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Fox's Upfront: Defenders of Television

  Having gone to upfronts for years now, there’s a certain kind of presentation I’ve gotten used to. Network execs get up on stage and present a battery of statistics and selectively culled ratings to prove to advertisers that their dollar goes farther and their ads reach more people on Network X than any other [...]

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Upfront Press Release Theater: Fox's Sked

Fox just issued its fall schedule; see after the jump for the full release. Some highlights: So You Think You Can Dance becomes a fall show; Glee returns (as expected) in fall; Fringe moves to Thursday. The Cleveland Show, announced a year ago, gives Seth MacFarlane a ninety-minute block on Sundays. Dollhouse stays put (though [...]

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The Morning After: Brazilian Whacks

Brief spoilers for the Survivor: Tocantins finale last night after the jump: 

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Programming Note: Upfronts Week

  I’ll be spending much of the next few days at the network “upfronts,” in which Fox, The CW, ABC and CBS will present their next-season shows to advertisers in hopes of garnering the few remaining advertising dollars. (Cable upfronts have been held on and off over the past several weeks.) In between presentations, I’ll [...]

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Survivor Watch: Enter the Dragon

Quick spoilers for last night’s Survivor coming up after the jump:

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30 Rock / Office / Parks and Rec Watch: How Funny Does Comedy Have to Be?

“A guy crying about a chicken and a baby? I thought this was a comedy show!” It was beautiful, and appropriate, that 30 Rock guest star Alan Alda should deliver that reference to the series finale of M*A*S*H (still the most-watched TV show ever). M*A*S*H was a very funny show, but it also helped establish [...]

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The Morning After: How's It Hangin', Cliff?

While extolling the virtues of online give-and-take with readers, I neglected to mention the most important benefit of it: getting someone else to do your work for you! In this case, hashing over the cliffhanger-y season finale of Grey’s Anatomy. (No spoilers here, but assume there will be in the comments and proceed accordingly.) Assuming [...]

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Leno Invites O'Brien to His Farewell, Before Not Actually Leaving

In a conference call with reporters today, Jay Leno announced that his final on-air guest on The Tonight Show will be his replacement, Conan O’Brien. Leno will welcome O’Brien to the show he will begin hosting June 1—a debut that, of course, has totally been overshadowed by Jay Leno’s staying on to do a 10 [...]

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Obama's Image Problem on Prisoner Abuse

Yesterday President Obama announced that he would oppose the court-ordered release of photos depicting abuse of prisoners by U.S. authorities overseas. As I did when the Bush Administration opposed similar photo releases, or fought the depiction of caskets of war dead returning from Iraq, I believe this is the wrong move. (Among the people who [...]

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WSJ's Social-Networking Twits

One of the issues facing traditional media in the online-media age is not just losing their status as gatekeepers for their readers; it’s how to remain the gatekeepers for their own staff. In other words, when anyone can post anything online, immediately, in chatrooms, blogs, Facebook or Twitter, what limits do you put on your [...]

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Idol Watch: Your Final Two

Brief spoilers for the American Idol elimination after the jump:

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Lostwatch: Everything That Rises Must Converge. Eventually. Right?

  Before you read this post, take a leap to the bottom of the world’s softest mineshaft and watch last night’s season five finale of Lost.

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Corporate Press Release Theater: Party Down Lives!

Clip on your pink bowtie and crack open a bottle of house-brand liquor: Starz’s hilarious Party Down is getting a second season! (However, whether Jane Lynch–now a regular in Fox’s heavily-promoted Glee–will be able to return is still up in the air.) Excerpts from the announcement after the jump:

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Happy Lost Day! We Begin Bombing in…

Namaste, readers. When last we left our castaways, Jack was preparing to detonate a hydrogen bomb on the Island to change the course of time, while Locke, thirty years in the future, planned to kill a supernatural being. Nothing big ever happens on this show.  Encroaching deadlines prevent me from posting much this morning, so [...]

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Fringe Watch: A Different World

Spoilers for the season finale of Fringe coming up after the jump: 

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Judging American Idol: The Final 3

This is what American Idol thinks of you, America: you are a sap. You are maudlin and sentimental and the way to your heart is with a big, sloppy ballad, the more power notes the better. So for the penultimate Idol of season 8—and holy crap, there have been 300 episodes of this show?—judges and [...]

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TV Tonight: Jersey Girls

  If a show like Disney’s JONAS is review-proof, then Bravo’s The Real Housewives of New Jersey may be endorsement-proof: if you don’t like this Bravo franchise, than I probably can’t persuade you to try this installment. But while I don’t much care if I never see another installment of Orange County, Atlanta or even New [...]

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Nonprofit Press Release Theater: PBS's NewsHour Moves Into Future, Past

PBS announced today that it plans to overhaul The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer for the 21st century, by instituting some changes to better coordinate the show’s TV and online presence. It’ll also overhaul the newscast for the 20th century, by again pairing Lehrer with a co-anchor—though this time it’ll be rotating co-anchors, rather than a [...]