Ken Tucker’s Pop Culture

Just so you hear it straight from me, I’m leaving New York Magazine and returning to Entertainment Weekly, starting as of Jan. 1st. My new title is “Editor-At-Large.” I’ll be writing for the News & Notes section, for ew.com, and will be the magazine’s DVD critic. I’ll also do some editing in various places in the magazine.
Contrary to an item in Women’s Wear Daily, I’m not leaving New York Magazine because I’m “tired of the commute” from Philadelphia to NYC: Silly, I’ve commuted to NYC since 1990, when EW was first launched, and I will continue to do so. Amtrak is my (increasingly expensive) friend, my office on the tracks.
My parting with New York Magazine is completely amicable; editor Adam Moss is one of the most intelligent, kind, quick-witted people I’ve ever worked with. I just wanted to do a wider range of things than write solely about movies, which the EW job will permit me to do.
Also, another bit of news: My book “Kissing Bill O’Reilly, Roasting Miss Piggy: 100 Things to Love & Hate About TV” is coming out in paperback from St. Martin’s Press in February; check it out.
Finally, I’m hoping the next phase of the ol’ career here will jump-start more entries on this blog, especially entries about TV.
Let me immediately say that you should mark this date on your calendars and program your TiVos and DVRs: On Dec. 21 at 8 p.m., Turner Classic Movies will premiere a fantastic documentary called “Budd Boetticher: A Man Can Do That,” about the great, underrated director. From 1957 to 1960, Boetticher directed a string of superlative low-budget Westerns starring Randolph Scott that are models of cowboy noir under the hot desert sun, terse fables of loyalty and treachery that everyone should see. This documentary, written and produced by the exemplary film critic Dave Kehr, is the best examination of Boetticher’s work to date. Do not miss it.