Adam Rose / FOX
+Television | May 16, 2012

Glee Watch: Lohan and Losers

By Lily Rothman

Last night's big two-hour 'Glee' bonanza would have been season-finale material in any year that didn't include a graduation. Also, Lindsay Lohan!

+Video Television | May 15, 2012

Today's Trailer (TV Edition): The Mindy Project

By Lily Rothman

A peek at Mindy Kaling’s new sitcom answers the burning question: which kind of doctor is the funniest?

Tuned In
Tuned In+Television | May 15, 2012

Upfronts Watch: Fox Tinkers, NBC Laughs Through Its Tears

By James Poniewozik
Nino Munoz/NBC

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 [...]

+Television

Britney Spears Joining Fox’s ‘The X Factor’

By DAVID BAUDER / AP

(NEW YORK) — Britney Spears and Demi Lovato are joining the judging panel on “The X Factor” this fall, part of Fox’s effort to boost its underperforming music competition shows.

Tuned In
Tuned In+Television | April 27, 2012

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

By James Poniewozik
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 [...]

+Television | April 22, 2012

The Simpsons Celebrates 25 Years and Endless Inspiration

By Nick Carbone
Photofest

They’ve invaded our homes for the past quarter century – or have we invaded theirs? Whichever way the influence has flowed, the Simpsons have been a part of our TV lineup for a generation. Twenty-five years of Homer’s buffoonery, Lisa’s naiveté, Bart’s shenanigans, and countless other traits from characters with whom we feel like we’re [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Television | December 2, 2011

Prison Break: Fox Slates Alcatraz, Idol, New Kiefer Drama for Midseason

By James Poniewozik
Justin Stephens/FOX

For the past several seasons, midseason—the stretch of the TV calendar starting in January—has been when Fox’s season really began in earnest, as it brought out powerhouses like American Idol and, back in the day, 24. That’s changed a bit as Fox has strengthened its fall-premiere schedule. (It now has some reliable scripted shows like [...]

+TV Recap House: Season 8, Episode 2 | October 11, 2011

House Watch: The Return to Princeton Plainsboro

By John Cloud
Fox

We knew House had to get back to Princeton Plainsboro Teaching Hospital, but it was a somber homecoming.

+TV Recap House: Season 8, Episode 1 | October 4, 2011

House Watch: The Return of TV's Most Important Medical Drama

By John Cloud
Fox

With its eighth-season premiere on Monday night, House M.D. graduated into an elite status of TV dramas that survive beyond seven years. Among the others are Law & Order, E.R. and C.S.I. — all of them procedurals.

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | August 6, 2011

Fox at TCA: Seth MacFarlane Remaking Cosmos (Really); Zooey Deschanel Sprinkles Pixie Dust

By James Poniewozik

It was a packed day of sessions for Fox shows Friday at the TCA TV critics’ tour, including presentations for the dinosaur drama Terra Nova and reality-TV megafauna The X Factor. Here’s a sundry round of tidbits from the rest: * When Fox held its upfronts presentation this spring, it had some programming news for [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | August 5, 2011

Fox at TCA: Dino-Drama Terra Nova Is Still, Slowly, Evolving

By James Poniewozik

Friday afternoon, Fox held a panel for the new sci-fi series Terra Nova at the TCA TV critics’ convention. Unfortunately, they only had about half the session ready, and the CGI rendering still wasn’t done for most of the panelists. I’m kidding! Friday afternoon, Fox held a panel for Terra Nova, about a family who [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | August 5, 2011

Still Crazy After All These Years: Simon & Paula's Disjointed X Factor Reunion

By James Poniewozik

It has been too long since I’ve seen Simon Cowell be mean to people on a TV screen. But here he was at the TCA TV critics’ press tour session for The X Factor, appearing via satellite from what looked like a fancy hotel lounge in a geographically nondescript location. His first line, after materializing, [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Tuned In | July 27, 2011

Fox Cuts Back Against Cable Cord Cutters

By James Poniewozik

If you’ve gotten used to watching Fringe and Glee online the day after they air, without a cable subscription, you’re going to have to get more patient, or pay more money. Starting Aug. 15, Fox will restrict free online viewing of their shows to viewers who don’t have cable or satellite; unless you can provide [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | June 23, 2011

Fox Announces Fall Premiere Dates

By James Poniewozik

This morning Fox network announced its fall schedule, which will bring two high-expectations series, The X Factor and Terra Nova, to air in September along with the sitcom New Girl. Animated comedy Allen Gregory and live-humans comedy I Hate My Teenage Daughter will be along later in the fall; the rest of Fox’s new shows [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | May 16, 2011

Upfronts 2011: J. J. Abrams, Kiefer Sutherland Return On Fox's Schedule

By James Poniewozik

Fox, which previews its new series for advertisers this afternoon in Manhattan, released its 2011–12 schedule today, including four new comedies, three dramas and a new unscripted series. Among the highlights: Alcatraz, the much buzzed-about prison enigma from J. J. Abrams; The X-Factor, from Simon Cowell; the return of Kiefer Sutherland in a new drama [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | May 11, 2011

Humans, Targeted: Fox Adds & Cuts for Fall

By James Poniewozik

The major-network “upfront” schedule announcements are next week, but as usual the programming news for next season is coming out earlier. Yesterday saw a major news dump from Fox, which announced several shows it would add and cut from its roster next year. Out: The Chicago Code, Traffic Light, Lie to Me, Breaking In and [...]

Tuned In
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 [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | August 3, 2010

TCA Roundup: No News Is… No News

By James Poniewozik

Fox, which is riding high on Glee, has the Death Star (American Idol) and has contractors busily at work on Death Star 2 (a.k.a. Simon Cowell’s X Factor), presented at the Television Critics Association’s press tour yesterday. Here’s what they had to say—and didn’t: * The biggest news hovering over the entire TCA tour has [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+July 16, 2010

Back to (Old) School for Fall Schedules

By James Poniewozik

Most of the big-network fall schedules are out, and the big news is what’s old about them. I’m referring not to the shows themselves but to the schedules. Over the last decade or so, the networks have tried to become more creative with their fall schedule launches, moving away from the old “premiere week” strategy [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | May 18, 2010

Fox's Upfront: Playing to Strengths, Hoping for Dino Might

By James Poniewozik

There’s a difference between an upfront presentation by the first-place network and one by an, um, less-than-first-place network. Where NBC kicked off its presentation to advertisers with apologies, Fox kicked off its own with stars. Beginning with the cast of Glee, the network trotted out the stars of its various hits (or would-be hits), including [...]