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
11:11 am
Mon April 15, 2013

Superheroines, Fighters, And Why Isn't There A Wonder Woman Movie?

Credit Vaquera Productions
Katie, who's nine years old, explains her love of Wonder Woman in a new documentary.

Originally published on Mon April 15, 2013 2:41 pm

Any comics fan of any seriousness can rattle off female superheroes who have either had their own books or appeared in other or ensemble books.

But what about ordinary absorbers of culture?

The same people who don't actually read comics but can tell you that Superman is the idealized, square-jawed fighter for good, while Batman is the darker, more conflicted survivor of tragedy and Spider-Man is the scrapper barely concealing an ordinary kid — how many women can they name who have worn capes, particularly ones that aren't superhero derivatives like Supergirl or Batgirl?

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Monkey See
8:47 am
Mon April 15, 2013

Let's Rush To Judgment: 'Catching Fire'

Monkey See
2:16 am
Mon April 15, 2013

Big Hair, Big Shoulders And Big Money: Linda Evans On '80s Excess

Credit Reed Saxon / AP
Joan Collins, John Forsythe and Linda Evans at a party celebrating the production of 150 episodes of Dynasty in 1986.

Originally published on Mon April 15, 2013 1:34 pm

You may find a hint to the era in which you were born (as well as your taste in entertainment) in Linda Wertheimer's clarification that on the '80s nighttime soap Dynasty, actress Linda Evans played Krystle Carrington — Krystle with a K, that is. (And, she does not add, an L-E.) If that surprises you at all, you were almost surely not paying attention to the television of the 1980s, when Evans, John Forsythe and Joan Collins made up the wealthiest, nuttiest, most notorious and most rhinestone-covered love triangle ever bedazzled for prime time: Krystle, Blake and Alexis.

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Monkey See
10:51 am
Wed April 10, 2013

Thank G-O-O-D-N-E-S-S: The National Spelling Bee Adds Meaning

Credit Mark Wilson / Getty Images
Spellers wait to participate in the semi-finals of the 2011 Scripps National Spelling Bee.

As Eyder Peralta reported last night, the National Spelling Bee has made a big change to its rules.

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Monkey See
11:26 am
Tue April 9, 2013

Let's Rush To Judgment: 'Carrie'

Credit Sony Pictures
Monkey See
1:03 pm
Fri April 5, 2013

Let's Rush To Judgment: 'Grown Ups 2'

Credit Tracy Bennett / Sony Pictures

This is an experiment with a minimalist approach to the Let's Rush To Judgment post.

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Monkey See
11:46 am
Fri April 5, 2013

Pop Culture Happy Hour: In The Long Run

Credit NPR
  • Listen to Pop Culture Happy Hour

On this week's extremely punchy round-table podcast, once we cover our most important landmark of the week, Stephen Thompson gets through some preposterous claims loosely connected to this video and we get on the topic of

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Monkey See
6:03 pm
Thu April 4, 2013

Remembering Roger Ebert

Credit Ethan Miller / Getty Images
Film critic Roger Ebert, seen here in 2009, died Thursday.

Originally published on Fri April 5, 2013 9:37 am

Monkey See
10:43 am
Thu April 4, 2013

Putting Late Night In Perspective: Under The Massive Boot Of Judge Judy

Credit Damian Dovarganes / AP
Judge Judy Sheindlin, seen here in 2006, presides over a case as bailiff Petri Hawkins Byrd listens.

Originally published on Thu April 4, 2013 2:36 pm

While we go on about the Johnnys, Jimmys, Daves, Jays, Conans, and additional Jimmys of the late-night wars, where was Joe? Specifically, where was the enormous media coverage of the end of Judge Joe Brown?

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Monkey See
8:21 am
Thu April 4, 2013

'Arrested Development' Comes Back On Netflix On May 26, So Get Extra Sleep Now

Credit AP
Jeffrey Tambor, left, and Jason Bateman appear in a scene from the comedy Arrested Development, which returns with new episodes on Netflix on May 26.

Netflix has announced that the new "anthology" season of Arrested Development will arrive — all 15 episodes at once — on May 26. The show, which ran on Fox from 2003 to 2006 and won an Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series, will bring back its entire cast, including Jason Bateman, Will Arnett, Jeffrey Tambor, Michael Cera, David Cross, and many, many more.

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