Network News & Reviews

Motive gives ABC a second self-contained cop drama amid all those serials

Ed Bark — 2013-05-16T14:19:03-05:00

Unlike Fox’s backhanded treatment of The Goodwin Games, ABC is giving Motive a substantial promotional push and slotting its first episode after a two-hour performance edition of Dancing with the Stars. As a whodunit with the who already answered, Motive is more than passable and quite a bit better than two of this season’s string-along ABC clunkers -- Zero Hour and Red Widow.

Fox's new and well-hidden The Goodwin Games: not a bad little comedy, but who knew?

Ed Bark — 2013-05-16T12:35:18-05:00

Oldest son Henry Goodwin (Scott Foley) is a 36-year-old, nose-in-the-air surgeon who gets the news of dad’s death while heading to the operating room. ...It would have been nice to see it get a fairer shot much earlier in the season, particularly after Fox created a vacancy between Raising Hope and New Girl with its quick axing of Ben and Kate.

Abnormal's increasingly the new normal for CW's fall season

Ed Bark — 2013-05-16T08:19:52-05:00

Three of the newcomers are for this fall, with a Vampire Diaries spinoff called The Originals likely to generate the most buzz on a network that got a bit of a lift last season from Arrow. ...So he eventually hooks up with three other Tomorrow People, who of course are being “hunted down by a paramilitary group of scientists known as Ultra.”

CBS makes a Robin's nest as part of rise in new fall comedies

Ed Bark — 2013-05-15T09:43:35-05:00

The other major CBS move is a comedy bulk-up on Thursdays, with the Williams-Gellar series and another new sitcom starring Will Arnett joining incumbents The Big Bang Theory and Two and a Half Men. ...The Millers (comedy) -- Quickly rebounding from NBC’s disastrous Up All Night, Arnett plays a newly divorced local news reporter preparing to leap back into the singles game until his parents tell him they’re also splitting after a 43-year run.

ABC makes Dancing a one-step while otherwise crowding its fall schedule with eight new series

Ed Bark — 2013-05-14T11:40:25-05:00

Struggling ABC will go into battle this fall with more freshman series than any other rival -- including an all-new Tuesday night -- and a one-step Dancing with the Stars airing only on Mondays. ...With DWTS out of the picture, the network’s all-new Tuesday night lineup will start off with Marvel’s New Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, a spinoff of The Avengers movie helmed by fave rave sci-fi producer Josh Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Dollhouse, Firefly).

Fox's fall lineup announcements overshadowed by Jack Bauer's return next summer

Ed Bark — 2013-05-13T08:05:54-05:00

Set to premiere in the summer of 2014 is a new 12-episode edition of 24, with star Kiefer Sutherland back as Jack Bauer after his Touch series was canceled. 24: Live Another Day again will occur in “real time,” but some hours will be skipped, says Fox entertainment president Kevin Reilly. ...Sleepy Hollow (drama) -- Fox begins by asking this question: “What if you suddenly woke up from the throes of death 250 years in the future to find the world is on the brink of destruction, caused by unimaginable events, and you are humanity’s last hope?”

NBC rebuilds Thursdays, accentuates star power in new fall schedule

Ed Bark — 2013-05-13T05:44:15-05:00

Now he’s back on that night as New York news anchor Mike Henry, who had left the business for five years to spend more time with his family while undergoing treatment for Parkinson’s Disease (which Fox has in real life). ...Two more new dramas -- Chicago PD, The Night Shift -- a comedy (Undateable and a pair of reality series (Food Fighters, The Million Second Quiz) have been ordered by NBC but don’t have homes yet in either the fall or midseason.

Lame duck Leno just keeps winning. How do we know? His network tells us so

Ed Bark — 2013-05-10T12:26:03-05:00

Here’s a telling paragraph from NBC’s numbers crunchers: “Jay has now accumulated bigger 18-to-49 audiences than (David Letterman’s) Late Show for the last 24 weeks in a row and topped Kimmel for 15 of their 17 head-to-head weeks. ...Interestingly, Leno also had more 18-to-49-year-olds watching him last week than Comedy Central’s The Daily Show (889,000) and The Colbert Report (762,000) and TBS’ Conan (508,000).

HBO's Family Tree: a sturdy oak of a comedy

Ed Bark — 2013-05-09T13:45:31-05:00

Because Family Tree (premiering Sunday, May 12th at 9:30 p.m. central) has so much else going for it beyond the acerbic stuffed monkey long used by the central character’s sister as her “inner voice.” ...That may be a little self-serving on HBO’s part, even though it almost goes without saying in contemporary TV times. Family Tree is sturdily planted on a network that knows enough to let Guest go out on a limb without sawing any of them off from out under him.

The address is CBS -- even for prime-time's most-courted viewers

Ed Bark — 2013-05-03T11:51:33-05:00

Fox’s American Idol drew 4.1 million 18-to-49-year-olds last week for its Wednesday performance show and 3.5 million for the Thursday results edition. ... And who would have ever thought that NCIS basically would reach parity with Idol on the 18-to-49 scorecard while blowing it out in the total viewer Nielsens. (Idol’s totals were 12.4 million and 11.4 million last week.)

IFC's Maron: morose without remorse -- and quite funny, too

Ed Bark — 2013-05-02T14:25:14-05:00

Maron otherwise chronicles his misadventures, which in Friday’s premiere include a defecating cat with a stomach virus and an embarrassing in-person confrontation with a tweeter dubbed Dragonmaster, who delights in ridiculing him with slayers such as “Marc Maron is sad and draining with his soul-sucking jokes.” ...She’s briefly seen making him miserable in Episode 2 and he’s a much bigger part of Episode 3 after pulling up unannounced in an RV in hopes of persuading his estranged son to invest in a new vitamin line called “Maron’s Mix.”

Lifetime's Dear Mom, Love Cher sings an old sweet song -- with Georgia on its mind

Ed Bark — 2013-05-01T14:39:51-05:00

Even so, Dear Mom, Love Cher provides ample room for 86-year-old Georgia Holt, who had the then Cherilyn Sarkisian by the first of her six husbands, John Sarkisian. ...The archival film and black-and-white still photos are terrific throughout, with mom telling tales about her friendship with Lucille Ball, the crush Ozzie Nelson seemed to have on her and how close she came to aborting Cher rather than returning to a miserable marriage.

Dallas rides again, with TNT announcing a Season 3 for Larry Hagman-less Ewings

Ed Bark — 2013-04-30T16:21:17-05:00

The network made it official Tuesday afternoon, with TNT programming head Michael Wright saying in a statement, “Dallas has built a passionately loyal following with its expertly woven story lines, clever twists and turns, and numerous outstanding performances by a cast that spans generations. ...The No. 1-rated network is pretty much re-upping everything for Fall 2013, with only CSI: NY, Criminal Minds, Vegas, Golden Boy and Rules of Engagement still “on the bubble” among series currently airing. Criminal Minds is expected to return, however, after contractual details are worked out.

ABC's Family Tools another hammer-headed sitcom

Ed Bark — 2013-04-30T09:11:25-05:00

Family Tools, slotted on Wednesdays between ABC’s infinitely superior The Middle and Modern Family, sags under the very tired premise of a sad sack son returning home to run the family business after his grouchy, demeaning dad has a mild heart attack. ...Darren has a wheelchair-bound, oxygen tank-reliant grandpa named Ellis (Lee Weaver). Family Tools chooses to use him as a recurring sight gag while also making sport of a flat-screen TV thief who’s a friend of Darren’s and thereby entitled to proceed on his merry way.

Jaggedly uneven but not entirely unwatchable: a review of Netflix's Hemlock Grove based on seeing all 13 episodes

Ed Bark — 2013-04-24T10:58:55-05:00

She has two kids, the constantly belligerent Roman (Bill Skarsgard) and his mute, stooped, deformed younger sister, Shelley (Nicole Boivin), who’s the height of a pro basketball center and has one eye with a pupil the size of an egg yolk. ...There’s ample gore as well, with a transformational scene in Episode 2 about as stark and good as it gets in the horror genre. Hemlock Grove overall falls well short of anything resembling sustained brilliance.

Great expectations fulfilled in Sundance Channel's Rectify

Ed Bark — 2013-04-22T08:02:15-05:00

On Monday night, Sundance Channel’s Rectify joins a short list of potentially all-time great newcomers, with FX’s The Americans already solidly entrenched and Netflix’s House of Cards also in the conversation. ...There’s also a teenage half-brother named Jared (Jake Austin Walker), who reaches out in his own way by setting up a DVD player for Daniel and offering to help guide him through all the movies he’s missed.

R.I.P. Pat Summerall: May 10, 1930 to April 16, 2013

Ed Bark — 2013-04-16T19:11:49-05:00

He played in the long-anointed “Greatest Game Ever Played,” kicking a field goal and two extra points for the New York Giants in their epic 23-17 overtime loss to the Baltimore Colts in the 1958 NFL Championship. He also announced some of the greatest games ever played: 16 Super Bowls, the 1967 “Ice Bowl” between the Green Bay Packers and Dallas Cowboys, and the Cowboys’ first big score with Jimmy Johnson as head coach when they upset the San Francisco 49ers in the Jan.

HBO's Mary and Martha grips without being graphic

Ed Bark — 2013-04-16T15:37:58-05:00

That’s all well and good with HBO’s Mary and Martha, an affecting, thoroughly G-rated look at two disparate women who join forces after their sons die of malaria in Africa. ...Still, the film grows in power, with both Swank and Blethyn engaging a viewer’s sympathies through the force of their performances apart and eventually together after a chance meeting.

Five minutes with Robert Redford -- and the clock is ticking

Ed Bark — 2013-04-15T15:05:07-05:00

A half-hour conference call with “select reporters,” as an email invitation put it, was being set up for Thursday, April 11th in connection with Discovery Channel’s All the President’s Men Revisited. ...The Discovery film, for which Redford is narrator, interview subject and co-executive producer, looks back at the making of the 1976 film All the President’s Men while also gathering many of the surviving real-life principals for new interviews.

A comic in full prime: HBO's Louis C.K.: Oh My God

Ed Bark — 2013-04-12T09:55:23-05:00

But for the past year or so it’s been Louis C.K. by a mile, with his FX series Louie striking the match on behalf of a somewhat slovenly 45-year-old guy with everyman looks and no airs about him. HBO’s Louis C.K.: Oh My God (Saturday, April 13th at 9 p.m. central) is another work of art from a guy who’s taking an extended hiatus from Louie to do what he damned pleases for a while.

Syfy's Defiance a visual plus but often an audio minus

Ed Bark — 2013-04-11T09:31:05-05:00

Viewers are first introduced to former Marine and latter day “tracker” Joshua Nolan (Grant Bowler from Lifetime’s recent Liz & Dick) and his fiery adopted daughter, Irisa (Stephanie Leonidas). ...Meanwhile, Defiance is being run by new mayor Amanda Rosewater (Julie Benz), who delivers what’s supposed to be a stirring speech (but isn’t) on Armistice Day.

"Leo" bares his chest, struts his 15th century stuff in Starz's Da Vinci's Demons

Ed Bark — 2013-04-10T15:51:13-05:00

Tom Riley as Da Vinci is a handsome mount as well, whether on horseback or atop the manipulative Lucrezia Donati (Laura Haddock), who in a howler of a bedroom scene tells the famed Renaissance man, “You saw me, you drew me, you fell in love. ...He seems intent on quickly proving that his Pope Sixtus IV (James Faulkner) is more diabolical and amoral than Jeremy Irons’ Pope Alexander VI on Showtime’s The Borgias, which returns for its third season on Sunday, April 14th.

R.I.P. Annette Funicello: Oct. 22, 1942 to April 8, 2013

Ed Bark — 2013-04-08T14:05:43-05:00

It’s a fun trivial matter to note that Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears, Keri Russell, and Ryan Gosling went on to become stars after first appearing in latter-day incarnations of The Mickey Mouse Club. ...In 1995’s The Official Mickey Mouse Club Book by Lorraine Santoli, Annette recalls the 16th birthday present she received from Disney: “He knocked on the door of the little red trailer where I was going to school and said, ‘Annette, I’d like to see you for a minute.’

Mad Men's anxiety-laden Season 6

Ed Bark — 2013-04-04T14:00:13-05:00

He’s again sent a letter to TV writers with chapter-and-verse instructions on what not to reveal as Season 6 gets underway with a two-hour episode subtitled “The Doorway” (Sunday, April 7th at 8 p.m. central on AMC). ...But Peggy Olson (Elisabeth Moss), now working for a rival ad agency, comes strongly to the fore while Don’s longtime partner and commiserator, Roger Sterling (John Slattery), struggles to re-charge his batteries and give a damn.

Rogue lands with a thud as DirecTV's first original scripted series

Ed Bark — 2013-04-03T17:49:25-05:00

Dreary in tone and storyline -- and mostly dimly lit as well -- Rogue is a decidedly uninviting vehicle for DirecTV’s first original scripted series. ...A viewer’s patience is initially tested and eventually goes unrewarded in an opening hour that also trades heavily on a one-note crime boss named Jimmy Laszlo (Marton Csokas).

Springtime for Leno: next year's will be his last as host of Tonight Show

Ed Bark — 2013-04-03T12:12:39-05:00

Earlier this week, TBS extended Conan through November of 2015, lauding O’Brien for leading “the late-night crowd when it comes to online activity and engagement, with the show and its host drawing more than 8.3 million followers on Twitter, 2 million fans on Facebook, 2 million unique users each month on TeamCoco.com and 15 million video views each month on TeamCoco.com and YouTube.” ...As NBC noted in Wednesday’s publicity release, the Tonight Show has “ranked #1 ahead of its ABC and CBS time-period competition in 18-49 viewers and total viewers for each season since Leno’s return in March 2010 and for the 14 seasons before his departure in May 2009.

NBC's Hannibal not a happy meal -- or a particularly fulfilling one

Ed Bark — 2013-04-02T14:20:54-05:00

This whole storyline is then abruptly dropped by Episode 4, even though the daughter in question is still presumably suspected of possibly being an accomplice in her father’s foul deeds. ...If you think about it, that’s a lot of mumbo jumbo disguised as deep-think. Hannibal starts out in stronger shape than that before becoming gratuitous with its carnage and too often ludicrous in getting from A to B.

ABC longs for a hit sitcom with one of the longest titles ever -- How to Live With Your Parents (For the Rest of Your Life)

Ed Bark — 2013-04-01T13:44:58-05:00

And most of the big ratings hits over the past three decades -- Seinfeld, Cheers, Friends, Frasier, Newhart, Roseanne, M*A*S*H, Three’s Company, Happy Days, The Jeffersons, Family Ties, Home Improvement, Murphy Brown, Laverne & Shirley, The Cosby Show, Everybody Loves Raymond, Will & Grace, etc. -- have conformed to these very simple rules. ...That may well also be the fate for How to Live to Live with Your Parents (For the Rest of Your Life).

Mr. Selfridge gives PBS another grand entertainment worthy of the Masterpiece Classic banner

Ed Bark — 2013-03-29T12:12:04-05:00

Selfridge, premiering Sunday, March 31st at 8 p.m. central with a two-hour chapter, may not provoke the full-blown tizzy that Downton Abbey has for the Masterpiece Classic franchise. Still, it very much works its own charms, with Piven gradually getting a firm grip on his real-life title character while four very estimable women exert varying pulling powers on him.

FX going to double X

Ed Bark — 2013-03-28T14:21:16-05:00

FX’s other late-nighter, Brand X with Russell Brand, is still iffy for a new season, FX president John Landgraf said in a teleconference after presiding over an earlier “upfront” presentation to advertisers. ...There’s also ample activity on the FX front, with the network announcing a renewal of Justified for a fifth season while also touting its first “limited series,” a 10-episode “re-invisioning” of the hit movie Fargo.

Game of Thrones re-rules HBO, slowly at first

Ed Bark — 2013-03-28T09:25:06-05:00

Death and destruction beckon on all three fronts, although the opening hour of GOT turns out to be surprisingly tame unless the calculated severing of a male slave’s nipple counts for something. Our focus here is GOT (8 p.m. central), which seems to be getting better all the time judging from the four episodes sent for review.

Philip Roth's life is something of an open book in new American Masters film

Ed Bark — 2013-03-26T15:12:47-05:00

Generally perceived as a recluse with an aversion to being interviewed, the recently turned 80-year-old man of letters shows no signs of being reticent during this verbiage-heavy 90-minute film under the American Masters banner. ...Italian literary journalist Livia Manera and French filmmaker William Karel interviewed the famed and much-decorated author (Goodbye, Columbus, Portnoy’s Complaint, Sabbath’s Theater, The Human Stain among his 31 books) for 12 hours during a 10-day period, according to publicity materials.

True story: Erik Estrada stars in Syfy channel's Chupacabra vs The Alamo

Ed Bark — 2013-03-21T16:15:10-05:00

Premiering Saturday, March 23rd at 8 p.m. (central), Chupacabra vs The Alamo arguably is the best made-for-TV movie title since ABC’s 1982 epic, The Wild Women of Chastity Gulch. ...He lost his beloved wife two years ago and now is dealing with a super-insolent gang-banging son known as Spider (Jorgito Vargas Jr.) and a teen daughter, Sienna (Nicole Munoz), who also sasses him in an early scene.

NBC's never-ending story: Leno on the ropes again

Ed Bark — 2013-03-21T09:21:33-05:00

The New York Times’ Bill Carter, who’s owned the late night beat for the past two decades or so, has a front page story Thursday with an opening sentence that reads, “NBC has settled on two new stars for The Tonight Show: Jimmy Fallon and New York City.” ...NBC confirms that it’s building a new studio for Fallon, but otherwise has no comment. The Tonight Show, which originated in New York, headed West in 1972 with Johnny Carson at the helm.

Mirren/Pacino pairing keeps HBO's Phil Spector in tune

Ed Bark — 2013-03-20T14:43:14-05:00

Written and directed by the esteemed David Mamet (Glengarry Glenn Ross, Wag the Dog,) this 90-minute depiction of Spector’s first trial for murder carries an opening disclaimer that’s almost as odd as the accused’s assortment of wigs. ...As a producer/songwriter, Spector’s famed “wall of sound” technique yielded the likes of “Unchained Melody; You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling; Be My Baby” and “He’s a Rebel,” all of which are heard to very good effect in the film.

A&E's Bates Motel driven by Farmiga's driven mother

Ed Bark — 2013-03-13T10:53:56-05:00

A&E's Bates Motel, premiering Monday, March 18th, is both mesmerizing and sometimes absurd in its rewind to Norman Bates (Freddie Highmore) as a repressed 17-year-old. ...And here's where Bates Motel could go really wrong while also seeming to get a lot of things quite right in its depiction of the off-center Norma/Norman dynamic.

A limp look at a tough subject in Showtime's The World According to Dick Cheney

Ed Bark — 2013-03-12T09:42:08-05:00

Noodle that because you're not going to get much else out of him in Showtime's disappointing first effort to brand a new documentary film series under the banner Sho: Close Up. ...Viewers are left with the thinnest of thin smiles at the end of a film that often seems even thinner. The Fog of War it's not.

Let's have a nice hand for Ovation's Song By Song: Dolly Parton

Ed Bark — 2013-03-07T13:58:35-06:00

Sunday's launch of Song By Song as a weekly half-hour series isn't likely to lure battalions of viewers away from watching duck-callers, pampered skanks, Honey Boo Boo-ish hillbillies and people who hoard, pawn or pick through storage shelters. ...Carrie Underwood, Vince Gill, Kenny Rogers, Mac Davis, Miranda Lambert, Brad Paisley, Kristen Chenoweth and an already sadly trashed-out looking Miley Cyrus figuratively sing her praises without really advancing the story of how "I Will Always Love You" came to be.

All the world's a stage, but Texas upstages the field on NBC's Ready For Love

Ed Bark — 2013-03-04T12:37:22-06:00

Sikorski was wowed when she saw Ernesto's video and knows she is ready to take on the full-time role as wife for a family man such as Ernesto." ...So there you have it. Ready For Love will be hosted by Giuliana and Bill Rancic, with assists from a "preeminent matchmaker," a relationship author and a professional dating coach.

History (Channel) further follows the scripts by filling Sundays with Vikings and The Bible

Ed Bark — 2013-03-01T10:01:14-06:00

But Vikings (9 to 10 p.m. central for the next 9 Sundays) turns out to be far superior to The Bible (7 to 9 p.m. central for the next five Sundays). ...Producer Burnett's first fully scripted series -- his 2004 Commando Nanny for The WB never made it to the air -- provides strong evidence that he should resume doing what no one else does better.

ABC's Red Widow: mob ties served with Russian dressing

Ed Bark — 2013-02-27T13:44:54-06:00

She's a mother of three children living the good life in Marin County by looking the other way as her husband Evan (a still bearded Anson Mount from AMC's Hell On Wheels) supports the family by exporting marijuana. ...Instead, as ABC's promos have made clear, it's only Evan who winds up dead while his youngest son, Boris (Jakob Salvati), is witness to and traumatized by the sight of three bullets entering dad's chest.

HBO's Parade's End a downer for Downton Abbey devotees

Ed Bark — 2013-02-26T13:47:24-06:00

It also wants to experiment, on a smaller scale, with the watch-it-all-at-once-if-you-want stratagem of Netflix and its first original series, House of Cards. ...On conventional TV screens, the first two parts air from 8 to 10:05 p.m. (central) on that night with parts three and four on Wednesday (8 to 10:05 p.m.) and part five on Thursday (8 to 9 p.m.)

Oscar host MacFarlane goes too far -- and also takes too long to do so

Ed Bark — 2013-02-25T11:54:49-06:00

The host's first misstep of the night was just a joke or two away, though. DJango Unchained is the "story of a man fighting to get back his woman, who's subjected to unthinkable violence," MacFarlane said. ...But five separate production numbers and/or bits ensued, including the kickoff "We Saw Your Boobs" song in which MacFarlane (with help from the Los Angeles Gay Men's Choir) ticked off a stream of films in which Oscar winners and nominees had appeared topless.

CBS' Golden Boy nicely primes the network's crime pump

Ed Bark — 2013-02-22T12:35:45-06:00

Premiering: Tuesday, Feb. 26th at 9 p.m. (central) on CBS and also airing on Tuesday, March 5th before moving to regular Friday, 8 p.m. slot o March 8th. ...The task force's other principal members are Arroyo's hard-knocks partner, Deborah McKenzie (Bonnie Somerville), and big lug Joe Diaco (Holt McCallany), who prides himself on getting prime tickets to big events like The Book of Mormon and Knicks games.

CW's Cult aggressively defies convention -- and explanation

Ed Bark — 2013-02-19T08:35:28-06:00

This almost certainly is a reference to fave rave producer Joss Whedon and his science-fiction series Dollhouse, which premiered in February 2009 and spilled over into the following fall season despite its anemic ratings. ...The CW has ordered 13 hours of Cult, which has the potential to attract a cult following on a network whose most successful series (The Vampire Diaries, Supernatural, Arrow) in reality have little more than cult followings.

National Geo's Killing Lincoln lacks a firm pulse

Ed Bark — 2013-02-14T14:17:06-06:00

And on the Sunday before that they're going to murder him again in Killing Lincoln, which also serves as National Geographic Channel's first original scripted drama. ...Campbell, who got plugged as a politician on AMC's The Killing, is in a no-win situation when compared to Daniel Day Lewis' bravura big-screen performance as Lincoln.

Yep, it's her again. Beyonce tells her story her way in HBO's Life Is But A Dream

Ed Bark — 2013-02-13T11:27:06-06:00

Intercut with some typically showy stage performances in addition to powerful off-stage vocals, the film portrays Beyonce as a willful yet vulnerable artist who lets the world know that "I'm a human being. ...Still, it's a watchable film for those who just can't get enough of a pop music jewel to behold who's still just 31 and likely not even in her prime yet.

ABC's Zero Hour adds up to barely that

Ed Bark — 2013-02-12T05:39:40-06:00

Zero Hour further sets up its cockamamie premise with a very ponderous 1938 Nazi Germany sequence in which priests and other resistors are sent to kingdom come after some mysterious events get set in motion. ..."I gotta go," he says before heading off to the small offices of Modern Skeptic magazine, which he publishes while preaching the guiding principles of "inductive reasoning" to young staffers Rachel Lewis and Arron Martin (Addison Timlin, Scott Michael Foster).

Having a little funster with I'm Dickens . . . He's Fenster

Ed Bark — 2013-02-07T13:41:59-06:00

The accompanying liner notes for Dickens/Fenster praise it as a before-its-time classic that rallied in the ratings too late to get beyond its 32-episode Season 1. ...In the "Father Image" episode, he loudly tries to juggle Arch's other arriving girlfriends while his stewardess fiancee, Joan (Burstyn), is in a very nearby bedroom taking an inordinate amount of time to put on some of Harry's wife's cologne.

The Super Bowl is still ratings rocket fuel for any network that has it (Ask CBS)

Ed Bark — 2013-02-07T09:54:40-06:00

The network now is averaging 4 million viewers in the 18-to-49 age range, knocking a slumping NBC (3.5 million) into second place for the first time this season. ...But without Sunday Night Football and with no other current hits on its schedule, the Peacock probably will end up in third place behind Fox at the close of this season.

A look at Netflix's revolutionary House of Cards -- based on watching all 13 Season 1 episodes

Ed Bark — 2013-02-06T10:49:08-06:00

TV critics were provided with the first two episodes before that date, and many of the early, largely favorable reviews are based on what amounts to a sneak peek of this twisting, turning Washington, D.C.-based serial drama. ...Instead he's double-crossed and passed over, with the new president deeming him more valuable as a congressional deal-maker with the moxie to ram through a big education reform bill in the first 100 days of the Walker administration.

New Jennifer Love Hewitt video again sells sex -- and The Client List

Ed Bark — 2013-02-05T12:09:03-06:00

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Super Bowl XLVII ranks III on all-time list while post-game Elementary falls into late-starting ratings ditch

Ed Bark — 2013-02-04T15:12:12-06:00

The in-game delay and a post-game show pushed the start of the network's tagalong entertainment attraction -- a new episode of the first-year series Elementary -- completely out of Sunday's prime-time window. Starting at 10:11 p.m. central, it averaged 20.8 viewers in falling dramatically from last year's haul for NBC's The Voice (37.6 million).

TNT's Monday Mornings resuscitates the hospital series genre

Ed Bark — 2013-01-30T16:19:52-06:00

In recent seasons, the list of deceased, short-lived doctor hours includes CBS' Miami Medical, Three Rivers and A Gifted Man; NBC's Mercy, Trauma and Saving Hope; ABC's Off the Map and Combat Hospital; Fox's Mental and The Mob Doctor and TNT's Hawthorne, the only one to survive beyond a single season. ...Kelley also seems to have curbed his penchant for absurdities, at least in the early going. Monday Mornings sometimes relies too insistently on clockwork-like mood music, although the Stones' "Gimme Shelter" is welcome anytime -- and closes out Monday's Episode 1.

NBC's Do No Harm does no harm if you're first medicated into unconsciousness

Ed Bark — 2013-01-29T12:17:16-06:00

Do No Harm also throws in layman therapist Will Hayes (the always serviceable John Carroll Lynch), who drops in and out to offer advice on the order of, "When you embrace the Ian in you, you will know how to fix this." ...But perhaps never more so than in an Episode 2 scene that finds Price (impersonating Cole) urging the angry father of a seriously ill little girl to blow off steam by throwing a vase of flowers at a nursing station desk.

