Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 1045 days ago

The Morning After: Bela-Ted

By James Poniewozik

  I never reviewed ABC’s new comedy Better Off Ted, it being a casualty of a busy week. Created by Victor Fresco (Andy Richter Controls the Universe) and set in the vaguely sinister R&D department of a megacorporation, it continues this TV season’s theme of abused science (Dollhouse, Fringe, Eleventh Hour) in the form of [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 1045 days ago

Idol Watch: The Singer Not the Song

By James Poniewozik

Spoilers for last night’s American Idol elimination coming up after the jump:

Tuned In
Tuned In+1045 days ago

Lostwatch: There's a New Sheriff in Town

By James Poniewozik

SPOILER ALERT: Before you read this post, turn off The Muppet Show on your monitor and watch Lost.   

Tuned In
Tuned In+1046 days ago

Corporate Press Release Theater: I Got No Time for the Corner Boys…

By James Poniewozik

Is Bravo’s Real Housewives franchise more expandable than CSI? We’ll find out soon as, per the release appearing after the jump, The Real Housewives of New Jersey debuts in May: 

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 1046 days ago

Idol Predictions: The Tuned In Index

By James Poniewozik

One advantage of moving the American Idol weekly reviews to the blog here, as opposed to putting them elsewhere on time.com, is that I get to see the traffic generated by each individual singer’s review. Which led me to wonder: Does a singer’s Tuned In traffic correspond to his or her voting rank? Can Tuned [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+1046 days ago

TV Critic Exposes His Twitter in Public

By James Poniewozik

A little over a week ago, I opened a Twitter account (1) to follow other writers I know who post there, (2) because learning to write in 140-character tweets is much-needed discipline for me, and (3) so that I could someday write the above headline.  I resisted joining Twitter for a while, mainly because, as [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+1046 days ago

Lost Discussion Group: Spirit of '77

By James Poniewozik

Namaste! Lost returns from its halftime break—hope you had time to make a sandwich and hit the bathroom—with tonight’s episode, titled “Namaste,” which promises to be quite Dharma-heavy again. To kick off the pregame discussion, let’s talk about the impact of having so much of the story now set (seemingly for the duration, but you [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 1046 days ago

Idol Predix Thread

By James Poniewozik

My Idol reviews are online, directly below, in that post that looks like the American Idol Season 8  Commemorative Stamp Collection. Because it seems ungainly to throw a roundup and predictions into the same post, I thought I’d give my predictions for tonight here: I have no idea.  Well, not no idea. If forced to [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 1046 days ago

Judging American Idol: The Final 11

By James Poniewozik

Click on the photos for reviews. Read Last Week’s Review of the American Idol Final 13

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 1047 days ago

Happy Belated St. Patrick's Day!

By James Poniewozik

Someday, the kindly folks who run the time.com blogs will enable me to embed videos from Hulu. Until then, from Lisa Simpson and I… Sláinte.

Tuned In
Tuned In+1047 days ago

Corporate Press Release Theater: HGTV Hunkers Down

By James Poniewozik

Although the bursting of the housing bubble hasn’t kept me from watching marathons of House Hunters episodes, these and other real-estate shows—with anxious buyers rushing to stretch their budgets and pull the trigger on houses—increasingly seem like remnants of a lost, prosperous time, artifacts of some ancient civilization dug from the rubble of a foreclosed [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 1047 days ago

Barack Obama: The Series!

By James Poniewozik

In an effort to buck up the national mood and sell his economic plans, President Obama is considering a series of ten-minute addresses on TV, reports Slate’s John Dickerson. (The White House offered few details, but I would have to guess they’re talking about primetime.) A few thoughts:  * Obama has gotten attention for using [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 1047 days ago

Morning Roundup

By James Poniewozik

Have miscellaneous bidness to attend to this morning, so chew on these info-nuggets in the meantime:    * David Chase is making a miniseries for HBO about the history of the film industry in the twentieth century. The final night will be a two-hour silent blank screen.  * The ratings are in, and Kings got its [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 1047 days ago

HIMYM Watch: Fictions of Lily

By James Poniewozik

Spoilers for How I Met Your Mother coming up after the jump:

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 1048 days ago

O, Jay: Obama to Appear on Tonight Show

By James Poniewozik

When you’ve got a book to plug or a movie to shill, you go on the Tonight Show. Also, it appears, if you’ve got legislation to move, and economic plan to sell, and an electorate that needs a pep talk. Thus Barack Obama will take the unusual step of going on with Jay Leno as [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Remembrance | 1048 days ago

Ron Silver Dies at 62

By James Poniewozik

Ron Silver, an actor as well known for his off-stage activism as his on-stage work, has died of esophageal cancer. While I didn’t particularly follow Silver’s political work (he was active in liberal causes but endorsed George W. Bush for re-election in 2004), as an actor on TV (and film and theater), he was distinguished [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 1048 days ago

Big Love Watch: Nearer My God to Thee

By James Poniewozik

Before you read this post, steal your Mom’s Hummer and race home to watch last night’s episode of Big Love.

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 1048 days ago

The Morning After: Royal Debut

By James Poniewozik

  Last night was the two-hour debut of NBC’s Kings. For my review of the series–sometimes powerful and poetic, sometimes plodding and preposterous–see here; but since I suspect the show drew a lot of Tuned Inlander curiosity, I’m curious to hear what you thought. Long may it reign, or off with its head?