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Idol Watch: The Final 12; or, Are You Kidding Me, America?
Spoilers for last night’s American Idol coming up after the break:
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HBO's The Pacific: What Fresh Hell
If you watched the ten brutal episodes of HBO’s Band of Brothers–in which war was not glorious but miserable, and death sudden and ignominious–you were probably not thinking that there was an even uglier side to World War II that this miniseries was not showing you. But there was, and showing that side is the project of The Pacific, …
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Dead Tree Alert: Gather Round the Twittercooler
My print-TIME column this week: why are so many people suddenly watching big TV events this year? The Super Bowl, the Olympics and the major awards shows have all had big ratings increases, often after periods of decline. There are explanations for each, but that doesn’t explain the rise of all. There’s the argument that people are …
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Listen to This: Talking Lost With the Ryans
Here’s a little light listening for your Thursday night: I recorded a podcast the other night with the Chicago Tribune’s Maureen Ryan and Zap2It’s Ryan McGee. Basically, we each cued up the “Dr. Linus” episode and talked about our thoughts and theories as it played. Because this is Lost, and we’re critics, it runs longer than …
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CoCo Show a Go
It’s official: Conan O’Brien is launching a 32-city nationwide stage tour, starting April 12. You can get tickets for the Legally Prohibited From Being Funny on Television tour here, or here. Unless they’re already sold out and you can’t. (Conan has already announced extra dates in New York—at Radio City, natch, right by NBC’s 30 Rock …
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Idol Watch: Man Up, Boys!
At the beginning of the last boys’ night before the final-12 round of American Idol, the male contingent of the singing contest lined up on stage as if they were getting ready to die. Such a nervous-eyed, beaten-cur group of semifinalists I have not seen on Idol. You can talk about this season’s guys’ singing ability, their looks, …
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JPTV: Rating Sitcoms, NCAA Bracket-Style
Who’s the TV critic you’d vote least likely to ever appear on an ESPN network? Me! Who’s going to be on ESPN2’s First Take today around 11:30 a.m. (ET)? Me!
Not talking sports though, not exactly. The show’s having me on to judge a greatest-sitcoms-of-all-time battle, bracket-style. (Brackets are the tournament groupings they use in …
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Playing House With the Drapers: The Mad Men Barbie Collection
No, I’m serious, these are real. Mattel has produced these four collectibles, in co-operation with AMC, and they can be yours for $74.95. (That’s in 2010 dollars.)
I’m a little creeped out by the emo-looking eyeshade on Roger and Don, but it’s nice to see that even representation in Barbie form cannot overexaggerate Christina …
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Tick, Tick, Tick… Time's Up for Jack Bauer and 24
Variety is reporting what has been whispered around the TV business for a while: this will be the final season for 24 on Fox. The show has been losing viewers and critical acclaim for a while, and it’s expensive to produce; after eight seasons, there’s apparently not enough upside.
This may not be the end of Jack Bauer entirely; there’s …
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Corey Haim Dead of Overdose at 38; Teen Movie Star, Reality-TV Cautionary Tale
Corey Haim, first famous in the ’80s as a child star and then as a cautionary tale of the dangers of becoming a child star, was reported as found dead of a drug overdose early this morning, at age 38. Preliminary reports suggest the overdose was accidental.
It would be nice to say that this was a surprising end for Haim, who became a …
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Idol Watch: Last Girls' Night Out
First, let’s give credit to American Idol‘s producers, shall we? After a season rife with timing errors and overrun issues, they took the challenge of fitting eight performances in an hour—you could see Ryan Seacrest tensing up over it—and actually came in nearly exactly on time, with only a few toll-free numbers running into the 9 …
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Lostwatch: Charlie Brown, the Football and Linus
SPOILER ALERT: Before you read this post, pop an organic TV dinner in the microwave and watch last night’s episode of Lost.