The Americans takes FX to the head of prime-time's class

Ed Bark — 2013-01-28T09:11:17-06:00

Keri Russell, Matthew Rhys are cloak and dagger KGB spies who struggle with allegiances and an arranged marriage in The Americans. ...Set in 1981 at the outset of Ronald Reagan's presidency, this is the rich-in-intrigue saga of KGB spies Elizabeth and Philip Jennings (Keri Russell, Matthew Rhys), who have been masquerading as husband and wife since 1965.

Hagman still a lifesaver in early Season 2 episodes of TNT's Dallas

Ed Bark — 2013-01-25T10:06:55-06:00
But now every sighting is something of an event as TNT's Dallas fires up a 15-episode sophomore year with back-to back episodes on Monday, Jan. 28th (8 to 10 p.m. central). ...Those wheels keep turning in the early going, with Pamela angling for a 30 percent share of Christopher's fledgling methane company while John Ross plots to screw one and all with help from his daddy.

Spartacus: War of the Damned ready for its last stabs at gory glory

Ed Bark — 2013-01-23T10:44:21-06:00
The Starz network's most popular original series remains gratuitously gruesome to behold, but not as much crazed campy fun in its climactic thrusts. Spartacus: War of the Damned (Friday, Jan. 25th at 8 p.m. central) goes about its business in a brutal, business-like way. ...Spartacus in fact is what it is -- a broadly drawn, visceral feast of blood, guts, lust and lower-rung language. War of the Damned doesn't spare any of it en route to its no doubt hellish conclusion.

Rise of the Drones a sky-high cautionary tale from Nova

Ed Bark — 2013-01-22T12:41:04-06:00
This is mainly because a Drone's remote control pilot -- they're initially trained with X Box video game controllers -- basically is "looking through a soda straw" during the final process of zeroing in. ...Rise of the Drones isn't an alarmist hour, but does raise some caution flags in addition to showing a little footage from Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.

Ex-Lost star Dominic Monaghan blisses out in BBC America's Wild Things

Ed Bark — 2013-01-21T15:47:59-06:00
He's first seen popping his head from the murky waters of Vietnam's Crocodile Lake in BBC America's Wild Things with Dominic Monaghan. ..."These little droplets of sweat spell adrenalin," Monaghan says while pausing to grab a ground-level Monocle Cobra by its tail during the opening episode's search for those nasty water bugs.

Ripper Street another reason to give BBC America a test drive

Ed Bark — 2013-01-18T16:46:41-06:00
Their third wheel is former American Pinkerton detective Homer Jackson (Adam Rothenberg), who knows his way around a bare bones autopsy slab and is on the run from an undisclosed "incident." ...Its oft-grimy 1899 setting is effectively re-created and as such is a nice companion piece to BBC America's Copper, which is set in 1860s New York City and will have a second season.

Lance & Oprah take the silver in all-time OWN ratings

Ed Bark — 2013-01-18T15:50:20-06:00
In the cable TV network universe Thursday night, OWN's initial Lance/Oprah telecast was beaten in total viewers by USA network's 7 p.m. repeat of NCIS (3.7 million), USA's new episode of its original drama series Suits (3.6 million) and TNT's Los Angeles Lakers-Miami Heat game (also 3.6 million). Lance/Oprah outdrew one program on the Big 4 broadcast networks -- NBC's new episode of the sure-to-be-canceled 1600 Penn sitcom (3.0 million viewers).

Fox's The Following hopes to stake its bloody claim

Ed Bark — 2013-01-18T09:13:17-06:00
Fox therefore is standing firmly behind The Following, billed as an "epic story of good versus evil" pitting a psychologically and physically scarred former FBI agent against an English professor turned serial killer whose "art" is drawn from the works of Edgar Allan Poe. ...So I'm somewhat hooked for the time being, although more than a little guiltily so. The Following is a grisly, ghoulish turn of events for Fox, which hopes to generate some electricity by glomming onto some of the shock values of its cable sister FX.

Nerdy but nice: TBS offers up King of the Nerds competition

Ed Bark — 2013-01-17T11:55:21-06:00
Revenge of the Nerds movies mainstay Robert Carradine seems a bit embarrassed, or maybe stunned, to be co-hosting a latter day "reality competition" series among real-life dweebs. ...The 11 designated nerds, identified by first names only, gather at the well-appointed Nerdvana headquarters to compete for a $100,000 grand prize and the right to occupy the prestigious Throne of Games.

FX's Legit is crudely mined comedy gold

Ed Bark — 2013-01-16T15:32:06-06:00
Set in L.A. and starring Australian comic Jim Jefferies, Legit has a chance to rival FX's Louie in terms of bald-faced boldness and swervy, uniquely individual takes on being a semi-sad sack male. ...So it's off to a brothel for the three of them, with Billy's mom Janice (Mindy Sterling), apoplectic and dad Walter (a so far scantly used John Ratzenberger) hoping to blank it all out.

Comedy Central's Kroll Show no droll show

Ed Bark — 2013-01-15T14:36:10-06:00
But the network struck gold over the past summer with Workaholics, a Stooge redux that Comedy Central says was the "highest-rated series in its timeslot across all of television" with 18-to-34-year-old males. ...This time they have a likely new soul mate in Kroll Show, which follows at 9:30 p.m. and stars man of many guises Nick Kroll (Ruxin on FX's The League).

CW's The Carrie Diaries takes a Sex and the City time trip

Ed Bark — 2013-01-14T11:59:00-06:00
Recovering from the recent cancer death of her mother, Carrie (AnnaSophia Robb) lives in bland suburban Connecticut with her almost painfully understanding father, Tom (Matt Letscher), and a bratty 14-year-old sister named Dorrit (Stefania Owen). ...AnnaSophia Robb is appealing enough in the title role, but Monday's first episode (being repeated immediately after at 8 p.m. central) starts to sag from all the CW-ian title character narration and overall pop tune heaviness.

TLC hopes to Charlie Hustle viewers with Pete Rose: Hits & Mrs

Ed Bark — 2013-01-11T17:18:24-06:00
The 71-year-old lightning rod, still ineligible for the Hall of Fame after betting on baseball as player-manager of the Cincinnati Reds, is playing a notably different game with the six-episode Pete Rose: Hits & Mrs. ...Rose whacked out an all-time record 4,256 hits during his playing days. Hits & Mrs. is at best a bloop single for a man who's otherwise doing all right for himself in the arms of a busty, seemingly intelligent bombshell who also gets a kick out of his overall coarseness.

HBO's Girls still a gift in plain wrapping

Ed Bark — 2013-01-10T13:36:29-06:00
Returning on Sunday, Jan. 13th at 8 p.m. central, Girls continues to be what Sex and the City never was. ...For a good part of Episode 3, Hannah sports a horrid, see-through yellow mesh tank top that finds its way onto her during a cocaine-fueled wardrobe swap at a hyperkinetic dance club.

Banshee increases Cinemax's original drama series output, but does little else

Ed Bark — 2013-01-09T10:14:13-06:00
Premiering Friday, Jan. 11th as Cinemax's third original scripted drama series (following Strike Back and Hunted), this 10-episode offering has something for everyone whose tastes are in sync with Ball's description of its locale. ...His identity is then stolen by the new Lucas Hood, whose ex-lover and partner in crime is now married with two kids and living under the assumed name of Carrie Hopewell (Ivana Milicevic) with her district attorney husband Gordon (Rus Blackwell).

Celebrities reading mean tweets on Kimmel: hoo hah!!!

Ed Bark — 2013-01-09T09:37:19-06:00
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Cougar Town joins Conan in the TBS shuffle

Ed Bark — 2013-01-08T12:50:42-06:00
By moving from ABC to TBS for Season 4, Cougar Town automatically ranks as that network's funniest half-hour scripted comedy in a sea of Men at Work, Sullivan & Son and Tyler Perry's For Better or Worse. ...The other members of Cougar Town's Gulfhaven, Florida menagerie are ditzy, showy Laurie Keller (Busy Phillips), Jules' grown son, Travis (Dan Byrd), and her ex-husband Bobby (Brian Van Holt), an accomplished beer drinker who still lives on his boat.

FX's Justified remains on target as Season 4 marks its territory

Ed Bark — 2013-01-07T13:12:28-06:00
Tuesday's return is buoyed by a 30-year-old cold case and the arrival in town of a tent preacher whose conversion rate is threatening the drug-dealing livelihood of ne'er-do-well Boyd Crowder (series regular Walton Goggins). ...Perfectly delivered lines like that keep ringing the bell in Justified, which can be violent at times but not in the excessive mode of two other current FX dramas -- American Horror Story and Sons of Anarchy.

NBC's new Deception not a notable exception

Ed Bark — 2013-01-04T14:11:59-06:00
Tate Donovan, who plowed similar terrain in Damages, plays disaffected oldest son Edward Bowers while his playboy kid brother Julian (Wes Brown) strives to rekindle the somethin' somethin' he once had with the young Locasto. ...And while Deception doesn't rise anywhere close to the level of distinguished TV, it is notable for being the second broadcast network drama series this season with an African-American woman in the lead.

Downton Abbey gives PBS a third big rush

Ed Bark — 2013-01-04T10:52:22-06:00
MacLaine, guest-starring as the American mother of Cora, Countess of Grantham (Elizabeth McGovern), is first sighted just after the 43-minute mark of Downton's two-hour, Sunday, Jan. 6th premiere (8 p.m. central on KERA13). ...But their deep wounds are felt in kind, particularly during a wrenching Part 4 (Sunday, Jan. 27th) that takes Downton to what may be its greatest ever dramatic heights at Season 3's midpoint.

Big Al and his Al Jazeera America deal

Ed Bark — 2013-01-03T13:42:33-06:00
In its dying months, Current sought to position itself to the left of even MSNBC with a prime-time roster of personalities ranging from deposed CNN host and former disgraced New York governor Eliot Spitzer to ex-Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm, who announced her resignation from the network when the sale to Al Jazeera was announced. ...That would have been an even starker transition from far left to far right, although Beck at least initially would have attracted an appreciably larger following than Current ever had. The New York Times reported that "on a typical night last year, just 42,000 people watched their (Current's) shows."

The self-inflicted debasing of Anderson Cooper (and his credibility)

Ed Bark — 2013-01-02T13:48:12-06:00
CNN proudly presented the clown prince of American TV journalism making a spectacle of himself on New Year's Eve in midst of Kathy Griffin, MC Hammer and "Si" of Gangnam Style fame. Photo: Ed Bark ...But he keeps putting himself in this position year after year with seemingly no regard as to how viewers might perceive him the next time he affixes a sober countenance to report from scenes of national tragedies or disasters.

Uncle Barky's Countdown to Christmas: Finale

Ed Bark — 2012-12-21T09:30:11-06:00
hl=en_US&version=3">Late Night with Jimmy Fallon showcased the man himself humming merrily through seasonal standards.

Crix top picks on HitFix

Ed Bark — 2012-12-19T12:30:28-06:00
Of the four TV attractions that made my Top 10 but not the consensus, Justified finished just out of the money in the 11th spot. Treme was 20th, The Middle 23rd and The Dust Bowl 40th. Although I really don't think a lot of writers read the fine print indicating that all TV shows were eligible, not just series. Dust Bowl, the latest Ken Burns documentary film, ran for four hours on two nights.

Uncle Barky's Countdown to Christmas: Episode 8

Ed Bark — 2012-12-19T09:26:47-06:00
The 1986 Dallas Cowboys had a very un-merry time of it, finishing 7-9 after a 6-2 start en route to the team's first losing season since 1965. But they did hang together long enough to put together this oddly charming "Christmas In Dallas" music video, featuring the likes of Danny White, Herschel Walker, Bill Bates, Eugene "The Hitting Machine" Lockhart and a dozen or so other teammates.

Uncle Barky's Countdown to Christmas: Episode 7

Ed Bark — 2012-12-18T14:28:31-06:00
Yes, take it from pitchman George Fenneman, who used to be Groucho Marx's second banana on his old comedy quiz show, You Bet Your Life. In the below spot, Fenneman pockets a little extra Christmas cash by touting the unbeatable combination of holiday stencils and Glass Wax.

Uncle Barky's Countdown to Christmas: Episode 6

Ed Bark — 2012-12-17T13:15:13-06:00
Louis Armstrong's chuckling narration of "The Night Before Christmas" is still the best there's ever been. Here it's accompanied by old timey animation from HBO's terrific 2004 half-hour special 'Twas the Night.

HBO's Picture Paris serves a main course of Julia Louis-Dreyfus

Ed Bark — 2012-12-17T11:38:46-06:00
The most gainful post-Seinfeld career is still being enjoyed by Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who had a nice run in CBS' The New Adventures of Old Christine and now is rolling along with her Emmy-winning role in HBO's Veep. The half-hour HBO film Picture Paris (premiering Monday, Dec. 17th at 8 p.m. central) allows Louis-Dreyfus to tap her inner Woody Allen in tandem with husband Brad Hall, who wrote and directed it. Mais oui, there's also a little American Horror Story in play here.

Uncle Barky's Countdown to Christmas: Episode 5

Ed Bark — 2012-12-14T17:51:22-06:00
Young and old alike: Put your pedals to the metal and see if you can possibly keep pace with this super-peppy 2010 Brave Combo rendition of "Jingle Bells." ...

NBC's 1600 Penn leaves a ring around the Oval Office

Ed Bark — 2012-12-14T08:51:45-06:00
Bill Pullman (previously the president in Independence Day) and Jenna Elfman (Dharma & Greg) are the name brand stars as President Dale Gilchrist and First Lady Emily Nash Gilchrist, whom he married after the mother of his four kids died. ...This seems more than a little counter-productive, although Gad as Skip conceivably could put together a little post-1600 Penn disclaimer in which he tells viewers, "Don't be like me.

Uncle Barky's Countdown to Christmas: Episode 4

Ed Bark — 2012-12-13T17:51:23-06:00
Comedy Central's 2012 Night of Too Many Stars telethon to raise funds for autism research included an auction for a family Christmas photo with Al Pacino. ...Louis CK opened the bidding, joked around and eventually made merry merry with the man himself.

Globes TV nominations get Girls/Girl crazy

Ed Bark — 2012-12-13T12:35:39-06:00
ABC's freshman drama Nashville also broke through with two acting nominations while NBC's Smash got a surprise nod as one of the five nominees in the "Best Television Series -- Comedy or Musical" category. Girls was the only other first-year series to make that list while Newsroom is the lone newcomer in the best drama series category. ...HBO had the most overall TV nominations with 17 while Season 2 of Homeland led arch rival Showtime's list of seven nominees after winning the last time as best drama series.

TNT unveils the first of Hagman's last hurrahs in Episodes 1 & 2 of Dallas' second season

Ed Bark — 2012-12-13T10:16:40-06:00
In what's sure to resonate as a classic and perfectly played J.R. moment. he moves in behind his son while the two of them watch Bobby Ewing's (Patrick Duffy) adopted son Christopher (Jesse Metcalfe) kiss John Ross's ex-girlfriend, Elena Ramos (Jordana Brewster). ...NOTED IN PASSING -- John Ross gives a little shout-out to the local daily in an early Episode 1 scene that finds him blackmailing a trucking company owner after a bedroom romp with his soon-to-married kiddo.

Uncle Barky's Countdown to Christmas: Episode 3

Ed Bark — 2012-12-12T13:07:05-06:00
The usually straight shootin' King of the Cowboys assured kids that a miniature pop-up gun in a white cowboy hat is "your secret weapon, even when they think you're unarmed." Maybe it's not all that outlandish for those who recall the short-lived 1959 CBS western series Hotel De Pardee.

All my son wants for Christmas is . . . well, let's hope not

Ed Bark — 2012-12-11T15:20:33-06:00
Still, the Comedy Central shop's generous offer of a free "Tight Butthole" foam hand with one of the above t shirt purchases can't quite top the all-time worst toy ever concocted for Christmas giving. ... Even if the damned thing in pristine condition likely would now sell for at least $200 at Comic-Con.

Uncle Barky's Countdown to Christmas: Episode 2

Ed Bark — 2012-12-11T12:21:46-06:00
Hark, it's Bing and Frank in a 1957 ABC Christmas special that originally aired in black and white on ABC. ...Many Christmases later, the richly appointed color version was discovered and included in a 2010 DVD collection titled Bing Crosby: Volume Two -- The Christmas Specials.

Uncle Barky's Countdown to Christmas: Episode 1

Ed Bark — 2012-12-10T16:14:46-06:00
Day 1 brings this nifty little "Santa Baby" number from the anchor team for San Antonio's 6:30 p.m. ... WFAA8 increasingly is bullish on comedy news, but any of the local morning teams could make this work for them.

Have yourself a merry little 12 Disasters of Christmas

Ed Bark — 2012-12-06T14:07:01-06:00
In the early minutes of 12 Disasters, good ol' grandma is impaled by a giant lethal "ice spear" from above before an inflatable Santa Claus and Frosty are also taken out. ...But there's a little pulling power, too, with Joseph and Jacey in a desperate search for the remaining hidden rings after finally buying into the apocalyptic visions of an old coot named Grant (Donnelly Rhodes).

Zucker is CNN's new leading man after long up-and-down career at NBC

Ed Bark — 2012-11-29T12:07:39-06:00
Phil Kent, chairman and CEO of CNN's parent company, Turner Broadcasting System, emphasized that the NBC broadcast network's ratings free-fall during Zucker's tenure are beside the point in terms of what he brings to CNN. ..."It's not lost on any of us that occasionally HLN's (CNN's Headline News channel) morning show beats CNN's morning show," Kent said before lauding Zucker as "one of the great innovators in that daypart."

Accept no substitutes: Television often leaves its stars with one role above all

Ed Bark — 2012-11-27T13:34:56-06:00
But he'll always be diabolical J.R. in the public's mind while all of Barbara Eden's obits someday will be topped by her ties to a sexy genie named Jeannie. ...CARROLL O'CONNOR -- We'll always think of him first and foremost as Archie Bunker, although he also had a long run as Southern-fried Sheriff Bill Gillespie in the TV series version of In the Heat of the Night.

An appreciation: Larry Hagman (Sept. 21, 1931 to Nov. 23, 2012)

Ed Bark — 2012-11-24T12:23:03-06:00
A lot of actors owe a lot of their money to Hagman's salary holdout between the time J.R. got shot to when the world learned who plugged him on the night of Nov. ...The end of the original Dallas, after 13 seasons (seven of them in prime-time's Top 10), found Hagman ready to move on and be someone other than the broadly drawn J.R.

Fall season report card: hits & misses among broadcast network newcomers

Ed Bark — 2012-11-21T10:36:07-06:00
As the November "sweeps" ratings period ends and holiday season repeats kick in, let's look at the fates of the new fall series on ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC and The CW. ...Vegas -- also basking in full-season pickup but needs to do a bit better following potent NCIS: Los Angeles on Tuesdays.

Lifetime's Liz & Dick a festival of ick

Ed Bark — 2012-11-20T08:29:38-06:00
The finished product, with New Zealand actor Grant Bowler (True Blood, Ugly Betty) along for the ride as Richard Burton, is basically a collection of spliced-together snippets in which the two boozy principals live lavishly, insult one another, make up, rinse and repeat. ...As the movie depicts it, Taylor had no interest in the infatuated Burton until he climbed aboard during a love scene and lengthily kissed her into submission. Liz & Dick then makes sport of aides' efforts to hide their affair from the two jilted spouses, resorting to jaunty Muzak while Sybil and Eddie are diverted from the two stars' trailers.

Ken Burns' latest film: dust to dust -- and more dust

Ed Bark — 2012-11-16T13:12:41-06:00
The drought-stricken, spirit-sapping Great Plains of the 1930s get the lyrical and learned Burns treatment in a two-parter premiering on Sunday, Nov. 18th and concluding the following night (at 7 p.m. central on KERA13 in D-FW). ...Monday's Part 2 includes a near-magical picture of FDR, whose triumphant visit to Amarillo near the end of the 1930s drew a crowd of more than 200,000 in addition to a "World's Largest Marching Band" assembled for the occasion.

Satanic Stones of yore get their ya-ya's out in HBO's evocative Crossfire Hurricane

Ed Bark — 2012-11-15T10:22:34-06:00
Crossfire Hurricane, which draws its title from a lyric in "Jumping Jack Flash," is also in some ways a reunion among the surviving Stones and charter member Brian Jones, whose life ended at the bottom of a swimming pool on July 3,1969. ...A great early version of "It's All Over Now" is performed within the relatively intimate confines of a TV studio before a group of delirious fans. Crossfire also brings home the sheer enormity of the Stones' Hyde Park concert (which became a requiem for Jones) and the foreboding free performance at Altamont, where the Hells Angels provided security during the course of stabbing a rowdy concert-goer to death.

Rockin' the past with History network's "epic" Mankind

Ed Bark — 2012-11-12T13:18:43-06:00
Stuck on hyper-drive and stuffed with hyperbole, Mankind: The Story of All of Us is history a-go-go from a programmer that used to obey a few speed limits. ...He's also relatively calm compared to the likes of former Navy SEAL Richard "Mack" Machowicz, who acts and looks as though he'd be more than happy to re-arm himself and join the Spartans in their battle to repel the rampaging Persians.

CMT's Big Texas Heat is happily thick with corpulent cops

Ed Bark — 2012-11-09T13:57:18-06:00
Although just a dot on the East Texas map, Trinity (pop. 2,697) remains spacious enough to encase the super-corpulent cops of CMT's Big Texas Heat. ...The other members of Trinity's finest are also overweight, even though pudgy young officer Justin Sikes is nicknamed "Little Man" because he's not quite a full-blown porker yet.

Hitting a few beats: TBS' Wedding Band

Ed Bark — 2012-11-09T08:09:21-06:00
Their disparate lifestyles clash, crash and sometimes burn. Wedding Band is basically supposed to be a comedy of errors, which also makes it hit 'n' miss. Badly missing is a sequence in which Tommy's ex-girlfriend still pines for him on her wedding day after hiring Mother of the Bride to play the tunes.

Sawyer, Rove, Trump: An election night to remember

Ed Bark — 2012-11-07T13:42:29-06:00
Every election night has its moments, but this one was notable for the oddities contributed by ABC, Fox News Channel and NBC anchor Brian Williams with a searing critique of his network's billionaire embarrassment. ...An "All-Star" edition of Trump's Celebrity Apprentice is set to premiere March 3rd on NBC, occupying two hours of the network's prime-time Sunday real estate for four weeks before downsizing to one-hour episodes on March 31st.

And the winner is . . .

Ed Bark — 2012-11-06T10:58:06-06:00
Will any of the other handful of "battleground states" -- Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Florida, etc., -- have different outcomes than both of these maps project? And will any of the networks make a projection they're later forced to take back?

SEAL Team Six: a mini-"controversy" on a minor network

Ed Bark — 2012-11-01T15:34:19-05:00
After all, it's premiering just two days before the presidential election (Sunday, Nov. 4th at 7 p.m. central) and supposedly was belatedly re-cut in order to ramp up the role of President Obama via archival news footage. ...Originally planned as a feature film titled Code Name: Geronimo (the moniker give bin Laden by those out to kill him), SEAL Team Six comes from The Weinstein Company and its Obama-backing chieftain, Harvey Weinstein.

Back to the drawling board with ABC's Malibu Country

Ed Bark — 2012-11-01T08:25:10-05:00
Instead it's on ABC, paired with Tim Allen's Last Man Standing in an effort to at least partially rebuild the network's old laff track-spiked TGIF comedy franchise. ...Saucy Reba and a tart-tongued Tomlin -- "She said you're a horn dog just like your daddy" -- are for the most part a sad turn of events in Malibu Country.

Strange but true: Long-dormant Peacock still leading new season among advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-olds

Ed Bark — 2012-10-24T08:58:06-05:00
Revolution and The Voice have punched up the Peacock's 18-to-49 ratings through first four weeks of new season. NBC photos ...This time around, two-hour performance editions of The Voice are clubbing ABC's Dancing with the Stars among 18-to-49-year-olds before the new serial drama Revolution holds steady against ABC's still potent Castle.

Commie pinko update -- from righteous Twitter debate analysts who just know I'm one of those

Ed Bark — 2012-10-23T08:17:23-05:00
John Beakley (also unheard from in Debates 1 and 2) had a thought: "Stick to reviewing tv shows with fluff, you are out of your league on big boy politics." ...On Monday night, the conservative founder and president of the Media Research Center tweeted, "It's important for conservatives to acknowledge this: Whatever his biases, and he has biases, Schieffer didn't show them tonight.

HBO's The Girl puts a big hitch in the Hitchcock legend

Ed Bark — 2012-10-19T13:53:59-05:00
That film included a rape scene at the hands of Sean Connery, who is seen only briefly from the back and is played by an unbilled actor. The Girl's epilogue, as does Spotto's book, hail Marnie as the sagging Hitchcock's last "masterpiece." ...Hedren, mother of actress Melanie Griffith (who's portrayed as a little girl in the film), was held to her seven-year contract by Hitchcock after refusing to submit sexually to him however and whenever he wanted.

HGTV's Home Strange Home is a sweet little series

Ed Bark — 2012-10-19T09:01:30-05:00
Live and let live on HGTV's Home Strange Home, where retired neurosurgeon Lonnie Hammargren of Las Vegas plans to remain on site with his remains in a replica of an Egyptian tomb. ...After launching as a special in November 2011, HSH returns to HGTV Friday (Oct. 19th at 8 p.m. central) as an eight-episode weekly series produced by Dallas-based AMS Pictures.

Cinemax's Hunted offers quantum espionage

Ed Bark — 2012-10-18T13:39:15-05:00
When not sneaking around -- or engaged in fierce hand-to-hand combat on a side trip -- she regularly flashes back to the day her mother was murdered at a gas station while eight-year-old Sam watched in horror. ...Cinemax, HBO's longtime sister network, is striving to make a mark with its own latter day wave of original series. Strike Back was the first and Banshee (from Six Feet Under/True Blood creator Alan Ball) is set for a January 2013 premiere.

HBO's Ethel a loving, evocative tribute without warts and all

Ed Bark — 2012-10-17T15:02:23-05:00
So her memories of him are solely via film, photos and recollections from her siblings and mother, who remains a reluctant, short-spoken but generally good-natured first-hand witness to it all. ...Rory makes a game try near film's end after Ethel says of her children (save for Douglas), "It really is a great tribute to Daddy that you've all done so many wonderful things."

FX's American Horror Story: Asylum is no more than scary bad

Ed Bark — 2012-10-16T09:43:00-05:00
As they did with the once borderline great series Nip/Tuck, co-creators/executive producers Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk have proved incapable of resisting their worst impulses. Nip/Tuck deteriorated into a gratuitous, absurd mess. Asylum goes several steps beyond in its seeming determination to be nothing more than a very sick and twisted gore-fest laying waste to one of the easier punching bags on earth -- the Catholic Church. ...Jessica Lange, who won an Emmy as warped Constance in the first AHS, returns as the new character Sister Jude, a Satanic nun running a home for the insane called Briarcliff Manor. Asylum is mostly set in 1964, which might as well be the Dark Ages in terms of the brutalization endorsed within these walls.

