I went into last night’s Madonna Super Bowl halftime show expecting to hate it: yet another performer whose appeal can charitably be described as “nostalgic” (see The Rolling Stones, The Who, etc.) blasting out a set of oldies …
Election Watch: Romney Wins, Loses Trump Primary
The Trump primary is over. Thursday in Las Vegas, Donald Trump took to the podium to endorse Mitt Romney, who just over a month ago made headlines by spurning a debate that Trump planned to moderate in Iowa. With Trump’s backing of his “tough, smart sharp” fellow businessman, we are probably done—fortunately or unfortunately—with the …
Stars in Need of TV Shows to Be Stars In
The other day here at Tuned in, while remarking on Lizzy Caplan‘s guest turn in New Girl, I said that someone needed to give her her own TV show to star in, stat. Yesterday, Showtime announced that Caplan has been cast as the …
Dead Tree Alert: Smash: Broadway’s West Wing, or Its Studio 60?
NBC’s musical-about-a-musical, Smash, debuts next Monday, but after the massive promotional blitz, you’d be excused for feeling like you’ve already seen the entire 15-episode season. (The pilot has been available for streaming and download for a few weeks now.) NBC has high hopes for the show–I’ll be surprised if it doesn’t do huge …
The Morning After: Portlandia
I have not, if you are a regular reader of this blog and have been wondering, given up on American Idol, not yet. But I’ve sworn off watching the audition rounds, because of, um, my religion. (Got-other-things-to-do-ism.) …
Love, Peace and Soul: RIP Don Cornelius
Soul Train host and TV-music pioneer Don Cornelius has been found dead in his Encino, Calif., home of a suicide, according to police. My colleague Madison Gray has more of the details, and it’s a sad ending to the life of someone who brought us one of the purest expressions of joy ever to take the form of a TV show. But Soul Train wasn’t …
New Girl Watch: The New New Girl
No offense to Zooey Deschanel—well, I guess I can’t stop her from taking offense—but the last couple of episodes have made me imagine what an alternate-reality New Girl would have been like that starred Lizzy Caplan instead. …
TV Tonight: Key and Peele
The very first , pre-credits sketch (video above) in tonight’s premiere of Key & Peele on Comedy Central may have been chosen because it’s short and very funny, but it’s also a kind of theme and mission statement. A man is talking on his cell phone to his wife about some theater tickets, when he sees another man—another African …
X’ed Out! Can Simon Cowell’s House Cleaning Save The X Factor?
Call it Rachel Crow’s revenge. (Or, if you prefer, Drew Ryniewicz’s.) After a first season of decent but not blockbuster-sized ratings, reports came out Monday that Simon Cowell had pulled a triple elimination on The X Factor, firing judges Paula Abdul (again!) and Nicole Scherzinger as well as host Steve Jones. (Fox has officially …
The Good Wife Watch: Whose Side Are You On?
Fantastic episode of The Good Wife last night (spoilers ahead, of course), and one that, besides some delectable courtroom twists, exemplified one more reason I love this show: I don’t think there’s another drama on network TV …
Video: Game of Thrones Reloads for Season 2
Before last night’s debut (or re-debut after the December preview airing) of Luck, HBO shared another trailer for Game of Thrones, returning April 1. As usual, it’s full of tantalizing but brief snippets—glimpses of King Robert’s brother Stannis and his priestess/consigliere Melisandre, and Sansa in an uncomfortable situation with …
Dead Tree Alert: The Beautiful Losers of Luck
In the print TIME magazine out now, I review (subscription required) David Milch and Michael Mann’s new HBO series Luck, which debuts Sunday and which I loved. Eventually. Yes, this is another critic flogging a cable drama by …
The Morning After: To the Moon!
I’m closing a piece for the print TIME today, so I didn’t have time for a writeup of last night’s 19th GOP Presidential debate. (See my colleagues at Swampland for their political take.) I simply want to give you a chance to discuss it, and to note this: we are in a country recovering from a massive recession/near-depression, coming off …
