Forget the high-concept procedural grand dames or the bullets a-flyin' action shows. Southland has everything you need. This Tuesday night TNT hour (10 p.m. ET) stays down to earth, delivering an absorbing cop show worth caring about. It's a character-driven drama that doesn't tie everything up with a pretty bow...

2011

Feb

CHUCK LORRE ON CHARLIE SHEEN By Bill Brioux

Sure, he's super-rich, but you've got to feel for Chuck Lorre. He is this generation's Norman Lear, the current King of TV Comedy, the writer/producer behind "The Big Bang Theory", "Two and a Half Men," and "Mike & Molly," but at what price? As a writer/showrunner on Cybill, Roseanne and Grace Under Fire, the 58-year-old former musician has survived Roseanne, Cybill Shepherd and Brett Butler, three women who shaved years off his life...

2011

Feb

ANOTHER PROPOSAL TO CUT FUNDING FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING? WHAT A BIG BIRD-BRAINED IDEA By David Bianculli

This one was inevitable: With Republicans in Congress winning seats in the 2010 midterm election and feeling their oats, and with budget cuts a hot-button issue on both sides of the aisle, Republicans are proposing a complete elimination of public funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which provides money to both PBS and public radio. What's a supporter of public broadcasting to do? Simple: Remember your history...

2011

Feb

TV DVD: COOL LATE-SEASON EXTRAS By Diane Werts

You see this headline and you're thinking what late-season extras? Many TV DVD releases, especially for vintage shows, seem to give up on goodies after Season 1. But not all of them -- take "The Lucy Show Season 3". When I finally got around recently to checking out this fall release, I found a slew of cool features that made me sorry I'd waited so long to look at the back of the box and into the discs themselves...

2011

Feb

WEIRD & WILD: THE LOWDOWN ON 'PARTY DOWN'! By Diane Werts

This is one of those completely you-had-to-be-there posts. But if you ever liked Starz' unsung comedy Party Down even the itty-bittiest little bit, you must read the oral history of this inspired short-lived classic. Jane Lynch, Adam Scott, Lizzy Caplan, Megan Mullally, Martin Starr, co-creators Paul Rudd and Rob Thomas -- all testify to the warmth and the wildness behind the scenes and, often, on-screen. Take the orgy episode...

2011

Feb

PBS'S 'NEED TO KNOW' FOCUSES ON NEED TO TEACH -- DIFFERENTLY By Tom Brinkmoeller

A chemistry course that puts an equal emphasis on proper uses of commas and periods as on the periodic chart is part of a program that has helped lift graduation rates much higher at a Massachusetts high school. And at an Illinois high school, starting students' days with physical education has raised their heart rates and, as a result, their grades in the six years since the program was started...

2011

Feb

A RETURN TO THOSE NOT-SO-THRILLING DAYS OF YESTERYEAR? OR, WHOSE 'OLD HOUSE'? By Tom Brinkmoeller

The founder and editor of this site, under a different context, recently told me I write about old people a lot. I stipulate that fact, with no reservations. So it should not surprise him, or anyone else who has read my earlier interpretations of TV's Dead Sea Scrolls, when I start here by reflecting on the long-ago days when sponsors controlled what television viewers saw -- and didn't see...

2011

Feb

MOIST EYES, HEAVY HEART, CAN'T WATCH: 'FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS' DELIVERS A BITTERSWEET FAREWELL By David Bianculli

No spoilers here, since NBC viewers won't see the finale of Friday Night Lights for about half a year. But DirecTV subscribers -- the ones who spent Wednesday night watching the final episode of the five-year drama about family and football life in a small Texas town -- witnessed a loving, thoughtful, inspirational ending to an equally loving, thoughtful and inspirational series. The only thing that put the bitter in its bittersweet is that it's over, for good...

2011

Feb

WITH RETURN OF FX SERIES, ENTHUSIASM, PRAISE AND LOYALTY ARE 'JUSTIFIED' By David Bianculli

Last year's first-season finale of FX's Justified didn't end merely with a cliffhanger. It ended in the middle of a chase scene -- and as the down-home law-and-disorder drama series begins its second season tonight (Wednesday) at 10 ET, it picks up right where it left off. But before long, we're thrown into a whole new story line of second chances, new villains, and an artful mix of comedy, drama and character that does series inspiration Elmore Leonard proud...

2011

Feb

SAD EYES, FULL HEARTS AS WE LOSE 'FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS' By Ed Martin

One of the finest drama series in the history of television comes to an end this week -- and, sadly, most people won't even be aware of it. Then again, that unfortunate circumstance is nothing new for Friday Night Lights, a sublime example of dramatic programming at its best that during its five-season run has never received the level of attention it has so richly deserved...

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