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

Ed Bark — 2012-10-15T09:31:05-05:00
Emily is constantly in motion and on-camera, whether shouldering a rather preposterous load of cases -- for a spanking new intern at least -- or striving to overcome awkward relationships with a growing number of Memorial staffers. ...So if this is the second coming of Meryl Streep, then Emily Owens, M.D. might well be remembered as the first big coming out party for Mamie Gummer's obvious talents.

AMC's The Walking Dead: more Sundays bloody Sundays

Ed Bark — 2012-10-12T13:48:25-05:00
The Walking Dead, revving up Season 3 in two eight-episode installments, also draws roughly double the audience for AMC's two other main events, Mad Men and Breaking Bad. ...And in truth, the profits being made from Walking Dead may in some ways have served to underwrite extra episodes and longer lives for both Mad Men and Breaking Bad.

Biden's interruptive merriment the take away talking point of veep debate

Ed Bark — 2012-10-12T08:56:17-05:00
Oftentimes over-compensating for the boss man's self-acknowledged "bad night" last week, Vice President Joe Biden made his mere omni-presence the singular issue of Thursday night's veep candidate debate with comparative kiddo Paul Ryan. ...And in fact he may have scored his biggest points by interrupting one of Biden's multi-interruptions to tell the veep that viewers would be better served if they'd stop interrupting each other.

Key and Peele presents the East/West Collegiate Bowl

Ed Bark — 2012-10-11T12:31:28-05:00
Let's meet the players, including Penn State's Hingle McCringleberry, after a brief opening commercial that you'll be glad you sat through. ...
Key and Peele
Get More: Comedy Central,Funny Videos,Funny TV Shows

Come again? This time it's The CW's turn with Beauty and the Beast

Ed Bark — 2012-10-10T10:18:54-05:00
ABC ordered a Beauty and the Beast pilot for this season, but passed on what it called a "fantastical re-imagining of the classic fairy tale set in a mythical, dangerous world wherein a beautiful and tough princess discovers an unlikely connection with a mysterious beast." ...So off we go toward more weekly bouts with forbidden love and unsolved crimes. Beauty and the Beast won't hurt all that much to watch, but the dialogue and plot stretches can add up to a lot of little ows.

NBC's Chicago Fire not yet burning brightly but rises above flame-out

Ed Bark — 2012-10-09T15:30:20-05:00
Meanwhile, tormented hose-wielder Kelly Severide (Taylor Kinney) is injecting something into his upper arm from week to week with help from lesbian paramedic Leslie Shay (Lauren German), who keeps vowing to stop supplying him. ...Other weekly characters include firm but fair battalion chief Wallace Boden (Eamonn Walker); veteran fireman Christopher Herrmann (David Eisenberg); rookie firefighter Peter Mills (Charlie Barnett) and paramedic Gabriella Dawson (Monica Raymund), who retains a case of the slow, simmering hots for Casey.

Singing its praises: ABC's Nashville is fall's best newcomer

Ed Bark — 2012-10-09T07:21:05-05:00
How about if she cancels her upcoming tour and instead serves as an opening act for country music's hottest new sensation, willful, spoiled, busty Juliette Barnes (Hayden Panettiere from NBC's Heroes)? ...That's because Rayna and her longtime band leader, Deacon Claybourne (Charles Esten), were -- as a country song title might put it -- "Meant For Each Other, But It Wasn't To Be."

CW's Arrow has a little something in its quiver

Ed Bark — 2012-10-08T15:06:54-05:00
He had been on a small storm-tossed boat with a handful of passengers, including his tycoon father (Jamey Sheridan dropping in from vice presidential duties on Homeland) and the sister of Dinah "Laurel" Lance (Katie Cassidy), on whom he'd been cheating. ...Even if the series more likely than not will settle into an oft-trod TV regimen of dispatching a bad guy per week while peeling away more layers of "mythology" regarding the Queen family's previous bad deeds.

Lifetime's Steel Magnolias is both distinctly different, faithful to original

Ed Bark — 2012-10-04T13:58:22-05:00
The gimmick, if you can call it that, finds an all-black cast stepping into the small town Louisiana roles played a generation ago by the likes of Sally Field, Julia Roberts, Shirley MacLaine, Dolly Parton, Olympia Dukakis, Daryl Hannah, Tom Skerritt, Sam Shepard and Dylan McDermott. ...Shelby, a diabetic with a chronic kidney condition, is the only daughter of M'Lynn (Queen Latifah/Field). Magnolias begins on the eve of her marriage to Jackson (Tory Kittles/McDermott), a sensitive lawyer who remains steadfastly in love with headstrong Shelby after learning that having any children might well be dangerous to her well-being.

Debate No. 1: Romney puts on a show; Obama shows he's not invincible

Ed Bark — 2012-10-04T07:11:15-05:00
In the end, President Obama had significantly more speaking time than Mitt Romney, but didn't make his words count as much during Wednesday's first of three debates between the two. Photo: Ed Bark ...Moderator Lehrer is being ripped by some for being a laissez faire moderator who let both candidates get away with too much cross-talk while not rebutting them with his own sharp questions.

Oscar throws a curve, naming Seth MacFarlane as latest host

Ed Bark — 2012-10-01T12:16:15-05:00
MacFarlane, who also made his feature film directorial debut this summer with the box office hit Ted, said it's an "overwhelming privilege" to host the Oscars, scheduled for Feb. 24th on ABC. "My thoughts about hearing the news were, one, I will do my utmost to live up to the high standards set forth by my predecessors; and, two, I hope they don't find out I hosted the Charlie Sheen roast."

New seasons for Showtime's Sunday night knockout punches -- Homeland/Dexter

Ed Bark — 2012-09-28T15:28:36-05:00
Dexter, now on the cusp of its seventh season, left its title character aghast when his sister, Debra, witnessed him ritually plunging a knife into killer Travis Marshall. ...Although Dexter appeared to be running out of steam last season, the opening hour believably rejuvenates Showtime's longest-running and most-watched drama hour.

ABC's congealed 666 Park Avenue needs to get its blood flowing

Ed Bark — 2012-09-26T16:08:33-05:00
They're from the Midwest, of course, although Henry (Dave Annable in designer stubble) already has a job as a mayoral aide while wife, Jane (Rachael Taylor), aspires to fill the vacant manager's position at the Drake. ...ABC publicity materials, which turn out to more interesting than the opening hour, say that Gavin "has many skeletons in his closet," but for now is "at the height of his world and commands the dark power of the Drake."

CBS' Made In Jersey is pasta without fazool

Ed Bark — 2012-09-26T12:29:44-05:00
Garretti, who comes off as a distaff Sherlock Holmes with her uncanny (and oft-preposterous) deductive abilities, initially turns the head of New York law firm founder Donovan Stark (Kyle MacLachlan continuing to age well). ...The badda and the bing are mostly missing, though. Made in Jersey at best comes off as a one-hour prime-time rest stop between returning CBS series CSI: NY and Blue Bloods.

R.I.P. Andy Williams: Dec. 3, 1927 to Sept. 25, 2012

Ed Bark — 2012-09-26T11:14:07-05:00
Williams also hosted a long-running variety series that premiered as a summer replacement hour before joining NBC's fall lineup in 1962 and running until 1971. The Andy Williams Show made stars of The Osmond Brothers, who first appeared on a Dec. 20, 1962 episode singing "I'm a Ding Dong Daddy from Dumas" and "Side by Side." ...Here's a video from the first full year of The Andy Williams Show, with "Moon River" right up top and its singer in full, soaring voice.

All aboard: ABC's Last Resort a seaworthy military mystery tour

Ed Bark — 2012-09-24T15:52:15-05:00
Last Resort is well-appointed with multiple "back stories," duplicitous motives and other seemingly solid characters ranging from Lieutenant/chief navigator Grace Shepard (Daisy Betts) to Kylie Sinclair (Autumn Reeser), the well-heeled, conniving "golden child" of a high level defense contractor. ...But the dramas we talk about generally are of this ilk, whether it's Breaking Bad, Mad Men or Sons of Anarchy on cable networks or ABC's Revenge, Once Upon A Time or Lost for those who either endured or embraced its wobbly course.

Shades of last fall's Prime Suspect: CBS' Elementary stars a Holmes away from home

Ed Bark — 2012-09-24T10:17:17-05:00
Patrick Jane and Sherlock Holmes are both ego-centric, off-center geniuses partnered with calmer, steadier female work mates. The Mentalist, which is moving to Sunday nights, could easily work out a "crossover" arrangement with Elementary during a ratings "sweeps" period. ...The third wheel in this arrangement is police captain Tobias "Toby" Gregson, with Aidan Quinn back in the saddle as roughly the same kind of authority figure he played last season on NBC's American-ized version of Prime Suspect.

Emmys fete a threesome of big winners with four statues each

Ed Bark — 2012-09-24T06:31:02-05:00
Jimmy Kimmel presided for the first time, pledging to "host this show until it's pregnant" before delivering an opening burst of jokes preceded by an amusing taped spot in which various female TV stars "punched" his Botoxed mug back into submission. ...But the program's longtime leading man, Jon Stewart, pulled it off and got the night's biggest laugh by saying at speech's end, "Years from now, when the earth is just a burning husk and aliens visit, they will find a box of these and they will know just how predictable these (f-bomb) things can be."

ABC's The Neighbors an alien intruder in every way, shape and form

Ed Bark — 2012-09-21T15:00:07-05:00
Hilarity is supposed to bust out when they're greeted by a Zabvronian family of four -- all of whom have taken the names of prominent athletes who perhaps will be able to collect at least a few residual checks. ...The scripts are flat in any diction. Neighbors dulls the senses with both its Wednesday night opener and a very marginally improved second episode in which everyone journeys to the mall in pursuit of new clothes and some product placement for Macy's.

Monaco's still the first, no matter how she fares in DWTS "All-Star" extravaganza

Ed Bark — 2012-09-21T09:04:05-05:00
The other previous winners hoping to do it again are Emmitt Smith (Edition 3); Apolo Anton Ohno (Edition 4); Shawn Johnson (Edition 8); Drew Lachey (Edition 2); and Helio Castroneves (Edition 5). ...She praises him as a world champion dancer while conceding that "not having a familiar partner could be a disadvantage" against the likes of Burke, Max and other fan fave pro dancers such as Derek Hough and Kym Johnson.

What stays in Vegas is Quaid vs. Chiklis

Ed Bark — 2012-09-20T13:34:04-05:00
But it might as well be cowboys vs. aliens, judging from the killer look from tall-in-the-saddle Ralph Lamb (Dennis Quaid) after his herd is spooked by a low-flying plane toting a load of casino patrons in the year 1960. ...Principal among them is Chicagoland's Vincent Savino, a swaggering enforcer played by Michael Chiklis in a return to his hard-ass ways after an ill-fated spin on ABC's No Ordinary Family.

Fox's Mindy Project an uneven work in progress

Ed Bark — 2012-09-20T10:22:26-05:00
Mindy ends up making a scene at their wedding reception, a comedy device also used in the first episode of Fox's other new Tuesday nighter, Ben and Kate. ...For starters, though, The Mindy Project is the weakest entry in a revamped Fox Tuesday lineup that also includes the aforementioned Ben and Kate plus returnees New Girl and Raising Hope.

Ben and Kate gives Fox another doofus male (to go along with its cartoon characters)

Ed Bark — 2012-09-19T14:29:23-05:00
And as she puts it in a creatively written Fox publicity release, "When I was little, my older brother used to punch me so hard he'd knock the wind out of me and then he'd make an awesome game out of convincing me he knew the precise medical way of getting my breath back. ...And Dana Fox has penned a pretty funny first episode of Ben and Kate, which will be part of a new Fox comedy Tuesday along with holdovers New Girl and Raising Hope plus fellow newcomer The Mindy Project.

CBS' Partners a showcase for co-star (and Plano Senior High grad) Michael Urie

Ed Bark — 2012-09-19T10:42:35-05:00
The latest thief is Dallas native and Plano Senior High grad Michael Urie, who made something of a name for himself on ABC's Ugly Betty and now is front and center as the co-star of CBS' new Partners. ...Co-star David Krumholtz (Numb3rs), who just finished playing a psychiatrist in Season 1 of HBO's The Newsroom, is both straight and straight man in this fairly promising laugher based on the real lives of co-creators David Kohan and Max Mutchnick.

Fox and Friends punk'd while again shilling for Romney

Ed Bark — 2012-09-18T11:22:26-05:00
This is of course made him perfect for the purposes of Fox News Channel's Fox & Friends, which even on a good day is by and large an embarrassment. The interview was conducted by F&F co-host and former Miss America Gretchen Carlson, who was a weekend anchor/reporter at Fort Worth-based NBC5 during a portion of the 1990s.

New infusions on Idol and The Voice vs. same-old, same-old on DWTS

Ed Bark — 2012-09-18T08:22:17-05:00
Last season ended up being a sharp drop-off, with Idol at last relinquishing its No. 1 spot in prime-time to NBC's Sunday Night Football in both the total viewer and 18-to-49 Nielsen ratings. Prediction: Only DWTS will show an overall audience increase this season -- mainly because of its All-Star trappings. Idol will dip anew after the initial curiosity, although the interaction among country strong Urban and divas Minaj/Carey literally could be an audience-grabbing x-factor provided that Jackson doesn't say "Yo yo yo" too much.

HBO's Boardwalk Empire doubles down on Nucky's evil ways while wife Margaret sees her light

Ed Bark — 2012-09-14T11:22:23-05:00
Through the course of Boardwalk Empire's first five Season 3 episodes, Nucky (Steve Buscemi) does at least one considerably worse thing than he did to Jimmy, a badly shaken WW1 vet who had been in on a plot to kill him. ...Boardwalk Empire nonetheless remains a big plus on the Sunday prime-time scene -- even if Showtime's twin Sunday punches of Homeland and Dexter will be sounding their own thunder claps when they return on Sept. 30th.

Costas goes on Conan to ridicule NBC's handling of Olympics closing ceremony

Ed Bark — 2012-09-14T08:47:08-05:00
"I thought we were doing well headed to the finish line," Costas said in reference to NBC's brain-dead decision to cut The Who out of its taped prime-time Olympic closing ceremony telecast in favor of a "sneak preview" of the new sitcom Animal Practice. ...They came during the same week that NBC news president Steve Capus sent a semi-mea culpa to NBC-owned and affiliated stations for being the only network not to observe the "Moment of Silence" on the 11th anniversary of Sept. 11th.

Can the futuristic Revolution give NBC a future as well?

Ed Bark — 2012-09-12T14:08:17-05:00
Revolution, the most promising and expensive new series on NBC's fall schedule, is from the guy who keeps conjuring up doomsday or, at best, very foreboding scenarios. Alias, Lost and last season's unfortunately canceled Alcatraz were all under his watch. ...We're then transported to a time "15 Years After the Blackout," with Ben, his two grown kids and new gal pal Maggie (Anna Lise Phillips) all down on an improvised farm without anyone saying, "Well this is just the way the Amish wanted it."

Fox's Mob Doctor: take two shivs and call me in the morning

Ed Bark — 2012-09-12T12:01:30-05:00
Because a weekly broadcast network drama series can't subsist on a lead character who caves into the mob on a weekly basis rather than resisting with all her might while covering up all those threatening in-hospital cell phone calls with variations on "Gotta go." ...Grace's colleagues, all of them in the dark, include Roosevelt Medical chief of surgery Stafford White (Emmy-winning Zeljko Ivanek from Damages); a boyfriend doc named Brett Robinson (Zach Gilford of Friday Night Lights); officious rival doc Olivia Wilcox (Jaimie Lee Kirchner); super-officious veteran surgeon Ian Flanigan (David Pasquesi); and best friend nurse Rosa "Ro" Quintero (Floriana Lima).

Mindful of the Sunday night clock, CBS making football-prompted adjustments to prime-time lineup

Ed Bark — 2012-09-11T14:00:32-05:00
The lineup, as it now stands, is 60 Minutes, Big Brother 14 (to be replaced on Sept. 30th by The Amazing Race), The Good Wife and The Mentalist. ...CBS doesn't want you throwing things when up pops a Big Brother vote-off or a finishing kick on Amazing Race instead of the scripted lawyerly intrigue on Good Wife.

NBC's Guys with Kids underscores the network's latter day baby love

Ed Bark — 2012-09-10T16:42:25-05:00
It's all too unwieldy to mesh very well in the first episode. Guys with Kids is over-populated, under-funny and no match for the simple charms of Three Men and a Baby, the surprise mega-hit of 1987. ...Now the Peacock is loading up on babies and/or baby talk in comedies such as Guys with Kids, fellow newcomer The New Normal and the returning Up All Night.

Latest Reelz "original" is the Canadian import Bomb Girls

Ed Bark — 2012-09-10T13:26:09-05:00
The still fledgling network takes another step in the vicinity of that direction with Bomb Girls, a passable World War II era drama that's being touted as a "Reelz Original," even though it's a Canadian-made series that premiered in that country last January. ...Its best-known cast member is Meg Tilly, who was Oscar-nominated for Agnes of God and can still bring home a scene or two as the puffy, pale "floor matron" of Toronto's Victory Munitions bomb-making factory.

The Voice and The X Factor ready to go for each other's throats

Ed Bark — 2012-09-07T09:22:21-05:00
Other than Sunday Night Football, NBC's Season 2 of The Voice ranked as its most popular series last season with an average of 15.8 million viewers for the performance shows and 10.9 million for the weekly results. And despite performing below lead dog Simon Cowell's pronounced expectations, Fox's The X Factor also was its network's second most popular series (behind only American Idol) with 12.7 million and 12.6 million viewers for the performance and results shows.

NBC's The New Normal crashes into view

Ed Bark — 2012-09-06T13:27:12-05:00
She's a vile stick figure caricature of any right-of-center viewpoints in a sitcom that also works in a "Calista Gingrich hair-do" slam after the series' too-good-to-be-true surrogate mother is asked whether she's a "secret operative for the Republican Party." ...And there's more than a little too much of this in The New Normal, whether it's the steaming pile of intolerance from Nana or Bryan's disinclination to be with Goldie during the embryo transplant procedure.

Brokaw back in play after brief hospital stay

Ed Bark — 2012-09-06T12:23:41-05:00
NBC News mainstay Tom Brokaw has been released from Carolinas Medical Center and pronounced in "great health" after feeling light-headed Thursday on the set of MSNBC's Morning Joe. ..."Out of an abundance of caution," he was taken to Carolinas Medical Center for a check-up, NBC News president Steve Capus said in a statement.

"Reality" check: NBC's top-rated Sunday Night Football flattened all singers/dancers

Ed Bark — 2012-09-04T08:08:35-05:00
The Dallas Cowboys in fact will play the New York Giants in a stadium Wednesday night, moving NBC's traditional weeknight kickoff ahead one day so as not to overwhelm President Obama's climactic Thursday night acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention. ...After Wednesday's 7:30 p.m. (central) Cowoys-Giants game (preceded by a 6:30 p.m. pre-game show), SNF begins its regular Sunday night schedule with Peyton Manning's much-anticipated return to the NFL as a Denver Broncos QB.

Eastwood steals the show -- and what's really so wrong with that?

Ed Bark — 2012-08-31T07:59:55-05:00
Why didn't the Mitt Romney biographical film or those touching testimonies from fellow Mormons find their way into the sainted one-hour "prime-time window" of convention coverage from ABC, CBS and NBC? ...And boy oh boy, now all anyone's gonna talk about is Eastwood's "bizarre" performance -- as MSNBC's Rachel Maddow said with obvious distaste -- rather than Mitt's game attempt to sell himself via Teleprompter as a really good guy who gets things done.

Here comes A&E's Coma, so knock yourself out (literally)

Ed Bark — 2012-08-30T14:15:43-05:00
Coma, adapted from the Robin Cook novel and initially a 1978 feature film with Michael Douglas and Genevieve Bujold, premieres on Labor Day, Sept. 3rd at 8 p.m. (central) and for some reason returns on the following night at the same hour. ...Although housed in two-hour time slots on both Monday and Tuesday, the commercial-less review DVD sent to TV critics provides barely 75 minutes of befuddlement in Chapter 1 and just over 80 minutes in Chapter 2.

GMA's Robin Roberts begins extended medical leave

Ed Bark — 2012-08-30T09:51:51-05:00
Two of Roberts' principal GMA mates, co-anchor George Stephanopoulos and weathercaster Sam Champion, said goodbye from afar via satellite during Thursday's sendoff, Stephanopoulos is at the Republican National Convention in Tampa and Champion is in New Orleans reporting on the after-effects of Hurricane Isaac. GMA continues to wage a close battle with NBC's Today for the top spot in the morning news ratings race. Today had been dominant for nearly two decades before GMA broke its long winning streak earlier this year.

Sheen gets the green

Ed Bark — 2012-08-29T12:26:05-05:00
It caps a remarkably quick comeback for the volatile actor, who less than a year-and-a-half ago had a mega-meltdown tied to his firing from the hit CBS comedy Two and a Half Men. ...The series recently finished its Season 1 run as this year's most-watched cable comedy series, with an average of 4.5 million viewers per episode and 2.5 million of them within the 18-to-49-year-old motherlode.

Chris Matthews: braying donkey or impassioned truth-teller?

Ed Bark — 2012-08-28T14:32:36-05:00
In no uncertain terms, he kept telling Priebus that presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney is wantonly playing the race card on the issues of both President Obama's birthplace and his stance on welfare reform. ...Gingrich, as big a media baiter as Matthews is a grandstander, made a very telling point when MSNBC's Great White Father kept insisting that Romney's welfare reform riffs were thinly disguised attacks against America's black people.

Here comes Harvey Keitel in Lifetime's Fatal Honeymoon (huh?)

Ed Bark — 2012-08-24T09:18:39-05:00
Keitel effectively plays her aggrieved, suspicious father, Tommy Thomas, in a film that disjointedly meanders back and forth without ever answering a very central question: Why on earth would a beautiful blonde sweetheart like this marry such an arrogant, hot-tempered, unfeeling lug? Gabe (Billy Miller), a certified rescue diver, subsequently was charged with Tina's murder after she sunk to the bottom while they joined other couples in a scuba diving expedition off the Great Barrier Reef.

GSN's American Bible Challenge: An appealing do-gooder without preachments

Ed Bark — 2012-08-22T12:38:30-05:00
But the spirit moves me to say that American Bible Challenge is an entertaining, enlightening, feel-good weekly hour in which 18 teams of three members apiece are playing to "love on somebody else" and perhaps eventually come away with the show's $100,000 grand prize. ...Two of the teams are from North Texas, with Plano's very appealing and animated Team Minnie's Food Pantry featured on the Thursday, Aug. 23rd premiere hour along with Team Surburban Saints from Sacramento and Team Gospel Geezers of Charlotte, NC.

Late night shocker: Nightline being pushed back an hour to make way for Kimmel

Ed Bark — 2012-08-21T12:34:55-05:00
ABC News President Ben Sherwood, whose division's Good Morning America has regularly been whipping former morning kingpin Today in the weekly ratings, said that Nightline's weekly prime-time perch coupled with its otherwise later start time is a recipe for continued prosperity. ...Whether that in fact happens, Sherwood now will be forever known as the news executive who whistled a happy tune while his network's entertainment division pushed Nightline into the near wee hours after almost 33 years as ABC's late night lead-off hitter.

Michael J. Fox coming back to weekly TV and the Peacock (not Fox) has him

Ed Bark — 2012-08-20T17:41:59-05:00
Fox, who became a star in the early 1980s via NBC's Family Ties, will be returning to the network some 30 years later in a new as yet untitled comedy series. ...Earlier reports also say that Fox has found a blend of medications that have helped him to curb the tremors from his Parkinson's Disease, with which he was diagnosed in 1991.

R.I.P. Phyllis Diller: July 17, 1917 to Aug. 20, 2012

Ed Bark — 2012-08-20T14:54:42-05:00
She was a staple stand-up act on a wide variety of prime-time variety hours and late night talk shows, making numerous appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show, Bob Hope specials and The Tonight Show among many. ...version=3&hl=en_US">

Copper rises to the top as BBC America's first original scripted series

Ed Bark — 2012-08-16T13:59:05-05:00
Co-stars Franka Potente & Tom Weston-Jones couple up in Copper, a new Civil War era crime & punishment drama. BBC America photo ...Descriptions in network press materials indicate that the series will be typical in terms of its hardscrabble hero uncovering various clues on his path toward finding his wife and avenging his daughter's murder while also dealing with other weekly messes within his jurisdiction.

Starz's Boss is back in business, with Grammer still reason enough to watch

Ed Bark — 2012-08-16T08:54:34-05:00
But there's no shortage of wheeler dealer double-crossing, with Grammer's mayor Tom Kane leading the charge as an increasingly unhinged contemporary King Lear determined to build monuments to himself while perhaps amending at least a few of his evil ways before he dies. ...Through the course of five episodes made available for review, Kane remains hell-bent on ramrodding through his two pet projects -- an expansion of O'Hare Airport and the demolition of the Lennox Gardens public housing project, which is crime-infested and dominated by drug dealers.

CW's The Next is TV's newest -- what else -- search for a superstar singer

Ed Bark — 2012-08-15T10:18:32-05:00
Four singers looking for a big break will spend 72 hours with one of the mentors (72 hours in TV time is perhaps an afternoon) before singing their hearts out at a popular local venue (willing to waive any costs to The CW in return for free publicity). ...So Gloria Estefan helps Yarckin mow the lawn (for a few seconds at least) while Nelly accompanies Itzy Rodriguez to her day job at a sunglasses shop and Joe Jonas helps his protege to babysit a dozen or so star-struck little girls.

It's game on with The CW's Oh Sit!

Ed Bark — 2012-08-14T12:12:36-05:00
Or as co-host Jamie Kennedy tells viewers up-top: "Twelve weekend warriors who are in shape and out of their minds will put their asses to the test." ..., the once promising Kennedy shares a desk with Jessi Cruickshank, who initially comes off as the WORST HOST EVER but eventually settles in with lines such as, "You have a very lucky cornfed bum."

Syfy's Collection Intervention may well be another addictive series about addicts

Ed Bark — 2012-08-13T15:10:12-05:00
As an off-and-on collector of sports cards, myriad TV stuff, old LPs and Chip Hilton sports books devoured in grade school years, I'm not about to make fun of Syfy's Collection Intervention. ...Hosted by Elyse Luray, formerly an executive with the famed Christie's auction houses, Collection Intervention is getting an initial run of six one-hour episodes.

Say what? NBC idiotically dumps The Who from prime-time Closing Ceremonies

Ed Bark — 2012-08-13T11:35:56-05:00
Principal host Bob Costas had noted earlier that the ceremony's pop/rock music theme would "pick up a bit later with The Who" after dignitaries went about the business of solemnly extinguishing the Olympic flame. ...Those who wanted to see the grand finale instead were forced to stay up an extra hour for what turned out to be The Who (and their new backup members) followed by a Costas benediction.

