Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 1420 days ago

Star Wars According to a Three Year Old

By James Poniewozik

The title pretty much says it all. If you’ve already seen it, move along. If it sounds a little too cute for you, move along. But Star Wars—as interpreted and reimagined by two children who know the story only from a Lego videogame—has been such a part of the Tuned In household in recent months [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 1420 days ago

The Morning After: How I Met the Mother of Your Much Older Half-Sister?

By James Poniewozik

Ted and Stella get intimate. / MONTY BRINTON/CBS We’ve already established that all it takes to make me go gaga is to put a Big Star song on the soundtrack of your TV show. But I’m pretty sure that even if the beautiful “Thirteen” had not been playing over Ted and Stella’s two-minute date, the [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 1421 days ago

TV Tonight: Paris, Je, Like, T'aime

By James Poniewozik

Britney, Shmitney: the real stars of MTV are returning to your TV tonight, as The Hills comes back, and we discover that Lauren’s voyage to Paris is not all baguettes and pamplemousse: The best part of that clip, as in most Hills episodes, is not the action (Lauren hearing that Brody is catting around) but [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 1421 days ago

Saving HIMYM By Saving Britney

By James Poniewozik

First Britney Spears was the subject of a surprisingly (if grotesquely) sympathetic South Park episode last week. Now tonight she takes a much-hyped role on How I Met Your Mother. Ideally, the appearance gives Britney some flattering screen time, on a show that’s not speculating as to what substances she’s ingesting or how she’s raising [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+News Media | 1421 days ago

Fox News' Obama Problem

By James Poniewozik

I’ve been watching an inordinate amount of Fox News lately for an upcoming column, and Friday there was a bizarre incident in the saga of The Great Fox Jeremiah Wright Pile-On of 2008. Fox and Friends had Fox Sunday host Chris Wallace on as a guest, and Wallace began his segment by giving the hosts [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 1421 days ago

The Morning After: Supply and Demand

By James Poniewozik

Regular readers of Tuned In know that I am not a big follower of sports, but I am given to understand that it is the NCAA basketball tournament, which means that fans across the nation are dropping everything to watch as talented young men in short pants hurl the basketball at the basketball ring. I [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+1424 days ago

Buy Peanuts Futures

By James Poniewozik

CBS has canceled Jericho, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Tuesday’s season finale will also be the series finale. Expect fans to rail, gnash their teeth and organize protest, but given the lower ratings than last season and CBS’s pretty clear statements that season 2 would have to draw more fans for the show to survive, [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+1424 days ago

Dead Tree Alert: John Adams, Ready to Fight the British on Day One

By James Poniewozik

Paul Giamatti as Adams, with Tom Wilkinson as Benjamin Franklin (foreground). / GETTY It’s looking like a light posting day, partly because I’m on a deadline, partly because Good EidFridayPurim has made this a Bring the Tuned In Jrs. to Work Day. In the meantime, I invite you to entertain yourselves by reading something you [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+1424 days ago

Lostwatch: No Man Is an Island

By James Poniewozik

Michael gets an adorable little note from his boss. / ABC: MARIO PEREZ SPOILER ALERT: Before you read this post, unpack the crate in your room, open the suitcase inside, press the red button and watch Lost. So we found out what Michael is doing on the boat and who got him there, but, as [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+1425 days ago

Happy/Unhappy Lost Day!

By James Poniewozik

Tonight on Lost, we will purportedly learn more about Michael, and as teased by the ABC promo department, Someone! Will! Die! (Doc Jensen speculates as to who; feel free to add your guesses.) And then the show goes on a strike-forced hiatus for a month. While we wait for new episodes, I suspect that a [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+1425 days ago

What's the Best Reality TV Elimination Ceremony?

By James Poniewozik

Today’s Tuned In poll idea comes courtesy of time.com editor Josh Tyrangiel, and it’s appropriate for the morning after American Idol, Top Chef and Survivor. The headline says it all: Which reality show does the best job of kicking participants off and why? Just in some of reality’s most popular shows, there are a wide [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 1425 days ago

DIY Top Chef Watch

By James Poniewozik

Zoi and Jennifer. / Bravo Photo: Chuck Hodes Top Chef: Chicago is still sitting in my TiVo menu like a frozen dinner. In the meantime, feel free to leave your spoilery thoughts in the comments. Next week, I understand we’ll be seeing guest chef Rick Bayless, of Chicago’s upscale Mexican eateries Frontera Grill and Topolobampo. [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 1425 days ago

The Morning After: Down to Ten

By James Poniewozik

Brief, spoilery thoughts on last night’s American Idol elimination coming up… after the break!

Tuned In
Tuned In+1426 days ago

In Treatment Watch: Like Father, Like Son

By James Poniewozik

Blair Underwood as Alex. / HBO photo: Claudette Barius SPOILER ALERT: The three of you who are still watching In Treatment should make sure you’re caught up on the show before you start watching… …unlike me. Because I don’t have a half-hour every night to give to In Treatment, and because HBO has sent me [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 1426 days ago

Oh No, She Dih-n't. Oh NO, She DIH-n't! Tina Fey Takes on Jon Stewart

By James Poniewozik

Forget Hillary vs. Barack. This potential schism in the world of liberal-leaning comedy has true potential to turn neighbor against neighbor. From a Tina Fey interview in Readers Digest (via whatever Huffington Post staffer has the job of reading Readers Digest): RD: What pleases you more, applause or laughter? Fey: Laughter. You can prompt applause [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 1426 days ago

The Morning After: DIY Riches Watch

By James Poniewozik

At some point in its abbreviated season, I may start doing a full-on Riches Watch, but for now I’m going to have to file that under Things I’ll Do Sometime When They Invent A 48-Hour Day. In the meantime, I know there’s some interest in The Riches in Tuned Inland, so I’m throwing this thread [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 1426 days ago

YouTube: Dumbing Us Down or Smartening Us Up?

By James Poniewozik

As of 9 this morning, the number-one most-watched video of the day on YouTube has been Barack Obama’s speech on race, which at that point had generated just about a million views in less than 24 hours. Let me rephrase that. Nearly a million views for a 37-minute political speech not involving a woman singing [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 1426 days ago

Idol Watch: Help!

By James Poniewozik

Amanda drawls out Back in the U.S.S.R. / F Micelotta / Getty Images for Fox My reviews of More Beatles Night on American Idol are up. Who’s going home tonight? Who couldn’t be going home? It was not the most fab of evenings, with weak performances from some of my usual favorites (Brooke, Jason), expectedly [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 1427 days ago

TV Tonight: The Riches

By James Poniewozik

Driver and Izzard con again. / FX One of my favorite shows of 2007, The Riches, returns to FX tonight. (Nutshell for nonviewers: family of Irish-traveler con artists comes upon a man killed in a car wreck on the way to his new house, assumes the identity of him and his “family” and moves to [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+1427 days ago

HBO's Road Not Traveled

By James Poniewozik

With your most critically acclaimed drama just having gone off the air, the writers’ strike having choked up the pipeline for new material, and the competition ready to debut a number of new and returning shows, you’d think you’d be anxious to get some new shows—any new shows—on the air. Not if you’re HBO, apparently. [...]