Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 789 days ago

Jay Leno a Failure; Also, Jay Leno a Success

By James Poniewozik

Love him or hate him, success or failure, Jay Leno taking over NBC’s 10 p.m. slot is the biggest TV story of the year. And now that he’s been on-air for a couple months, the assessments of his ratings performance have been coming in. On the one hand, Leno’s been the subject of one bad [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+News Media | 789 days ago

The NewsHour to Pick Up the Pace

By James Poniewozik

In other respectable-news news, PBS’ NewsHour with Jim Lehrer–in a move originally planned for September–next month will rename itself The PBS NewsHour, taking the anchor’s name out of the title for the first time and pairing him with a rotation of co-anchors. In the process, the newscast plans a few changes to increase its metabolism, [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+News Media | 789 days ago

Looking for Reasons to Care About Tiger Woods

By James Poniewozik

We in the respectable media are not interested in Tiger Woods’ car crash for prurient reasons. Oh, no. We don’t care about what a celebrity, but a private citizen, may or may not have been doing with his extracurricular time. Nor do we care about the rush of viewers and readers—like you there, who came [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 789 days ago

The Morning After: Holy Trinity!

By James Poniewozik

Quick spoilers for Dexter coming up after the jump:  

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 792 days ago

Reality TV 1, Secret Service 0

By James Poniewozik

Further reinforcing the theory that reality TV participation is replacing surly reclusiveness as the chief warning sign of future acts of bizarre notoriety, the New York Times runs a page-one story today on the couple who crashed a Presidential state dinner—who were, naturally, under consideration as participants in Bravo’s Real Housewives of D.C. The fascinating [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 792 days ago

Modern Family Watch: If You Have a Comb Sheath on Stage in the First Act…

By James Poniewozik

Brief spoilers for Modern Family coming up after the jump:

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 792 days ago

The Morning After: Happy _________ Holiday, Football Fans

By James Poniewozik

As if to prove that gay reality show contestants are not the only people who can offend America on live TV, Denver Broncos coach Josh McDaniels enlivened a Thanksgiving NFL Network broadcast with a certain twelve-letter word on a live mike, yelling at his team to “win a _______ing game!” The network apologized—after all, who [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 793 days ago

Happy Thanksgiving!

By James Poniewozik

Wishing you and yours occasional moments of peace and love this holiday:

Tuned In
Tuned In+794 days ago

Gleeks and Shrieks: Fox Unveils Midseason, Glee Gone Until April

By James Poniewozik

  There’s a new Glee on tonight. Savor it. After Dec. 9, the show is going on hiatus; the intermission was expected, but it’s going to be a long one—no more Glee until April Freaking 13.   That’s quite the hiatus, but in retrospect, debuting the show’s pilot in May and then building anticipation until [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 794 days ago

The Morning After: Universal Health Scare

By James Poniewozik

Spoilers for the fall finale of V coming up after the jump:

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 794 days ago

"I'm Not a Babysitter. I'm a Performer."

By James Poniewozik

Word. OK, I have to say for the record, as to Adam Lambert’s claim that he has “no clue” his performance would be controversial: no one believes you’re that dumb, Adam. But the quote above, from Lambert’s interview/performance on CBS’s Early Show, should be the last word on the question of the propriety of a [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 794 days ago

Sons of Anarchy Watch: Street Fighting Men

By James Poniewozik

  Spoilers for last night’s Sons of Anarchy coming up after the jump:

Tuned In
Tuned In+794 days ago

Time.com-ings and Goings

By James Poniewozik

There’s little overlap between TV and art/architecture (other than that televisions are usually located in houses), so I rarely linked out to Richard Lacayo’s Looking Around blog, but for three years it has been one of my favorite reads at this site. Unlike certain bloggers who can lazily toss off some thoughts about TV’s latest [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 795 days ago

It's Not Easy Being Queen

By James Poniewozik

OK, somebody has probably already forwarded you this video. But I really wanted to use this headline and I already blew my chance to use it on my Adam Lambert post. So on the off chance you need a little cheering up today, I give you…

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 795 days ago

Adam Lambert Too—Ahem—"Controversial" for GMA

By James Poniewozik

American Idol runner-up Adam Lambert wanted attention with his performance at the American Music Awards, and he’s got it: Good Morning America confirmed that it’s canceling Lambert’s scheduled performance tomorrow. After the AMA performance (also on ABC), in which Lambert groped dancers, kissed a male musician and shoved a male dancer’s face into his crotch, [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 795 days ago

The Morning After: What's Good for the Gosselins

By James Poniewozik

TLC’s Jon & Kate Plus Eight aired its finale last night and—if we wish really hard and promise to be extra, extra good—just might never return to the air in any iteration. TLC had announced plans for a new Jon-free version to be titled Kate Plus Eight. But with Dad now forbidding further videotaping of [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 795 days ago

HIMYM Watch: Daddy's Home!

By James Poniewozik

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

Tuned In
Tuned In+796 days ago

Corporate Press Release Theater: Oprah's Art Smith Gets Comfort-Food Show

By James Poniewozik

Art Smith may not have been the winning chef on Top Chef Masters, but he was the best at bringing the drama, associating food with emotions and generally oversharing. (As befits a guy who used to be Oprah’s chef.) Also, he specialized in the kind of down-home food that people like to eat, and to ogle [...]