Lehrer, Schieffer renew Texas connections to presidential debates

Ed Bark — 2012-08-13T10:24:07-05:00
Lehrer, who formerly worked for The Dallas Morning News, The Dallas Times-Herald and KERA13's groundbreaking Newsroom program, again has been unable to say no after insisting that a 2008 stint would be his last. ..."I share the Commission on Debates' belief that the format has the possibility to open up the debates for a more spontaneous and deeper exchange of positions and ideas," Lehrer said in a PBS statement.

NBC's Stars Earn Stripes blazes into view after 21-gun Olympics promo campaign

Ed Bark — 2012-08-10T14:12:06-05:00
After his initial appearance in the field, Clark repairs to his Mission Control observation area, where he supposedly watches the individual missions on a big video table while occasionally issuing orders such as "Pull him out" and "Carry on with the mission." ...Stars Earn Stripes has an outwardly noble intent, even if its "look at modern warfare" (as Clark puts it) tends to come off as one big gung-ho combat high accompanied by a chain rock score.

Still room at the inn: Hotel Hell makes it four Fox series for raging Gordon Ramsay

Ed Bark — 2012-08-09T14:28:46-05:00
It's too bad in a way that Gordon Ramsay's latest Fox series, Hotel Hell, arrives way too late to help Dick and Joanna Loudon whip their Vermont-based Stratford Inn into shape on CBS' old Newhart series. ...He's got a brand to sustain, and Hotel Hell is every bit as watchable -- in a morbidly fascinating way -- as his other Fox crock pots.

TNT's Major Crimes emerges as committed, quality extension of The Closer

Ed Bark — 2012-08-08T14:47:20-05:00
Would it be a punishable offense, or a mere wrist-slappping misdemeanor, to say that the continuation of The Closer under a new title might be a better series without Kyra Sedgwick but with just about everyone else? ...And the network sends her off in gripping style during a closing episode that re-confronts Brenda with serial killer Phillip Stroh (Billy Burke before segueing to the hero's role in NBC's new fall drama Revolution).

Too little monkey business in NBC's human-infested Animal Practice

Ed Bark — 2012-08-08T10:36:52-05:00
In Animal Practice, head veterinarian George Coleman (Justin Kirk after several mile high seasons on Weeds) relates to his patients but doesn't much care for two-leggers. ...In recent remarks to TV writers, co-executive producer Anthony Russo went into the usual human shell in saying, "This show is definitely like a smart, fast-paced, character-driven comedy that happens to have a monkey in it.

TNT's Dallas wraps up Season 1 Wednesday with cliffhanger opposite Olympics

Ed Bark — 2012-08-06T16:51:30-05:00
What might have been a fiasco has turned into a solidly entertaining romp through multiple back-stabbings, bed-hoppings, Bobby Ewing's cancer scares and two fatalities after the opening seconds of Wednesday's season finale reveal who emerged from last week's lethal tussle between Christopher Ewing's estranged, duplicitous pregnant wife, Rebecca and her rotten "brother," Tommy. ...Postscript: The Season 1 finale, in which Christopher Ewing's estranged wife, Rebecca, was revealed to be Cliff Barnes' daughter, drew 4.29 million viewers nationally to rank at the top of all that night's cable programming.

Matthew Perry's Go On gets a post-Olympics "sneak" that most viewers still may not know about

Ed Bark — 2012-08-06T11:53:14-05:00
But Go On begins to click when he takes over the session in the brief absence of its group leader and conducts a NCAA brackets-style competition to determine who has the best sob story. ...Community, Parks and Recreation and 30 Rock all have their dedicated fan bases, but haven't been able to build on them. Go On obviously won't be off the charts ratings-wise, as Friends was for most of its run.

Gold medal spoof: The Wall Street Journal's "Homemade Highlights" from Summer Games

Ed Bark — 2012-08-03T10:40:42-05:00
NBC's exclusive rights to the 2012 Olympics, for which it paid a bit over a billion dollars, hasn't stopped rival media outlets from presenting their own views of the Summer Games. ...version=3&hl=en_US">

"Twinkletoes" Emmitt Smith part of Dancing's first All-Star collection

Ed Bark — 2012-07-27T12:40:09-05:00
The NFL's all-time leading rusher, former Dallas Cowboy Emmitt Smith, will hoof and puff anew in this fall's first All-Star edition of ABC's Dancing with the Stars. ...version=3&hl=en_US">

CBS' 3 at least wins the minimalist title crown (but what's this all about?)

Ed Bark — 2012-07-25T11:15:50-05:00
So there's a certain patina to 3 in comparison with The Bachelor, The Bachelorette, Bachelor Pad, Love In the Wild, Take Me Out, The Choice or one of ABC's all-time stinkers from the summer of 2009, Dating in the Dark. ...Then comes the multi-episode "search for love," with a little-seen extraneous host named Alex Miranda promising that in this quest, Libby, April and Rachel will "travel across the country and outside their comfort zone" before returning to Chicago for the end games.

R.I.P. Sherman Hemsley: Feb. 1, 1938 to July 24, 2012

Ed Bark — 2012-07-24T15:39:51-05:00
His diminutive George Jefferson was a volatile bag of bones opposite wife Louise "Weezy" Jefferson (the late Isabel Sanford) and their take-no-guff maid Florence Johnston (Marla Gibbs) in one of several successful CBS spinoffs of Norman Lear's masterstroke, All In The Family. The Jeffersons ran from 1975 to 1985, finishing among prime-time's 10 most-watched weekly programs in three of those seasons. ...Both shows aired in times when comedies with predominantly black casts flourished as mainstream prime-time hits. The Jeffersons came to prominence during the days of Sanford and Son, Good Times and What's Happening!

Fox fills one Idol judge vacancy with Mariah Carey

Ed Bark — 2012-07-23T15:02:53-05:00
Season 12 of Fox's wobbling American Idol got some juice Monday when the network announced the long-rumored hiring of Mariah Carey to fill one of two vacant judge posts. ..."We are proud to have one of the world's greatest-ever female singers join our show," Idol creator/executive producer Simon Fuller said in a publicity release.

Mass shootings in Aurora movie theater followed by TV network excesses, mistakes

Ed Bark — 2012-07-20T13:27:55-05:00
Fox News Channel is using the above logo to promote its Friday prime-time coverage of the shootings in Aurora, Colo. Photo: Ed Bark ...Not to be left out, ABC, CBS and NBC all have prime-time specials planned for Friday. CBS Evening News anchor Scott Pelley and NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams both will be in Aurora for Friday's dinnertime editions while ABC World News anchor Diane Sawyer remains in New York for that network's "special edition."

Emmy nominations a feast for perennials plus notable newcomers ranging from Girls to Homeland to Hatfields & McCoys

Ed Bark — 2012-07-19T08:44:21-05:00
A batch of usual suspects -- Mad Men, Breaking Bad, Modern Family, 30 Rock -- again deservingly had their say while newcomers American Horror Story, Homeland, Girls and Hatfields & McCoys also broke through in a big way in prime-time Emmy nominations announced Thursday. ...But either Showtime's first-year Homeland or AMC's Breaking Bad (ineligible last year) are likely to dethrone Mad Men, with Downton Abbey a dark horse in its first outing in this category after winning last year as prime-time's best miniseries or movie.

Sullivan & Son gives TBS a drunken lout of a sitcom

Ed Bark — 2012-07-18T08:39:11-05:00
In S&S he gripes about "the coloreds" moving in, extolls "normal whites" and states his determination to "keep the Mexicans out" of the bar where he drinks non-stop while not always knowing where he is. ...Another desperately drinks in the S&S kitchen (the bar has temporarily been shut down by a health inspector) in order to avoid what's depicted as a fate worse than death -- helping his son with his homework.

Schieffer bites back after unwittingly being used as Romney campaign attack dog

Ed Bark — 2012-07-16T16:55:27-05:00
Nor should he be happy with whatever CBS station sales departments authorized the 30-second spot in which the overall slogan is Schieffer asking, "Whatever happened to hope and change?" ...version=3&hl=en_US">History Detectives welcomes the opportunity to examine the guitar which is currently in Mr. ...The Beatles' autograph segment, with show detective Tukufu Zuberi on the case, is marred in part by the gumshoe declaring himself a huge fun despite later admitting that he didn't know the lads did a second Ed Sullivan Show performance from Miami Beach after their famous New York City appearance.

AMC's Breaking Bad makes another brilliant strike

Ed Bark — 2012-07-12T14:38:04-05:00
Taut, chilling and measuredly paced for maximum impact, AMC's Breaking Bad very much returns to the living after the stirring Season 4-ending death of drug capo Gustavo "Gus" Fring. ...Cranston and co-star Aaron Paul, who plays his shaky protege, Jesse Pinkman, have both deservedly won acting Emmys for making Breaking Bad a gritty, violent polar opposite of AMC's Mad Men.

USA's Political Animals strives to be a drama, emerges as laughing hyena

Ed Bark — 2012-07-12T09:07:17-05:00
USA's new six-part "limited series event," Political Animals, basically re-imagines Bill and Hill in the form of philandering former president Bud Holland (Ciaran Hinds) and his ex-wife, Elaine Barrish (Sigourney Weaver). ...This is a series in which Elaine and the man who bested her to become president (Adrian Pasdar as Paul Garcetti) suggestively shake their booties together at a big outdoor campaign event.

TNT's Perception is prime-time's latest crime-bender

Ed Bark — 2012-07-02T14:49:22-05:00
TNT's string of fair to fairly good drama series continues with Perception, Eric McCormack's latest effort to make viewers see him in a new light after his eight seasons on Will & Grace. ...Nor are the cases at hand all that compelling, either in the July 9th premiere or in a subsequent episode built around a rapist/killer who strikes again 26 years after his last known crime.

Showtime's Episodes ups its game in Season 2

Ed Bark — 2012-06-28T14:57:40-05:00
The husband-and-wife creators of the hit British sitcom Lyman's Boys have come to terms with an American TV network's mangling of their show into a broad LeBlanc-fronted sitcom called Pucks! ...David Crane, the co-executive producer/creator/writer of Episodes along with Jeffrey Klarik (Mad About You), is a former Friends show-runner who knows this terrain and has re-tapped LeBlanc's comedic strengths after his Joey series crashed badly.

Two out of three cable news networks can be wrong on Supreme Court health care reform decision

Ed Bark — 2012-06-28T10:41:20-05:00
And they spun it as a "victory" anyway, telling various news networks that the decision will play into their hands on election day. ...

Curry tearfully says goodbye to Today while her body language fingers Lauer

Ed Bark — 2012-06-28T08:42:55-05:00
At this point, a thought bubble over Curry's head could have been lifted from The Godfather, Part II: "I know it was you," with "Matt" substituted for "Fredo." ...Curry said she'll remain a Today contributor, with "fancy new titles" and the freedom to "go all over the world and all over the country at a time when this country and this world needs clarity."

Brand X with Russell Brand gives FX its worst show ever

Ed Bark — 2012-06-27T16:03:18-05:00
Airing at 10 p.m. (central) as the caboose of FX's new Thursday comedy block, the half-hour show is being taped just three days before its air dates in the interest of being "extremely topical and relevant to the news and events of the day." ...He doesn't name the publication, but it's the Hindustan Times, which notes in its story that Brand "bragged how he had won 'Shagger of the Year award' thrice."

Never been better: Season 3 of FX's Louie clears its own high bar

Ed Bark — 2012-06-27T13:30:34-05:00
The fourth and fifth episodes find Louie smitten with a book store employee (Parker Posey as Liz) after his six- and 10-year-old daughters wonder when their divorced dad will get a steady girlfriend. ...A plain-faced female comedian informs Louie he's "bad at sex" and has "really ruined my night in two ways" by inviting her to have dinner with his kids.

ABC's new Final Witness first focuses on East Texas killings

Ed Bark — 2012-06-27T09:08:13-05:00
The latest evidence is ABC's Final Witness, which is stylistic, cinematic and indie music-infused in hopes of offering "a unique look at some of the nation's most shocking murders." Seven episodes are scheduled for this summer, with Thursday's "The Kids Aren't Alright" re-telling the March 1, 2008 murders of church pianist Penny Caffey and two of her young sons, "Bubba" and Tyler.

Sheen makes return deposits in FX's Anger Management

Ed Bark — 2012-06-26T15:17:56-05:00
Anger Management otherwise is part of FX's new Thursday night summer comedy block, with back-to-back episodes leading into the returns of Wilfred and Louie and the premiere of Brand X with Russell Brand. ...And Sheen actually is more likable in some ways here as a father who maintains a cordial relationship with his ex- (nice work by Shawnee Smith as Jennifer Goodson) and adores his teenage daughter, Sam (the lyrically named Daniela Bobadilla).

TNT's The Great Escape can't hide from itself

Ed Bark — 2012-06-24T12:38:33-05:00
Hosted by former ESPN and now NFL Network personality Rich Eisen, Great Escape's premiere episode originates from evocative old Alcatraz Island, which also accommodated an ambitious Fox series that got canceled last month. ...But it's important to get off to a good if not great start with shows like this. The Great Escape instead falls flat on opening night, beginning at the midnight hour on Alcatraz island and then almost instantly turning into a pumpkin.

Lifetime's Tall Hot Blonde is more about its man in the middle (and the performance by Garret Dillahunt)

Ed Bark — 2012-06-22T09:11:56-05:00
Clinching the deal was a starring role for Garret Dillahunt, currently the dense dad on Fox's Raising Hope and previously Wild Bill Hickok's killer on HBO's Deadwood before returning in a different role as a prostitute murderer. ...Dillahunt plays Thomas Montgomery, the guy who takes it too far before his nurse wife, Carol (Laura San Giacomo), discovers what he's been up to during those long nights on his new laptop.

Difficult birth: Sorkin's new baby is HBO's Newsroom

Ed Bark — 2012-06-21T09:04:27-05:00
But in the very fictional world of Aaron Sorkin's The Newsroom, anchor Will McAvoy somehow is succeeding handsomely with his prime-time cable news show by playing it straight down the middle and avoiding all political partisanship or feather-ruffling. ...One can take him at his word after Will makes an on-air declaration of news independence that ends with "I'll make no effort to subdue my personal opinions.

CBS strikes back, fake-announcing new Dancing On the Stars series from Hollywood graveyard

Ed Bark — 2012-06-20T15:35:34-05:00
Reacting to its inability to stop ABC's Big Brother knockoff, The Glass House, from premiering Monday night, CBS has sent out a withering publicity release on behalf of its purported new show, Dancing On the Stars. ...Dancing on the Stars, says CBS, will be "broadcast live from the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, and will feature moderately famous and sort of well-known people you almost recognize competing for big prizes by dancing on the graves of some of Hollywood's most iconic and well-beloved stars of stage and screen."

The Soul Man cometh -- on the same path as TV Land's other laughers

Ed Bark — 2012-06-20T09:31:57-05:00
TV Land came to the rescue of this time-honored and still durable format after most broadcast and cable networks (save for CBS) increasingly went the route of "smart" single-cam comedies filmed without studio audiences and absent any built-in guffaws. ...Wouldn't you know it, though, Episode 2 finds the old man dropping in just as Boyce is about to race upstairs to Lolly with a can of whipped cream and spatula in hand.

More retro: Arsenio Hall hopes to re-emerge as night light

Ed Bark — 2012-06-19T09:44:31-05:00
Retro thinking will be hitting homes again in September 2013 when the former host of The Arsenio Hall Show returns to late night on a mix of Tribune-owned and CBS stations where "duopolies" exist. ...But CBS Television Distribution president John Nogawski figures that Hall's 18-to-34-year-old fans are "now right in the middle of the late-night core audience of 35-54.

Another Palin continues to lament media treatment while seeking further attention in Lifetime's Bristol Palin: Life's a Tripp

Ed Bark — 2012-06-18T13:11:53-05:00
Having written a book, lectured on sexual abstinence and placed third on ABC's Dancing with the Stars, the single mom Palin with the son named Tripp takes her dubious talents to Lifetime in the 10-episode Bristol Palin: Life's a Tripp. Keeping up with the Kardashians isn't just the name of the E! ..."Even though it seemed like the media was trying to tear me down, my faith, my family and my friends held me up," 21-year-old Bristol proclaims before her new series finds her jetting off to Hollywood with reluctant older sister Willow in tow.

Falling Skies still makes its special effects count while the scripts crash and burn

Ed Bark — 2012-06-15T11:22:06-05:00
Falling Skies ended its first season with Wyle's Mason agreeing to board the alien spaceship in hopes of talking the intruders into freeing his second oldest son, Ben (Connor Jessup), from any lasting effects from a "harness" that had been embedded into his spine in order to control him. ...The new Dallas launched on Wednesday and the final season of The Closer begins on July 9th in tandem with the premiere of Perception, starring Eric McCormack of Will & Grace fame. Major Crimes, a spinoff of The Closer, is set for an August 13th premiere and Season 5 of Leverage is coming on July 15th.

National picture: Dallas does well, but it's no Hatfields & McCoys

Ed Bark — 2012-06-14T11:42:23-05:00
TNT says that it's double-barreled relaunch of Dallas, which ran from 8 to 10:15 p.m. (central), averaged 6.9 million viewers nationally to rank as cable's No. 1 scripted weekly series premiere for the year to date. ...Nielsen data says that Fox's So You Think You Can Dance, which ran from 7 to 9 p.m., was the night's No. 2 overall draw with 6.5 million viewers.

HBO's 41 gives George H.W. Bush his say (not that he says all that much)

Ed Bark — 2012-06-13T15:42:09-05:00
Weighing in at 1 hour, 40 minutes and premiering at 8 p.m. central on Thursday, June 14th (two days after Bush turned 88), 41 gets a rise out of its subject only after an off-camera interviewer dares to ask, "Can you talk a bit about Ross Perot?" ...The entire film goes without any mention at all of what it was like to run against Geraldine Ferraro in the 1984 campaign; why he chose Dan Quayle as his running mate in the 1988 presidential campaign; the mess he found himself in over Iran/Contra; or even his past and present relationship with oldest son George W.

History channeling: a look at the first media gathering of the old/new stars of TNT's Dallas

Ed Bark — 2012-06-13T09:54:16-05:00
Gray, who as Sue Ellen Ewing endured numerous indignities from J.R. before divorcing him, got a chance to slap him in the chops in a scene filmed the day before the cast headed West for this interview session. ..."And I knew somewhere in my heart that we could never work together again because the three of us couldn't come into a scene without everybody saying, 'Oh, there's J.R., Sue Ellen and Bobby.'

TNT's big, bold Dallas shows that oil's well with the storied Ewings

Ed Bark — 2012-06-11T10:30:13-05:00
Let's just say he'll be in the throes of a major health scare while also battling the ever-embittered John Ross Ewing (Josh Henderson from Desperate Housewives) for the future direction of Southfork. ...Gray and Hagman briefly flash their old Dallas magic at the Cattle Baron's Ball, where he discards a walker and ambles up to her as part of his faux apology tour.

NBC's out-of-body Saving Hope may have a ghost of a chance

Ed Bark — 2012-06-06T16:52:12-05:00
The series hopes to pull viewers along with both individual patient cases and the week-to-week prospects of flat-on-his-back Charlie, who shows a fleeting sign of life next Thursday. ...The Big Four broadcast networks mostly resort to hot weather regimens of ill-considered or sick-in-the-head reality series. Saving Hope may be a nice curative in that respect.

Fox's The Choice is mostly about chiding The Voice

Ed Bark — 2012-06-06T11:47:41-05:00
In this case, four of "the most eligible celebrity bachelors in America" sit in swivel chairs and activate their spin-around "love handles" if a sight-unseen potential date lures them with her verbal teases. ...Your host for The Choice is Cat Deeley, the vivacious and gorgeous Brit who also presides over Fox's Wednesday night editions of So You Think You Can Dance.

Charitably put, Lifetime's The Week the Women Went is "reality" in all its worst forms

Ed Bark — 2012-06-05T15:18:13-05:00
Before providing a few further details, let's also note that a preview of future episodes has the left-behind white men of Yemassee marching menacingly toward what's described as a secretive African village where un-American things might be happening. ...In the spirit of TLC's newly announced Here Comes Honey Boo Boo (starring the gag-inducing 6-year-old "breakout star" of Toddlers & Tiaras), the producers of Week the Women Went have given viewers two monstrous little girls.

Discovery's Dallas-set Fast N' Loud offers auto rehab at the friendly Gas Monkey Garage

Ed Bark — 2012-06-05T10:52:29-05:00
There's your prevalent cable reality series premise in a nutshell, with Discovery's Dallas-based Fast N' Loud spotlighting junked out autos and a pair of bearded entrepreneurs who also could have made a few bucks as extras on History's Hatfields & McCoys. ...The big Good Guys swap meet at Texas Motor Speedway is just nine days away and "we're going to have to race the clock every day to get it done," Aaron says with as much urgency as he can muster during the show's frequent talk-to-the-camera interludes.

Ampersands unite with returns of TNT's Rizzoli & Isles, Franklin & Bash

Ed Bark — 2012-06-04T15:49:10-05:00
Franklin & Bash is a welcome summer breeze with agreeable lead actors who both look as though they're having the times of their lives. Rizzoli & Isles has a big plus in Harmon, who ably fights her way through hit-and-miss story lines. TNT's decision to team the two shows on Tuesdays, with Rizzoli & Isles moving from Mondays, gives the network a nice new summer season duo while also getting its only pair of ampersands together.

CMT sugars the off-season with Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Brides

Ed Bark — 2012-05-31T15:08:35-05:00
Marry a few of 'em off in Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Brides, a one-hour special premiering on Saturday, June 2nd at 7 p.m. (central) on CMT. ...Nor is there a Jerry Jones in sight. Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Brides is fluffy, cotton candy entertainment from start to near-finish, when Collin deftly removes Cassie's blue Cowboys Star garter with his teeth before the happy couple are driven off in what looks like a Rolls Royce.

A&E's Longmire stands tall for straight arrow law enforcement

Ed Bark — 2012-05-31T11:22:16-05:00
With Mad Man, Game of Thrones and The Killing winding down their latest runs, it arrives just in time to establish a new Sunday night viewing habit. ...It likely will do very well for A&E, which needs a palate-cleanser to offset low-brow flotsam such as Flipped Off, Hoarders, Billy the Exterminator, Parking Wars, Monster-In-Laws and Dog the Bounty Hunter, which at last is being canceled.

CW's Breaking Pointe bores the toes off the ballet profession

Ed Bark — 2012-05-30T12:17:21-05:00
It's not exactly heart-stopping stuff, with seven dancers spotlighted in addition to bossman Adam Sklute, whose edge gets no rougher than the observation that young Rex Tilton occasionally "lets his personal life interfere with his professional work." ...Other dancers in the mix are young loves Ronald Tilton and Katie Martin; biker/ballet dude Ronnie Underwood; and the off-and-on-again pair of Rex Tilton (who wants a relationship) and Allison DeBona (who does not).

More pet peeves with CBS' Dogs In The City

Ed Bark — 2012-05-29T12:23:33-05:00
Airing in the Wednesday night Survivor slot this summer, this is a basically harmless walk in the park that unfortunately is fronted by a hunky but too talky New York City therapist named Justin Silver. ...At least it's not another stupid game show or dating/mating concoction. Dogs In The City is pet-able but also kind of annoying and redundant.

HBO's Hemingway & Gellhorn meanders before gathering strength

Ed Bark — 2012-05-25T09:18:57-05:00
Pretty as a picture, but sometimes too much of a still life, HBO's Hemingway & Gellhorn is a lengthy ode to star-powered, old time filmmaking. ...They first meet in 1936 at Sloppy Joe's bar in Key West, FL, with Hemingway fresh from landing a marlin and Gellhorn intrigued by his devil-may-care manliness.

History's Hatfields & McCoys takes its place among TV's best Westerns

Ed Bark — 2012-05-24T14:35:05-05:00
Spiked by Kevin Costner and Bill Paxton as the heads of their respective clans, this down-and-dirty epic doubles down on storied family intrigue while also emerging as the best made-for-TV western saga since AMC's 2006 Broken Trail. ...Randall is fated to suffer in a Union prison camp while his brother, Harmon, is killed back home at the hands of Anse's no-good Uncle Jim Vance (an almost unrecognizable Tom Berenger).

TBS' Men at Work digs itself a manhole

Ed Bark — 2012-05-22T09:29:42-05:00
Such is the texture of TBS' Men at Work, the saga of four buds who'll drink Buds (if TBS can land a product placement deal) while plotting their next plans of attack. ...Tarses, also a producer of TBS' My Boys, was once witnessed at an ABC All-Star party having a little make-out session with Ryan Reynolds, the then up-and-coming co-star of the network's Two Guys, A Girl and a Pizza Place.

Road trip! Route 66 rides again in new complete series collection

Ed Bark — 2012-05-21T08:54:03-05:00
This newly minted, 24-disc, complete series collection from Shout Factory ($99.99 plus just 66 cents for shipping and handling) puts the boys back behind the wheel of their Chevy Corvette convertible for adventures that began in grimy, foreboding Concord, Kentucky (standing in for an out-of-the-way Mississippi burg named Garth) and ended very lamely in shiny Tampa, Florida. ...The Shout Factory collection, with all of the episodes in glorious black-and-white, for the most part is a time travel well worth taking. Route 66 , which aired on Fridays opposite ABC's The Flintstones for its first three seasons, had an uncommon bite and range during its glory years with Maharis, Milner and their trademark Corvette convertible.

Old Mick, new app

Ed Bark — 2012-05-18T12:30:31-05:00
NBC is making an extra big deal of it by using the new free Color for Facebook app on ol' Mick, who cut his musical teeth on old-line revolving vinyl. The network says that Jagger, the SNL cast and special guests Arcade Fire and Foo Fighters can all be seen behind the scenes via 30-second videos recorded during rehearsals and the live show's commercial breaks.

The CW reloads for next season after again shooting blanks

Ed Bark — 2012-05-17T08:42:18-05:00
Arrow -- Transformed by a shipwreck that left him missing and presumed dead for five years, billionaire playboy Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) returns to his home base of Starling City to live large by day and shoot arrows by night as a crime-fighting vigilante. ...The Carrie Diaries -- We rewind to 1984, with Carrie Bradshaw a vexed 16-year-old whose mom has just died and whose dad is overwhelmed by having to raise two teenage daughters on his own.

Sorry, but we wasted our money -- notable candidates for the new season that weren't elected by their networks

Ed Bark — 2012-05-16T14:20:09-05:00
Devious Maids -- Hard to believe this ever got even partially off the ground. Desperate Housewives creator Marc Cherry apparently was intent on proving he's a one-trick pony with this serial soap about four ambitious maids working for rich and famous Beverly Hills denizens. ...Friday Night Dinner -- Two multiple Emmy-winning drama stars, Allison Janney (The West Wing) and Tony Shaloub (Monk), would have fronted this adaptation of a British series about an oddball family that gathered for dinner every Friday.

CBS adds four fall newcomers while deleting CSI: Miami and transplanting The Mentalist, Two and a Half Men

Ed Bark — 2012-05-16T08:14:05-05:00
The most notable cancelation, CSI: Miami, will be replaced in its vacated Sunday slot by The Mentalist. CSI: Miami star David Caruso took his shades off and on for 10 seasons before the sun set. In another significant night and time shift, Two and a Half Men will leave Monday nights and move to Thursdays following the network's most-watched comedy, The Big Bang Theory. Rob and Rules of Engagement tried to hold that slot this season, but both had major audience fall-offs.

