No. 1-rated CBS is doing less deck-shuffling than its rivals, but will still make some significant changes in the coming year. The network announced that four new series will be joining its new mix, although Paula Abdul's previously announced Live to Dance basically is a place-holder for Survivor as Wednesday night's lead-off hitter. The notable eviction is William Shatner's $#*! My Dad Says...

2010

Dec

CHRISTMAS SING WITH BING ON DVD By Ed Bark

Just five weeks before his Oct. 14, 1977 death, a crooning, cardigan-sweatered Ghost of TV Christmas Specials Past performed a well-worn carol with an androgynous, cutting-edge rock star 44 years his junior...

2010

Dec

'MEN' CERTAINLY AGES WELL By Ed Bark

TNT's best-ever drama series -- the show that defies all conventional wisdom about what should work on TV -- finds its way to Season 2 Monday night. Amazingly, Men of a Certain Age (10 p.m. ET) has nothing to do with fatalities, legalities or life-saving medical procedures. Its three middle-aged central characters...

2010

Dec

BARBARA WALTERS EMBRACES THE BIG O -- IN PRIME TIME By Ed Bark

Barbara Walters and ABC's prime-time domain aren't quite done with one another. She's given up her yearly pre-Oscar specials, but hasn't yet relinquished her clout when it comes to big-time hobnobbing. So here comes ABC's "One Night, One Big Event" -- namely back-to-back Dec. 9th Babs specials in which she first spends an hour with Oprah Winfrey and then presents her 18th 10 Most Fascinating People of the year extravaganza...

2010

Nov

'IDOL' MOVES TO WEDNESDAY-THURSDAY By Ed Bark

American Idol's weekly results shows will get a Thursday night berth for the first time as part of a Fox midseason lineup that also includes five new series, all but one of them scripted. Idol, which will deploy new judges Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler plus some format changes, has been airing on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. But Season 10 inaugurates a Wednesday-Thursday shift...

2010

Nov

'THE LARRY SANDERS SHOW': TV GREATNESS ON DVD By Ed Bark

Unappreciated at Emmy time and under-seen on HBO, The Larry Sanders Show only grows in stature as time marches on through the late-night talk TV minefield. All 89 episodes are now available via Shout! Factory, the video curator whose restoration projects and dedication to both the great and the bizarre merit yet another full-throated shout-out...

2010

Oct

MUSIC AND PASSION ARE ALWAYS IN FASHION WITH MICHAEL FEINSTEIN By Ed Bark

Vocalist/pianist by night, collector/hoarder by day, here's a guy who knows what he likes. Michael Feinstein worships the kind of music that never goes out of fashion but almost assuredly will never be fully fashionable again. In other words, it's hard to imagine someone downloading Alexander's Ragtime Band on iTunes...

2010

Sep

WANNA SEE WILLIAM SHATNER'S ZUCCHINI? By Ed Bark

It really is a pain in the ass to correctly type the title of $#*! My Dad Says, which just as easily could be &%@! My Dad Says or even *&!$ My Dad Says. CBS also notes that some DVR search functions are "perplexed" by the title...

2010

Sep

'BOARDWALK EMPIRE' GIVES JERSEY SHORE A GOOD NAME By Ed Bark

Longtime HBO corporate communicator Quentin Schaffer couldn't resist aiming a little slingshot at a certain high-flying MTV show during his introduction of a press tour session for Boardwalk Empire. "HBO is proud to take you to the Jersey shore," he told TV critics last month. "The difference being you're going to see some great writing, some great directing and some great storytelling..."

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