What do TV writer-producers do when their show gets canceled? If you're The Wire creator David Simon, you can always fall back on your old crime reporting role...

2009

Mar

SECOND IMPRESSIONS: NBC'S "LATE NIGHT WITH JIMMY FALLON," DAY TWO By David Bianculli

Night two of NBC's "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" was loose enough to improve a bit upon opening night, but consistent enough in where it faltered to permit some more focused criticisms and advice. So here it is...

2009

Mar

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: NBC'S "LATE NIGHT WITH JIMMY FALLON" DEBUT By David Bianculli

You can't judge a new talk show by opening night. It takes weeks, months (and years, if you get them), to work out kinks, throw out what doesn't work and rind a comfortable style and rhythm. But the very first impressions of Monday's premiere of NBC's "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" had plenty of early indicators...

2009

Mar

TALK SHOW HISTORY IS WRITTEN TONIGHT, IN A NEW GAME OF LATE-NIGHT CHESS By David Bianculli

Jimmy Fallon succeeds Conan O'Brien as host of NBC's "Late Night" tonight. It's a battle that won't be won or lost overnight, or in a week or month -- but the battle is waged regardless. And like the opening moves of a chess game, what starts simply soon will lead to tiny, subtle, significant variations...

2009

Feb

NBC NEEDS TO EXTEND ITS "LIFE" By David Bianculli

Against the unstoppable juggernaut of Fox's "American Idol" and the can't-miss mysteries of ABC's "Lost," NBC's "Life" is getting lost in the mix. But it shouldn't be. Its stories, and its actors, are too impressive and likable to go unnoticed...

2009

Feb

NEXT VOLLEYS IN LATE-NIGHT WARS ABOUT TO BE FIRED: JIMMY FALLON OPENS STRONG, BUT CRAIG FERGUSON IS TUTU GOOD By David Bianculli

Last Friday, Conan O'Brien said goodbye to his New York venue and long-running NBC "Late Night" talk show, preparing for a fall move to take over "The Tonight Show." Next Monday, Jimmy Fallon takes O'Brien's slot, and both he and tenured CBS competitor Craig Ferguson are taking the opportunity to define the viewers they're after...

2009

Feb

WHAT THE OSCARS DID RIGHT LAST NIGHT By David Bianculli

Griping about the Oscars the day after is a national pastime and an annual rite. Hugh Jackman, as host, threw more energy into it than anyone since Billy Crystal. And while he's not as funny, his razzle-dazzle dance moves made for some nice, big-stage moments...

2009

Feb

WATCH ONLINE: WHEN TV HAD 'SOUL!' By Diane Werts

Now that TV offers pretty much everything all the time for everybody, it's hard to imagine a time when it didn't. But on into the 1970s, with just three commercial networks and a public TV system only beginning to take shape...

2009

Feb

FLICK PICKS: AT BOTH OSCARS AND TCM, SIMPLER WORKS BETTER By Diane Werts

If this year's Oscar ceremony was pretty much an all-over-the-place mess with a couple good ideas thrown in, then it's mirrored by this year's 31 Days of Oscar stunt at Turner Classic Movies, which for me can't end soon enough. (But doesn't, unfortunately, until March 3...)

2009

Feb

WATCH THIS: 'JERICHO' MARATHON By Diane Werts

See what all the fuss was about. Monday's marathon of the initial episodes of Jericho reminds us why so many viewers cared so much about a show that could have been great...

Posts 241-250 of 299

24 25 26 27 28

New From TVWW

PBS' 'Frontline’ Examines Pension Promises and — Spoiler Alert — Finds the Math Doesn’t Add Up

The Decadence of ‘Versailles’ Comes to Ovation

Prescribing Mamie Gummer in 'Emily Owens, M.D.'

Looking for a Free Ride? HBO Can Deliver

'Pass the Biscuits' Part of the Hatfield-McCoy Pop-Culture Legacy

Dispatches From TVWW

'Extinction: The Facts' is a Sobering Call to Action

How 'Mayans' Has Been Influenced by the Show's Creator Elgin James

For Whom the Bell Tolls: Ken Burns and Lynn Novick Take on Ernest Hemingway, the Man and the Myth

In the Final Season, Sutton Foster's Liza is Now the Genuine Version of Her 'Younger' Self

Season 2 of 'City on a Hill' Returns with Kevin Bacon, Aldis Hodge, and Boston Corruption