In defense of Harry's Law and its right to draw an older audience and live to tell about it (which it didn't)

Ed Bark — 2012-05-15T13:37:41-05:00
That's a haul exceeded by only three NBC series this season -- Sunday Night Football, The Voice and Smash, which had barely more viewers (9 million) and likely will drop to Harry's level after Monday's Season 1 finale audience of just 6.1 million is factored in. ...Other NBC renewals dwarfed by Harry's included Parks and Recreation (4.4 million viewers an episode); 30 Rock (4.6 million); Fashion Star (4.9 million); Whitney (5.1 million); Up All Night (5.3 million); Grimm (6.3 million); The Office (6.4 million); Parenthood (6.7 million) and even Law & Order: SVU (7.6 million).

ABC hopes to be country strong with five new fall series, two of them music-themed twangers

Ed Bark — 2012-05-15T10:23:14-05:00
But ABC also is renewing six of this season's freshman series -- Revenge, Scandal, Once Upon a Time, Last Man Standing, Don't Trust the B --- In Apartment 23 and Suburgatory. Tim Allen's Last Man Standing gets moved from Tuesdays to Fridays, where it will be paired with McEntire's Malibu Country, also starring Lily Tomlin. Body of Proof, which got a last-ditch reprieve, won't be back until sometime in midseason, as will Wife Swap.

Spears, Lovato round out new X Factor judging panel

Ed Bark — 2012-05-14T16:36:02-05:00
Confirming all those prevalent rumors, Fox trotted out Britney Spears and Demi Lovato Monday as the two new judges on The X Factor. ...And Cowell remained cocky, saying that X Factor would turn back a challenge from NBC's The Voice, which will move to the fall next season to vie for viewers on Monday and Tuesday nights.

Fox takes minimalist approach with three fall newcomers

Ed Bark — 2012-05-14T07:47:59-05:00
Three of last season's newcomers -- New Girl, The X Factor and Touch -- will be back for sophomore years while American Idol returns for a 12th time in the face of shrinking ratings and some likely new judges. ...The Mob Doctor (drama) -- Jordana Spiro from TBS' My Boys stars as a Chicago sawbones who agrees to work "off book" for the mob in order to pay off her brother's gambling debts.

NBC's new fall lineup tickled by comedies, pickled by the cancellation of its fourth most popular series

Ed Bark — 2012-05-13T15:32:17-05:00
The musical drama Smash likewise is scheduled to begin its second season sometime next year, with its Monday slot after The Voice being taken this fall by a new futuristic drama from producer J.J. ...The Peacock's cancellation corral nonetheless is heavily stocked with last season's flops, although the axed Harry's Law averaged more total viewers (8.8 million) than all of NBC's returning fall series except Sunday Night Football, The Voice and Smash.

Johnny Carson finally gets the retrospective he didn't want in PBS' King of Late Night

Ed Bark — 2012-05-11T12:49:09-05:00
The two-hour Johnny Carson: King of Late Night (Monday, May 14th at 8 p.m. central), airing under PBS' American Masters banner, arrives after years of trying by filmmaker Peter Jones (2009's magnificent Inventing LA: The Chandlers and Their Times). ...People sometimes do forget how very big he was in the television firmament, even those of us who grew up watching him play around with animals, do his Carnac the Magnificent bits, swim and sink his way through nightly monologues, laugh his inimitable full-bodied laugh when a guest amused him and famously ad lib to Dolly Parton, "I would give about a year's pay to peek under there."

Here comes a Stern test of NBC's Talent

Ed Bark — 2012-05-10T17:39:37-05:00
He obviously won't be a namby-pamby judge, which he says is the current problem with Fox's American Idol and with reports that Britney Spears will be a new judge on that network's The X Factor next season. ..."We've gotta be honest, we've gotta be direct and we've gotta help the talent," he said, also noting that "I'm at the point of my life where I'd like to mentor people.

USA's Common Law has a common thread

Ed Bark — 2012-05-10T10:40:55-05:00
Among the attendees are L.A. detective partners Travis Marks (Michael Ealy) and Wes Mitchell (Warren Kole), whose still cranky precinct captain, Mike Sutton (Jack McGee), has already been through this drill. ...And as with last month's first episode of CBS' NYC 22 cop show, many a viewer will be able to deduce the culprit well before the detectives finally zero in on him/her.

BBC America's White Heat a slow-burner about college roommates then and now

Ed Bark — 2012-05-09T09:41:44-05:00
She's soon reflecting on the way they were back in 1965, with an arrogant stud named Jack (Sam Claflin) soliciting roomies for a social experiment in which the emphasis is on group quality of life rather than the needs of individuals. ...Set in the year before the ongoing Season 5 of AMC's Mad Men and airing under BBC America's "Dramaville" banner, White Heat hasn't yet established a firm grip by the end of Episode 1.

Lucky man: New Girl's Jake Johnson does Dallas

Ed Bark — 2012-05-08T09:31:11-05:00
In last Tuesday's episode, he announced his intention to leave this foursome and move back in with ex-girlfriend Caroline (Mary Elizabeth Ellis), with whom he had broken up way back on the show's first episode. ...After about a month on summer hiatus, Johnson says he's already eager to get back to waking up at 3:30 or 4 a.m. for a 5:30 a.m. call and often a 14-hour workday during filming of New Girl.

New joint network by ABC and Univision News will be in English, not Espanol

Ed Bark — 2012-05-07T13:41:26-05:00
Hispanic population, which currently makes up 16 percent of the country's population and is expected to almost double by 2050, according to an ABC News publicity release. ...Bureaus will be set up in major cities throughout the U.S., which almost certainly means that the network will offices in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, one of the country's largest Hispanic population centers.

PBS' Sherlock further livens up Sundays with three more splendid adventures

Ed Bark — 2012-05-04T12:58:01-05:00
Curt as ever but mesmerized by a wily femme fatale, PBS' version of Sherlock Holmes is back with three more brainy whodunits on a night already filled to overflowing with other high-quality options. ...But ample need to activate recording devices when the Sunday night alternatives include AMC's Mad Men and The Killing, HBO's Game of Thrones, Girls and Veep, ABC's Once Upon A Time and CBS' The Good Wife.

Race cards: Ashton Kutcher in light brownface as Raj; Jon Hamm in semi-blackface for 30 Rock's "Alfie & Abner" spoof

Ed Bark — 2012-05-03T13:08:54-05:00
version=3&hl=en_US">Nightline to do. ...So in the end it's anyone's guess how many watched this Washington carnivale, in which the Hollywood contingent held sway while politicians and members of the media scrambled to pose for pictures with the likes of Lohan, Kardashian, cast members of Modern Family, cast members of Glee, George Clooney, Goldie Hawn, Steven Spielberg, Zooey Deschanel, Reese Witherspoon, Charlize Theron, Mary J.

Fox's surprise renewal of Fringe is business as (un)usual

Ed Bark — 2012-04-27T09:08:55-05:00
Fringe, exiled to Fox's longtime forlorn Friday lineup this season, has averaged just 2.9 million viewers per episode, with 2.1 million of them in the advertiser-prized 18-to-49 age range. ...The series wrapped Season 1 earlier this spring and is considered a long shot for renewal despite averaging significantly more viewers (6.7 million) and 18-to-49-year-olds (4.3 million) than Fringe.

Texas two-step: Russell Hantz takes his Survivor villainy to a new venue

Ed Bark — 2012-04-26T12:02:01-05:00
Russell, who supposedly is "gamblin' everything I got to make this work," depicts his older brother as a hapless dummy before the decision is made to buy a run-down one-story home for $225 grand. ..."My and my wife been havin' problems ever since I got back from Survivor," he says, adding that they can't be allowed to get in the way of his new business as a home wrecker/renovator.

Lifetime strikes a few sparks with The Conversation with Amanda de Cadenet

Ed Bark — 2012-04-25T15:11:27-05:00
Premiering Thursday, April 26th (10 p.m. central) on Lifetime, The Conversation with Amanda de Cadenet follows the same night's launch of the network's 7 Days of Sex, a decidedly bland and tedious weekly series in which couples attempt to mend their frayed relationships by doing it for a full week. Judging from an episode sent for review -- which turns out not to be the first one -- this is all going to be about as sexually exciting as Great Aunt Ida's 7 days of Quilting.

Syfy's Total Blackout an eyesore for the ages

Ed Bark — 2012-04-24T11:49:43-05:00
It seems reasonably safe to assume that Alex Trebek wouldn't be interested in hosting a game show in which in-the-dark contestants must, among other things, sniff an obese man's hairy unkempt armpit in pursuit of a measly $5,000 grand prize. ...Wednesday's second episode of Total Blackout has a quartet of couples in pursuit of $5 grand after White helpfully notes that "normally only four contestants are put through our cruel and unusual punishment."

The CW's L.A. Complex: worth watching on a network that's now barely noticed

Ed Bark — 2012-04-23T14:28:07-05:00
But the 2011-'12 TV season has been a hell hole for the increasingly pint-sized network, which now is doing only half as well as Univision in both total viewers and advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-olds. ...So much so that you actually might develop a rooting interest in one or more of these fame-seekers, most of whom live from hand to mouth in a faded sub-Melrose Place known as The Deluxe Suites.

Fox hits the 25-year mark and salutes itself with a Sunday night anniversary special

Ed Bark — 2012-04-20T14:10:27-05:00
And the network won't mind saying so Sunday night with a two-hour Fox 25th Anniversary Special (7 p.m. central) hosted by the ubiquitous Ryan Seacrest and featuring cast reunions of series ranging from Married . . . with Children to The X Files. ...And on our Back Channels page, you can find a now vintage story on the network's preparations to take a big gamble nationwide while its owned-and-operated station in Dallas (KDAF-TV at the time) exuded high hopes.

HBO's Veep is hardly a Washington monument

Ed Bark — 2012-04-19T13:55:12-05:00
One-liners zing, expletives fly and laughs ensue if you're in the mood for lines like, "It's going to look like the Veep couldn't be bothered to sign a condolence card for one of the most respected perverts in the Senate." ...The divorced Meyer's underlings also include veteran political operative Mike (Matt Walsh), suck-up Gary (Tony Hale) and blunt-spoken executive assistant Sue (Sufe Bradshaw), who always says "No," when the vice president invariably asks at least once per episode, "Did the president call?"

R.I.P. Dick Clark: Nov. 30, 1929 to April 18, 2012

Ed Bark — 2012-04-18T18:29:39-05:00
Clark's principal legacies are American Bandstand, a staple of teen life in the 1950s and '60s, and the New Year's Rockin' Eve specials that dated to Dec. 31, 1972 and have continued with the part-time presence of Clark after a 2004 stroke forced him to yield the main hosting duties to his modern day equivalent, Ryan Seacrest. His production company also churned out a wealth of game shows (most notably Pyramid with varying cash values); trophy fests (The Golden Globes and the American Music Awards); the TV Bloopers & Practical Jokes series; and numerous made-for-TV movies, some of which proved to be landmarks.

NBC's Parks and Recreation resumes a campaign that doesn't hurt to watch

Ed Bark — 2012-04-17T15:11:01-05:00
This is good news for those who need a break from the interminable presidential campaign and Diane Sawyer's exclusive report (on Tuesday's ABC World News) about how the Romney dog, Seamus, got diarrhea during one of those strapped-to-the-carhood vacation trips that he otherwise "loved." ...The Peacock, which used to flex its Thursday night ratings might with the likes of Friends, Seinfeld, The Cosby Show and Cheers, has been utterly under the radar in recent years with a critically praised but scantly seen rotation.

ABC's GMA dethrones NBC's Today, ending its morning winning streak of more than 16 years; NBC's Nightly News also increasingly challenged

Ed Bark — 2012-04-17T09:59:37-05:00
It continues to trail by a significant gap in total viewers but is making a game of it with 25-to-54-year-olds while remaining the only newscast to register year-to-year gains in both ratings measurements. From April 9-13, Nightly News led in total viewers with 8.160 million, followed by Diane Sawyer's World News (7.203 million) and the CBS Evening News (5.943 million).

Still smokin' hot: Prince's blazing guitar solo at the 2004 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony

Ed Bark — 2012-04-13T13:15:16-05:00
All involved will be hard-pressed to top Prince, who celebrated his 2004 induction with a blow-away guitar solo tied to fellow inductee George Harrison's "As My Guitar Gently Weeps." ...version=3&hl=en_US">

ABC's Don't Trust the B looks like a comedy worth keeping (trust me)

Ed Bark — 2012-04-10T12:25:27-05:00
So maybe A(bitch)C has something at least a little special in Don't Trust the B ---- In Apartment 23, its second new series this season with an advertiser-unfriendly word shorn from the title but deployed within the show itself. ...And two upcoming episodes made available for review show that Don't Trust the B potentially has staying power in a season where ABC has found a few modest hits amid big misses such as The River, Charlie's Angels, Man Up!

R.I.P. Mike Wallace: May 9, 1918 to April 7, 2012

Ed Bark — 2012-04-09T10:41:23-05:00
"What I try to do, honestly, is to read everything that's been written about or by the person I'm talking to," Wallace said in our 2005 interview, which preceded his last visit to Dallas on Wednesday, Nov. 9th of that same year. ...I saw him for the last time in fall 2005, just before he went onstage at Highland Park Methodist Church to talk about his new book and his many old adventures within its covers.

Hewitt's treasured chest serves as The Client List's calling card

Ed Bark — 2012-04-06T11:59:50-05:00
Hewitt, the Waco native who first came to fame as a teenager on Fox's Party of Five, had a nice run as the star of CBS' Ghost Whisperer before segueing in 2010 to Lifetime's The Client List movie, one of its most popular ever. ...She leads a karaoke sing-along with her co-workers before Kyle's gentlemanly brother, Evan (Colin Egglesfield), arrives to drive her home, put her to bed and then get some day-after home cookin' after Riley sobers up.

Starz's Magic City rewinds 53 years to a glowingly corrupt Miami Beach

Ed Bark — 2012-04-05T15:24:09-05:00
Danny is enamored of a hotel maid named Mercedes Lazaro (Dominik Garcia-Lorido) while Stevie has the very dangerous hots for Lily Diamond (Jessica Marais), who just happens to be brutal Ben's moll. ...Vera Evans is willful but not evil, a wife who sees only the best sides of her husband while he somewhat reluctantly does what has to be done to keep the Miramar out of financial harm's way.

God is the Bigger Elvis is its own form of Graceland

Ed Bark — 2012-04-04T18:51:03-05:00
So that's the context preceding this brief review of God Is The Bigger Elvis, the Oscar-nominated short documentary film (just 40 minutes) charting the transformation of Dolores Hart from movie star to the current Mother Prioress of the Abbey of Regina Laudis in Bethlehem, Connecticut. ...And at age 73 she continues to radiate an inner and outer beauty, whether asking her parakeet Toby for a kiss or giving the film its title by telling director/producer Rebecca Cammisa, "The abbey was like a grace of God that just entered my life in a way that was totally unexpected.

ABC's Scandal goofily practices D.C. damage control (when it's not being just plain aggravating)

Ed Bark — 2012-04-04T15:53:11-05:00
And their paths cross anew when Republican prez Fitzgerald Grant (Tony Goldwyn) asks Olivia Pope (series star Kerry Washington) to intercede on his behalf after a White House intern seems poised to go public with a charge that he had a fling with her. ...This is all in Thursday's frenetically paced opening episode, during which Pope's firm also takes on the case of a much-decorated war hero and resultant conservative "poster boy" who's been accused of murdering his girlfriend by firing three slugs into her head.

Letterman & Olbermann: two pals chortling about the latest Current events

Ed Bark — 2012-04-04T08:37:46-05:00
On Tuesday's Late Show with David Letterman, Olbermann grandly depicted himself as a "10 million dollar chandelier" who was just too ornate for the outhouse Current TV turned out to be. ...***Why couldn't you have been a team player and shown up for work at a time when Current was trying to make a name for itself on the nights of the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary?

NBC's Best Friends Forever is better suited to eternal damnation

Ed Bark — 2012-04-03T13:13:02-05:00
Three's a crowd, with Jessica coaxing Lennon to resume their tradition of watching Steel Magnolias together while Joe starts to feel like a second hand rose. BFF also works in another guy named Rav (Stephen Schneider) -- an old friend of Jessica's -- and sassy Queenetta (Daija Owens), a nine-year-old black girl with a fondness for trash-talking. ...BFF leads into what almost assuredly will be the last two episodes of the exceedingly better Bent, which NBC has thrown away via a six-episode order and a back-to-back scheduling scheme on three successive Wednesdays opposite American Idol.

CBS will do Dave (and Craig) for at least three more years

Ed Bark — 2012-04-03T11:46:53-05:00
CBS announced Tuesday that Letterman's Late Show has been renewed through 2014 as has Craig Ferguson's followup Late Late Show, which will be moving to larger stage at CBS Television City, says the network. ...Letterman began on NBC in 1982 as host of the network's Late Night before making his CBS debut on ug. 30, 1993 after being passed over as Carson's successor.

A Monday morning unlike any other (in quite awhile) on Today, GMA, This Morning

Ed Bark — 2012-04-02T11:10:00-05:00
So NBC's front-running Today wasn't about to just sit there and take it when ABC's onrushing Good Morning America announced Friday that Katie Couric would be hosting a week's worth of shows from April 2-6. ...In the latest national results released by Nielsen Media Research (for the week of March 19-23), Today averaged 4.979 million viewers, with GMA (4.842 million) right behind and This Morning (2.364 million) luring less than half the audience of either show.

The sun rises in the east -- and Keith Olbermann gets fired again

Ed Bark — 2012-04-01T23:12:58-05:00
Asked about this by unclebarky.com during the recent winter Television Critics Association "press tour," Current president David Bohrman gave the implication that the network was powerless to make Olbermann do anything he didn't want to do in return for the handsome salary he had negotiated after being dumped by MSNBC. ...His program premiered in spring 2011, with Gore enthusing, "In a world where there are fewer and fewer opportunities to hear truly distinct, unfettered voices on television, we are delighted to provide Olbermann with the independent platform and freedom that Current can and does uniquely offer."

AMC's The Killing returns with some explaining to do (and does so convincingly

Ed Bark — 2012-04-01T23:08:49-05:00
And its closing scene also raised the ugly possibility that unconventional detective Stephen Holder (Joel Kinnaman) had gone over to the dark side after working hand-in-hand with stout-hearted detective Sarah Linden (Mireille Enos) for the entire run of Season 1. ...Executive producer Veena Sud and AMC programming executive Joel Stillerman have sent an accompanying letter that includes what amounts to a one-sentence mea culpa: "As we've said before, we learned a lot with season one and the reaction generated by the finale."

Game of Thrones returns for more heavy duty evil-doing

Ed Bark — 2012-04-01T23:05:01-05:00
He's the utterly amoral, astoundingly evil, egregiously egotistical teen King Joffrey (Jack Gleeson), the punk who happily presided over the beheading of noble Eddard "Ned" Stark (Sean Bean) near the close of Season 1. ...The younger Stark daughter, Arya (Maisie Williams), has escaped and is masquerading as a boy while oldest brother Robb Stark (Richard Madden) seeks to marshal the forces to overthrow Joffrey and thereby avenge his father's death.

A starring Steven Seagal punches up ReelzChannel's first scripted series (he again plays with guns, too)

Ed Bark — 2012-04-01T23:00:33-05:00
The four law enforcers under Elijah's wing are by-the-booker Andre Mason (William "Big Sleeps" Stewart); sultry, hard-nosed Juliet Sanders (Meghan Ory); quick-tempered Brett Radner (Warren Christie) and plucky rookie Sarah Montgomery (Sarah Lind). ...Reelz publicity materials say that each episode of True Justice will include a "Seagal in 60 Seconds" segment highlighting one of his previous movies and then informing viewers where they can see it via PPV or Video on Demand.

WE tv's Mary Mary turns out to be merry merry

Ed Bark — 2012-04-01T22:55:42-05:00
This is put to the test when Mitchell ramrods Mary Mary into that aforementioned away-from-home Thanksgiving Day gig, which he portrays as a titanic event in the career of the duo. ...And it exudes a top-of-the-marquee positivity that wears well overall, even after Tina baits a little hook in the early going by telling the camera, "I love my sister, but sometimes I wanna punch her in the face."

The discoveries go down easy in PBS' celebrity-stocked Finding Your Roots

Ed Bark — 2012-04-01T22:51:41-05:00
Its host and chief practitioner, Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., is about as likable as they come during the course of telling people who and where they come from. ...Sunday's first one-hour episode, which will be immediately followed by another one in this 10-part series, otherwise focuses on two New Orleans-bred musicians of note -- Branford Marsalis and Harry Connick, Jr.

Mad Men takes it easy with leisurely Season 5 start

Ed Bark — 2012-04-01T22:47:46-05:00
Responding to notations that Dusty Springfield's "The Look of Love" wasn't released until roughly six months after Season 5's initial time frame, Weiner said he'll remove the song and substitute another before Sunday's premiere. ...Sunday's re-launch is book-ended -- in a rather contrived way -- by separate but related events that force a change in hiring policies by the renegade ad agency that dapper Don (Jon Hamm) forged at the close of Season 3.

NBC's Bent gets a bum's rush despite being a pretty good sitcom

Ed Bark — 2012-04-01T22:37:13-05:00
Or might Alex instead choose the much stabler Ben (Matt Letscher), a doctor who all in all is not such a bad guy even if the writers can't seem to decide whether he should wear glasses or not. ...NBC is offering back-to-back episodes of Bent on three successive Wednesdays in a time slot also occupied by Fox's American Idol, CBS' Criminal Minds and ABC's already established comedy duo of Modern Family and Happy Endings.

A&E's Duck Dynasty hopes to quack you up

Ed Bark — 2012-04-01T22:31:36-05:00
Publicity materials say that the former Louisiana Tech University quarterback -- and inventor of the ingenious Duck Commander duck call -- "follows a strict routine of no showering, no shaving, and no clothes washing of any kind" during duck-hunting season, which lasts for 10 weeks. ...Although if this keeps up, smaller and small percentages of the American populace will be educated enough to feel "superior" to the likes of rough-hewn Phil, lay-about Si or cocksure Jase, who terms himself a "frog's nightmare.

OWN strikes out again with cancellation of Rosie show

Ed Bark — 2012-04-01T22:25:11-05:00
Which was the case Friday evening when Oprah Winfrey and Rosie O'Donnell jointly announced the cancellation of The Rosie Show, which will air its last hour on March 30th after a final March 20th taping. ...O'Donnell put on a good show at the time, joking that "my agent was thrilled that I wanted to go to basic cable as opposed to one of the major networks."

ABC's Missing pines for a Judd's reunion -- with her fictional son

Ed Bark — 2012-03-15T09:30:45-05:00
Beccca, you see, is a former CIA operative who quit cold turkey a decade ago after her CIA agent husband (a very briefly seen Sean Bean from Game of Thrones) was blown to bits in Vienna while their then eight-year-old son looked on helplessly. ...They tend to be either serial soaps (GCB) or murky mystical tours like The River, which has yet to find more than a very smallish audience for its Lost-like trip to the Congo in search of a missing dad with a voodoo vibe.

NBC's Fashion Star wants you to be ready for a store near you

Ed Bark — 2012-03-09T13:44:19-06:00
And in some ways, Fashion Star amounts to QVC, with fashions from 14 competing designers showcased in mini-runway shows before the three resident buyers decide whether to make an offer to sell these goods virtually on the spot. ...And those who come away without offers from any of the three buyers are up for elimination in a climactic round that ends with one of them being told, "You're not our 'Fashion Star.'

Let it entertain you: HBO's politically charged Game Change is fair game for now (But how about a Barack/Hillary sequel?)

Ed Bark — 2012-03-08T08:31:56-06:00
HBO, for its part, has taken the unusual step of issuing a one-page letter in defense of Game Change, which is drawn from the McCain-Palin segments of the same-named 2010 bestseller by veteran political reporters Mark Halperin and John Heilemann. ...Detractors of Game Change, whether they've seen the film or not, have a point in noting that the book on which it's based in fact devoted more pages to the battle for the Democratic presidential nomination between Obama and Hillary Clinton.

Breaking In goes from locked out to last call on Fox's new comedy Tuesday

Ed Bark — 2012-03-05T12:21:48-06:00
Uncanceled by the same network that exhumed Family Guy, Fox's Breaking In likely will be out of options if it doesn't perform as the caboose on a place-holding comedy Tuesday. ...There are signs of improvement, though, even if Mullally tends to over-do it in the "brash and bold" department while holdover Christian Slater remains in place as the downgraded former head dude known only as Oz.

ABC's GCB gets C-plus for its typical depiction of Big D

Ed Bark — 2012-03-02T06:54:00-06:00
There is some fun to be had, particularly when Annie Potts is on screen as a pistol-packin', creature-comforted, tart-tongued Highland Park mama (for the purposes of GCB it's Hillside Park) whose prodigal daughter Amanda (Leslie Bibb) is back in town 18 years after being a high school bee-yotch. ...And you can always count on Potts to deliver the goods, whether she's cocking a silver-plated shotgun in Episode 2 or telling her daughter in Sunday's premiere, "God often speaks to me through Christian Dior."

Who Shot J.R.'s Facebook page? Nobody. It's now open for bidness

Ed Bark — 2012-03-01T20:39:35-06:00
The network has revved up an official Dallas Facebook page with a timeline that traces the original's 14 seasons and what's happened since the show left CBS in May, 1991. ... Some of what I've posted might shock, or offend you...but if if that's not a good enough reason for exposing my family, I don't know what is."

Davy Jones: Dec. 30, 1945 to Feb. 29, 2012

Ed Bark — 2012-02-29T16:26:59-06:00
Nesmith simply had made a clean break from the group while Jones, Dolenz and Tork continued to turn back the clock to the tune of some still very listenable Monkees hits. ..."Mickey's a little crazier and I'm not any taller," Jones joked after Dolenz wore a rubber cobra and sequined sunglasses for his version of "I'm Not Your Steppin' Stone."

NBC's Awake has vital signs amid a veering premise

Ed Bark — 2012-02-28T15:05:42-06:00
But in yet another of the Peacock's seasons to forget, Awake will be the third new drama series to get a Thursday 9 p.m. (central) launch. ...And that by the end of Thursday's premiere, there's a galvanizing oomph to Britten's declaration -- to therapist Lee -- that going nuts "is a price I will happily pay.

Dancing's latest cast has fewer big toes, lotsa little feet

Ed Bark — 2012-02-28T09:12:13-06:00
And when Dancing re-launches on Monday, March 19th, it will be in the cross-hairs of NBC's The Voice, which lately has surpassed Fox's American Idol as prime-time's most popular singing competition. ...Despite all the cooing from GMA co-host Robin Roberts, Dancing has achieved the seeming impossible by making even the cast of NBC's latest Celebrity Apprentice look good.

Oscars fall shy of Grammys but beat last year's total

Ed Bark — 2012-02-27T18:39:01-06:00
"The 2012 Oscars stand as ABC's most-watched telecast in 2 years -- since March 3/7/10," ABC said, neglecting to mention that this was the date of the Steve Martin-Alec Baldwin Oscars, which had an appreciably higher 41.7 million viewers. ...This month's Grammys prevailed by a wider margin among advertiser-courted 18-to-49-year-olds, drawing 18.080 million viewers in this age range compared to the Sunday Oscar haul of 15.003 million.

