Tuned In
Tuned In+1414 days ago

Strike II: Revenge of the Actors?

By James Poniewozik

Are we going to need to revive the Tuned In Strike Watch? Just as we’re seeing scripted TV return to air after the writers’ strike, there are some ominous rumblings regarding the actors’ contract, which comes up in June. This weekend, the American Federation of Televison and Radio Artists effectively split up with the Screen [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+News Media | 1414 days ago

In Which I Admit That Bill O'Reilly Is Right

By James Poniewozik

In my column about Fox News last week, I referenced a controversy last month in which “Bill O’Reilly caught flak for using the phrase ‘lynching party’ in a critique of Michelle Obama.” A producer for The O’Reilly Factor wrote to complain that my wording—specifically, the word “critique”—misrepresented O’Reilly, because he wasn’t critiquing her when he [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Movies | 1414 days ago

Generation Kill: Are You Ready to Iraq?

By James Poniewozik

That screening I mentioned having attended last week, by the way? Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay. It was a non-critics’ screening, so I’m going to behave and not “review” it here. (One thing: Neal Patrick Harris + unicorn!) But I will venture a prediction. Whether you love its brand of pot humor or [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 1414 days ago

Something to Hold On To: Will You Miss Your Discs and Tapes?

By James Poniewozik

David Carr, damn him, has beaten me to writing about something I’d been thinking about for a while: the gradual disappearance of DVDs, CDs and sundry other physical artifacts that exist only to store media. With the spread of broadband, downloading, on-demand and other straight-to-you applications, the idea of buying an actual artifact to take [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 1414 days ago

The Morning After: Premium Edition

By James Poniewozik

Blogging may be a little light today, so in the meantime I’m going to post this open thread for you to comment on whatever presents itself: which, this weekend, it would seem is mainly pay-cable programming. Weigh in on the debut of Tracey Ullman’s State of the Union, the return of The Tudors, episode 4 [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 1417 days ago

TV Weekend: Tracey and Henry

By James Poniewozik

Ullman’s Bollywood pharmacist. / Cliff Lipson/Showtime While HBO looks for shows to fill up its schedule, Showtime has two premieres this weekend. First, season 2 of The Tudors begins, and I don’t have much different to say about it than I did when it debuted. The tumult of Henry VIII’s reign, especially the schism between [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+1417 days ago

Corporate Press Release Theater: NBC to Pummel Own Dignity in Steel Cage

By James Poniewozik

This one speaks for itself: NBC TO PREMIERE NEW ADRENALINE-FILLED MIXED MARTIAL ARTS CAGE FIGHT SERIES ‘STRIKEFORCE ON NBC’ APRIL 12 BURBANK — March 27, 2008 — In a major step for the fastest-growing sport around the globe, NBC has partnered with world championship promotion company Strikeforce to be the first to premiere a weekly [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 1417 days ago

The Morning After, After: Belated Top Chef Watch

By James Poniewozik

Stephanie’s deep-fried delight. / Bravo Photo: Chuck Hodes SPOILER ALERT: Though you’ve had 36 hours to watch it, I’m still saving my (very brief) Top Chef thoughts for after the jump.

Tuned In
Tuned In+1417 days ago

Dead Tree Alert: Is Fox News a Lame Duck?

By James Poniewozik

In the print edition of TIME this week, my column looks at Fox News, which became the top cable news channel almost exactly concurrent with the first Bush inauguration, and now needs to figure out what it’s going to be come 2009: Fox is still the top-rated news channel, but there are signs it’s plateauing. [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 1418 days ago

Obama's Pre-View

By James Poniewozik

If you can’t wait for the most important interview of the 2008 election—Barack Obama, tomorrow morning on The View—preview clips have been posted on abc.com. In the three snippets, he (very briefly) discusses Rev. Jeremiah Wright, how to handle campaign attacks, and his distant relation, Brad Pitt. Not much news for politics junkies—well, I didn’t [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+1418 days ago

Lost Discussion Group: The Oceanic NOT-Six

By James Poniewozik

Today is the first of a month of Lostless Thursdays, so let’s reconvene the LDG for a spring session. As always, tangents and digressions in the comments are encouraged, since they usually raise better questions than what I come up with. The other day I was jawboning with TIME’s John “The Contrarian” Cloud about whether [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 1418 days ago

Report: FNL Coming Back!*

By James Poniewozik

*And now, the asterisk: it’s not actually an official announcement yet. But TV critic David Bianculli (formerly of the New York Daily News, presently of NPR’s Fresh Air) says that Kyle Chandler has told him in an interview that Friday Night Lights is all but certain to return for a third season. (Link thanks to [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 1418 days ago

The Morning After: Idol Watch Edition

By James Poniewozik

Spoilers for last night’s American Idol elimination coming up… after the break!

Tuned In
Tuned In+1419 days ago

TV Tonight: Closing Sessions

By James Poniewozik

10.0s across the board: Wasikowska as gymnast Sophie finishes up Treatment. / HBO: Claudette Barius The last (abbreviated) week of HBO’s In Treatment begins tonight. As much as I’ve knocked HBO around for its programming screwiness lately, this series (much like Tell Me You Love Me) was a prime example of why I’m glad the [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 1419 days ago

Unwanted Programming Advice: Making Up History

By James Poniewozik

This is the first, and possibly last, installment of Unwanted Programming Advice, in which Tuned In attempts to tell TV networks what they should be putting on the air. This morning, in reviewing the series finale of Jericho, I joked that the show should be revived on the History Channel. But was it a joke, [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 1419 days ago

Jericho Watch: A Little Bang, A Little Whimper

By James Poniewozik

So long, and thanks for all the peanuts. / Michael Desmond/CBS SPOILER ALERT: Before you read this post, rush home in a stolen ambulance and watch the series finale of Jericho.

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 1419 days ago

The Morning After: You Say It's Your Birth Year

By James Poniewozik

Brooke White takes a Breath. / F Micelotta / American Idol 2008 / Getty Images for Fox My reviews of American Idol‘s Songs from the Year You Were Born week are up now at time.com. Mrs. Tuned In made a good point during last night’s show that didn’t fit into my capsule writeups: why does [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 1420 days ago

American Alterna-Idol

By James Poniewozik

American Idol airs tonight, but it’s a little known fact that, contrary to popular belief, you are not required by Federal law to watch it. Supposing you don’t actually find David Archuleta cuter than Hello Kitty in a field of unicorns. Supposing you’re tired of listening to the hypertrophied lungs of professional amateurs try to [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 1420 days ago

Maureen Ryan Works So I Don't Have To

By James Poniewozik

The Chicago Tribune’s TV critic has put together this very useful list of when network TV series are returning post-strike. Here’s a fun game to play! Look down the list and see how many of them you’re actually anxious to see again! Me, I have April 10 circled on my calendar, and… and… still looking… [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+1420 days ago

Pay-Cable Whore-Off!

By James Poniewozik

Well, I’ve been waiting my entire career to be able to use that headline, so I guess I can retire now. It’s been great knowing you. So: This summer Showtime is debuting Secret Diary of a Call Girl, a British production based on a memoir, which promises to be like Sex and the City, except [...]