A year or so ago, I traded e-mails with my fellow time.com blogger Lisa Cullen, of Work in Progress. I don’t remember the original subject, but she asked, in her usual overly modest style, whether there were all that many people you could interest in reading a blog about work, as opposed to, say, politics. [...]

When I saw that the cable guy who arrived to service the Cablecards in my TiVo was carrying a souped-up iPhone that he had custom-hacked himself, I knew everything would be all right. (To recap: I’d been without cable service since Friday, when my HD TiVo died; follow the long boring story backwards from here.) [...]

In lieu of my Tuned In column this week, I have a piece accompanying Bill Saporito’s cover story on the auto industry. As Time’s resident Michigan native (well, one of a few), I wrote what I might think of as the second in my Bob Seger series—looking at what it does to the culture of [...]

For those of you who missed it, Time.com honcho, music critic and occasional Guitar Hero band member Josh Tyrangiel has a review of last night’s Grammy nominations spectacle on CBS. Your thoughts on the show, the noms—or Katee Sackhoff’s guest turn on Law & Order—welcomed. Was it an honor just to watch the nominations?

  My TiVo may be on life support, but the DVD player still works, and midseason TV is starting to come in fast and furious. Among the screeners I’ve received is a little show by some guy who did something about vampires once. You don’t want to hear anything about it yet, do you? I [...]

My replacement TiVo finally arrived Tuesday night, with promises that getting it running would be as simple as popping out the Cablecards from the old box, putting them in the new one and re-setting up the box.  I knew it wasn’t going to be that easy, and I was right. I installed the Cablecards at [...]

And rounding out the day, NBC has announced its midseason schedule. On Feb. 1, there will be an hourlong edition of The Office, preceded by a large football game. There will be a two-hour Celebrity Apprentice, which presumably will occasionally air “supersized” four-hour episodes and a special 24-hour-long live finale. The Untitled Amy Poehler Project [...]

I had promised to post CBS’s midseason announcement earlier. I was delayed, however, by having spent Two. Damn. Hours. on the phone / on hold with TiVo and Time Warner Cable regarding my still-not-functioning TiVo and HD-cable box. (I know you don’t want to know any more about my TiVo troubles. I know it’s boring. [...]

Tonight Sundance debuts Elvis Costello’s interview series, Spectacle. (Actually, the somewhat ungainly Spectacle: Elvis Costello with…) I reviewed it briefly in the print Time thus:  It’s not just the glasses–Elvis Costello really is that smart. On this Sundance Channel Q&A series, the singer, showman and wit talks pop-music history with Elton John, jazz with Bill [...]

Apropos ABC’s remake of Cupid, joethefinancier writes: On one hand, I’m glad that Cupid is getting a second chance, on the other hand, I’m almost positive that this version is going to be the Knightrider remake all over again. Bobby Cannavale is NO Jeremy Piven, and I will have to reserve my opinion on Sarah [...]

We might as well declare today Midseason Day, what with the announcements from ABC, CBS (which I’ll post shortly) and, here, The CW, which is bringing back Reaper in March and debuting reality series 13—Fear Is Real, in which “13 people compete to ‘stay alive’ while facing their deepest fears in an all-out elimination competition [...]

Last night, my replacement TiVo box / cable box / lifeline to the outside world arrived. This morning I commenced setting it up, a process that has so far involved several calls to TiVo tech support, being instructed by one tech support guy to undo all the steps I was instructed to take by the [...]

ABC announced some as-long-as-there’s-please-God-no-SAG-strike midseason premiere dates yesterday. Among the highlights: The remake of Rob Thomas’ Cupid, which was a highly praised flameout with Jeremy Piven in the 1998-99 season; Castle, in which Nathan Fillion is a mystery novelist who solves crimes (imagined scene at pitch meeting: “Get me a young male Angela Lansbury!”); and [...]

Via Maureen Ryan’s The Watcher blog (and in turn via a couple other sources) comes word that Sci Fi has officially greenlighted the BSG prequel, Caprica. Galactica fans may proceed to jubilate, or worry, as is their preference. The new series—a clash between powerful families, set before the Cylon attack—seems sufficiently different from BSG that [...]

What is this “television” you speak of? Having gone four days now with my TiVo / HD cable box on the fritz, I feel like a new man! I have entered the post-television age! I’ve streamed my news online. I’ve watched Stephen Colbert, from his pre-liberal-icon days, in Strangers with Candy reruns on my iPhone, via [...]

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Bruno Heller, creator of HBO’s Rome (and now The Mentalist) wants to cap off the prematurely cancelled show with a final movie.  Necessary? Desired? I’d rather see the Deadwood movies, but no one’s putting that option on the table. Rome, on the other hand, did achieve closure after its own [...]

How did the people at Joost know that today was both iPhone App Day and My TiVo Is Dead Day at Tuned In? However they managed it, it was today that the online-video site launched an app for the iPhone and iPod Touch. That Survivor episode that perished with my TiVo? They got me covered. [...]