And then there were two: Scotty McCreery and Lauren Alaina dueled it out in the season 10 finale of American Idol Tuesday night. It was the boy next door vs. the girl, um, next door to him! It almost wasn’t, however, as Lauren strained her voice, as explained on Idol‘s stage by the world’s most informally dressed doctor. Who got a clean …
Uncategorized
Oprah Watch: O's Happy Day
The United Center sendoff for Oprah Winfrey has been the most moving celebration of good works and selflessness since the star-studded two-part televised special that Gandhi threw for himself. And if the first day of the special was celebritastic, then the second was positively celeborgasmic. Will Smith! Jamie Foxx! Rosie O’Donnell! …
Playing God: Mark Burnett to Make Bible Miniseries for History
The History channel, as we all know, puts a premium on the veracity and historical truth of its projects. That was the ostensible reason, for instance, that the channel rejected the miniseries The Kennedys, saying that the political story did not meet its standards of accuracy.
Now History has a new project: Survivor producer Mark …
Oprah Watch: Surprise!
The first day of Oprah Winfrey’s three-day send-off began about as low-key as you would have suspected, with copious tears, A-list celebrities and cheering crowds holding up video placards like something straight out of a Super Bowl halftime show. The program of events, a voiceover intoned as the titles rolled, was “One of the …
Upfronts 2011: What We Learned
The major broadcast schedule presentations, or “upfronts,” ended yesterday. I’ve given some impressions of the 2011–12 shows we saw previewed this week, but it’s worth repeating that those are nothing more than impressions, based on trailers, which can give nothing more than a thumbnail idea of a show and often a misleading one. Over …
Office Watch: You're Not the Boss of Me
Spoilers for last night’s season finale of The Office below:
There are three ways to look at “Search Committee”: (1) as an episode in itself, (2) as a way of judging the overall success of season seven of The Office and (3) as a table-setter for the extended life of Dunder-Mifflin without Michael Scott. I want to have something more …
Parks and Recreation Watch: A Little Horse With Grief
[vodpod id=Video.9220870&w=425&h=350&fv=]
Spoilers for the season finale of Parks and Recreation, below:
Earlier this season, Parks and Recreation followed up the splendid “Harvest Festival” episode with “Camping,” in which Leslie Knope dealt with an unexpected complication of the festival’s success: what was she going to do for a …
Upfronts 2011: Sarah Michelle Gellar Is Back, and Other Familiar Sights from The CW
The CW is TV’s newest major (if you want to call it that) broadcast network, even if you count the predecessors it was formed from—The WB and UPN—which date back to the mid-’90s. But it’s old enough by now to have a history, and the new shows it announced today, rounding out the broadcast upfronts for the year, recall that history …
Modern Family Watch: The Graduate
[vodpod id=Video.9173830&w=425&h=350&fv=]
Spoilers for last night’s Modern Family below:
Little time for a big writeup because of (1) upfronts and (2) everything else upfronts have kept me from doing. But let’s take a moment to give credit to a nicely themed and executed Modern Family, which embodied some of the series’ best …
Upfronts 2011: CBS Unveils New Shows, Erases Sheen and Couric
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gV1vPuVRyGg]
The TV upfronts are a big fast car with no rear-view mirror. The shining vista of the future is extolled. The good times of the present are celebrated. And the flaming car wrecks of the past, littering the highway behind? Never happened! Moving forward!
CBS, to be fair, is doing well …
Judging American Idol: The Final 3
It was final three night on American Idol, which meant that the show packed a whole nine songs into a mere two hours. In their penultimate performance, the trio were mentored by Beyonce. Who was irreplaceable? Who proved not to be ready for this jelly? Click the pix for my reviews:
The Good Wife Watch: If the Glove Fits…
Spoilers for the season finale of The Good Wife coming up:
In a couple of recent Good Wife reviews, I expressed some misgivings over the show’s introducing Peter’s affair with Kalinda as a storyline. It’s not that it’s implausible, but the show has become much stronger and more complex than its original concept—i.e., political wife …
Upfronts 2011: CBS Keeps It Simple
Every spring, the daffodils bloom in April, kids start playing baseball again, and I get to type the sentence: “Emphasizing the stability of its lineup, CBS announced a fall schedule with just a handful of changes.” CBS is strong, and it is stable; it’s arguably the only TV network left able to put together a lineup like the Big Three …