I don't watch Two and Half Men often enough to know if that first episode was up to the show's usual comedy standards. But it wasn't very funny. And executive producer Chuck Lorre didn't find a very plausible way to introduce new lead Ashton Kutcher. All in all, Lorre missed the opportunity to make a statement he obviously believes: Booze kills...

2011

Sep

BOTH KUTCHER AND SHEEN SHOW UP ON TV MONDAY, BUT GET UPSTAGED BY STAR CAMEOS... AND A STILL PHOTO By David Bianculli

Ashton Kutcher inherited the co-starring mantle from Charlie Sheen on CBS's Two and a Half Men Monday night -- the same night, and only a hour before, Sheen himself was shown sitting through a Roast of Charlie Sheen on Comedy Central. And yet, after all that high-intensity media hype smoke cleared, I was left thinking about other things: Dharma, Greg, and the meaning of that vanity card photo...

2011

Sep

ON THE DRUG TRAIL WITH HANK SCHRADER By Eric Gould

Even though he's not a cop, he plays one on TV. And that's enough street cred for Dean Norris to dive deep into the history of drugs and their use on the new special The Stoned Ages (premiering Wednesday at 9 p.m. ET on the History channel). From ancient opium use to new medications hatched out of multinational corporations, the two-hour show looks at the roles drugs have played in our lives since humans discovered what plants could do for our health and our consciousness -- good and bad...

2011

Sep

DVD: CAN THE PACKAGING GET WORSE? By Diane Werts

Just got Star Wars on Blu-ray when it came out Friday, and couldn't wait to open it. Then I opened it. NOT again. Yes, again. The packaging for this super-duper much-hyped better-than-ever souped-up high-def edition is indeed worse for disc-keeping than previous editions...

2011

Sep

EMMY TELECAST BEGINS AND ENDS AS 'MODERN FAMILY' AWARDS SHOW By David Bianculli

AMC's Mad Men won again, deservedly, at the end of Sunday's 63d PrimeTime Emmy Awards on Fox. So did ABC's Modern Family, which won the final award of the night. Modern Family also won the first award of the night. And the second. And the third. And the fourth...

2011

Sep

LET THEM EAT CABLE: ROASTING TV'S FISCALLY IRRESPONSIBLE CHEFS By Tom Brinkmoeller

The following is a rant. Because it is for a civilized website, I will do my best to keep it polite. But this is one idiocy, plucked from television's large army of dimwitted efforts, that makes me especially irritated. It has to do with cooking shows -- and the high cost of certain elite ingredients...

2011

Sep

FUNNY THING ABOUT THESE JOKES... By Ed Bark

Some things just shouldn't be joked about, particularly on network TV sitcoms seen by millions. Humor is subjective, of course. And political correctness can be insidious when taken too far, as it often is. But among the hundreds of one-liners in this fall's new crop of comedies, I'm still wondering about two of them...

2011

Sep

JUST AS NEW SHOWS ARRIVE, OLD ONES CONCLUDE THEIR SEASONS -- AND QUITE NICELY, TOO By David Bianculli

The new fall season is looming, but some of my favorite shows of the summer have just ended, either until next year, or forever. And all of them -- including True Blood, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Damages, even Entourage -- concluded their seasons very, very nicely...

2011

Sep

FOR A REAL CHALLENGE, CW'S 'H8R' SHOULD SEND ITSELF TO TV CRITICS By David Bianculli

Even with ABC's abysmal Charlie's Angels remake and other insipid new shows, CW's H8R, premiering Wednesday night at 8 ET, is an early lock as the worst new show of the 2011 fall TV season. Its premise is to identify someone who has posted snarky, nasty things about a particular celebrity, then dispatch that celebrity to ambush the "hater" and, by charming them and revealing their true selves...

2011

Sep

CW'S 'H8R' JUST MIGHT LEAVE YOU GIDDY WITH GUILTY PLEASURE By Ed Bark

Most pseudo-celebrities just can't get enough of themselves. Marching straight to the head of that class is Dallas-born Jake Pavelka, the pilot turned "fame whore" in the words of fellow fame whore Vienna Girardi...Now comes The CW's new H8R (short for "Hater"), where Wednesday's opening episode finds -- pause, one-two -- the ubiquitous Pavelka and fellow "reality" show creation Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi confronting commoners who think they're garbage...

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