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Nighttime Martha: Too Real for Prime Time?

So our long national crisis of uncertainty is over. We know what Martha Stewart’s Apprentice catchphrase is. "You just don’t fit in," she told the first ejectee, before writing him a "farewell letter"—presumably on stationery for which she felled and pulped the trees herself.

In most respects, Martha’s Apprentice is like Donald

E-Ring: What If They Had A War and Nobody Watched?

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

Tyra Gets Something Off Her Chest

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

And the Winner Is… Huh?

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 — …

Emmy Weighs Anchors

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 …

Jessica Walter, Robbed Again

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 …

Is There a Best Writress Category Too?

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 …

Plague of Boyle's

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 …

Reunited, and, Well, Frankly, It Could Feel Better

It sounds like the concept for a romantic comedy. A pair of divorced actors, both of them long in the tooth and carrying a few extra pounds, each get a comeback on separate shows on a youth-oriented network, opposite much younger actors. They’re so close, yet so far, separated only by their time slots. Then one day, they see each other

Survivor Gets Survivorer

If you haven’t watched the premiere of Survivor: Guatemala and don’t want to know this season’s twist, stop reading. If you watched, I hope you’re as offended as I am. As promised, two past players returned to join the new tribes: they turned out to be the two last players standing from the decimated tribe in Survivor:

Rescue Me … From Spoilers?

This is as good a time as any to discuss the spoiler policy of this blog. It used to be that once a TV show aired, whoever wanted to watch it, had. But, as David Bianculli recently discussed in the New York Daily News, we live in the era of time-shifting. People use TiVo, they watch the multiple weekly reruns of cable shows, they wait

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