Tuned In+Tuned In | May 10, 2012

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

By James Poniewozik

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 [...]

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Tuned In+Television | January 11, 2012

TCA Roundup: ABC, Where the B Stands for “Bitch”

By James Poniewozik
ABC/RICK ROWELL

So ABC had its turn to present at the Television Critics Association press tour yesterday, and recently installed network head Paul Lee addressed the question that I’m sure you were dying to hear answered: “So yeah, Paul, how come so many shows on your network with ‘Bitch’ in the title?” ABC’s midseason schedule included two [...]

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Tuned In+Uncategorized | January 12, 2011

TCA Roundup: Shows Involving Jungles Edition

By James Poniewozik

I was away from my desk on personal business yesterday, which means that not only was I absent from the TCA press tour, I was absent from not being at TCA press tour. Herewith, a selection of headlines from the last two days, as the broadcast networks began presenting to assembled TV reporters: * Fox’s [...]

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Tuned In+Uncategorized | September 23, 2010

The Morning After: The Jury Is In

By James Poniewozik

You know the drill: it’s Premiere Week, and I’m asking you to weigh in on last night’s series premieres and series returns, including the various shows I never got around to reviewing here. (Among them last night, the new legal dramas The Defenders on CBS and The Whole Truth on ABC—not to mention Undercovers, the [...]

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Tuned In+Uncategorized | May 13, 2010

The Morning After: Repeat Feline

By James Poniewozik

I’ve been hearing for a while now from fans of Cougar Town that the show has become much better than you would have thought, initially, from seeing the title. Or watching the show. Alan Sepinwall, who’s been a big advocate of the show, recently interviewed Bill Lawrence about the show and the possibility of changing [...]

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Tuned In+Uncategorized | October 9, 2009

NBC Takes Southland's Badge. What's Next?

By James Poniewozik

Sometimes networks cancel low-rated shows after their first season, and sometimes they cancel low-rated shows in their second seasons. NBC, after adding The Jay Leno Show this fall, shows itself willing to continually innovate with new and creative ways to get rid of dramas: it renewed cop show Southland at the end of last season, [...]

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Tuned In+Uncategorized | September 24, 2009

The Morning After: Lord, Have Mercy

By James Poniewozik

Fall-TV triage continues: I didn’t have time to do a full review yesterday of NBC’s painful nurse drama Mercy, and though I could have whipped up a quick pan for critical-jollies reasons, it seemed like the show had been thoroughly enough beaten up by other critics that you’d likely been warned. (I am a little [...]

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Tuned In+Uncategorized | September 23, 2009

TV Tonight: Cougar Town

By James Poniewozik

Tonight ABC debuts Cougar Town, a comedy based on the media trend of older women hooking up with younger men. Building a show around the concept of “cougars” is a bold, farsighted move that guarantees the show will remain timely and relevant for years. I hereby predict that Cougar Town will have the staying power [...]

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Tuned In+Advertising | September 9, 2009

Cougar Town Marks Its Territory

By James Poniewozik

No, Courteney Cox hasn’t gone into a new line of work. This sign—snapped a block and a half from my house—is part of a stealth campaign for Cox’s upcoming ABC sitcom Cougar Town. Cox’s character, besides being an older gal with an eye for the younger fellas, is also a real-estate agent, which career must [...]