Oscars come, go with a Crystal chandelier again in place

Ed Bark — 2012-02-27T11:35:38-06:00
Billy Crystal, who eagerly stepped up for the ninth time after Eddie Murphy dropped out, brought a sense of entitlement and his standard opening bits to Sunday night's 84th Academy Awards shebang on ABC. ...The Feb. 12th Grammy Awards, which had their biggest audience in a generation, actually ran longer than the Oscars before getting off exactly as planned after an allotted three-and-a-half-hour slot.

"Not Even Nominated" still a classic Oscar sing-along

Ed Bark — 2012-02-24T12:59:19-06:00
They swung and crooned their way through an astonishing array of standards, including "Singin' In The Rain" and "When I Fall In Love," that somehow were ignored by the austere but often clueless Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. ...version=3&hl=en_US">Big Rich Texas and Jerseylicious are two more gaudy baubles at the expense of states that no self-respecting "reality" TV producer ever wants to take seriously.

Life's Too Short gives HBO another bracing jolt of Gervais

Ed Bark — 2012-02-17T08:43:23-06:00
That will dovetail with the Season 1 expiration date of Life's Too Short, a seven-episode Gervais-Merchant concoction premiering on Sunday, Feb. 19th at 9:30 p.m. (central). ...They include falling out of his oversized car; getting stuck in a dog door while trying to sneak into his former residence; and being put in a trash can because Helena Bonham Carter is creeped out by the sight of him as a stand-in for a small boy in a period piece film she's making.

AMC niftily turns over a new leaf with Kevin Smith's Comic Book Men

Ed Bark — 2012-02-10T08:07:25-06:00
It's an unscripted departure from the likes of AMC's Mad Men, Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead, with Smith presiding over his Smodcast Internet Radio podcasts in the company of four chums who run his New Jersey-based comic book shop, Jay and Silent Bob's Secret Stash. ...But he's a little too busy to run his New Jersey shop, instead leaving it in the reasonably capable hands of Walt, Bryan, Michael Zapcic and Ming Chen.

No more House calls for Fox's classically irascible doc

Ed Bark — 2012-02-08T17:42:23-06:00
Gregory House) said that "the decision to end the show now, or ever, is a painful one, as it risks putting asunder hundreds of close friendships that have developed over the past eight years." ...But NBC entertainment president Bob Greenblatt told TV writers at January's semi-annual network TV "press tour" that both the expense and the age of the show made it unlikely that NBC would pick it up.

Olbermann goes off on Komen while new report says he remains off his rocker

Ed Bark — 2012-02-08T13:41:10-06:00
They respectively host The Young Turks and The War Room as part of Current's "Politically Direct" nighttime bloc of what Gore termed "news and information from a progressive point of view" that's aimed squarely at a "younger demographic." ..."I would like to declare war on the establishment media like CNN because they have their plastic fake robot anchors on there that do not deliver the news," Uygur pronounced in his opening manifesto before questions were taken.

Nice while it lasted: Jerry's Palace Super Bowl nipped nationally by XLVI, which now ranks as most-watched TV program ever

Ed Bark — 2012-02-06T14:22:27-06:00
The New York Giants' 21-17 win over the New England Patriots, which wasn't decided until a climactic "Hail Mary" pass fell incomplete in the end zone, built steadily throughout the early evening and night to average 117.7 million viewers in its final half-hour. ...But the country is more populated than it used to be, making the overall 47.0 household rating for XLVI still only the sixth best on the list.

More stealth promoting for Cougar Town from its renegade producer

Ed Bark — 2012-02-06T12:53:43-06:00
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Bill Lawrence on WhoSay

Eastwood floors it for Motor City and America's "Second Half" while Madonna runs on empty

Ed Bark — 2012-02-06T04:38:10-06:00
Its centerpiece was a nice coup by co-anchor Meredith Land, who coaxed the wives of Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and Texas Rangers principal owner Nolan Ryan to sit down en masse for an interview about what it's like to be married to these guys. ...version=3&hl=en_US">

And cable's 2011 ratings winners are . . .

Ed Bark — 2012-02-01T13:26:41-06:00
But what scripted series are tops in their fields ratings-wise in total viewers, and women/men in the advertiser-coveted 18-to-49-year-old demographic? Thanks to the usual highly informative charts issued by FX at January's Television Critics Association "press tour," we're going to break it down for you in both the drama and comedy categories.

Phil Ochs finally graduates to American Masters status

Ed Bark — 2012-01-27T12:00:05-06:00
And in the closing minutes of There But For Fortune, Ochs is shown singing the album's "Jim Dean of Indiana," which he would play for hours on end at the piano during the last year of his life. ...Near the end, Ochs and Dylan performed together at Carnegie Hall in a 1973 benefit concert titled "An Evening with Salvador Allende" (in honor of both the late overthrown Marxist president of Chile and protest singer Victor Jara, a friend of Ochs who was murdered in the aftermath of the military coup).

Made by thoroughbreds, HBO's Luck also can be a daze at the races

Ed Bark — 2012-01-26T09:08:48-06:00
Starring: Dustin Hoffman, Nick Nolte, John Ortiz, Jason Gedrick, Jill Hennessy, Richard Kind, Ian Hart, Kevin Dunn, Ritchie Coster, Tom Payne, Kerry Condon, Gary Stevens, with recurring appearances by Joan Allen, Michael Gambon, Alan Rosenberg, Ted Levine ...And stuttering Joey Rathburn (Richard Kind), crudely dubbed "Porky Pig" by Escalante, is a jockey agent whose clients currently include an aging drunk (real-life jockey Gary Stevens as Ronnie Jenkins) and an impetuous rookie who has trouble making weight limits (Tom Payne as Leon).

Fox's Touch can be tough to grasp

Ed Bark — 2012-01-23T16:18:56-06:00
Once a "highly paid reporter at the Herald" in the expository words of social worker Clea Hopkins (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), Martin in recent years has been a doorman, a cab driver, a construction worker and now a JFK Airport baggage handler. ...Tim Kring, the Heroes maestro who's also behind Touch, told TV critics during a January "press tour" session that he's a champion of "social benefit storytelling, the idea of trying to use archetypal narrative to create and promote a positive energy in the world."

Winter TV "press tour" picture page (ta-dah)

Ed Bark — 2012-01-19T17:30:47-06:00
James Van Der Beek plays himself, with Krysten Ritter as "The B" in the ABC spring sitcom Don't Trust the B -- in Apartment 23. ...All grown up: Tina Yothers from Family Ties and Tyler James Williams of Everybody Hates Chris.

Motley crew: FX's Unsupervised gives cartoon characters another case of the miseries

Ed Bark — 2012-01-18T18:16:10-06:00
Down and out is also a way of life in FX's Unsupervised, which premieres Thursday, Jan 19th at 9:30 p.m. (central) following the Season 3 launch of the animated spy spoof Archer. ...Schoolmates include gal pal Megan (Kristen Bell taking time away from her new co-starring role in Showtime's House of Lies) and obese black dude Darius (Romany Malco), who's no Fat Albert but lets the sun shine through his basically upbeat disposition.

Curvy women of Cougar Town replacing men in drag of Work It

Ed Bark — 2012-01-18T00:11:44-06:00
So much so that he held his own guerilla party Jan. 9th on the eve of ABC's day-long presentations to TV critics during the just-concluded winter "press tour" in Pasadena, CA. Lawrence and the stars of the show, including Courteney Cox, gathered in a hotel bar to pointedly express their concerns before ABC entertainment president Paul Lee told TV writers on the following morning that Cougar Town was "tentatively in there for March."

Mid-season merry-go-round: Alcatraz gives Fox another prison break

Ed Bark — 2011-12-31T13:11:59-06:00
Premiering Jan. 16th with back-to-back episodes (only the first hour was available for review as of this writing), Alcatraz is the latest serial string-along from creator/producer J.J. ...But in Alcatraz, the guy (who turns out to be Sylvane) leaves all by himself and then murders an old former Alcatraz warden who had made his life a living hell.

Mid-season merry-go-round: Syfy offers another draining ground for Canadian import Lost Girl

Ed Bark — 2011-12-31T11:53:12-06:00
But wouldn't you know, a lippy teen pickpocket named Kenzi (Ksenia Solo) is on the prowl, lifting wallets before attracting the interest of a traveling salesman who drugs her drink. ...Aiding her on the sly is a human doctor named Lauren (Zoie Palmer), who's in servitude to the Faes and would like to have more carnal knowledge of Bo.

Mid-season merry-go-round: House of Lies gives Showtime another batch of scoundrels

Ed Bark — 2011-12-31T09:21:31-06:00
The catch-all title suggests that this could be an espionage thriller or another duplicitous royal drama in league with Showtime's The Tudors or The Borgias. ...So House of Lies it is, with Don Cheadle starring as the ruthless maestro of a team of like-minded management consultants.

Mid-season merry-go-round: Fox's animated Napoleon Dynamite doesn't need to go back to the drawing board

Ed Bark — 2011-12-31T09:27:59-06:00
The Jan. 15th launch is two-pronged, with the "Thundercone" episode airing at 7:30 p.m. (central) and "Scantronica Love" at 8:30 p.m. Dynamite will then return on Jan. 29th in its regular Sunday, 7:30 p.m. slot. The first half-hour shows how much you can do with the absurdity of 16-year-old Napoleon getting an outpouring of zits on his forehead after his twice-as-old loser brother Kip (Aaron Ruell) hits him with some greasy fried chicken skin.

Mid-season merry-go-round: CBS' Rob is typically broad but bracingly diverse

Ed Bark — 2011-12-31T09:27:54-06:00
Rob, premiering Tuesday, Jan. 12th following The Big Bang Theory, is a highly energetic effort to milk laughs out of the title character's attempts to please his new Hispanic in-laws. ...Grandma (Lupe Ontiveros) is pretty much oblivious, but warms to Rob after he accidentally spills hot wax on his genitals and then staggers about her bedroom in a compromising position.

Mid-season merry-go-round: Fox's The Finder has solid characters, shaky storytelling

Ed Bark — 2011-12-31T09:27:41-06:00
Its character mix is its strong point, with Geoff Stults and Michael Clarke Duncan clicking together as a brain-damaged war veteran with "Finder Power" and a level-headed Key West bar owner who joins him on his jaunts. ...All in all, this is a light-hearted series that also looks as though it's going to be light-headed in terms of basic story construction.

Mid-season merry-go-round: Beware of NBC's Are You There, Chelsea?

Ed Bark — 2011-12-31T09:22:53-06:00
Or possibly any series ever, beginning with Chelsea's (Laura Prepon) narrative brag that "I finally power-slurped the worm out of a high-end bottle of tequila." ...In Episode 2, she makes light of a sister who died of smallpox, cheerily noting that dad had the power of attorney and pulled the plug.

Mid-season merry-go-round: NBC's The Firm is a compelling continuation

Ed Bark — 2011-12-29T15:29:33-06:00
Two of them will be filled on Jan. 8th with the continuation of a courtroom drama that began as a John Grisham bestseller before becoming a hit 1993 feature film starring Tom Cruise, Gene Hackman, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Holly Hunter and David Strathairn. ...But it ends up taking a bit too long to re-calibrate and explain itself after a breakneck opening sequence that finds lawyer Mitch McDeere (Lucas) running amid Washington monuments -- and through the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool -- while being pursued by a small group of bad guys.

Mid-season merry-go-round: ABC's Work It a dog in women's clothing

Ed Bark — 2011-12-29T13:00:09-06:00
His desperation is further flamed by a corpulent drinking buddy named Brian (John Caparulo), who drops "mancession" into the conversation while they're joined in knocking down beers by the likewise out-of-work Angel Ortiz (Amaury Nolasco), who had been a mechanic. ...It's then presto change-o, with a newly high-heeled Angel breaking the ice during his interview by telling the pharmaceutical company boss lady, "Your ass looks tight in those pants."

Mid-season merry-go-round: HBO's Angry Boys goes to extremes

Ed Bark — 2011-12-29T10:34:53-06:00
His latest series, the otherwise inventive Angry Boys, is marked and marred by continual use of the word during its two-episode premiere New Year's night on HBO. ...His fictional town of Dunt, South Australia is home to the Sims twins, who live on a rag-tag family farm with their younger siblings and a patient but oft-flustered mom who lately has a new man in her life.

Uncle Barky's Countdown to Christmas -- Season finale

Ed Bark — 2011-12-23T11:35:43-06:00
It's also been 25 years since she first performed "Christmas" in Letterman's presence on the Dec. 16, 1986 edition of his old Late Night show on NBC. ...version=3&hl=en_US">

Uncle Barky's Countdown to Christmas -- Episode 15

Ed Bark — 2011-12-20T18:09:13-06:00
In a pairing almost as odd as Rick Perry putting "presidential candidate" in front of his name, David Bowie and Bing Crosby performed together on the ailing crooner's last Christmas special in 1977. ...version=3&hl=en_US">

First impression: the opening episode of TNT's Dallas re-do shouldn't have anyone hangin' their heads

Ed Bark — 2011-12-19T13:50:32-06:00
And in that context, Dallas will be getting off to a high, wide and handsome re-start, beginning with a jolt of an early scene in which one of the principal characters gets some life-changing news that propels the rest of the action. ...Most of the outdoor action is set at Southfork, site of a big planned wedding for Bobby's adopted son, Christopher (Jesse Metcalfe) and his sexy and seemingly sweet fiancee, Rebecca Sutter (Julie Gonzalo).

Uncle Barky's Countdown to Christmas -- Episode 13

Ed Bark — 2011-12-19T09:30:21-06:00
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Who's Still Standing? gives NBC another holiday game gambit

Ed Bark — 2011-12-19T07:12:31-06:00
Your host is towering, shaved-headed Ben Bailey, a comedian who's also the face of Discovery Channel's Cash Cab but would look equally at home in an extreme martial arts match. ...But Bailey is palatable compared to the irksome off-camera Santa Claus impersonator whose constant "ho ho ho's" might prompt even little Jimmy Skeezicks to finally throw his hands up and declare, "All I want for Christmas is for this guy to shaddup!!!"

Jerry Lewis lionized in Encore's Method to the Madness

Ed Bark — 2011-12-16T14:12:17-06:00
Lewis, 85, is still entirely too adept at making an ugly spectacle of himself, as he did again this past summer during a session at the semi-annual Television Critics Association "press tour." ...The film is determined to prove their points, whether with footage of Lewis' incredibly popular 10-year partnership with Dean Martin ("When they blew up, it was very much like The Beatles," says Murphy) or via film clips that underscore the subject's gift for improvisational physical comedy.

Uncle Barky's Countdown to Christmas -- Episode 12

Ed Bark — 2011-12-16T08:27:48-06:00
version=3&hl=en_US">Jackass or those vintage Rupert Jee segments on Late Show with David Letterman, in which the host used to give him silly things to do via remote commands from afar.

"Romney" not only flip-flops, but takes on a different tone

Ed Bark — 2011-12-15T13:27:55-06:00
Boss and HBO's Enlightened, also were ignored by SAG but recognized by the Globes' small, mysterious band of voters. Cable ruled the Globes' list of five best drama series nominees, with four rookies -- Homeland, Boss, FX's American Horror Story and HBO's Game of Thrones joining HBO's second year Boardwalk Empire.

Uncle Barky's Countdown to Christmas -- Episode 11

Ed Bark — 2011-12-15T09:47:52-06:00
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Stern measures for America's Got Talent

Ed Bark — 2011-12-15T09:12:04-06:00
So Cowell had a big say in the network's Thursday morning announcement that Howard Stern will be the hit summer show's newest judge, replacing Piers Morgan. ...Stern's "larger-than-life personality will bring a thrilling new dynamic" to the show," NBC programming exec Paul Telegdy huffed in a publicity release.

NBC/CBS sign new 9-year NFL deals -- with sweeteners

Ed Bark — 2011-12-14T15:05:35-06:00
Both NBC and CBS are locked in long-term with the mighty NFL, courtesy of new 9-year deals announced within minutes of one another Wednesday afternoon. ...CBS says that its new agreement will give the network rights to some NFC conference games while also continuing as the main home of the AFC conference.

Uncle Barky's Countdown to Christmas -- Episode 10

Ed Bark — 2011-12-14T10:07:21-06:00
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Amanpour leaving ABC's This Week rebooting to foreign affairs

Ed Bark — 2011-12-14T09:23:23-06:00
The network announced Tuesday night that Amanpour will leave the public affairs program to take on a dual role as foreign affairs anchor/reporter for both ABC News and CNN International. ..."We could not be happier that through this unique arrangement with ABC News her experience and global perspective are returning to a nightly news broadcast for our international audience," CNN Worldwide president Jim Walton said.

Uncle Barky's Countdown to Christmas -- Episode 9

Ed Bark — 2011-12-13T09:47:21-06:00
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Uncle Barky's Countdown to Christmas -- Episode 8

Ed Bark — 2011-12-12T10:32:43-06:00
Things had gotten more than a little creaky when Bob Hope, then 90, and his wife, Dolores, welcomed an assembly line of celebrity guests at the start of 1993's two-hour Bob Hope's Bag Full of Christmas Memories. ...version=3&hl=en_US">Dog the Bounty Hunter to Hoarders to Gene Simmons' Family Jewels.

Uncle Barky's Countdown to Christmas -- Episode 6

Ed Bark — 2011-12-08T08:15:01-06:00
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NBC offers a Christmas episode four-pack via its Thursday night comedies

Ed Bark — 2011-12-07T11:04:39-06:00
But NBC sent a nice little packet of its ho ho ho Thursday, in which Community, Parks and Recreation, The Office and Whitney all have new Christmas-y episodes. ...But the best line precedes the party, when Stanley (Leslie David Baker) dismisses all of his co-workers' lame-brained holiday theme ideas with a declaration that all he wants is a very basic "baby Jesus lyin' in the manger Christmas."

Uncle Barky's Countdown to Christmas -- Episode 5

Ed Bark — 2011-12-07T09:15:34-06:00
It all begins with Friday and Smith/Gannon informing a priest that they have been unable to track down the thief who pilfered his church's baby Jesus. ...version=3&hl=en_US">

A whole buncha Bowl games worth flushing

Ed Bark — 2011-12-05T13:48:24-06:00
Even more amazingly, the following sponsored bowls not only actually exist but will all be nationally televised in the interest of further proving the NCAA's point that this is far more valuable to the "college experience" than a playoff system. ...Now it's a veritable feast, with no real limits on what might be coming next unless college football's overlords miraculously wake up someday.

Uncle Barky's Countdown to Christmas -- Episode 3

Ed Bark — 2011-12-05T10:12:47-06:00
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Uncle Barky's Countdown to Christmas -- Episode 2

Ed Bark — 2011-12-02T10:18:59-06:00
Lip syncing with all the dexterity of a dog gummin' peanut butter, George Strait sort of performed "When It's Christmas Time In Texas" during what turned out to be Perry Como's last annual special for ABC. ...version=3&hl=en_US">Dynamite, featuring the voices of the original feature film cast, then will move to its regular Sunday 7:30 p.m. slot on Jan. 29th.

Uncle Barky's Countdown to Christmas -- Episode 1

Ed Bark — 2011-12-01T10:03:30-06:00
It's the bouncy, smile-inducing "I Wish It Was Christmas Today," performed by former Saturday Night Live cast members Horatio Sanz, Jimmy Fallon, Tracy Morgan and Chris Kattan. ...

Fox's I Hate My Teenage Daughter arrives last and least

Ed Bark — 2011-11-29T15:48:54-06:00
Perhaps setting a modern-day sitcom record, the word "bitch" comes into play less than 10 seconds from the start of the show, which will be following Wednesday's 90-minute edition of The X Factor. ...Also part of this mix are Annie's ex-, a vagabond rock band leader named Matt (Eric Sheffer Stevens); and Nikki's former hubby, Gary (Chad L.

Go ahead, laugh: TV Land's The Exes entertainingly colors within the network's established lines

Ed Bark — 2011-11-29T11:24:51-06:00
And Donald Faison is making a rather startling turn to this format after co-starring on the smart, sight gag-driven Scrubs, which was not filmed before a studio audience, had no laugh track, etc. ...In that vein, The Exes is similar to Fox's New Girl, in which Zooey Deschanel plays the "adorkable" new roomie in an apartment otherwise stocked with three set-in-their-ways guys.

Albom on ABC: Have a Little Faith is the network's fourth adaptation

Ed Bark — 2011-11-23T11:30:39-06:00
ABC has scheduled Little Faith on Sunday, Nov. 27th at 8 p.m. (central), when most potential viewers might be ready for a little chicken slop for the soul after eating their way through Thanksgiving leftovers and shopping 'til they drop. ...There is absolutely no oomph to his performance, whether he's learning at the feet of Lewis, coming to the aid of Covington or dully narrating passages such as, "I was seeing those rarest of things -- a changed man."

ABC's You Deserve It another big prize tear-wringer

Ed Bark — 2011-11-21T14:51:43-06:00
Instead it's a five-part progression through raw numbers and clues, with the weepy, excitable and at times somewhat dense Stacey laboring to win the biggest payday possible while members of her family sit nearby for no particular reason. ...Harrison may be the reigning "Most Sympathetic/Synthetic Man in the World," whether presiding over those faux gut-wrenching rose ceremonies or reminding viewers that they've just shared what "has truly been an amazing evening" on Monday's premiere of You Deserve It.

ABC's revised midseason lineup includes spot for Dallas-set GCB

Ed Bark — 2011-11-21T09:17:54-06:00
Adapted from the Kim Gatlin book Good Christian Bitches and initially re-titled Good Christian Belles, the soapy, sin-slaked serial stars Leslie Bibb as a scandalized single mom and former Dallasite who returns home 20 years after her high school graduation. ...***The River, launching on Tuesday, Feb. 7th (in place of Celebrity Wife Swap) stars Bruce Greenwood as a famed explorer who's mysteriously gone missing in the Amazon.

Allen plays along in two-part American Masters documentary on his films and times

Ed Bark — 2011-11-18T14:08:12-06:00
But the matter is addressed in some detail Monday night, with Allen more or less joking that the "juicy story," which included a very public child custody fight, at least served to make him a more colorful figure. ...And in four separate interviews, friends and collaborators (including Keaton) all use the word "compartmentalize" in describing how he's able to focus on the task at hand, which at the time was both the film he was directing and the custody fight he was in.

Christopher McDonald is wild about Harry's and OK with being "Shooter" (although it'd be nice to play the romantic lead for a change)

Ed Bark — 2011-11-16T14:46:28-06:00
Christopher McDonald's latest supporting role, swaggering Tommy Jefferson on NBC's Harry's Law, is doubly par for the course if you remember him (and who doesn't?) ...Harry's Law (8 p.m. central on Wednesdays) arguably is in prime-time's toughest time slot, going against ABC's Modern Family, Fox's The X Factor and CBS' Criminal Minds.

Another attempt to wake up CBS's sound asleep morning ratings

Ed Bark — 2011-11-15T18:16:20-06:00
The latest effort, clearly a move to replicate MSNBC's newsier Morning Joe, is teaming Charlie Rose, Gayle King and Erica Hill as anchors of what the network proclaimed Tuesday as a "more thoughtful, substantive and insightful source of news and information, delivered by a team of experienced journalists." ...Local stations such as D-FW's CBS11 have been in ratings death valleys for decades, with their crack-of-dawn morning shows leading in to a 7 to 9 a.m. network program that hardly anyone watches compared to Today or GMA.

No. 4 NBC offers new dizzying array of midseason changes

Ed Bark — 2011-11-15T07:01:19-06:00
But its only ratings juggernaut, Sunday Night Football and its pre-game show, will be giving way to a lineup of Dateline, The Celebrity Apprentice and a transplanted Harry's Law, relocating from Wednesdays. ...Remaining in place are Parks and Recreation and The Office, followed by the freshman comedy Up All Night (moved from Wednesdays) and the premiere of John Grisham's The Firm.

Crystal back on Oscar track

Ed Bark — 2011-11-10T18:28:11-06:00
"I am doing this so that the young woman in my pharmacy will stop asking me my name when I pick up my prescriptions," he quipped in an ABC publicity release. ...Crystal, who made a crowd-pleasing appearance as a presenter during the latest Oscar-cast, is a generational departure from the "young Hollywood" hosting duo of Anne Hathaway and James Franco.

Joker's wild: Perry will read "Top 10 List" on Thursday's Late Show with David Letterman (updated with video)

Ed Bark — 2011-11-10T11:37:21-06:00
feature on Late Show, will be appearing on the night after he tried and failed three times to recite which three federal government agencies he would cut as president. ...version=3&hl=en_US">

Rangers-Cards World Series gets late-game lift in national ratings

Ed Bark — 2011-11-01T00:02:20-05:00
A Game 7 crowd of 25.4 million viewers, the most for a World Series game since 2004's Boston Red Sox closeout of the Cardinals, swelled the overall average to 16.6 million viewers. ...In 2004, the Cinderella Red Sox erased their longtime "curse" by sweeping the Cardinals after being the first team to overcome a 3-0 deficit in post-season play by shocking the Yankees in the ALCS.

New fall season: Fox's Allen Gregory looks good, feels creepy

Ed Bark — 2011-10-27T09:40:59-05:00
Allen Gregory, which looks great by the way, is soiled by a scene in which its pretentious seven-year-old protagonist swoons in the presence of a super-obese, gravelly-voiced, 68-year-old school principal named Judith Gottlieb (Renee Taylor). ...Returning home to self-important father Richard De Longpre (French Stewart) and his muscle-bound male life partner, a sobbing Allen (Jonah Hill) confesses to having "a broken heart -- and undergarments filled with my own unruly waste."

New fall season: Prospects seem glum for NBC's new Grimm

Ed Bark — 2011-10-25T09:42:02-05:00
Not that you're going to experience any measurable onset of chill bumps. Grimm plays more like a crime procedural set in Transylvania, with Nick Burkhardt (David Giuntoli) operating as a standard issue detective until learning from his decaying Auntie Marie (Kate Burton) that he's one of the last in a long line of criminal profiling Grimms. ...He'd better work fast, because Grimm's Friday night competition is CBS' long-established CSI: NY; Fox's scarier Fringe; The CW's creepy crawly Supernatural; and ABC's transplanted Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, which probably still has a few nails left to pound.

New fall season: ABC boldly tries to make magic with Once Upon A Time

Ed Bark — 2011-10-19T21:37:06-05:00
These recurring fairy tale scenes are sumptuous to behold, giving Once Upon A Time a money-on-the-screen luster that you just can't get from all those spangly costumes on ABC's Dancing with the Stars. They time-share with the present-day, in which an orphaned bail bonds collector named Emma Swan (Jennifer Morrison) feels lonely and unfulfilled on her 28th birthday, part of which she spends duping a crook into a blind date at a sumptuous restaurant.

