? Why do they retread the same group? Brent and Erik visit (revisit?) sequels and look at the “rules” that make the great ones great. Your Hosts...

Media Carnivores co-host Brent Hartinger recently sold his book Three Truths and a Lie to a traditional publisher, Simon Pulse. As a writer traditional and self-published books, Brent makes an interesting case study for this new...

What are your “guilty” pleasures? And who says you should you feel guilty about them? Brent and Erik look into shows and books commonly called guilty pleasures, as well as discuss their own. Your Hosts Brent Hartinger...

This year is the year of blockbuster (and sequels, reboots, and remakes). But don’t we say that every year? How have popcorn movies changed? And have market pressures made popcorn movies go stale? Your Hosts Brent...

Between 1997 (when the first Harry Potter book came out) and 2011 (when the last movie was released) Potter-mania swept the globe. How have the books and movies held up when they are no longer in...

Can an indie writer make it anymore? Is there gold in the hills?  What caused the surge in self-publishing and how has it changed? Brent and Erik look at trends in publishing as well as...

What makes a comedy funny? Is there any joke or situation that is timeless? Has irony killed classic comedy? Brent and Erik look TV and film for answers (and laughs). Your Hosts Brent Hartinger Erik Hanberg Links...

The 2014 Hollywood box office was down over 2013 and as low as its been in three years. And so far this year, movies targeting women have outperformed movies targeting men. Can women revive a slumping box office?...

Never has a television show pushed the envelope of both content and production as Game of Thrones. Are shows with the epic scope of Game of Thrones the future? Or is this a high-water mark for TV?...

Computer generated images are in almost every major studio movie, especially the upcoming summer blockbuster season. Has it gone too far and stifled creativity? Or has CGI actually unleashed it? Your Hosts Brent Hartinger Erik Hanberg Links...

Especially after Tony Soprano, TV feels like it is full of stories about anti-heroes. How has their portrayal changed? And why are we so drawn to them? Brent and Erik explore. Your Hosts Brent Hartinger Erik Hanberg Links...