Little notice is being paid to CBSNews.com’s plans: they will begin streaming the same TV coverage CBS aired, also at that exact moment, in 1963, through the Monday funeral, just as it happened on TV 50 years ago...

2013

Oct

'FRONTLINE' HITS NFL'S CONCUSSION CRISIS BETWEEN THE NUMBERS By P.J. Bednarski

Throw the penalty flag at the NFL... the league's record on concussions and brain disease over the past 20 years hasn't been good, or timely...

2011

Sep

ON 'TWO AND A HALF MEN,' CHARLIE SHEEN'S CHARACTER DIED -- BUT THE WRONG WAY By P.J. Bednarski

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

Mar

IMAGINING A VERY SPECIAL FINAL EPISODE OF 'TWO AND A HALF MEN' By P.J. Bednarski

The Charlie Sheen show, now playing on almost every channel, is just another in a series of self-deprecating screams that once would have happened in private, and now happen in front of everybody around the world. The fall of Charlie Sheen was predictable. Vegas should have odds on his death by now. And yet...

2011

Jan

PIERS MORGAN: FREEZE-DRIED FACETIME By P.J. Bednarski

No doubt Piers Morgan will succeed on CNN, or at least survive on the CNN scale, which pretty much means his show will continue, like The New Adventures of Old Christine, which stayed on the air until it didn't. I have a feeling Piers will be like that. For CNN, that's an improvement, recognition-wise...

2010

Aug

PREDICTING THE EMMYS -- TAKE ONE By P.J. Bednarski

Emmy night is now one of my favorites. It didn't used to be. Now, whatever I am doing is better than being at the Emmy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles. Let me put it succinctly: Being at the show itself is a long night, especially with your bosses in proximity...

2010

Jul

GUEST BLOG #104: P.J. BEDNARSKI ON THE RUMORS ABOUT LARRY KING'S PROBABLE CNN REPLACEMENT By P.J. Bednarski

Apparently someone -- in addition to Piers Morgan's agent, his family and Piers Morgan himself -- believes that this British star of America's Got Talent, our nation's favorite derivative reality competition series, needs a second career as the new host of CNN's Larry King Live...

2009

Sep

GUEST BLOG #50: P.J. BEDNARSKI ON LENO, THE DAY AFTER By P.J. Bednarski

America may still be able to fall asleep watching Jay Leno. His 10 p.m. premiere showing on NBC Monday night was a showcase for bad television and an embarrassment for a network trying so hard to create a marketing "event" that it forgot Leno's talents: A powerful gimmick in the variety show/talk show toolbox is real or illusionary spontaneity, not a video screen featuring a "surprise" appearance by Oprah Winfrey. God, that was painful...

2009

Apr

GUEST BLOG #10: P.J. BEDNARSKI OFFERS AN 'AMERICAN IDOL'/JIMMY DURANTE MASHUP By P.J. Bednarski

When J. Max Robins became the editor in chief of Broadcasting & Cable magazine in 2004, his role was to goose the place into the 21st century. He often told us that before he took over, he had read a lead in the magazine that referred to Jimmy Durante, and that was a cultural reach-back that bothered him a lot. B&C was just too damn old to appeal to younger readers...

2009

Apr

GUEST BLOG #7: P.J. BEDNARSKI VOTES YES TO LENO AT 10 By P.J. Bednarski

I hardly ever watch The Tonight Show, and in fact I believe, probably too tenaciously, that Jay Leno ruined the franchise, and his move to 10 p.m. ET will damage Conan O'Brien's chances to create a Tonight Show that will allow him to thrive. For O'Brien, an eminently decent human being, the Leno move proves that Life Is Unfair...

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P.J. Bednarski

P.J. Bednarski is a veteran TV critic and former executive editor of Broadcasting & Cable magazine.

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