New fall season: Grammer a revelation as power-hitting Chicago mayor in Starz's Boss

Ed Bark — 2011-10-19T15:55:24-05:00
George Clooney's new film, The Ides of March, ends up throwing idealism out with the trash. Boss almost makes Ides seem Cub Scout-y with all those phony power-to-the-people pronouncements from Kane, in whom all power resides behind the closed doors of his City Hall temple. ...It all makes for a terrific immorality play within the confines of a city that can't escape its made-for-TV corruption image any more than Dallas can unsaddle itself from the twin tags of conspicuous consumption and cowboy hats.

New fall season -- dropping the balls with ABC's Man Up!

Ed Bark — 2011-10-17T16:50:45-05:00
's star players are weepy Craig (co-executive producer Christopher Moynihan), tantrum-prone Kenny (Dan Fogler) and mild insurance salesman Will (Mather Zickel), whom his wife, Theresa (Teri Polo) chides as "mannish" at best. ...In real life, bearded, chubby bitterly divorced Kenny is the resident Zach Galifianakis, Craig still pines for his newly married ex-girlfriend and Will worries that his bespectacled 13-year-old-son, Nathan (Jake Johnson), is shaping up to be an even bigger wuss.

Soiling Mark Cuban's HDNet with The Super

Ed Bark — 2011-10-17T14:15:45-05:00
While I try to regain my motor skills, let it be noted that the episode of The Super sent to TV critics isn't the one that will launch the series, according to HDNet's programming schedule. ...In the "He Done Got Me in a Bad Mood" episode, Super Dave and company strive to evict a knuckle-dragging, pot-bellied racist a-hole with bad teeth who's been leeching off a pathetic enabling woman who's consequently fallen behind in her rent payments.

HBO's Sing Your Song is music to Harry Belafonte's activist ears and years

Ed Bark — 2011-10-17T08:11:46-05:00
Abundant archival footage is in part a saving grace, though, whether it's from extraordinary late 1950s CBS specials starring Belafonte or from his days of guest-hosting The Tonight Show, when he welcomed the likes of the Rev. ...Belafonte's political activism and humanitarianism span some of the most seminal events of the past half century, including the Freedom Rides through the segregated South; the 1963 "March on Washington" (site of King's "I Have a Dream" speech); and the 1985 "We Are The World" song/video on behalf of starving African children.

The Walking Dead returns to AMC with twice as much time to amble along

Ed Bark — 2011-10-14T08:13:16-05:00
Filling a double order of 13 episodes -- compared to Season 1's six -- likely will mean a more deliberate approach as the series' divisive band of 11 post-apocalyptic survivors make their way from Atlanta to Fort Benning in hopes of finding a reasonably safe haven. ...Zombies abound, too, meaning that ample heads will be blown or chopped off during these first two episodes. The Walking Dead retains its very graphic approach and then tops itself with a seriously gruesome scene in which hillbilly bow hunter Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus) guts a dead zombie to see the contents of its last meal.

Michael Douglas, Matt Damon to star in HBO movie about Liberace's "tempestuous relationship" with live-in lover

Ed Bark — 2011-10-11T13:15:10-05:00
HBO announced Tuesday that Michael Douglas and Matt Damon will star in "a behind-the-scenes look at the tempestuous relationship between legendary entertainer Liberace and Scott Thorson, his younger live-in lover." ...*** Following a battle over payments to its voice actors, Fox has renewed The Simpsons for a 24th and 25th season.

New fall season: Tim Allen goes back to his basics on ABC's "new" Last Man Standing

Ed Bark — 2011-10-10T08:33:45-05:00
One of this fall's purportedly manly new sitcoms, CBS' How to Be a Gentleman, already has been sent from Thursdays to Saturdays in preparation for burial after its handful of remaining episodes are burned off. ...Blustering Mike Baxter otherwise is the marketing director for the Outdoor Man sporting goods store, whose sour-tempered owner Ed (Hector Elizondo) demands a halt to his business travels until the company's outmoded website is fixed.

New fall season: Enlightened gives HBO a life-affirming series with just enough edge

Ed Bark — 2011-10-06T16:10:51-05:00
But she's determined to make headway, whether it's befriending a milquetoast co-worker (co-producer Mike White as Tyler), thawing out her mother or dragging Levi along on a kayak trip in hopes of regaining at least a small portion of what they once had. ...Co-producer White, also known for competing twice on CBS' The Amazing Race with his father, Mel, notes in HBO publicity materials that "there are so many anti-heroes populating TV series right now.

HBO's Living in the Material World portrays George Harrison as much more than the "other Beatle"

Ed Bark — 2011-10-05T12:53:16-05:00
That's the usual hook, with Scorsese and co-producer Olivia Harrison (his second wife) sifting through troves of stills, home movies and rare performance videos. Living in the Material World, which is an appreciably better film on Night 2, also includes fresh interviews with McCartney, Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono, George Martin, Eric Clapton and most surprisingly, legendary record producer/convicted murderer Phil Spector, who turns out to be a surprisingly interesting contributor. ...Harrison doesn't say this in the HBO film, but he's been quoted as stating, "I didn't have many tunes on Beatles records, so doing an album like All Things Must Pass was like going to the bathroom and letting it out."

New fall season: FX's uneven American Horror Story scares up a storm of nightmare scenarios

Ed Bark — 2011-10-04T12:08:50-05:00
Are its two lead producers, Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk, brilliant in their abilities to fashion an adrenaline-pumping, commercially sponsored TV show that manages to get away with murder in virtually every way, shape or form? ...They producers say their influences for Horror Story include Dark Shadows, Rosemary's Baby, The Shining and particularly the comparatively obscure 1973 Nicolas Roeg movie Don't Look Now, which starred Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie as a married couple struggling to recover emotionally from their daughter's drowning death.

Ken Burns' Prohibition a rollicking/sobering look at America's nearly 14-year drinking game

Ed Bark — 2011-09-30T14:02:03-05:00
But speakeasies, flappers, the Charleston and a party girl columnist for The New Yorker -- whose pen name was "Lipstick" -- put a lot of bounce in this long look at the 18th amendment to the Constitution and its eventual repeal via the 21st. ...It was an early, primitive form of women's liberation, marked by considerable bravery on the part of those who dared to make their voices heard after years of staying at home, minding the children and wondering how they'd make ends meet after their husbands drank away the family income.

Dexter keeps up the carnage, spices it with spirituality

Ed Bark — 2011-09-29T14:48:17-05:00
In this context, it's perhaps hard to believe that Sunday's season opener (8 p.m central preceding the new and very much recommended Homeland) comes off as a little sitcom-y at times before later hitting its stride. ...Largely dismissed as a nebbish during his teen years, Dexter's "prestigious" job as a blood spatter analyst -- plus the grisly loss of his own wife at the end of Season 4 -- combine to make him both a sympathetic figure and latter day hunk to many of his former female classmates.

New fall season: Showtime's Homeland stands as the first great freshman drama -- and it's not even close

Ed Bark — 2011-09-29T08:58:50-05:00
That's because Mathison and a bugger for hire have rigged the Brody home with surveillance cameras just before he returns in the company of his wife, Jessica (former V villainess Morena Baccarin), and their children, Dana and Chris (Morgan Saylor, Jackson Pace). ...Co-executive producer Howard Gordon, the principal force behind Fox's 24, told TV critics this summer that Homeland's 13-episode first season will satisfactorily answer the question of whether the freed Brody in fact has been turned.

New fall season: CBS' How to Be a Gentleman aims at male delivery

Ed Bark — 2011-09-28T09:39:23-05:00
He's Houston native David Hornsby (It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia), who not only stars in but produces and writes the CBS sitcom How to Be a Gentleman. ...On opening night, viewers might find that Bert, Andrew and How to Be a Gentleman go pretty well with a well-mannered slice of brie -- and a bargain bottle of brewski.

Rooney leaving 60 Minutes after Sunday's farewell commentary

Ed Bark — 2011-09-27T16:10:45-05:00
"It's harder for him to do it every week, but he will always have the ability to speak his mind on 60 Minutes when the urge hits him." ...His first commentary for 60 Minutes, in July 1978, was about automobile fatalities on Independence Day, according to the CBS publicity release.

New fall season: ABC's teenage wasteland is otherwise called Suburgatory

Ed Bark — 2011-09-27T13:38:16-05:00
Dad and daughter almost succumb to a full-out shouting match after she keeps calling him "George" while insolently sipping a can of Red Bull at the dinner table instead of eating the meal he's prepared. ...For now, Levy is an OK mix of insolence and vulnerability, Hines is her usual hoot and Sisto shows signs of being nimble on his feet in an arena where he's still learning the ropes.

New fall season: CW's Hart of Dixie goes south without too many hick-ups

Ed Bark — 2011-09-26T12:26:44-05:00
"OK, someone needs to tell the people in this town that it's 2011," she says before dressing down a blonde throwback named Lemon Breeland (Jaime King) as "some southern xenophobe dressed up like a stick of butter." ...Also residing in Bluebell is ladies man and would-be country rocker Wade Kinsella (Wilson Bethel), who tells Zoe she's "drunk as a boiled owl" before she impulsively makes out with him in his -- but of course -- pickup truck.

New fall season: Fox'sTerra Nova goes picturesquely prehistoric but with a prototypical script

Ed Bark — 2011-09-26T08:44:41-05:00
Absent miniseries and all but shorn of made-for-TV movies, ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox have long been nickel-and-diming it on the luster front. Terra Nova is a profligate spender, with its futuristic and prehistoric worlds of desolation and dinosaurs. ...They all make it in rather preposterous fashion to Terra Nova, where Josh suddenly cops a 'tude and says it's dad's "own damn fault" for being locked up and "you can't just come back after all this time and start telling me what to do."

New fall season: ABC's Pan Am looks good, but has the dramatic heft of a plywood plane

Ed Bark — 2011-09-22T18:40:08-05:00
Beyond selling the glamour of it all, Pan Am may be very hard-pressed to come up with weekly storylines that impel viewers to climb aboard. The Love Boat had a spacious vessel, numerous compartments and Isaac the fun-loving bartender. Fantasy Island offered scenic beauty and the odd couple duo of Mr. ...And those pale blue Pan Am stewardess uniforms look great when all four principals are marching in lockstep toward a waiting plane while a little girl looks on in awe and dreams of someday being one of them.

New fall season: CBS' A Gifted Man gives the network a ghost of a chance to at last make a medical drama stick

Ed Bark — 2011-09-22T14:01:51-05:00
It's done OK in recent years with the supernatural, though. Ghost Whisperer ran for five seasons on Friday nights and then Medium hung in for a year-and-a-half after CBS rescued it from NBC's cancellation. ...But it's not all there yet with an unwieldy mix that also includes two life-threatening cases, a few scenes with Michael's frazzled sister, Christina (Julie Benz) and her problematic teen son and an attempted exorcism of sorts by a mystic named Anton (Pablo Schreiber).

New fall season: Winging it without a flight plan in ABC's new Charlie's Angels

Ed Bark — 2011-09-21T17:52:39-05:00
But Charlie's Angels surely is a worn-out franchise after the campy, iconic original, two feature films and a pair of failed efforts -- Angels '88 and Angels '89 -- that both fell short of full series status despite the presence of Tea Leoni. ...The acting pretty much dips to the level of the opening night script, which may well be what a reviewer or two said of the 1976 premiere episode of the original Charlie's Angels.

New fall season: NBC's Prime Suspect is an applause-worthy encore

Ed Bark — 2011-09-21T15:33:04-05:00
Well, NBC has taken that dare and done a very decent job of it in a Manhattan-based version starring Pennsylvanian Maria Bello as tough-minded detective Jane Timoney. ...He's the department boss, trying to exercise a firm hand while also allowing his personal office to be an ad hoc bar where the men drink jumbo shots of straight liquor from cartoon-emblazoned jelly jars.

New fall season: CBS' Person of Interest had this person pretty interested

Ed Bark — 2011-09-21T12:31:13-05:00
Jim Cavaziel, beaten to death in The Passion of the Christ, gets a chance to mete out punishment as a presumed dead former government operative who feels betrayed and looks like hell until Michael Emerson from Lost finds him. ...Together they'll be the brains and brawn of this operation in times when the broadcast networks aren't particularly interested in take-charge men with acquired tastes for pounding the hell out of bad guys -- or shooting them in their thighs.

New fall season: NBC's Whitney gets off to a smart 'n' snappy start

Ed Bark — 2011-09-21T08:13:52-05:00
She's also the co-creator and executive producer of CBS' 2 Broke Girls, which rocked the ratings with a Monday premiere that capitalized on the coattails of the preceding debut of Ashton Kutcher as Charlie Sheen's replacement on Two and a Half Men. ...Whitney's so far/so good gal pals include a sardonic divorcee named Roxie (Rhea Seehorn) and the much sunnier Lily (Zoe Lister-Jones), who's proud of her frequent sex with boyfriend Neal (Maulik Pancholy).

New fall season: ABC's Revenge seems fated to plot 'n' plod along

Ed Bark — 2011-09-20T13:01:09-05:00
ABC has strong-willed women at the throttles of all four of its new fall season dramas while men are on doofus patrol in the new sitcoms Last Man Standing and Man Up. ...NBC is still in there punching with Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and CBS has transfered CSI: Crime Scene Investigation to Wednesdays at 9 p.m. (central), where it very well could be rejuvenated with redoubtable Ted Danson in the cast.

Two and a Half Men welcomes Kutcher, leaves Sheen decidedly dead

Ed Bark — 2011-09-20T08:50:43-05:00
Few if any TV characters have been dumped more unceremoniously than Charlie Sheen's womanizing Charlie Harper. Two and a Half Men and its creator, Chuck Lorre, saw to that Monday on the hit sitcom's ninth season premiere. ...Two and a Half Men began with a closed casket funeral service for Charlie Harper, with his trademark shirt and shorts as a backdrop and brother Alan (Jon Cryer) trying to get through a eulogy while various attendees ripped on his late brother.

New fall season: Unforgettable gives CBS another sturdy crime hour with a gimmick and two tested stars

Ed Bark — 2011-09-19T16:42:47-05:00
The first episode of Unforgettable also works in a little off-hand plug for CBS' longest-running "procedural," which will be moving to Wednesdays at 9 p.m. (central) this season while Ted Danson joins the cast in place of Laurence Fishburne. ...Given all the on-screen clutter these days, it wouldn't be all that surprising to see a simultaneous pop-up ad for CSI: Crime Scene Investigation touting its new night, time and star.

New fall season: The star of Fox's New Girl isn't conventionally foxy (but that's the point)

Ed Bark — 2011-09-19T13:19:29-05:00
Zooey Deschanel, still on the cusp of being quite famous after her role in Cameron Crowe's 2000 Almost Famous, is far and away the principal selling point of Fox's New Girl. ...The fall season is dominated by new comedies and dramas that will sink or swim on the strength of their featured female characters. New Girl will be asking a lot of Zooey Deschanel, and so far she seems primed and ready to make her mark.

Football night in America: Friday Night Lights scores its first major Emmys on a winning night for broadcast over cable networks

Ed Bark — 2011-09-19T05:04:54-05:00
Besides Mad Men, Comedy Central's The Daily Show won for the ninth straight year in the Variety, Music or Comedy Series competition while CBS' The Amazing Race prevailed for the eighth time in nine tries as television's best "Reality-Competition" series. ...Sheen's former Two and a Half Men co-star, Jon Cryer (whom he had called a "troll"), was shown applauding the fired "Rock Star from Mars" from the audience before he said of Two and a Half Men, "From the bottom of my heart, I wish you nothing but the best for this upcoming season."

Primetime Emmys again will get tackled by Sunday Night Football, but here are my picks anyway

Ed Bark — 2011-09-16T15:59:06-05:00
But for the record, Sunday's scheduled three-hour ceremony (7 to 10 p.m. central on Fox) will be hosted by Glee's Jane Lynch and produced by Mark (Survivor) Burnett. ...So I'm going to go with the highest-rated series in all of television, if only to see the look on Simon Cowell's face if the show wins in its first season without him.

New fall season: It's pretty much bunny ha-ha in NBC's The Playboy Club

Ed Bark — 2011-09-16T09:38:17-05:00
So perhaps the Peacock's easy-on-the-eyes ode to America's first full-figured bunny hatch will draw enough oglers to somehow survive a tough 9 p.m. (central) slot opposite ABC's Castle, CBS' Hawaii Five-O and ESPN's Monday Night Football. ...New bunny Maureen (Amber Heard), fresh from Fort Wayne, quickly ends up on the receiving end of a drooling mobster's advances while she goes backstage at the club to replenish her cigarette case.

New fall season: CBS' greasy spooned 2 Broke Girls has a potential breakout star but a lousy joke menu

Ed Bark — 2011-09-15T13:31:32-05:00
She's already in full command of this sitcom by the time Behrs' Caroline pops in to replace a fired Russian waitress who left behind a stained and smelly uniform after being caught having loud sex with a cook. ...And although she's portrayed as thoroughly street smart, Max nonetheless has fallen for a muscle-headed, live-in boyfriend named Robbie (Noah Mills), who specializes in flaunting both his abs and his butt crack before being further exposed by Caroline.

New fall season: Witches brew hoo hooey in CW's The Secret Circle

Ed Bark — 2011-09-14T12:53:42-05:00
On the contrary, he's got another one for ya. The Secret Circle, premiering Thursday on The CW after Vampire Diaries, presents a coven of teenage witches, none of whom is named Sabrina. ... That's where cutie Cassie Blake (series star Britt Robertson) has come to live with her grams after moms got burnt to a crisp in a house fire started by an evil adult male witch.

New fall season: NBC merits a buyers' market for Free Agents

Ed Bark — 2011-09-13T17:12:08-05:00
The British Free Agents is appreciably more verbally graphic in this respect, although the f-bombs will have to be bleeped for U.S. consumption on an advertiser-supported network. ...Both actresses are very winning in this role, though, with Hahn particularly good in a grocery store scene where she loads up on red wine and upbraids a clerk for asking whether she's having a party.

New fall season: The CW's H8R just might leave you giddy with guilty pleasure

Ed Bark — 2011-09-13T14:58:44-05:00
Now comes The CW's new H8R (short for "Hater"), where Wednesday's opening episode finds -- pause, one-two -- the ubiquitous Pavelka and fellow "reality" show creation Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi confronting commoners who think they're garbage. ...He also takes Danielle on a plane ride, escorts her to the real Bachelor mansion and claims he had a troubled relationship with his father in hopes of turning her into an admirer of his.

New fall season: Up All Night gives NBC a very rare prime-time baby but no cigar

Ed Bark — 2011-09-12T16:29:24-05:00
The onetime network of The Cosby Show instead put almost all of its eggs in the workplace -- or in the hands of singles who gathered in diners and coffee shops. Seinfeld, Friends, Frasier, The Office, 30 Rock, Parks and Recreation -- its denizens could be infantile but they never changed any diapers, read any report cards or chaperoned any proms. ...In that respect, it's hardly coincidental that SNL creator Lorne Michaels is a co-executive producer of Up All Night, which also belatedly has added America's Got Talent host Nick Cannon as Ava's "wildly popular co-host."

New fall season: CW's Ringer a splashy double dip for Gellar

Ed Bark — 2011-09-12T13:23:14-05:00
Gellar's return to prime-time, after leaving Buffy the Vampire Slayer behind eight seasons ago, qualifies as li'l CW's biggest fall season event since its 2006 launch as an amalgamation of The WB and UPN. ...The marquee star of the show has become a mom (her marriage to actor Freddie Prinze Jr. endures) who's acted sparingly since Buffy ran its course. Ringer gives Gellar a full-immersion opportunity to re-tune her skills and put some extra bounce into both characters.

Showtime's The Love We Make revealingly documents McCartney's post 9/11 musical masterstroke

Ed Bark — 2011-09-09T08:42:54-05:00
My recommendation is The Love We Make, a new and stellar 93-minute film recapping the eight days leading to The Concert For New York City, an Oct. 20, 2011 magical musical landmark orchestrated by Paul McCartney. ...It's one of the things I'm most proud of, actually, to have lucked out to be in a profession like this where I can help, heal and let people get in touch with their emotions."

Perry under the microscope in MSNBC's "Ponzi scheme" debate

Ed Bark — 2011-09-08T05:10:00-05:00
Perry unflinchingly derided Social Security as a historically fraudulent "Ponzi scheme" and "a monstrous lie to our kids," took a disbelieving weird science approach to climate change and said that President Obama either was either misinformed by inferior "intel" or is an "abject liar" for saying last spring that the border town of El Paso is safer than ever. ...Another candidate currently on the outer rim of the race, former Utah governor Jon Huntsman, had Perry in mind when he said that Republicans "can't run from science" if they want to defeat President Obama.

The new fall season again flies cable's colors

Ed Bark — 2011-09-07T12:59:55-05:00
FX's American Horror Story quickens the pulse while HBO's Enligthened and Starz's Boss offer damaged goods in lead characters played by Laura Dern and Kelsey Grammer. FX/HBO/Starz photos ...It stars Damian Lewis (from NBC's under-appreciated Life) as a presumed dead Marine sergeant who's discovered in captivity and Claire Danes (an Emmy winner for HBO's Temple Grandin) in the role of a mentally unstable CIA agent who thinks he may have been "turned."

FX's Rescue Me puts out its last fire

Ed Bark — 2011-09-06T17:01:05-05:00
Subtitled "Ashes" (9 p.m. central on Wednesday, Sept. 7th), the series finale underscores the plusses and minuses of a dramedy that might have fared better by dousing some of its excesses. ...And that held true to the end, with two kids crying out for help at the close of last Wednesday's penultimate episode while Gavin and five of his colleagues turned deaf ears to their own safety while explosions erupted around them.

Ooh scary? Syfy's Paranormal Witness instead is "Oh, please."

Ed Bark — 2011-09-06T13:07:33-05:00
Paranormal is the new normal on Syfy, which already is the haunted home of Ghost Hunters, Ghost Hunters Academy, Ghost Hunters International and Fact or Faked: Paranormal Files. ...Then "get ready to be terrified" with this new addition to the network's Wednesday "prime-time paranormal programming block" in league with Ghost Hunters.

FX's Sons of Anarchy gets its bikers back on track

Ed Bark — 2011-09-02T15:08:49-05:00
Last year's Sons of Anarchy averaged 4.412 million viewers per episode, surpassing the season highs of FX stalwarts such as The Shield, Nip/Tuck and Rescue Me, which will have its series finale on Wednesday, Sept. 7th. SOA re-guns a night earlier, on Tuesday at 9 p.m. central. And in the season opener alone, there's a wedding; a gangland-style mass execution; an even more gruesome payback killing in the prison infirmary; a seemingly sincere vow to go straight by the club's featured young lion; and a new, stern sheriff in the northern California town of Charming.

Evening News anchor Scott Pelley pledges allegiance to his Texas-bred news values and value system

Ed Bark — 2011-08-30T11:16:59-05:00
In Pelley's first week as anchor, the CBS Evening News averaged 5.7 million viewers, still a distant third behind the NBC Nightly News (8.2 million) and ABC's World News (7.1 million). ..."Everything that I learned from Marty Haag and (former assignments editor) Bert Shipp at WFAA are lessons I employ at the Evening News every day," Pelley said in a brief post-session chat before being whisked away to do a pre-arranged satellite interview for that night's broadcast.

New cast of Dancing with the Stars has a spiked heel in Nancy Grace

Ed Bark — 2011-08-30T05:54:55-05:00
And there also are some other intriguing contestants, including David Arquette (who remains very publicly separated from Courteney Cox) and LGBT (Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender) rights advocate Chaz Bono, who grew up to be a rather different only offspring of Sonny and Cher. ...An athlete or two invariably make Dancing's Final Four, and Solo looks like a much better bet than fellow contestant Ron Artest, the ever-problematic Los Angeles Lakers forward who apparently is banking either on a continued NBA lockout or an early eviction.

Should Last Man Standing and 2 Broke Girls have checked these particular jokes at the door?

Ed Bark — 2011-08-26T17:17:51-05:00
From this perspective, both easily could be dropped without compromising the "integrity" or varnishing the "edge" off their respective carriers -- CBS' 2 Broke Girls and ABC's Last Man Standing. ...In the pilot for 2 Broke Girls, a greasy spoon cashier played by charter Saturday Night Live cast member Garrett Morris jokes that a new waitress is "workin' harder than Stephen Hawking trying to put on a pair of cufflinks."

Flightmares achieves liftoff as latest network entry from Dallas-based AMS Pictures

Ed Bark — 2011-08-25T15:22:18-05:00
Dallas-based AMS Pictures also keeps it REAL SIMPLE with Flightmares, a one-hour special premiering Sunday, Aug. 28th at 9 p.m. (central) on the Bio cable network. ...But the station made a long-lasting reputation on that day as D-FW's go-to destination for live breaking news while its TV rivals stayed with regularly scheduled entertainment programming in the early going.

MSNBC's hiring of Sharpton gives it yet another left hook

Ed Bark — 2011-08-24T16:08:55-05:00
"When a big event happens, people turn to CNN because they know not only are they going to have people there covering it, but they're going to cover it in a way that's non-partisan, that's not left or right. ... When you're not trying to be partisan but when you're trying to be aggressive just about the facts and what is true, it's often not as entertaining as some of the others -- and they (CNN) have had some trouble with it."

BBC America's exemplary The Hour has a 60 Minutes air in a Cold War era miniseries

Ed Bark — 2011-08-15T10:06:48-05:00
The Hour also is the name of a 60 Minutes-esque TV news magazine that's launched in 1956 as a dig deep alternative to the generic newsreel programs of the day. ...The fits and starts of getting the new program off the ground are intercut with Freddie's dogged investigation of what he believes to be two murders -- of a highly regarded academic and a young woman named Ruthie (Vanessa Kirby) whom he used to know as a kid.

Bravo's Most Eligible Dallas beautifully captures the city's self-entitled, vacuous, money-to-burn singletons (Bravo?)

Ed Bark — 2011-08-14T13:44:17-05:00
Now we're back in the gilded saddle again, with a re-do of Dallas coming next fall to TNT while the likes of creature-comforted Drew Ginsburg proclaim Monday night, "Everyone in Dallas tends to be self-centered and shallow." ...Monday's opening hour, which gifts the city with its very own super-lampoonable Jersey Shore, also features a vagabond ego-centric NFL punter who's been released by 10 NFL teams; a former Bishop Lynch High School star quarterback but University of Texas benchwarmer; a self-described "slave to vanity" and a late-arriving new girl in town who instantly makes her jealous.

HBO's involving Steinem bio gives her the first, last and only words

Ed Bark — 2011-08-12T13:14:17-05:00
Former variety/game show host Garry Moore is recaptured in a 1972 radio interview in which he describes Steinem as "extremely attractive" before adding that "most of the women I see in the women's liberation movement frankly couldn't lure me out of a burning building." ...They were married in 2000, a development that Steinem admits surprised both her and the world at large. In Her Own Words also shows her acting out of character by tap-dancing during a Barbara Walters special at the urging of the host, who sings "Me and My Gal" in accompaniment.

Summer TV "press tour" picture book

Ed Bark — 2011-08-11T15:13:38-05:00
The cast of NBC's Chuck has one last half-season left. Photos: Ed Bark ...It's a geek heaven on earth with the Game of Thrones easy chair.

