OK, we're getting quite, um, rustic here by showing you a recorded preview of The Franchise, the Showtime reality show based on the San Francisco Giants post-World Series win. Sadly, Showtime hasn't released a clearer version on YouTube, which is why you're seeing this alluc.org-esque version of the preview. Sorry, folks. Anyway, check it out: more ›

The following post is from our advertiser, This American Life on Showtime.
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Gearing up for the big New Year's Eve bash, several artists are playing mini-residencies (two or three night stays) this weekend including: Cracker, The Radiators and ALO. If you schedule correctly, you could probably see everything that you want. Though New Year's Eve has some rocking concerts, we are going to cover those shows later in the week. more ›

In Los Angeles, LAist most definitely celebrated Thanksgiving like no other. After all, one has to keep up all the energy to keep on walking the line at the Writers Strike and fighting the unfortunate return of the wildfires in Malibu, which single handedly destroyed over fifty homes within the first 24 hours. National outlets may be covering the fires, but CNN also found it is easier to buy a gun than fruit and veggies in South Central. On the entertainment front, the Red Hot Chili Peppers are suing Showtime over the show titled Californication and Rami Kashou of Project Runway chatted with LAist about his Palestinian heritage and, of course, designing beauty. more ›

Tonight's most exciting season premiere is probably the return of "Dexter" on Showtime at 9 p.m. The show, starring Michael C. Hall as a forensics expert who is also a serial killer (who only kills other serial killers), was both disturbing, funny, and oddly touching last season, and we're curious to see what this season will bring since Dexter has done away with his nemesis. Of course, the revelation of who that nemesis really was has opened up some interesting possibilities. We could take this opportunity to rant about Comcast and their ridiculous pricing schemes, and how getting Showtime would add another 60 bucks a month to our already astronomical cable bill...but we won't. We'll watch the premiere for free on Yahoo! and then rely on the Internets and friends with Showtime to watch the rest of the season. Screw you Comcast! (The premiere of "Brotherhood" follows at 10 p.m.) more ›

This week, Phillyist saw the waters of a landmark fountain run red for a Showtime marketing stunt, the Phils pull ahead, and some serious nostalgia. They also got a chance to review an awesome tribute album, reminded folks to see the King and appreciated their beautiful skyline. more ›

Serialized gem / siren song Tales of the City drew many folks to SF. Well, it brought us here, anyway. And the character of Mary Ann Singleton acted as a temporary stand-in until many of us arrived. To wit: more ›

Londonist are starting to think their city is getting just a little bit too expensive, when even Christian Slater can't afford to go out there. And there's no escaping, as local singer Lily Allen discovered when she was barred entry to the US. The British mapping agency caused further bad karma, by blocking a 3-D representation of London in Google Earth. But the smiles returned to Londonist's faces as they interviewed Baroness von Reichardt, who has completely covered her house in mosaic tiles. more ›

Since we have to lead with anything Journey here at SFist, check out the YouTube clip of the ad for Atari's "Journey Escape" we found on Kotaku. Avoiding (pixelated representations of) crazed fans and manipulative music industry types never looked so fun! Buy it now! If espionage is more your game, then the cloak-and-dagger shenanigans at HP should be up your alley. Even reporters were entangled in the web of lives spun to discredit a board member who once wed John Traina's sloppy seconds ex-wife Danielle Steele. more ›

The New York Times, and the even more trusted Fangoria magazine, are reporting that Showtime has pulled Takashi Miike's short film "Imprint" from its series "Masters of Horror." Instead the episode will be released direct to DVD, although a release date has not been set. more ›

The first ad-supported gay cable channel is set to hit the airwaves today, but most people in San Francisco won't be able to watch it. more ›

Our New Yorker finally made the arduous trek from the Conde Nast building and across the high Sierra mountains to our little hinterlands mailbox, exhausted. We opened it up, and to our shock, it featured our little burg in an article! (Article is not online, of course). The piece is an excerpt from the book "Oh For The Glory Of It All," by Sean Wilsey, a McSweeney's editor. OFTGOIA is a tell-all memoir about Wilsey's mother, San Francisco social butterfly and society columnist Pat Montandon; his evil stepmother and A-lister Dede Wilsey; various shenanigans with his family and the Traina-Steeles'; and his own delinquency. San Francisco socialites are set to be scandalized, with Armistead Maupin saying, "there hasn't been a wicked stepmother like that since Cinderella." Yikes! But what's intriguing to us, firmly ensconced on the San Francisco Z-list -- is that Wilsey confirms that his mother, Ms. Montandon, is the basis for the character of Prue Giroux in Maupin's Tales of the City! No way! Like Prue, Montandon was a daffy society columnist who gets all new-agey, seems a little psychotic, and then goes on a number of vaguely dippy save-the-world crusades, with poor Sean in tow. Anyways, the articles are pretty entertaining (though not entirely in the good way), and worth a read. Though Sean -- geez, love your mom much? Paging Mr. Oedipus Rex, extension 333, paging Mr. Oedipus Rex. Picture of May Kay Place as Prue Giroux in the Showtime Tales of the City movie more ›

Last week, SFist proved we aren't afraid to dig into the scarier side of San Francisco--at least when it's on TV. And this week is no different! more ›

It's come to this. We don't know if it's a failure of the imagination or simply a lack of inspiration, but we're just not getting enough questions to fuel the acerbic wit machine known as the Essefficist. In order to get you all used to pestering the poor man to answer your nagging questions, we are offering two pairs of free tickets to tomorrow's show at Bimbos 365, featuring The Gift of Gab with friends Lateef the Truth Speaker and DJs Reim and D Sharp (we assume Chief Xcel is holed up somewhere working on some phat beats). You can thank Quannum Projects for giving us the tickets to give to you. more ›