People often ask, "What's your favorite all-time TV show?" I never hesitate to answer: "The Dick Van Dyke Show". Sure, part of it is nostalgia. I grew up with the black-and-white CBS comedy, which premiered 50 years ago on Oct. 3, 1961. It was very much rooted in the Kennedy era, with the pilot having been shot the same day that John F. Kennedy was inaugurated, Jan. 20, 1961...

2011

Aug

HE CAME IN THROUGH THE SATELLITE WINDOW By Bill Brioux

It's been a pretty good press tour when you can say you were in on sessions with Harry Belafonte, Oprah Winfrey, Jerry Lewis, Gloria Steinem, Davy Jones, Rosie O'Donnell, Hugh Laurie, Ken Burns...and, yes, the Playboy Mansion. Add Paul McCartney to that list and all you can say is: "Fab"...

2011

Aug

HEY, LOOK: IT'S JERRY LEWIS! By Bill Brioux

The amazing thing about Jerry Lewis is that he's still here. Dean's long gone. Sammy's gone, Frank's gone, almost all of those ring-a-ding rat packers checked out years ago. Lewis, the subject of Encore's biographical documentary Method to the Madness of Jerry Lewis (airing this fall), has had ticker problems for decades but endures. He's still raging, too, which may explain his longevity. So getting to see the dude at press tour is a kick...

2011

Aug

PRESS TOUR AT THE PLAYBOY MANSION! By Bill Brioux

I accidentally dropped my glasses into the swirling waters of the Playboy Mansion's infamous grotto Wednesday night, and now every time I glance at my computer screen it looks like it has implants. Fortunately, fearless Television Critics Association publicist Cindy Ronzoni kicked off her heels and waded into the grotto to fetch my specs, picking the frames up with her toes. It was the hottest thing I saw all night at The Mansion, which is still a very cool joint but has a bit of a frozen-in-the-'70s feel...

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

Jan

FEW SPARKS AS TYLER, LOPEZ TEST POST-SIMON 'IDOL' By Bill Brioux

If the 10th season of American Idolturns out to be as dull as press tour's American Idol panel, this deal is in trouble. Tuesday's TCA session had its moments -- but missing from the session was the blunt Brit, the straw that stirred this drink, Simon Cowell. Cowell always told the truth here at press tour, and his candid banter was sorely missed. One memorable press tour session, the other Idol judges made no effort to cover up for last minute no-show Paula Abdul...

2011

Jan

THE DUDE ARRIVES: JEFF BRIDGES CHARMS AT TCA PRESS TOUR By Bill Brioux

I had to take a few hours to get my head around the Jeff Bridges visit to press tour Saturday. That`s because of how sharply it contrasted with Oprah Winfrey`s TCA visit just a few days ago. Bridges sat before critics to take a bow for the PBS "American Masters" tribute "Jeff Bridges: The Dude Abides"...

2011

Jan

OPRAH OWNS THE PRESS TOUR By Bill Brioux

PASADENA, Calif. -- I didn't win a car, but I did get touched by Oprah Winfrey. The daytime talk show queen and newly minted network mogul gave me the royal tap Thursday night at TV critics' press tour on her way out of her lavish launch party for OWN, the Oprah Winfrey Network. I also got the Winfrey wave...

2011

Jan

SNAKES ATTEND TCA PRESS TOUR By Bill Brioux

PASADENA, Calif. -- Critics are often exposed to all manner of cold-blooded creatures on the Television Critics Association press tour. It was true Wednesday at several sessions for Day 1 of the midseason event, but especially at the National Geographic Wild press conference for Wild About Snakes, where a live python was brought out after the session to pose with critics...

Posts 1-9 of 9 1

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