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Though the Television Critics Association press tour approaches two weeks (and used to go on longer), some critics would save time and money by jetting in only for a few days of big-network presentations. The conglomerates who own those networks have learned to counter this by bundling their smaller networks’ dog-and-pony-shows in with …
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My column in this week’s TIME looks at the new AMC conspiracy drama Rubicon, debuting Sunday night, and its sudden timeliness. Depicting an intelligence analyst (James Badge Dale) who discovers a shadowy network while working for a private intelligence firm, Rubicon almost seems like a screen adaptation of the Washington Post’s Top …
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And then there were two. After a year of high expectations and underwhelming performance, Ellen DeGeneres announced today that she will not return to American Idol next year. This leaves, with Simon Cowell’s spot still not filled, two openings on Idol’s Supreme Court-like bench—at least. With Fox preparing to present its fall TV plans …
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When I began watching the first three episodes Showtime sent of The Big C, debuting August 16, I was struck by how thoroughly that network has defined what “a Showtime comedy” is. For starters it’s around 50% …
Tuned InNews Media
When The View announced that Barack Obama would be the first sitting President to visit the show, there was some grumbling that appearing on a “fluff” show—among them, former View co-host Rosie O’Donnell. And yes, if you’re of the mind that a President should not do any television appearances beyond nightly-news and Sunday talk …
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Tonight, Jersey Shore returns to MTV for season 2. Which is not set in New Jersey. Rather, the metaphysical state, or Situation, known as “the Jersey Shore”* has drifted down the eastern seaboard to Florida, where Snooki, The Situation, J-Woww and company relocated earlier this …
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News, and “news,” from CBS’s day at the Television Critics Association press tour in Los Angeles:
* Did you know that Les Moonves, president of CBS Corporation, is married to CBS personality Julie Chen? And did you know that, just coincidentally, Julie Chen happens to be the most talented person at the entire CBS network, and possibly …
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I haven’t written about Rescue Me since it returned, and haven’t much for the past couple of seasons, mainly because I think I’m beyond the point where I can watch the show as a series per se. At this point, it’s more like a workshop, a kind of weekly project in which the Denis Leary / Peter Tolan repertory company get together to put …
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Another reason the McPhenestration of Steve McPherson at ABC is not such a surprise, at least in its timing, is that yesterday was the beginning of the Television Critics Association press tour in Los Angeles. Networks often dump execs before their TCA sessions, because that allows them to get unpleasant business out of the way, while …
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Test Pilot is a semiregular feature sharing my first impressions of the pilots for next fall’s shows. These aren’t reviews, since these pilots can be rewritten, recast and retooled before airing, and the shows that eventually get on the air can prove much better or worse. But premature opinions are why God invented the Internet, so …
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In a whirlwind move yesterday, ABC announced that its entertainment president of several years, Stephen McPherson, had submitted his resignation effective immediately, and almost as quickly came word that he was being replaced by ABC Family chief Paul Lee.
McPherson’s ouster—you don’t quit and get replaced in three-and-a-half …
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The Morning After has been suffering somewhat over the summer, since I’m spending much of my TV time with shows that won’t be airing until fall. (HBO just sent six episodes of Boardwalk Empire. It had better be good.) So I often find myself catching up late with some of my current favorite …
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It says so right here in Variety. What’s more, the movie based on the naval-combat board game has an honest-to-God good director attached, Peter Berg (Friday Night Lights). (Taylor Kitsch is in it! Riggins!)
OK, I had a snarky post all ready to go. (Imagining the tearful romantic scene before the climactic battle: “You sank… my …
