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E-Ring, NBC’s new drama about the Pentagon, debuts at 9 p.m. tonight. As it’s scheduled against ABC powerhouse Lost, there is every likelihood it will be canceled by 9:15. But it’s worth looking at, anyway, if only as a case study in how TV can take a fascinating subject and work really hard to make it as boring as possible.
There’s
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On America’s Next Top Model, Tyra Banks is distinguished from other reality hosts by her willingness to get personal and put it out there — talking to the aspiring catwalkers about her flaws, her weight problems, the racial issues of the fashion world. You might cynically think those weepy sister-to-sister sessions looked like practice
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In last week’s TIME, I wrote about the two latest in a series of last-great-hopes-for-the-sitcom: UPN’s Everybody Hates Chris and NBC’s My Name is Earl, which debuts tonight at 9 p.m. You can read my praise for the funny, sweet-natured Earl there. But I have been thinking: people who follow the TV business, like me, talk a lot about what
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Apparently there is a home-field advantage in awards shows; as CBS took its turn with the Emmys, “Everybody Loves Raymond” walked off with the Best Comedy award. I was rooting for “Arrested Development,” of course, but took a perverse satisfaction that “Desperate Housewives” got upset. The undeserving beaten by the really undeserving — …
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Not surprisingly, the Emmys gave a tribute to the three network news anchors who left the air this past year: Peter Jennings’ death more or less required it, and it would have looked rude to then omit Tom Brokaw. But that left Emmy in the position of having to retrospectively honor Dan Rather, who left the air under a cloud over …
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Between 9 and 10 p.m., in retrospect, would have been a good time to switch over from the Emmys and watch “Rome” on HBO. The thing is, for much of the hour, you were pretty much watching HBO, anyway. As usual, the network steamrolled the miniseries-and-movie categories with such expensive, plush Emmy-acquisition devices as “The Life and …
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Somewhere in the halls of the television academy, staffers are desperately trying to figure out how to continue giving the Best Comedy Supporting Actress Emmy to Doris Roberts even after “Everybody Loves Raymond” goes off the air. I suggest they consider making reruns in syndication eligible. It would be nice to see her face off against …
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The most ironically funny part of the Emmys, and in fact of any awards show, is the credits reels produced by the nominees for the Comedy and Variety Writing category. Ironic because the hilarious reels generally come in the middle of a laugh-challenged program that makes you think, if stars from throughout the business can be pressed …
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Blythe Danner just won Supporting Actress, Drama, for “Huff,” which is apparently on television. Who says awards shows aren’t educational? She then followed it up with a quickie blast against the war in Iraq: “Let’s get the heck out of there!” Oooh, let’s hope the FCC didn’t catch that one.
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I don’t exactly know why Fox’s army of lawyers didn’t descend on the Emmy awards for “Emmy Idol” — classic TV themes sung by current TV stars — but thank God they didn’t. After seeing Donald Trump belt out “Green Acres” with Megan Mullally, I can confidently say I will not see something so horrifying all fall, and I have all of …
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So Emmy threw us a curve for Best Supporting Actor, Comedy. Well, kinda. Not that either of the most deserving actors won: Jeffrey Tambor of “Arrested Development” or, especially, Jeremy Piven of “Entourage.” But the more surprising of two less-deserving actors won: Brad Garrett rather than Peter Boyle of “Everybody Loves Raymond,” who …
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Nothing against Earth, Wind and Fire or The Black-Eyed Peas, but did we really need to open up the Emmys with a song — set to the tune of EWF’s “September” — that reminds us there was, um, a lot of TV on TV last year? If there’s one thing you would think you can expect of an Emmy audience, it’s that they’ve been watching TV for the …
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With scant seconds to go to the festivities, it occurs to me you might want my own predictions for the Emmys. I don’t have any — frankly, nearly every year that I try, I lose my own in-house pool to my wife. I’m not embarrassed by that; though I watch TV for a living, I feel that my job is not to be able to prognosticate winners and …
