Another new fall season is nigh. But is excitement running high? There's rhyme and reason leading into this basic deduction. If you're hooked up to cable or a satellite dish, then the possibilities are sky high. If not, the new offerings by the five broadcast networks again are mostly nothing to run home about...

2011

Aug

MSNBC'S SHARPTON HIRE GIVES IT YET ANOTHER LEFT HOOK By Ed Bark

MSNBC's concerted tilt to the left just got more top-heavy with the official addition of the Rev. Al Sharpton as the network's newest full-time host. Sharpton, who has been auditioning for the past two months in MSNBC's 6 p.m. ET slot, will begin helming the new PoliticsNation at that hour this Monday (Aug. 29). The heat-seeking firebrand joins a roster of like-minded politicos who already have their own shows...

2011

Aug

'THE HOUR' IS SO GOOD, IT'S NOT LONG ENOUGH By Ed Bark

Intelligent, suspenseful and stylish through and through, The Hour has just one shortcoming. BBC America didn't send enough episodes. Four of the six were made available for review and devoured in one sitting. So the central mysteries of this mid-1950s period piece are still very much at large for everyone except those who watched "The Hour" during its earlier United Kingdom airing...

2011

Aug

GEORGE LOPEZ: TONIGHT, BUT NO TOMORROW By Ed Bark

George Lopez played the good soldier. Now he's paying the price. TBS abruptly canceled the veteran comic's Lopez Tonight Wednesday, with his final fresh hour airing Thursday. In a statement, the network said it had "reached the difficult decision not to order a third season" of the show, which premiered on Nov. 9, 2009 at 11 p.m. ET before the arrival of Conan O'Brien's Conan pushed Lopez back to midnight ET last November....

2011

Jul

MR. 'NO SPIN ZONE' ROLLS OVER By Ed Bark

Mum's the word that most Brits use when talking about their moms. Mum's also mostly been the word at Fox News Channel, whose two main prime-time personalities -- Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity -- so far have yet to even mention the far-flung phone-hacking scandal that's engulfed Great Britain and world News Corporation chieftain Rupert Murdoch...

2011

Jul

THE OLD MAN AT SEA By Ed Bark

Just what Rupert Murdoch needed -- a shaving cream pie to the puss. Actually, it may have been exactly what he needed to perhaps gain a little sympathy after a long Tuesday morning (U.S. time) of taking no direct responsibility for the phone-hacking scandal bedeviling his far-flung world News Corporation...

2011

Jul

'WE LAID WASTE TO EVERYTHING IN OUR PATH, J.R. AND FOR WHAT?' By Ed Bark

Larry Hagman took more nasty spills as J.R. Ewing Monday night, informing viewers that younger brother Bobby "was always a fool" before vowing to take another turn as Texas' oiliest oil baron. "I'm the one who belongs on Southfork. It's mine. And only mine," he said at the close of TNT's one-minute promos for its new Dallas series, scheduled to premiere next summer...

2011

Jul

NEWS 'EXCLUSIVES': HOW MUCH DID THEY PAY? By Ed Bark

Wonder how much they paid for this one? It's become a back-of-the-mind question whenever ABC News in particular touts an "exclusive" interview. The network did it again Wednesday night with a Primetime Nightline edition built around co-anchor Terry Moran's one-on-one sitdown with Casey Anthony trial juror Jennifer Ford...

2011

Jun

'HAPPILY DIVORCED': TV LAND STUCK IN CLUNKY RETRO GEAR By Ed Bark

Fran Drescher of The Nanny fame still talks as though she's just gargled with glass shards. Which might be an overall healthier choice for you than watching her new comedy series, Happily Divorced. It's TV Land's latest effort to mix and match familiar stars of bygone TV hits. And perhaps it's time to stop for a while after striking gold with Hot In Cleveland before sinking to Retired at 35 and now this...

2011

May

'TOO BIG TO FAIL' IS ALL BUSINESS By Ed Bark

Leave it to HBO to not only tackle this daunting, sex-less numbers game, but to somehow make it dramatically interesting. Not spectacularly entertaining, mind you. But a bravura lead performance by William Hurt and some early heavy lifting by James Woods give "Too Big to Fail" (Monday, May 23 at 9 p.m. ET on HBO) enough currency to carry it through this complex tale of 2008's near-collapse of the U.S. economy...

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Ed Bark

Since 2006, Ed Bark's local and national TV stories and observations have been showcased on his pioneering website, www.unclebarky.com. For 26 years before that, he was TV critic for the Dallas Morning News. He's a past president of the Television Critics Association, and for seven years served on the national Peabody Awards board.

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