Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 749 days ago

Jaypocalypse Now: You Be the Programmer

By James Poniewozik

Looks like we may as well make a Jay Day of it. Over at my Twitter feed, people have been tossing out suggestions for what they’d like to see NBC toss in as stopgap programming if they have five hours of The Jay Leno Show to replace in a month and a half. (Required caveat: [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 749 days ago

The Morning After: Jaypocalypse Now: Craig's Take

By James Poniewozik

“We still make the crappiest late-night TV. When all’s said and done, we’ll be remembered as the ones that sucked the most. But what did we do? We sucked at the same damn time every night.”

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 749 days ago

Jaypocalypse Now: What Is NBC Thinking?

By James Poniewozik

If the reports are true—and it increasingly looks like it—that NBC is planning to send back Jay Leno to 11:30, it raises a lot of questions: Will Conan stay? What does NBC program in primetime? What about Carson Daly? For this post, I’ll stick to one: Why now? What’s most surprising about the move—again if [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 750 days ago

…Or Will NBC Send Conan Walking?

By James Poniewozik

Whoa—things are getting interesting at NBC, or at least in the NBC rumor department. TMZ is now reporting that the network is moving Jay Leno back to 11:30 after Feb. 1. The open question, it says: will Jay take the Tonight Show back, or will he get a half hour, followed by Conan O’Brien? (Or, [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+750 days ago

Report: NBC May Send Jay Walking

By James Poniewozik

[Update: TMZ is reporting that Jay will move back to 11:30. See my separate post above.] A TV-industry-news website, FTVLive.com (subscription required), is reporting that there are high-level talks going on at NBC over whether to drop The Jay Leno Show. The report is headlined “NBC to Pull the Plug on Leno,” and has been [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 750 days ago

Survivor Announces Heroes and Villains. Can You Tell the Difference?

By James Poniewozik

Speaking of the People’s Choice Awards, CBS used them last night to give us a sneak peek of the two tribes that were chosen for Survivor’s 10th-anniversary “Heroes vs. Villains” installment. After the jump, the list from CBS’s release, and a few thoughts:

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 750 days ago

The Morning After: The Tribe Has Spoken

By James Poniewozik

I generally do not pay much attention to the People’s Choice Awards, because as a professional critic, it is my duty to despise the people. But actually the awards have a use, as a measure of popularity that’s different from the ratings. Since they rely on motivated online voters, they’re a measure of what performers [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 750 days ago

Modern Family Watch: Love, (North and South) American-Style

By James Poniewozik

Spoilers for last night’s Modern Family coming up after the jump:

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 751 days ago

Scheduling Change We Cannot Believe In

By James Poniewozik

The Wrap reports that The White House is considering as possible dates for the State of the Union address a Tuesday: either Jan. 26… or Feb. 2. You might know Feb. 2 as Groundhog Day—or as the date of the two-hour premiere of the final season of Lost. By tradition—though not by requirement—SOTU speeches are [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 751 days ago

ESPN in 3D: There Will Be Glasses

By James Poniewozik

Elsewhere at time.com, Sean Gregory updates yesterday’s report of the launch of 3D TV channels with a in-depth look at ESPN’s plans for its own in-your-face channel. All you’ll need is a special TV set (which could run a few thousand bucks), glasses (anything from cheap “Blues Brothers” frames to “designer” specs) and the patience [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 751 days ago

State Your Case! The Biggest Loser

By James Poniewozik

It’s been a while since I’ve done a State Your Case! post, in which I invite readers to make the argument for shows I didn’t like at first sight, or that I’ve cooled on over time. For the inaugural State Your Case! of 2010, I begin with perhaps the tallest order yet. Or the biggest-boned. [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 751 days ago

Brit Hume: Stop Persecuting Me for Trying to Convert Tiger

By James Poniewozik

Last weekend on Fox News Sunday, anchor-turned-commentator Brit Hume stirred up trouble saying that golfer/adulterer Tiger Woods should convert to Christianity from Buddhism, because Christianity uniquely offers the chance of redemption. Yesterday, in an interview with WTOP radio (h/t Ken Tucker), Hume stuck to his guns. Personally, as a half-Catholic-half-Jewish-pretty-much-totally-secular nonbeliever, I reject Hume’s suggestion [...]

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Tuned In+Television | 751 days ago

HBO Adds to Stable With Milch, Mann Horse Drama

By James Poniewozik

David Milch is back in business with HBO, this time writing Luck, a drama pilot, to be directed by Michael Mann, about horse racing. There’s no guarantee that the pilot will become a series—since making Deadwood and John from Cincinnati, Milch made the HBO cop pilot Last of the Ninth, which never made it to [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 751 days ago

The Morning After: Ted Man Walking

By James Poniewozik

One blissful side effect of the holiday lull in original programming is that ABC has seemingly turned into the Better Off Ted network. The comedy ran over Christmas week, on New Year’s Day and last night, in a double shot of strong episodes. The downside, and you knew there had to be one, is that [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 752 days ago

The Lost Supper: Grab a Plate, Help Yourself

By James Poniewozik

The ABC publicity department wants none of us to get any work done today, because yesterday it posted two publicity stills of the cast of Lost re-creating Leonardo Da Vinci’s The Last Supper. Bigger versions of the photos (apologies for the right-hand column overrunning them; if I can get it cleaned up while retaining the full-size [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 752 days ago

Dept. of Un-Asked-For Tech: Would You Watch TV in 3D?

By James Poniewozik

Running against the entertainment-industry maxim that it is usually better business to take the depth out of television, several media companies are announcing efforts to launch 3D TV channels, the New York Times reports. Discovery, Imax and Sony are partnering on a channel, and ESPN plans to launch ESPN 3D in June. (And is committing [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 752 days ago

The Morning After: Below the Belt

By James Poniewozik

ABC keeps lighting off new editions of The Bachelor, one off the other, like a chain smoker copping lights off the embers of his last butt. In the latest edition, pilot Jake became the last Bachelor/ette hopeful to fail to “find love” on one edition of the series, only to find a much dearer prize: [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+753 days ago

Paying for TV, One Way Or Another

By James Poniewozik

I don’t know if you’ve heard about this, but sometime this month Apple is likely to announce its giant iTouch, which will singlehandedly make people fall in love with reading again, persuade them to pay money for electronic publications and thus save journalism. Crisis over! Problem solved! Screw all you guys, I’m going to be [...]