Good or Bad, the Aughts Were Real

The Wire , The Sopranos , Six Feet Under , Mad Men —get the picture?

(NEWSER) - For television, the past decade has been “as the sixties are to music and the seventies to movies”—some of the worst content ever was produced, but the cream of the crop rose to the level of art, Emily Nussbaum writes. Sure, “you could easily memorialize the aughts as the Decade of Reality TV,” but then you’d be leaving out The Sopranos, Mad Men, and, most important, The Wire. The best of the best dared audiences to take them seriously and didn’t have time for those who wouldn’t. More»

Everyday items that have gone extinct since 1999

(NEWSER) - Technology’s come leaps and bounds this past decade, leaving a trove of everyday items in the aughts' dust. New York magazine runs down some of the stuff we won’t really miss:

• Answering machine—Swingers proved why this thing had to go.
• Lickable stamp—Collectors still like them, but the rest of us want self-adhesives.
• Foldable road map—Please, these days you can have Snoop Dogg read your GPS directions.

Some great unpleasantness goes by with pleasant quickness

(NEWSER) - Oh, the aughts had their moments, what with disputed elections, terrorist attacks, invasions, and Rickrolling. If you, like most, can't remember anything else that happened, the Frisky has a treat for you: Newsweek's condensed version of the past decade in 7 short minutes. Spoiler alert: Barack Obama becomes the first black president. More»

Shows little sign of ailment in routine

(NEWSER) - A 73-year-old breakdancing grandfather may have more skills than just the moves he's flashing on Britain's Got Talent, reports the Daily Mail. Fred Bowers also collects more than $100 a week in disability for a bum leg not evident on the British reality show. “I’ve no idea how he expected to get away with carrying on claiming while pulling off such amazing dance moves in front of millions,” a neighbor told the Sun. More»

Bristol Palin: Life’s a Tripp premieres on Lifetime later this year

(NEWSER) - Bristol Palin will be back on the tube in her own reality TV show. It's called Bristol Palin: Life’s a Tripp and will premiere on Lifetime later this year, reports USA Today . The premise of the "docuseries" is to follow Bristol in Alaska as she "steadfastly moves forward both personally and professionally," notes New York's Vulture blog , adding, "Aw, man, just as she was fading from public consciousness." The network has ordered 10 half-hour episodes to start. More»