Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 1003 days ago

T-Pain to Rock You Like a Cop, Live-Action-Style

By James Poniewozik

  Adult Swim has hit upon the inspired, or perhaps insane, idea of producing a live-action episode of Aqua Teen Hunger Force. I bring you this news mostly for the excuse to run a picture of Frylock—who will be played by rapper T-Pain—atop this blog.  The episode, which airs May 31, features Jon Benjamin as [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 1003 days ago

Disney Gets Hulu Stake, Hulu Gets ABC

By James Poniewozik

Disney announced today that it’s buying a 30% stake in the Fox and NBC online-video venture Hulu, and, more important to you, that means that shows from Disney-owned ABC (Lost, Ugly Betty, et al.) will be available on Hulu. Which leaves CBS as the big-network outsider, putting its own content out on the relatively underwhelming [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+1003 days ago

The TIME 100, The Tuned In Seven or Eight

By James Poniewozik

If my employer is going to go through the trouble of creating an enormous promotional franchise like the TIME 100, I’ll be damned if I’m not going to get at least a blog post out of it.  The list is up. I should say up front that I had little to do with choosing it, [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 1003 days ago

Idol Watch: Daughtry'd?

By James Poniewozik

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

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 1003 days ago

Lostwatch: Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot

By James Poniewozik

  SPOILER ALERT: Before you read this post, make sure you’ve bought a card and made dinner reservations for Mother’s Day. Then watch last night’s Lost.

Tuned In
Tuned In+1004 days ago

Happy Lost Day! What Did Daniel Faraday Know, and When Did He Know It?

By James Poniewozik

While everyone may be abuzz about Obama’s first 100 days today, they pale in significance next to the first 100 episodes of Lost. Number 100, airing tonight—and you may want to pad your recordings in case that press conference runs long—is reputedly Daniel Faraday-centric, presumably picking up from the point where he returned to the [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+News Media | 1004 days ago

Cable News' First 100 Days

By James Poniewozik

Today, of course, news organizations like this one are in overkill mode dissecting President Obama’s first 100 days in office. The broadcast and news networks will all be covering tonight’s Presidential press conference (except Fox network, which will mark Tim Roth’s first 100 days in Lie to Me). While we’re at it, though, we might [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 1004 days ago

The Morning After: That Which Was Not American Idol

By James Poniewozik

I’ll be honest: I watched last night’s Fringe while simultaneously finishing up my American Idol reviews. If there are any references to the Pattern in my assessment of Allison Iraheta, I apologize. To the 33% of my attention I was focusing on it, however, it didn’t seem to need a separate Fringe Watch, so feel [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 1004 days ago

Judging American Idol: The Final 5

By James Poniewozik

It was Songs of the Rat Pack Era tonight on American Idol, so that meant… Jamie Foxx as mentor? Because he played Ray Charles in a movie? Why not Don Cheadle — at least he played Sammy Davis Jr.! Why didn’t they get Joaquin Phoenix for country night? Foxx is at least amusing, delivering some [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+1005 days ago

Corporate Press Release Theater: The 'M' Is for Millennial

By James Poniewozik

MTV, it is glad to remind you, continues to be a brand leader in providing entertainment to the Young People of Today. And as I’ve said before, it is a pretty remarkable accomplishment that the network, since the early ’80s, has constantly reinvented itself to remain relevant—considering that MTV, were it a person, would be [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 1005 days ago

FCC Wins, Somewhat, on Decency Fines

By James Poniewozik

In a 5-4 ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Federal Communications Commission in its lawsuit with Fox network over the FCC’s ability to fine broadcasters over the use of “fleeting” expletives.  I haven’t reviewed the decision firsthand—nor am I a lawyer—but the analysis suggests that the decision, while a win for [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 1005 days ago

HIMYM Watch: Text and Subtext

By James Poniewozik

Spoilers for last night’s How I Met Your Mother coming up after the jump:

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 1005 days ago

The Morning After: Heroes, Welcome?

By James Poniewozik

  I’ll be upfront here and say that I am not in the best position to assess last night’s Heroes finale. (Brief spoilers follow, if you’re concerned about that.) Heroes lost me early on this season, and I checked in on volume four only intermittently. Still, intrigued by having heard that the show was on [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 1005 days ago

Chuck Watch: Domo Arigato

By James Poniewozik

    Spoilers for last night’s Chuck season finale coming up after the jump:

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 1006 days ago

Fox Picks Lie to Me Over Obama Presser

By James Poniewozik

In times past, journalists have complained that Presidents have been too unavailable to take questions from the press. This year, TV broadcast networks have had the opposite complaint—that President Obama’s prime-time addresses have too frequently cut into valuable airtime, costing millions in unrecoverable advertising revenue.  This Wednesday, Obama will give a press conference, marking 100 [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+1006 days ago

A Reminder

By James Poniewozik

To help save Chuck, I went with the Oven-Roasted Chicken footlong. As a TV critic, can I write this sandwich off on my taxes?

Tuned In
Tuned In+1006 days ago

Corporate Press Release Theater: Jon & Kate Plus Eight Times Five

By James Poniewozik

TLC has announced its summer programming, and it looks like there’s no summer vacation in the raising-the-kids-in-public business: scant weeks after season 4 ended, season 5 of Jon & Kate Plus Eight returns on May 25.  In other news, TLC will premiere the new series Cake Boss, which, added to Ace of Cakes on Food [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+1006 days ago

Save Dollhouse! Then Cancel It!

By James Poniewozik

Friday’s Dollhouse was an intriguing one-off idea regarding the uses of the Dollhouse’s technology—a woman using it to literally return from the dead to witness its aftermath. But it was jarring, once the show had switched gears and committed to the ongoing story of the conspiracy and investigation, to return to the active-of-the-week stories. And [...]