Tuned In
Tuned In+News Media | 1403 days ago

Report: CNN, CBS Seek Innovative, Exciting New Ways to Lay Off Journalists

By James Poniewozik

So over here you’ve got CNN, which has a big international newsgathering organization, but whose corporate daddy (and mine), Time Warner, is like, too totally cheap to buy it a sibling broadcast network, like all the other kids have, which is, like, totally unfair. And over here, you have CBS, the network that has a [...]

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Tuned In+Uncategorized | 1403 days ago

The Morning After: Now I've Seen Everything

By James Poniewozik

Yamaguchi: skating without the blades and the triple lutz. / ABC “Now I’ve seen everything.” You say that, every now and again, right, but of course it’s a joke, since if you fiddle with the random premutations enough there are always things you haven’t seen. An elephant in a cocktail dress playing Scrabble, for instance. [...]

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Tuned In+Uncategorized | 1403 days ago

Corporate Press Release Theater: Project Runway to… Lifetime?

By James Poniewozik

It’s out! / BRAVO Well, I wasn’t expecting this one. Project Runway—not the reruns, mind you, the actual series—is moving from Bravo to Lifetime. Yes, that Lifetime. The one with Army Wives and the Nora Roberts movies. Excerpts from the Weinstein Company press release and a few thoughts after the jump:

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 1404 days ago

Post-Strike Return Watch: Samantha Who?

By James Poniewozik

Kiele Sanchez on tonight’s episode of Expose Samantha Who? / ABC The show: Samantha Who? Returns: Tonight, ABC, 9:32 p.m. E.T. Episode description: “‘The Girlfriend’ – Samantha is forced to move back into the apartment when she discovers that she could be evicted for subletting it to Todd – who has just invited his new [...]

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Tuned In+Uncategorized | 1404 days ago

How Can FNL Fans Save Jericho?

By James Poniewozik

Answer: by getting DirecTV, at least in a roundabout way. According to today’s New York Times, the deal by which NBC got the satellite provider to pony up for a third season of Friday Night Lights could be a model for saving other shows with small but passionate followings—if it succeeds. Says the NYT’s Brian [...]

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Tuned In+Uncategorized | 1404 days ago

SNL's Document Dump

By James Poniewozik

The Democratic primary returned to SNL’s cold-open slot after a few weeks’ absence this weekend: * The Clinton campaign released the couple’s tax returns late Friday afternoon, which means they had to throw this sketch together quickly. So I can only imagine how lousy the skit it replaced must have been. After a few weeks [...]

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Tuned In+Uncategorized | 1404 days ago

BSG Watch: Dueling Prophets

By James Poniewozik

It’s always the ones you least expect. Except when it’s not. / SCI FI Channel Photo: Carole Segal SPOILER ALERT: Before you read this edition of BSG Watch, visit your shrine to the One True God—otherwise known as your TV—and watch Friday’s Battlestar Galactica.

Tuned In
Tuned In+1407 days ago

JPTV: What I'm Appearing on This Weekend

By James Poniewozik

I’m scheduled to be on CNN’s Reliable Sources this Sunday, talking about the election and cable news (or something like that) with Eric Deggans of the St. Petersburg Times. The show airs live from 10 to 11 a.m. E.T.; I’ll probably be on somewhere around the half-hour. I’m currently nursing a head cold, so I [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+1407 days ago

TV Weekend: She's Back!

By James Poniewozik

Humanity’s salvation, or a set-up? / SCI FI Channel Photo: Carole Segal In another thread yesterday, someone asked why I hadn’t posted more on the return (tonight) of Battlestar Galactica. I’ve seen the premiere episode and reviewed it, briefly, in this week’s Time… Battlestar Galactica Sci Fi; Fridays, 10 p.m. E.T. Company’s coming! Starbuck (Katee [...]

