Tuned In
Tuned In+866 days ago

It's Jay Day: Will Jayrun, Jaywalk, or Jaybomb?

By James Poniewozik

The Jay Leno Show debuts tonight at 10, and with it begins the biggest gamble in TV in years. In my cover story, I said he and his show would represent the (downsized, cheaper) future of TV whether it succeeded or failed.* Which is just as well, because I absolutely suck at predicting whether anything [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 866 days ago

American Civility's Loss, Jay Leno's Gain

By James Poniewozik

It all comes back around to Jay Leno today. It doesn’t take a journalism degree to realize that this week public outbursts achieved the Rule of Threes, making them an official trend. Joe Wilson yelled “You lie!” at President Obama; Serena Williams had a foot-fault freakout at the U.S. Open; and last night at MTV’s [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 866 days ago

Mad Men Watch: I'll See You In My Dreams

By James Poniewozik

SPOILER ALERT: Before you read this post, make a plate of hash and eggs, open a bottle of Johnnie Walker Red, and watch last night’s Mad Men.

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 866 days ago

The Morning After: Hot Shot

By James Poniewozik

So we’ve developed a mini-ritual of watching a little of the U.S. Open with the Tuned In Jrs. before bed. Last night, we started watching the beginning of the Federer match on TiVo. Meanwhile, I checked my Twitter feed, where people were Twittering in real time about Federer having having made an amazing shot at [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+869 days ago

JPTV: My Media Blitz

By James Poniewozik

Unless the producers come to their senses, I will be appearing on CNN’s Reliable Sources Sunday morning, around 10:40 a.m. ET, to talk about Jay Leno and possibly some other media things. And Monday morning I’ll be on the Today show, somewhere in the second hour (I’m told 8:18 a.m. ET, seriously), to talk about [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Remembrance | 869 days ago

Larry Gelbart Dies at Age 81

By James Poniewozik

TV, movie and theater writer Larry Gelbart died today at age 81. The war comedy M*A*S*H was not the sum total of his career—he also wrote for Sid Caesar, wrote the movie Tootsie and the Broadway comedy A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum—but it’s what I’ll remember him for. Because, of [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 869 days ago

TV Weekend: American Dad

By James Poniewozik

This Sunday, Fox’s King of the Hill airs its last two episodes. Year in and year out, for thirteen seasons, it has quietly been the best family comedy on TV, despite being overshadowed for many reasons: because people (and Emmy voters) have a hard time taking a cartoon seriously (compared with the funny but much [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+869 days ago

Don't Tell Me What 9/12 Means, Glenn Beck

By James Poniewozik

Today, you are already aware, is the eighth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Tomorrow, you may or may not be aware, is the date of Glenn Beck’s 9/12 Project, which the Fox News host will be marking with a live-TV event in Washington, and which he announced in March in an effort to bring us [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 869 days ago

The Morning After: Still Sucking It Up

By James Poniewozik

Between Leno duty and returning from vacation, I never got around to reviewing The CW’s The Vampire Diaries, but judging by its premiere last night, I’ll have plenty of time to get around to it. The Kevin Williamson show ended up being The CW’s highest-rated debut ever at 4.8 million viewers, proving there’s still blood [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 869 days ago

My Jay Leno Interview: The Extended DVD Outtakes

By James Poniewozik

I did a long interview with Jay Leno for my cover story on him last week. As usual, a lot of it ended up covering material and going in directions that I just didn’t have a place for in the article. But I hate transcribing interviews for nothing, so you get to read it here! What [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+TV Ratings | 869 days ago

Ratings Roundup: Policy, Harmony, Anarchy

By James Poniewozik

A few bits of ratings news as we start to get warmed up for premiere season: * President Obama’s address to a joint session of Congress drew 32.1 million viewers, up from the 24.5 million his last primetime health care press conference drew (though not not up to the massive audiences he was getting just [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 870 days ago

Meet the New Jay, Same As the Old Jay?

By James Poniewozik

When you write a TIME cover, people tend to react more to the cover than the story itself. So when my Jay Leno story ran with the cover line “the Future of Television,” some people said: What? Which was the idea. Even if you love Leno, he is not the guy you think of when [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+870 days ago

Corporate Press Release Theater: FNL Sets a Date

By James Poniewozik

Riggins-philes, rejoice. At least those of you who have DirecTV, or friends with same. Friday Night Lights returns to the satellite provider Oct. 28 for its fourth season. As for the rest of us, NBC has set no date, though it won’t be before midseason (the talk now is late spring or early summer). Interestingly, [...]

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Tuned In+Advertising | 870 days ago

The Networks Start a New Ratings Service. But It Won't Be CIMM-ple.

By James Poniewozik

A coalition of advertisers and media companies (my corporate master Time Warner included) today announced the name of a planned new ratings service to compete with Nielsen: the Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement, or CIMM. (Not actually sure how the acronym is pronounced, but “simm” works for my headline, so I’m sticking with it for [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 870 days ago

Top Chef Watch: The Impossible (Almost) Happens

By James Poniewozik

Spoilers for last night’s Top Chef, translated from the original French, coming up after the jump.

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 870 days ago

The Morning After: "Lie!" to Me

By James Poniewozik

This is the media world we live in: you can sweat for days over an hourlong speech, and the next morning, some yahoo gets all the attention for barking out two words. “You lie!” shouted Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) at President Obama when the chief executive, addressing a joint session of Congress, said his health [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 871 days ago

What the Ellen? Idol Replaces Paula With DeGeneres

By James Poniewozik

Yep, she’s the 4th judge. Word came tonight that American Idol is reportedly hiring Ellen DeGeneres as the permanent judge to replace Paula Abdul. It seems like a smart decision. Is it the right decision?

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 871 days ago

TV Defeats Literary Criticism

By James Poniewozik

You know that I don’t normally shill other time.com blog posts, because I am a petty, ungenerous little man despised by my coworkers. But this Nerd World post by Matt Selman is pretty awesome: Okay, look, I’m fine with people never watching TV. They’re lying, but I understand. I don’t watch that much TV myself. [...]