Maybe it had something to do with the connection to his father, but encountering Charlie Sheen at press tour was almost like coming face to face with Kurtz in Apocalypse Now...

2012

Jan

BILL MOYERS RESURFACES -- FIRST WITH STEPHEN COLBERT, THEN ON HIS OWN NEW SERIES By David Bianculli

Bill Moyers is back -- twice! This weekend, he'll make you think, as he launches the inaugural edition of public TV's Moyers & Company. But already this week, he's made you laugh -- as Stephen Colbert's guest on Tuesday's installment of Comedy Central's The Colbert Report. Not many people can parse the differences between tax breaks and tax dodges on one show, and screech owls and hoot owls on another. But Moyers can, and does...

2012

Jan

ARE YOU THERE, BAD TV? IT'S ME, 'CHELSEA' -- AND 'ROB,' TOO By David Bianculli

If you're wondering why this week's BIANCULLI'S BEST BETS provide no mention of either the new NBC sitcom Are You There, Chelsea? or the new CBS sitcom Rob, let me be clear. It's not an oversight. It's a judgment. Both shows are terrible -- but Chelsea Handler's program is the more disappointing, because she's been so clever and successful at hosting talk shows and writing memoirs...

2012

Jan

BILL MOYERS IS BACK, SO LET'S GET BACK TO MOYERS -- STARTING WITH 'JOSEPH CAMPBELL AND THE POWER OF MYTH' By Eric Gould

One of the greatest television miniseries ever made -- and made 25 years ago, no less -- is a documentary. Actually, a discussion: Two older men in chairs, talking. For six hours...

2012

Jan

'CBS THIS MORNING' TAKES FIRST STEPS, DOESN'T STUMBLE... AND HEADS IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION By David Bianculli

By watching its premiere telecast, you can tell much more about a news program's immediate weaknesses than its potential strengths. Chemistry and reputation take time to build, but groan-inducing mistakes, missteps and poor editorial judgments are there from the start...

2012

Jan

THIS PAGE!: HERE, THERE AND EVERYWHERE By Diane Werts

You never know what you'll find at TVWW. Or where. So be sure to check out all the little nooks and crannies of this home page. (If you can find the cranny...)

2012

Jan

CAUGHT BETWEEN '30 ROCK' AND A HARD PLACE -- THE CRITICS' SCRUM By Bill Brioux

PASADENA, Calif. -- What did NBC Entertainment Chairman Robert Greenblatt tell critics attending TCA Friday morning? The first network executive session of the Television Critics Association tour will be hard to top for candor. Greenblatt actually answers questions...And, as usual, a few of the best goodies came in the post-session scrum...

2012

Jan

SFO SALUTES TELEVISION WHEN IT FIRST TOOK OFF By Bill Brioux

At first, I was kinda bummed my flight to Pasadena to attend the January 2012 Television Critics Association press tour would detour through the San Francisco airport, a necessary stopover in order to cash in some Aeroplan points. Mmmm -- points. Then I happened upon a treasure trove of television history. Truly, every journalist traveling to TCA should be routed back through SFO...

2012

Jan

SKETCH COMEDY FROM THE CRUNCHY FRINGE By Eric Gould

Portlandia isn't a show that bursts with big laughs or lurches into irreverent turns. It's more like watching nerdy kids spinning goofy improv in theater class. And that feel is due in part to its locale -- it's all shot in Portland, Oregon, the fertile left coast that sprouts the hyper-moral, alt-eco-culture quirks the show thrives on satirizing...

2012

Jan

PARK IN FRONT OF THE TV AND GORGE -- ON 'HOUSE OF LIES' AND OTHER GREAT OFFERINGS By David Bianculli

Sunday, in addition to the NFL playoff games, there are a ridiculous number of fresh TV offerings -- way too many to mention in BEST BETS alone. But on my most recent radio report for Fresh Air with Terry Gross, I tried. Read on for details about not only Showtime's House of Lies and PBS's Season 2 of Downton Abbey, but NBC's new The Firm, BBC America's Absolutely Fabulous special, and more...

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