Tuned In

Nino Munoz/NBC

Upfronts Watch: Fox Tinkers, NBC Laughs Through Its Tears

I was out of town yesterday as broadcast-network upfront season began, with NBC and Fox announcing their new fall schedules for advertisers. I’ll be attending and/or following the remaining announcements this week, and I’ll have some more thoughts on the new NBC and Fox shows later, when I’ve seen pilots, but here’s the quick-and-dirty on each network to catch you (and me) up:

Game of Thrones Watch: Prisoners and Free Folk

HBO

One issue resonates through this thrilling, horrifying episode: there are many ways to be imprisoned, and taking prisoners does not necessarily mean you are entirely free yourself.

Programming Note: Out of the Office, and Out at the Upfronts

I’m going to be away with the Tuned In family for a long weekend through Monday night, so I’m going to miss the first day of Upfronts Week, in which the major networks (on Monday, NBC and Fox) announce their fall schedules for advertisers. Fortunately, NBC and Fox have obliged me by announcing many of [...]

Dead Tree Alert: Mad Men—Now in Color!

Michael Yarish/AMC

My column in this week’s print TIME (subscription required) is a midseason update on Mad Men. In it, I look at how the show’s (literally) brighter, bolder 1966 color palette reflects (figuratively) the less subtle times it’s dealing with as well as the show’s bolder, more formally daring–and sometimes also less-subtle–storytelling this season. The show, [...]

TV Tonight: Around the World in 80 Plates

Photo by: Virginia Sherwood/Bravo

What do you get when you cross Top Chef with The Amazing Race? Sadly, disappointed.

NBC Gets a Jump on Upfronts with J.J. Abrams, Lots of Comedy

You may have heard that the NBC network has had a touch of trouble in the ratings lately. A slew of its new shows failed this season; Smash and Grimm will be back but have been, at best, far less than a smash and just better than grim; and its once must-see Thursday now does [...]

Girls Watch: You Gonna Put Up With That?

HBO

“Hannah’s Diary” was themed around the question of how much the characters were willing to put up with in order to get something they need.

The Morning After: Is Veep Better Off Now Than It Was Two Episodes Ago?

HBO

At this point, you’ve seen as many episode of Veep as I had before I reviewed it. Does it have your vote?

Game of Thrones Watch: I Capture the Castle

HBO

In a busy, rushed episode, characters find that holding on to power is trickier than taking power, and that refusing to show mercy can be as dangerous as showing mercy.

TV Weekend: The Return of Sherlock

PBS

Thanks to inventive visuals and a captivating performance by Benedict Cumberbatch, Sherlock has figured out how to make thinking into a physical act.

The Morning After: American Idol Vs. The Voice

Michael Becker / FOX

Why has NBC’s singing show fallen back in the ratings? Idol, as familiar and even staid as it might be now, is designed to get more compelling as the competition goes along—whereas The Voice, if anything, is designed to get less so.

Mad Men Character Study: The Education of Sally Draper

Michael Yarish/AMC

Is it possible that Sally Draper is the secret protagonist of Mad Men?

Watching TV Without Cable? Fine. But You May Have to Pay for Cable Anyway

Flickr Select / Getty Images

As some companies envision it, consumer choice for TV viewers is great–as long as every choice involves you giving money to a cable company.

The Morning After: You Can’t Go Home Again

David Giesbrecht/CBS

Quick thoughts on the season finale of The Good Wife below: One concern I’d had as season 3 of The Good Wife went on was that the show might be attempting to hit the reset button, returning to the circumstances of the series’ beginnings, from having Cary return to the firm to giving Peter another [...]

Girls Watch: Ready for Their Close Up

HBO

With “All Adventurous Women Do,” you’ve now seen as many episodes of Girls as I’d seen before I reviewed it. Rather than recap the episode line by line, let me unpack two scenes from it that helped confirm I was sold on this show: the beginning and the end.

Game of Thrones Watch: Three Wishes

HBO

The mysticism mounts and the death toll rises, in an episode that tells us power is not necessarily about having overwhelming force: sometimes it’s about having a little bit, and leveraging it.

30 Rock Watch: Live-TV Love Letter

Dana Edelson/NBC

The last time 30 Rock did a live episode, I had a good time but didn’t really want to see them try it again. A year and a half later, 30 Rock tried it again, and I’m happy that they did.

Best of Both Worlds: Fringe Gets One More (Final) Season

FOX

One mark of the way TV has matured as a storytelling form is that you can now be equally happy to hear that a show you love is getting renewed and that it’s going off the air. As dramas in particular tell more ambitious stories—ones that need to play out over years but that also [...]

Dead Tree Alert: The Year of the Nontroversy

Who’s nicer to dogs? Whose idiot supporters said more obnoxious things than the other guy’s idiot supporters? Who didn’t eat a cookie that it would have been more advisable for him to eat? These are some of the burning issues that have faced America as the general election of 2012 has gotten under way. And [...]

TV Tonight: The Costco Craze

I don’t often watch CNBC business documentaries, but I was instantly drawn to tonight’s The Costco Craze: Inside the Warehouse Giant, which was both a fascinating education about the big-box store and a sobering education about myself.