Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 424 days ago

The Morning After: That Isn't Cricket

By James Poniewozik

If you have not been keeping current with HBO’s In Treatment this season, I can’t really judge you: even as a professional TV critic and fan of the show, I often fall behind the show (at two hours a week) and catch up in bursts. But if you’re considering catching up and wanted to pick [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 424 days ago

Bridalplasty: As Bad As You Thought It Would Be

By James Poniewozik

My thoughts on E!’s new competition/wedding/plastic-surgery reality show, Bridalplasty, have been delayed because I waited until last night to catch a replay of its Sunday premiere. I know what you’re thinking: How could you possibly wait an entire day to watch Bridalplasty! I was actually curious to see the show, despite, or because of, how [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+TV Recap Boardwalk Empire: Season 1, Episode 11 | 425 days ago

Boardwalk Empire Watch: Arsenic and Old Wounds

By James Poniewozik
HBO

Spoilers for last night’s Boardwalk Empire coming up: Last week’s Boardwalk Empire may have had the actual gunfire, but “Paris Green” was chock full of people pulling triggers. There was a welter of activity, mostly surrounding characters ending relationships, or trying to, as the series set up to end its first season next Sunday.

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 425 days ago

New Game of Thrones Trailer

By James Poniewozik

HBO continues to stoke interest—well, mine, anyway—in its big 2011 debut, Game of Thrones, the fantasy series based on the novels of George R. R. Martin. This minute-long trailer looks very promising, focusing on provincial nobleman Ned Stark, the character through whom the audience initially encounters the story’s intrigues. And to my eye it has [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 425 days ago

Walking Dead Watch: Open the Hatch!

By James Poniewozik

Spoilers for last night’s The Walking Dead coming up: Because we began The Walking Dead (after the pre-zombie prologue) with Rick, waking up after a coma in the midst of the apocalypse, each episode has been a process of filling in the blanks in his, and our, knowledge. Not only are we learning about the [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Remembrance | 425 days ago

Leslie Nielsen, 1926–2010: He Was Funny. And Don't Call Him Shirley

By James Poniewozik

Leslie Nielsen, star of TV’s Police Squad! as well as the Airplane and Naked Gun movies, has died at age 84.  Nielsen was a dramatic actor who turned to comedy relatively late, but the first half of his career was preparation for the second, in which he became one of Hollywood’s funniest straight men. When [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+News Media | 428 days ago

Dead Tree Alert: The Zipper—Making You Vaguely Nervous Since 2001!

By James Poniewozik

The special issue of TIME now on newsstands, Time Frames, is a look back at, and update on, some of the signal events and developments over the past 10 years. The editor of the issue, Nancy Gibbs, asked me if I was interested in doing a Tuned In column about a particular TV event or [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 430 days ago

Holiday Watch: Deconstruct That Turkey!

By James Poniewozik

Soon it will be time for Tuned In to step away from the laptop and DVD player and step into the kitchen. This Thanksgiving I’m cooking a much smaller holiday dinner than usual, so I’m going with a turkey breast. But rather than buy one separately, we got a whole turkey, which, to take out [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 430 days ago

The Morning After: The Mirrorball Primary Is Over

By James Poniewozik

Quick spoilers for last night’s Dancing with the Stars finale after the jump:

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 430 days ago

Glee Watch: Meet the Parent

By James Poniewozik

Spoilers for last night’s Glee coming up: It was at around the 23 minute mark of Glee last night that Mrs. Tuned In pointed out that there had not yet been a single song in the episode. She was right; and the fact that the show had restrained itself from cramming in more soundtrack numbers [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 431 days ago

The Morning After: Bristol and Dancing Beat Sarah and Skating

By James Poniewozik

The first part of Dancing with the Stars‘ finale drew huge ratings last night. Unsurprisingly, Skating with the Stars did not. Why? Because it’s skating. Fine, I’ll elaborate.

+Television | 431 days ago

Top 10 Terrible Dancing with the Stars Contestants

By TIME Staff
Top 10 Terrible Dancing with the Stars Contestants

The 11th season of Dancing with the Stars ended last night, with Jennifer Grey declared the winner over Bristol Palin and Kyle Massey. But while those contestants’ dancing skills have gotten them far, not all are so nimble

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 431 days ago

HIMYM Watch: Smoke Monster

By James Poniewozik

Not a ton to say about a funny, if slight, Thanksgiving episode of How I Met Your Mother, but I couldn’t really let the presence of Jorge Garcia and the Lost homage pass without noting it for Tuned Inland. Obviously the mere presence of Garcia—in the role of someone bearing a curse—was the biggest reference, [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 431 days ago

Ain't That a Stake in the Heart: Warner Rebooting Buffy… Without Whedon

By James Poniewozik

From the Oh, This Will Definitely Work Dept.: Warner Bros. is planning a reboot Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie—without the involvement of Joss Whedon, who wrote the script of the original Buffy movie and was the creative force behind the seven-season series on The WB. And just in case you’re thinking this is one of [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 432 days ago

What Will American Idol Destroy? (Besides TV Critics' Work Patterns?)

By James Poniewozik

Late Friday night, in a surprise move, Fox announced a midseason schedule with a big, big change: American Idol will move from Tuesday and Wednesday nights to Wednesday and Thursday nights. The move has already been hashed out well at some more biz-minded sites, but it deserves a Tuned In post, for your discussion/mourning if [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 432 days ago

The Morning After: Drinking and Driving

By James Poniewozik

I own a 2005 Scion xB. I mention that by way of admitting that I may not be the best critic to assess the gut-level effectiveness of History channel’s American Top Gear. It’s not that I hate cars, or driving. I’m from Michigan! But I’ve always been attracted to the underpowered weirdos of the car [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 432 days ago

Bristol Palin and the Future of Democracy

By James Poniewozik

“Don’t retreat. Just reload.” —Sarah Palin, to daughter Bristol, while shooting clay pigeons on Sarah Palin’s Alaska Tonight, the last and perhaps most closely followed vote of the 2010 midterm season gets under way: the season finale of Dancing with the Stars. This year’s voting has been especially controversial because, week after week, political daughter [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 432 days ago

Walking Dead Watch: No Crying in the Boat

By James Poniewozik

Spoilers for tonight’s Walking Dead coming up: The disadvantage of getting The Walking Dead on screeners is that I don’t get the full experience of watching the show late Sunday as it airs. That’s also the advantage. How the hell do the rest of you manage to watch this show right before you go to [...]