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Tuned In+Uncategorized | 1407 days ago

Clinton on Leno

By James Poniewozik

Hillary Clinton got the first big boost out of her appearance on the Tonight show with Jay Leno before she even opened her mouth: the in-show band played her on with the theme from Rocky, which she’s taken on as her talisman as she’s campaigned in Pennsylvania. The video, and a few thoughts, after the [...]

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Tuned In+Uncategorized | 1407 days ago

The Morning After: His Name Is Still Earl

By James Poniewozik

Lee in sitcomland with guest star Alyssa Milano. / NBC Photo: Chris Haston My Name Is Earl returned from its strike coma last night with the title star (Jason Lee) going into a coma of his own and experiencing a Kevin Finnerty moment, imagining himself as a sitcom dad marrieed to guest star Alyssa Milano. [...]

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Tuned In+1408 days ago

Who's the Best Reality-TV Judge?

By James Poniewozik

I’m on deadline today, so here’s another post that mainly involves you writing stuff instead of me. In our American Idol threads this week, there’s been some debate about whether Simon Cowell is an ass or a useful honest critic. As a professional critic, my view is: there’s no reason you can’t be both! Seriously, [...]

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Tuned In+1408 days ago

Lost Discussion Group: Charles in Charge

By James Poniewozik

Submitted for your consideration this Lost Discussion Group Thursday: Charles Widmore, who we’ve discovered in the first part of season 4 is going to play a significant role in the series going forward. Very significant, it looks like. Yet we really know very little about him, beyond his role in Desmond’s life, and his brand [...]

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Tuned In+Uncategorized | 1408 days ago

The Morning After: Fallen Idol Edition

By James Poniewozik

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

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Tuned In+1408 days ago

NBC: 30 Rock to Become a Documentary

By James Poniewozik

Not the high-school yearbook photo of NBC’s Ben Silverman. / NBC Well, not exactly. But in its fall schedule pitch for advertisers (repeated for reporters in Manhattan this afternoon), the front-and-center message from NBC’s execs could more or less have come out of the mouth of Jack Donaghy: Advertisers, we will pretty much do whatever [...]

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Tuned In+Uncategorized | 1408 days ago

FNL Returns Next Fall! Or Winter! It Depends!

By James Poniewozik

I just got back from NBC’s 2008–09 schedule announcement—what was once a lavish theatrical extravanganza in May and is now Ben Silverman in front of a PowerPoint in a conference room in April—but I wanted to rush out the most important bit of news for Tuned Inlanders. As previously reported, NBC has in fact worked [...]

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Tuned In+Music | 1409 days ago

Corporate Press Release Theater: Elvis Costello to Dance About Architecture

By James Poniewozik

Not exactly, but the singer/songwriter once used that simile to say what a pointless exercise writing about music was. Apparently, however, that doesn’t apply to talking about music, as he is about to demonstrate in a new show for Sundance channel:

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Tuned In+Uncategorized | 1409 days ago

Hey, I Like to Watch My Swim Trunks Inflate!

By James Poniewozik

Each of the major candidates this season has his or her own pop-culture surrogates or inspirations: Hillary Clinton has Tina Fey, Barack Obama has Will.i.am. Last night, John McCain appeared on David Letterman, and it would appear that the Republican Party is about to nominate… Don Rickles. A clip of C.P.O. Sharkey’s performance appears after [...]

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Tuned In+1409 days ago

Unwanted Programming Advice: An HBO Teen Show

By James Poniewozik

Unwanted Programming Advice is an occasional series in which I offer crackpot suggestions that, if heeded, would save—or destroy—TV networks. Last week, I advised History channel to get into the scripted-series business. Today: why HBO (or Showtime) should make a teen drama.

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Tuned In+Uncategorized | 1409 days ago

The Morning After: Hooray for Dollywood

By James Poniewozik

Could Brooke get a bottom-three scare this week?. / Frank Micelotta / FOX My morning-after American Idol reviews are posted now at time.com. [Yes, I know, for some reason they were posted with photos from last week's show. I'm working on it, if by "working" you mean "I just sent an e-mail to time.com's photo [...]