Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 546 days ago

FNL Watch: Leveled Playing Field

By James Poniewozik

Spoilers for Friday Night Lights coming up: Two exchanges between Eric and Tami Taylor stood out to me in this episode. The first is the most obvious, is the one that played off the condition of the Lions’ home field on the eve of the Panther game, which became a metaphor for the rough situations [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 547 days ago

TCA Roundup: Joey Was the Setup, Here's the Punchline

By James Poniewozik

Though the Television Critics Association press tour approaches two weeks (and used to go on longer), some critics would save time and money by jetting in only for a few days of big-network presentations. The conglomerates who own those networks have learned to counter this by bundling their smaller networks’ dog-and-pony-shows in with their big [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 547 days ago

Dead Tree Alert: Rubicon's Intelligent Intelligence

By James Poniewozik

My column in this week’s TIME looks at the new AMC conspiracy drama Rubicon, debuting Sunday night, and its sudden timeliness. Depicting an intelligence analyst (James Badge Dale) who discovers a shadowy network while working for a private intelligence firm, Rubicon almost seems like a screen adaptation of the Washington Post’s Top Secret America investigation [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 547 days ago

Ellen Is Leaving Idol. Will Anyone Stay?

By James Poniewozik

And then there were two. After a year of high expectations and underwhelming performance, Ellen DeGeneres announced today that she will not return to American Idol next year. This leaves, with Simon Cowell’s spot still not filled, two openings on Idol’s Supreme Court-like bench—at least. With Fox preparing to present its fall TV plans to [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 548 days ago

See It Now: The Big C

By James Poniewozik

When I began watching the first three episodes Showtime sent of The Big C, debuting August 16, I was struck by how thoroughly that network has defined what “a Showtime comedy” is. For starters it’s around 50% drama. There’s a blend of mordant humor, sex, a well-known female lead, a glossy, often suburban setting that [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+News Media | 548 days ago

The View Chats Up Obama on Race, the Economy, Snooki

By James Poniewozik

When The View announced that Barack Obama would be the first sitting President to visit the show, there was some grumbling that appearing on a “fluff” show—among them, former View co-host Rosie O’Donnell. And yes, if you’re of the mind that a President should not do any television appearances beyond nightly-news and Sunday talk shows, [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+548 days ago

TV Tonight: Jersey Shore Is a State of Mind

By James Poniewozik

Tonight, Jersey Shore returns to MTV for season 2. Which is not set in New Jersey. Rather, the metaphysical state, or Situation, known as “the Jersey Shore”* has drifted down the eastern seaboard to Florida, where Snooki, The Situation, J-Woww and company relocated earlier this year. *A brief public service to the Garden State, which [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 548 days ago

TCA Roundup: Julie Chen's Hat Trick

By James Poniewozik

News, and “news,” from CBS’s day at the Television Critics Association press tour in Los Angeles: * Did you know that Les Moonves, president of CBS Corporation, is married to CBS personality Julie Chen? And did you know that, just coincidentally, Julie Chen happens to be the most talented person at the entire CBS network, [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 549 days ago

The Morning After: It May Be the Whiskey Talking…

By James Poniewozik

I haven’t written about Rescue Me since it returned, and haven’t much for the past couple of seasons, mainly because I think I’m beyond the point where I can watch the show as a series per se. At this point, it’s more like a workshop, a kind of weekly project in which the Denis Leary [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 549 days ago

Survivor L.A.!: A TCA Roundup, From Someone Who's Not There

By James Poniewozik

Another reason the McPhenestration of Steve McPherson at ABC is not such a surprise, at least in its timing, is that yesterday was the beginning of the Television Critics Association press tour in Los Angeles. Networks often dump execs before their TCA sessions, because that allows them to get unpleasant business out of the way, [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 549 days ago

Test Pilot: No Ordinary Family

By James Poniewozik

Test Pilot is a semiregular feature sharing my first impressions of the pilots for next fall’s shows. These aren’t reviews, since these pilots can be rewritten, recast and retooled before airing, and the shows that eventually get on the air can prove much better or worse. But premature opinions are why God invented the Internet, [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+549 days ago

McPherson Out at ABC

By James Poniewozik

In a whirlwind move yesterday, ABC announced that its entertainment president of several years, Stephen McPherson, had submitted his resignation effective immediately, and almost as quickly came word that he was being replaced by ABC Family chief Paul Lee. McPherson’s ouster—you don’t quit and get replaced in three-and-a-half seconds if you’re going happily—is at once [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 550 days ago

The Morning After: Huge, Still Delivering Big

By James Poniewozik

The Morning After has been suffering somewhat over the summer, since I’m spending much of my TV time with shows that won’t be airing until fall. (HBO just sent six episodes of Boardwalk Empire. It had better be good.) So I often find myself catching up late with some of my current favorite summer shows: [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 550 days ago

They Are Making Battleship Into a Movie. No Seriously, They Are Making Battleship Into a Movie.

By James Poniewozik

It says so right here in Variety. What’s more, the movie based on the naval-combat board game has an honest-to-God good director attached, Peter Berg (Friday Night Lights). (Taylor Kitsch is in it! Riggins!) OK, I had a snarky post all ready to go. (Imagining the tearful romantic scene before the climactic battle: “You sank… [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 550 days ago

Idol's Judge Sweepstakes Continue: Elton John? Justin Timberlake?

By James Poniewozik

The search of the next judge to replace Simon Cowell on American Idol continues, with the producers throwing more big names into the list of candidates. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Elton John and Justin Timberlake are under next-Simon consideration. Though it’s not entirely clear who’s considering whom. Captain Fantastic and JT add to a [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 550 days ago

Test Pilot: The Event

By James Poniewozik

Test Pilot is a semiregular feature sharing my first impressions of the pilots for next fall’s shows. These aren’t reviews, since these pilots can be rewritten, recast and retooled before airing, and the shows that eventually get on the air can prove much better or worse. But premature opinions are why God invented the Internet, [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+551 days ago

Fan-ola: NBC Will Make It Worth Your While to Like Its Shows

By James Poniewozik

Are you excited about NBC’s new fall shows? Really excited? Oh. Well, would a Daryl “Office” bobblehead change your mind? Or a Bob and Jillian Biggest Loser mug? NBC is busily promoting its “Fan It” social networking program, in which it will pay, er, um, incentivize fans of its shows to promote its programming by [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+News Media | 551 days ago

Obama to Appear on The View

By James Poniewozik

This Thursday, Barack Obama will appear on The View for the first time since becoming President. (The episode will tape on Wednesday while Obama visits New York City.) Brian Stelter at the New York Times has more on the decision, noting it as an example of the White House’s longtime strategy of courting “nontraditional” media. [...]