James Poniewozik

Was he funny or not? Days after Stephen Colbert performed at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, this has become the political-cultural touchstone issue of 2006—like whether you drive a hybrid or use the term "freedom fries." For those of you who haven’t seen the performance, Colbert, in character, launched into a scathing (by

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The post-9/11, Too Soon To era in American culture has been over for a long time. The brief period when it was deemed Too Soon To have movies and TV shows blowing up people, planes and buildings lasted, what?, 15 minutes? And last weekend the movie United 93 was rewarded with a strong 2nd-place debut for invading the sanctum sanctorum of

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Like a Supreme Court vacancy, an empty seat on the View roundtable is something a democracy can not long abide. ABC and Barbara Walters confirmed late today that America’s long national daytime nightmare is over: Rosie O’Donnell will replace Meredith Vieira, who will replace Katie Couric, who in September will replace Bob Schieffer in

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Evangelists for blogging, like those for any new media form, like to talk about how it will supersede the dinosaur formats that came before it. But let’s not kid ourselves. However au courant and webheaded online pundits may be, there is a part of us that dreams of the old-fashioned kind of fame—holding forth in front of a camera

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Here at Tuned In HQ we pride ourselves on our impeccable sense of timing, so it should surprise no one that we are returning from vacation just as TV Turnoff Week gets under way. The 12-year-old campaign encourages family to shut off the tube for a week — conveniently, during a rerun-heavy April week before May sweeps start, so you

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SPOILER ALERT: This post contains spoilers, so be alert.

To the long list of theories about the island, add this: It’s a hospital. Last night, we learned that whatever mystical/magnetic mojo is pulsing down beneath the hatch cured Rose of terminal cancer. Add this to Locke’s miracle leg cure in season one, and possibly, to Sun’s

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The good thing about the broadcast-decency-regulation movement is that, as vast conspiracies go, it’s not too well organized. Last month, the FCC lurched forward, with an unprecedented volley of fines for decency violations. Now one of Capitol Hill’s biggest decency scolds is lurching backward. 

In an editorial in CableFAX magazine

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Nick at Nite, the home-in exile for classic sitcoms, is not the first channel you associate with cutting-edge programming. But tonight at 9:57 p.m. E.T. — yes, I said 9:57 — it’s airing something decidedly different: a 90-second sitcom that aims to prove that dogs can sell odor remover.

The weekly sitcom, At the Poocharellis, is not

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The great news-studio shuffle of 2006 continued today, as Meredith Vieira announced that she’s taking over the Today chair from Katie Couric, thus revealing the second least-secret secret in journalism. Vieira was always a no-brainer choice for the morning show, having done both hard news on 60 Minutes and morning patter on The View, and

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SPOILER ALERT: Friends don’t let friends read Lostwatch before seeing the show.

On the WABC New York channel 7 broadcast of Lost, there was a commercial for the New York Lotto Megamillions Jackpot. Perhaps not the best sponsorship for an episode of the show about a former mental patient who wins a lottery; is cursed with bad luck; ends

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The least surprising surprise announcement in all of television finally came this morning, as Katie Couric told NBC’s Today viewers she is leaving the show after 15 years to anchor the CBS Evening News. (Well, her phrase–delivered after a quaveringly emotional goodbye speech — was that she was leaving to "work on" the CBS newscast and

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Having started life as an overrated, hugely popular show, The West Wing is ending its existence as an underrated, widely forgotten show. Last night’s episode took a ripped-from-the-headlines election scenario (an election turns out to be much closer than the sketchy exit polls suggested) and upped the drama through the unfortunate

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SPOILER ALERT: Before you Lostwatch, watch Lost.

So in last week’s "Next week on Lost," we were promised that this episode would contain five revelations, or shocking moments, or something to that effect. Tonight we got, by my count, (1) the discovery, in flashback, of how Locke lost his not-quite fiancee, (2) that elaborate map

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