Olympic viewing levels are up compared to four years ago. NBC executives are ecstatic -- and even though prime-time audiences for rival networks are down to their lowest levels in decades, executives there are thrilled, too. The moral they're embracing from these giant Olympic ratings is that broadcast network TV is alive and well...

2008

Aug

BEST NEW TV SHOW OF THE FALL SEASON? NO ONE CAN SAY... By David Bianculli

Traditionally, this is the time of year when TV critics, reporters and editors huddle at newspapers and magazines to organize their annual fall preview packages. But for the 2008 fall season, one crucial element will be missing. This year, anyone labeling a series in advance as the "best new show of the season," at this point, is lying...

2008

Aug

CW WITHHOLDS PRESS SCREENERS FOR "90210" -- EARTH CONTINUES TO ROTATE ON AXIS By David Bianculli

In the latest development to keep TV critics from seeing and evaluating advance screeners of this fall's new series, the CW network has announced that it won't be sending out preview copies of its new 90210 revival. I suppose I could scream foul. Instead, I'm shouting "Thanks!"...

2008

Aug

FOR MICHAEL PHELPS AND NBC'S OLYMPICS COVERAGE, EIGHT IS ENOUGH By David Bianculli

Eight is enough. Michael Phelps, his U.S. swimming teammates, fate and not a little luck -- they all combined to make all of the athlete's big-dream dreams come true. Eight races. Eight gold medals. Seven world records, and one Olympic record, in the bargain. Not bad for week one...

2008

Aug

MICHAEL PHELPS' MIDAS TOUCH: EVERY OUTSTRETCHED HAND TURNS TO GOLD By David Bianculli

You had to see it to believe it, and even after seeing it -- from several angles and speeds -- believing it wasn't easy. But last night, by one-hundredth of a second, Michael Phelps somehow found a way to win gold, tie Mark Spitz's single-Olympics gold medal record, and set the stage for tonight's unprecedented opportunity...

2008

Aug

YOUR MISSION, MR. PHELPS, SHOULD YOU DECIDE TO ACCEPT IT... By David Bianculli

Tonight is Michael Phelps' penultimate Olympics event, his last individual one, and the one in which he faces a competitor who, rather than he, holds the world record. The race is televised live in prime time tonight on NBC, and the audience ought to be huge...

2008

Aug

OLYMPICS: NBC ISN'T THE ONLY ONE By Diane Werts

Nobody can say NBC's Beijing Olympics coverage doesn't root for the home folks. The network is hyping how it'll lead Friday night's 8 p.m. ET network coverage with a 20-minute recap of the women's gymnastics triumphs of American gold medalist Nastia Liukin and silver medalist Shawn Johnson...

2008

Aug

THANKS TO THE OLYMPICS, NBC LOOKS LIKE A NETWORK AGAIN -- FOR NOW By David Bianculli

So far, NBC's prime-time coverage of the XXIX Summer Olympics has averaged more than 31 million viewers. That's a huge number that's bound to get even bigger, because this weekend, if Michael Phelps makes it to the point of eclipsing swimmer Mark Spitz's single-Olympics gold-medal record, the number of viewers drawn to their TV sets should be astronomical...

2008

Aug

SMOTHERS BROTHERS FINALLY COMING OUT ON VIDEO -- WITH MY LINER NOTES! By David Bianculli

Excuse me for being excited about this, but there's no hiding my enthusiasm or pride here. After decades as one of the last important TV series never released on home video, the influential 1967-69 "Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour" is finally being released...

2008

Aug

NBC'S OLYMPICS COVERAGE -- SO FAR, SO GREAT By David Bianculli

OLYMPICS-swimming-lanes.jpg Sunday night's NBC prime-time telecast of the XXIX Olympic Games -- part live, part replayed from hoarded video coverage -- was nothing short of fabulous. The U.S. athletes shone in some events, faltered in others and barely missed in still others, but NBC, in its first weekend of Olympics coverage, has been a winner all the way...

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