Lopez Tonight canned, Conan goes on

Ed Bark — 2011-08-10T16:11:56-05:00
In a statement, the network said it had "reached the difficult decision not to order a third season" of the show, which premiered on Nov. 9, 2009 at 10 p.m. (central) before the arrival of Conan O'Brien's Conan pushed Lopez back to 11 p.m. in November of last year. ...In this year's May "sweeps" Nielsen ratings, Lopez Tonight ranked 10th in the key 18-to-49 ratings for late night broadcast and cable programming, averaging 295,000 per show in this age range while Conan placed 8th with 701,000.

Another sojurn out West for the annual Television Critics Association "press tour"

Ed Bark — 2011-07-25T17:55:42-05:00
Forgive your friendly content provider, but it's time to head West again for the annual Television Critics Association summer "press tour," in which networks high and low trot out their new fall lines. ...I've left some stuff behind on unclebarky.com, including the recently posted tome on WFAA8's latter day championing of Rentrak as a possibly better way to measure local newscast ratings than Nielsen Media Research.

No more cash 'n' carry at ABC News

Ed Bark — 2011-07-25T15:22:39-05:00
Howard Kurtz of The Daily Beast reported on the matter Monday, quoting veteran ABC News spokesman Jeffrey Schneider as telling him, "We can book just about anyone based on the strength of our journalism, the excellence of our anchors, correspondents and producers, and the size of our audience. ...ABC anchor/reporter Chris Cuomo recently had told Kurtz, on his CNN Reliable Sources program, that paying for "big-get" interviews through various means had become the "state of play" in network television news.

Entourage ending its run with a welcome fresh start

Ed Bark — 2011-07-21T10:33:54-05:00
An eight-episode Season 8 will bring the grand total to 96 up-and-down half-hours. Entourage has slumped creatively in some of those seasons, but this looks to be a strong final push toward a satisfying Hollywood ending for four guys and a high-strung, vindictive agent with a heart of Ari Gold. ...Entourage navigates Vince's new-found sobriety in a solid season opener (Sunday, July 24th, 9:30 p.m. central) in which Drama fastidiously scrubs their Hollywood home clean of all drugs and alcohol with some half-assed help from Turtle.

The Hasselhoffs of Hollywood and small town Texas work out an agreeable merger in CBS' Same Name

Ed Bark — 2011-07-20T13:06:26-05:00
"I've got four days of heaven, or, I don't know, four days of hell," the Hollywood Hasselhoff says while the Lake Jackson version flies off to the good life in the company of cheese, crackers, sausage and white wine. ...The lessons to live by are that everyone needs a nurturing family unit and that celebrities are people, too, even if Lake Jackson's David Hasselhoff in the end says he has no desire to be one.

Two Murdochs and a shaving cream pie provide the latest cable TV theater

Ed Bark — 2011-07-19T11:58:15-05:00
"This is the most humble day of my life," Rupert said at both the open and close of an almost three-hour hearing that was marred down the stretch by a male spectator who managed to breech whatever security there was and hit the media baron in the face with a tin full of shaving cream. ...But during Tuesday's parliamentary hearing, committee member Louise Mensch dropped Morgan's name and quoted him as saying in his 2005 book, The Insider: Private Diaries of a Scandalous Decade, "that that little trick of entering a standard 4-digit code allowed anyone to call a number and hear all your messages."

You, too, O'Reilly? Fox News Channel's self-proclaimed truth-teller also shrinks from the mushrooming Murdoch scandal

Ed Bark — 2011-07-18T12:27:50-05:00
Mum's also mostly been the word at Fox News Channel, whose two main prime-time personalities -- Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity -- so far have yet to even mention the far-flung phone-hacking scandal that's engulfed Great Britain and World News Corporation chieftain Rupert Murdoch. ...But the newspaper's executive editor, Bill Keller, previously had put his reporters in an awkward position by declaring at a New York Press Club event: "I think if you're a regular viewer of Fox News, you're among the most cynical people on planet earth.

CMT's Texas Women another collection of boobs/boobs

Ed Bark — 2011-07-14T11:10:27-05:00
She's joined by stock contractor Anna Hunt ("I get dirty and sweaty, and I think that's hot"); aspiring country singer Ali Dee, who also does some on-camera work for the Dallas Mavericks; and barrel racer Brooke Jeter, the only married one of the bunch. ...But any "reality" series about either city invariably gets down to boobs with big boobs or self-absorbed Texas goofballs on the order of former Bishop Lynch High School quarterback and University of Texas extra point holder Matt Nordgren, who humbly considers himself "the whole package" in publicity materials for Most Eligible Dallas.

HBO again dominates Emmy nominees while Friday Night Lights finally gets a best drama series nod in its final season

Ed Bark — 2011-07-14T08:07:23-05:00
Also jumping up and down is the fledgling ReelzChannel, which aired the eight-hour The Kennedys miniseries after History Channel produced it and then rejected it as not fit for its "brand." The Kennedys received 10 nominations, among them an "Outstanding Miniseries or Movie" nod in the company of Mildred Pierce, Too Big to Fail, HBO's Cinema Verite, PBS' Downtown Abbey and Starz's The Pillars of the Earth. ...Boardwalk Empire and Game of Thrones joined FNL as first-time entrants in the best drama series competition, with CBS' The Good Wife, Showtime's Dexter and AMC's Mad Men completing the field. Mad Men has won the Emmy in this category in each of its first three eligible seasons.

HBO's The Curious Case of Curt Flood is about far more than baseball

Ed Bark — 2011-07-12T14:39:09-05:00
HBO's excellent The Curious Case of Curt Flood, premiering Wednesday at 8 p.m. central on the day after the All-Star Game, reminded me anew of Flood's off-field pursuit of free agency in times when team owners had sole control of their players' careers. ...Scarred by racial prejudice as a young ballplayer -- as were many of his black peers -- Flood was just 31 and still at the top of his game when he learned he'd been traded to the Philadelphia Phillies along with Cardinals teammate Tim McCarver.

Roseanne's Nuts falls far short of being even popcorn entertainment

Ed Bark — 2011-07-12T10:43:56-05:00
Back-to-back episodes premiere on Wednesday, July 13th at 8 p.m. (central), with Lifetime mercifully making only the first one available for review. ...This is a very low-rent proposition, with Roseanne firing a shotgun at a wild, nut-eating pig in the early going before later attempting a "psychic interaction" with her nemesis rather than have it killed for dinner by son Jake and son-in-law Jeff.

TNT takes ownership of Mondays with women-powered returns of The Closer and Rizzoli & Isles

Ed Bark — 2011-07-11T08:47:27-05:00
That makes Monday (July 11th) quite a night for both TNT and distaff cops, with Kyra Sedgwick's The Closer (8 p.m. central) tackling a crime scene stocked with seven dead bodies before Rizzoli & Isles (9 p.m.) opts for single-victim car explosions. ...It's the one troublesome aspect of The Closer, whose recurring split seasons no doubt have been confusing/irritating to fans and injurious to the show's overall ratings strength. Rizzoli & Isles, co-starring Dallas native Angie Harmon and Sasha Alexander, is now TNT's undisputed ratings champ, setting an advertiser-supported cable network record with an average of 8.8 million viewers per episode in last summer's first season.

CBS veteran Harry Smith opts for possible greener pastures at NBC

Ed Bark — 2011-07-08T17:23:38-05:00
He began his tenure in 1986 as a member of the network's Dallas bureau, and is married to former WFAA8 sports anchor/reporter Andrea Joyce. Smith, 59, had been removed from CBS Early Show team after a lengthy tenure, and recently was interim anchor of the CBS Evening News after Katie Couric's departure.

Syfy's Alphas is too much of a z-z-z-z-z-z

Ed Bark — 2011-07-08T15:44:04-05:00
He likely could blog, tweet, play around on youtube and answer email all at the same time, making Gary an ideal intern for unclebarky.com if he weren't so intent on catching bad guys or getting on Harken's nerves. ...Monday's premiere episode also introduces a grocery store worker named Cameron Hicks (Warren Christie), who initially is programmed to be an assassin by some guy with a bad-looking festering wound on his hand.

It's a star player for Starz with Torchwood: Miracle Day

Ed Bark — 2011-07-07T15:40:31-05:00
Series such as the 10-episode Miracle Day (premiering Friday, July 8th at 9 p.m. central) might well accelerate this quest for parity. ...But Miracle Day is basically chaste so far, with no dicey language and a pair of intertwined sex scenes that likely also would make the cut on advertiser-supported cable networks such as FX or TNT.

So how much did ABC News pay this time?

Ed Bark — 2011-07-07T09:33:21-05:00
The network did it again Wednesday night with a Primetime Nightline edition built around co-anchor Terry Moran's one-on-one sitdown with Casey Anthony trial juror Jennifer Ford. ...But thanks to 20/20 co-anchor Chris Cuomo, it is on the record as saying that such arrangements have become a very common practice in the business of "Big Get" journalism.

We've got Kaboom Town, but . . . how do you top this?

Ed Bark — 2011-07-04T22:21:29-05:00
CBS, NBC and PBS went head-to-head Fourth of July night with The Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular, The Macy's Fourth of July Fireworks Spectacular and A Capitol Fourth 2011. ...Or even better if you'd just as soon not battle the traffic, the heat and assorted flying bugs.

Another "Dick"-ensian moment on MSNBC, with analyst Mark Halperin the latest suspendee

Ed Bark — 2011-06-30T16:15:15-05:00
Halperin, author of the best-selling 2008 presidential campaign chronicle Game Change, quickly apologized both on the air and in a subsequent MSNBC news release announcing his indefinite suspension as one of the network's analysts. ...version=3&hl=en_US&rel=0">The Voice.

USA's Necessary Roughness could use a sand-blaster

Ed Bark — 2011-06-28T09:43:55-05:00
Dani is supposed to end up being, as USA publicity materials describe it, "the most sought-after therapist for high-profile clients," with a rich client list of "athletes, entertainers, politicians and others living in the spotlight." Given that setup, it's hard to see how the aforementioned Hawks' triumvirate of Terrence, Nico and Matthew will all somehow fit in and fulfill their billings as the series' three other regular weekly characters.

NBC'sLove in the Wild gives hapless beauties more legs up over just plain folk

Ed Bark — 2011-06-28T07:55:12-05:00
Sometime in the very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very distant future, a group of genuinely ordinary looking singles will star in a network TV "reality competition" show about people who just can't seem to find a sustainable date or mate. ...The latest gambit in this genre, NBC's Love in the Wild, features another collection of sculpted beautiful people who supposedly are doomed to tread water in the universal dating pool unless they're thrown together in a Costa Rica jungle for a series of competitions spiked by snippy comments.

R.I.P. Peter Falk (Sept. 16, 1927 to June 23, 2011

Ed Bark — 2011-06-24T13:51:38-05:00
TV critic colleague Mark Dawidziak, in his excellent 1988 book The Columbo Phile: A Casebook, noted that the character's creators, Richard Levinson and William Link, at first wanted Lee J. ...version=3&hl=en_US&rel=0">True Blood.

Suits suits USA, which again knows how to dress itself

Ed Bark — 2011-06-22T11:58:42-05:00
In the language department perhaps. Suits, which originates from a cutthroat Manhattan corporate law firm, journeys to FX land with early droppings of s-words, a "Goddamn," double dips of "ass" and "rat's ass" plus a "dickhead" and a "douche." ...Suits eventually starts to find its footing after introducing sexy paralegal Rachel (Meghan Markle) -- "Too busy ogling me to hear anything I said" -- and Harvey's sinister law firm rival, a bullet-head named Louis (Rick Hoffman).

Welcome to poo corner with FX's Wilfred

Ed Bark — 2011-06-22T09:11:16-05:00
Wilfred's star canine is a blunt-talking, pot-smoking mutt of some sort with an acquired taste for anal sex and an ability to sniff out excrement in all its forms. ...Lucky for them then, they've discovered a big crop of killer "purple thunder paranoia" marijuana in the home of super-loutish next door neighbor Spencer (guest star Ethan Suplee from My Name Is Earl).

ABC's 101 Ways to Leave A Game Show might also inspire 102 ways to avoid it

Ed Bark — 2011-06-20T13:49:07-05:00
101 Ways, five of which are deployed Tuesday, is touted by host Jeff Sutphen as "the most insane game show in the history of television." ...101 Ways, despite some of its explosive ejections, is gratingly slow-paced and infested by commercial breaks just before host Sutphen reveals who's next to be axed.

ABC's Combat Hospital is a drama without all that Capital T Trauma

Ed Bark — 2011-06-20T11:28:46-05:00
She catches a break, though, when the colonel in charge of Southern Afghanistan's only advanced care surgical hospital turns out not to be a typically blustery, emotionally cold taskmaster. ...ABC plans to air 13 episodes of Combat Hospital, which is without the gallows humor of M*A*S*H and the ramped-up pace of China Beach.

Ryan & Tatum: The O'Neals gives Oprah's OWN a stiff pour

Ed Bark — 2011-06-17T15:49:41-05:00
There's some black carpets," he says during the opening re-introductions of father and daughter, who made Paper Moon together way back in 1973. ...Tatum's earlier 2004 autobiography, A Paper Life, was not received well by Ryan, who said in a statement, "It is a sad day when malicious lies are told in order to become a best-seller."

TNT's Falling Skies is nothing new under the sun, but still an invasion worth investing in

Ed Bark — 2011-06-17T09:13:13-05:00
Thankfully, there's a silver lining. Falling Skies gets better as it goes along, judging from two subsequent one-hour episodes -- "Prisoner of War" and "Grace" -- airing on June 26th and July 3rd in the drama's regular 9 p.m (central) slot. ...Redoubtable Steven Weber (Wings, Brothers & Sisters, etc., etc., etc.) also effectively pitches in as a guest-starring doctor who both knows his stuff and is at odds with Mason because, well, that would be a "spoiler."

Happily Divorced leaves TV Land stuck in clunky retro gear

Ed Bark — 2011-06-14T14:20:43-05:00
Happily Divorced, premiering Wednesday after a new episode of Hot In Cleveland, is Drescher's first weekly series since the now defunct WB nework's short-lived Living with Fran, which was axed in 2006. ...They split up in 1999 after 21 years of marriage, but remain friends and collaborators on Happily Divorced, which co-stars John Michael Higgins (Kath & Kim) as Peter.

Lifetime gets deadly with its first weekly crime series

Ed Bark — 2011-06-09T14:40:42-05:00
The aimed-at-women network of Army Wives, Drop Dead Diva, Love Handles and sob story movies had resisted any previous urges to catch killers on a weekly basis. The Protector alters that course, with the former star of NBC's Profiler at its steering wheel. Ally Walker, who also had featured roles on FX's Sons of Anarchy and HBO's sex-charged but short-lived Tell Me You Love Me, resumes the prime-time grind as Gloria Sheppard, a divorced, do-it-her-way L.A. homicide detective with two young sons.

King of all late night: in key audience demographics, it's Jon Stewart across the board

Ed Bark — 2011-06-08T16:18:05-05:00
In the 18-to-49 demographic, Daily Show averaged 1.344 million viewers in May, barely ahead of NBC's The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (1.340 million) and with a bit more breathing room between CBS' No. 3 Late Show with David Letterman (an average of 1.124 million). ...All of this adds up to higher prices for commercials on The Daily Show, which otherwise trailed both Leno and Letterman in total viewers while still ranking No. 1 in the cable universe with an average of 2.337 million in May. Conan ranked third among cable entries, with its 975,000 viewers edging the E!

Svetlana gives HDNet a singular and single-minded woman of the night

Ed Bark — 2011-06-08T12:31:22-05:00
She's had a small, recurring role on Larry David's Curb Your Enthusiasm as an Orthodox Jewish woman named Rachel Heinemann while also dropping in as a guest star on episodes of Friends, Commander In Chief and The Big Bang Theory. ...And she's certainly willing to make fair game of herself, whether battling her homemade implant leaks in an earlier "Corkage Fee" episode or going on a crash diet after a corpulent client called the "Commander" tells her, "You let yourself go when I was away.

Scott Pelley sobers up the CBS Evening News on his opening night as anchor

Ed Bark — 2011-06-06T18:16:50-05:00
Pelley's first edition ended with a D-Day anniversary story on a now 89-year-old World War II veteran who journeyed back to the site of his heroics in Normandy with longtime CBS correspondent Anthony Mason in tow. The newest Evening News anchor follows Cronkite (who cut his journalistic teeth in Texas), Dan Rather, Bob Schieffer (both native Texans) and Couric, an Arlington, VA native who failed to lift the program out of third place in her five years on the job.

Couric joins ABC, which will give her both a daytime talk show and visibility on various news programs

Ed Bark — 2011-06-06T12:26:54-05:00
As expected, Katie Couric is taking her talents to ABC, where she'll host a new daytime talk show scheduled to premiere in September 2012 and co-produced by her old NBC boss. ...But the CBS Evening News remained in a ratings ditch throughout her five-year tenure, trailing the NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams and ABC's World News, now helmed by Diane Sawyer after Couric initially went into battle against Charles Gibson.

R.I.P. James Arness (May 6, 1923 to June 3, 2011)

Ed Bark — 2011-06-03T15:01:55-05:00
Arness was recommended for the role of Matt Dillon by John Wayne, who didn't want to do a weekly TV series. Gunsmoke was prime-time's last remaining western series when it left CBS in 1975. ...Although he occasionally branched out, Arness' is indelibly linked to Matt Dillon in the same ways that the late Carroll O'Connor will always be Archie Bunker and the still kicking Larry Hagman is really no one other than J.R.

Bobby Fischer Against the World is a thoroughly world class HBO documentary

Ed Bark — 2011-06-03T11:33:00-05:00
Bobby Fischer Against the World also exhibits a treasure trove of still pictures by Life magazine photographer Harry Benson, who was granted up-close access to Fischer during his training for the 1972 matches. ...Nonetheless, the announcement of Fischer's death is poignant, in large part because we've seen the shy kid and young adult he used to be before fame and his own self-destructive demons undid him. Bobby Fischer Against the World shows us all of it, and in never less than riveting fashion.

TNT's Franklin & Bash has a fun time with the law without exceeding the legal limit

Ed Bark — 2011-06-01T01:21:18-05:00
Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Malcolm McDowell and Breckin Meyer star in the appealingly breezy new legal drama Franklin & Bash. ...So here he is again as a lawyer in TNT's Franklin & Bash, a lively, quippy and broadly entertaining new series that premieres Wednesday night in tandem with the returning Men of a Certain Age.

History's Gettysburg graces Memorial Day with a vivid recreation of a pivotal Civil War battle

Ed Bark — 2011-05-27T13:04:45-05:00
Brothers Ridley and Tony Scott are longtime purveyors of visceral, action-fueled entertainment, ranging from Ridley's Gladiator and Black Hawk Down to Tony's The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 and Man on Fire. ...The film compellingly and informatively recaptures the carnage while also going a bit Nova on occasion with explanations and illustrations of the damage that could be inflicted by a "mini-ball bullet" or a well-placed cannon shot.

World survives latest premature obit; media credibility is another story

Ed Bark — 2011-05-23T15:39:20-05:00
Even Nightline bit hard, turning the gibberish of 89-year-old Family Radio bible thumper Harold Camper into its lead story on Friday's edition. ... Instead he can rest in peace on his considerable laurels, knowing full well that his higher-minded Nightline at the very most would have signed off Friday with a wry observation on the order of "We hope to see you on Monday."

HBO's Too Big to Fail is all business in its dramatization of "epochal" 2008 financial crisis

Ed Bark — 2011-05-20T15:58:37-05:00
But a bravura lead performance by William Hurt and some early heavy lifting by James Woods give Too Big to Fail (Monday, May 23rd, 8 p.m. central) enough currency to carry it through this complex tale of 2008's near-collapse of the U.S. economy. ...Too Big to Fail does a solid job of outlining how America got to this near-meltdown of the economy, with a number of real-life TV journalists seen in recurring clips from those times after presidents Bill Clinton and George W.

Couric closes shop with ode to self and no mention of successor

Ed Bark — 2011-05-20T10:45:53-05:00
Couric certainly had some interviews of import during her five years at CBS News, including the sit-down with a fumbling Sarah Palin and New York Yankees star Alex Rodriguez lying to her about never using steroids, which he later recanted. ...Earlier in her final Evening News telecast, Couric had an impromptu exchange with veteran correspondent Anthony Mason, whom she had referred to as "The Grim Reaper" in a 2008 edition for his continued gloomy reports on Wall Street.

Selleck again hits the mark in his seventh Jesse Stone film

Ed Bark — 2011-05-20T10:51:05-05:00
The mood-setting cinematography is first-rate, and the early abundant scenes of Jesse and Reggie are effective enough to make one wish they'd just make an entire movie of the two of them together. ... Joe's performance -- and it really qualifies as such -- is pretty special, whether he's trying to cheer Jesse up or staring him down to the point of the inevitable, "What're you lookin' at?"

The CW goes Gellar in new fall season

Ed Bark — 2011-05-19T08:45:31-05:00
That's when "strange and frightening things begin to happen," with Cassie discovering that her new high school friends are all descended from "powerful witches" and have been waiting for her to join them. ...The CW also announced a pair of new unscripted midseason series. Re-Modeled supposedly will "empower models to take control of their careers and lead healthier lives." The Frame is billed as a "wild social experiment" in which 10 teams "face outrageous challenges, punishments, head-to-head competitions and eliminations, all while isolated from the outside world."

Networks showcase new seasons with a little help from some star players

Ed Bark — 2011-05-19T08:05:34-05:00
Television's annual rite of spring, the new season "upfront" presentations to Madison Avenue advertisers, kicked into the usual overdrives this week. ...Clockwise from top left: The new Charlie Sheen-less cast of Two and a Half Men appear together for the first time, dancing to the hit CBS comedy's theme song.

Still flush with "dynamic stability," CBS stays with crime, shifts some returning shows, proceeds without Charlie Sheen in latest fall makeover

Ed Bark — 2011-05-18T08:23:25-05:00
Unforgettable (drama) -- Poppy Montgomery, who co-starred in CBS long-running Without A Trace, returns to the New York crime scene as an "enigmatic" ex-detective with a memory so acute that "every place, every conversation, every moment of joy and every heartbreak is forever embedded in her mind." ...How to Be a Gentleman (comedy) -- It's adapted from a same-named book, with Kevin Dillon of Entourage and Dave Foley (Kids In the Hall/NewsRadio) respectively cast as a "rude, loud and sloppy" fitness center owner and the editor of an etiquette column penned by the show's third lead (David Hornsby from It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia).

Sex a big part of the new RX for third place ABC

Ed Bark — 2011-05-17T08:15:29-05:00
Besides pulchritude, ABC is selling a semblance of its old TGIF family-friendly comedy bloc, with former Home Improvement star Tim Allen returning to the network to play an outwardly manly sporting goods store marketing director whose home life is dominated by his wife and their three daughters. ...Last Man Standing (comedy) -- Tim Allen stars as a pickup truck-driving, ESPN-watching sporting goods store marketing director who's something of a pantywaist at home in the presence of his strong-willed wife and their three daughters, two of them teens.

Fox trots out two big splashes and a trio of new comedies for fall

Ed Bark — 2011-05-16T08:54:10-05:00
The No. 1 network among advertiser-craved 18-to-49-year-olds (for a record seven consecutive seasons) also has all but axed America's Most Wanted, which has been part of its prime-time schedule for the last 22 seasons. ...The Finder (drama) -- Due on Thursdays in midseason, it's the saga of an Iraq war veteran (Geoff Stults as Walter Sherman) who emerges from a coma with brain damage that somehow has given him a "unique gift to help others recover what they've lost."

NBC is first out of the 2011-12 starting gate with six new fall series after all of last autumn's freshmen fail to graduate

Ed Bark — 2011-05-15T13:42:09-05:00
Whiffing with all of last fall's newcomers but striking it rich late this season with The Voice, NBC hopes to see you in September with a freshman class of six series and fervent hopes that the currently stalled NFL will re-start as scheduled. ...The Voice, which has been a major hit for NBC since premiering in late April, will be held back until mid-season, when it's slated to be paired on Monday nights with Smash, a new Broadway-set musical drama starring former American Idol runner-up Katharine McPhee.

Ashton Kutcher's the one for Two and a Half Men (updated)

Ed Bark — 2011-05-13T11:44:32-05:00
He's also starred in a series of feature films -- most of which had less than dynamic reviews and box office returns -- while operating behind the camera on "reality" TV series such as Punk'd and Beauty and the Geek. ...The series has been a linchpin of CBS' Monday night lineup, but a string of reruns in the second half of this season have deflated the ratings for surrounding shows such as Lorre's Mike & Molly and Hawaii Five-0.

Dallas-incubated Jim Lehrer leaving PBS' Newshour (save for occasional drop-ins) after a 36-year tenure

Ed Bark — 2011-05-12T10:07:46-05:00
As of June 6th, he'll no longer be part of the daily anchor rotation team, but still plans to participate on recurring Friday evenings as moderator of the weekly news analysis segment with Mark Shields and David Brooks. ..."I have been laboring in the glories of daily journalism for 52 years -- 36 of them here at the Newshour and its earlier incarnations -- and there comes a time to step aside from the daily process, and that time has arrived," Lehrer said in a statement.

Rather keeps going -- and excelling on HDNet with his two-hour cautionary tale on Detroit's flunking public school system

Ed Bark — 2011-05-10T10:11:49-05:00
For the past four-and-half years, since the Nov. 6, 2006 premiere of HDNet's weekly Dan Rather Reports, he's put his name to more substantive, real journalism than most if not all of the far more visible flag bearers on ABC, NBC, CNN, Fox News Channel, MSNBC and, of course, CBS. ...And it initially seemed wiser for him to hang it up rather than report for a network that at times begs the question of "If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?"

Vieira makes her Today departure official, with incumbent Ann Curry taking her spot

Ed Bark — 2011-05-09T15:44:14-05:00
Meredith Vieira, Matt Lauer and Ann Curry mess around a bit at May 9th news conference tied to Vieira's earlier announced departure from the No. 1-rated network morning show. NBC photo ...Her last day with Today will be sometime in June, with longtime news anchor Ann Curry stepping in as her replacement while another incumbent, Natalie Morales, takes over Curry's position as news anchor.

Hey, Paula: Fox's X Factor will reunite her with Simon

Ed Bark — 2011-05-09T05:47:41-05:00
Paula Abdul's rumored addition to Simon Cowell's The X Factor became official late Sunday afternoon, when the network named her as the last key piece of its splashy new talent competition. ...Post-Paula, who left after a contract dispute, the still reigning No. 1 prime-time show made do with Ellen DeGeneres, Kara DioGuardi, Cowell and charter judge Randy Jackson. Idol's ongoing Season 10, the first without Cowell since his heavily publicized departure for X Factor, has been humming along in the ratings with Jackson and well-received new judges Steven Tyler and Jennifer Lopez.

Cuban's concluding appearance on Shark Tank comes on a Friday night with bigger fish to fry

Ed Bark — 2011-05-06T09:10:01-05:00
Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is a self-acknowledged "bully" on ABC's Shark Tank, but so far has declined to trade jabs with his arch-nemesis in the basketball world -- Los Angeles Lakers coach Phil Jackson. ...So if you want him to throw a little money your way, don't begin by saying you were born in a van down by the river and overcame the heartbreak of psoriasis before working your way through college by sweeping up elephant droppings during a summer job with the circus.

No pics of dead bin Laden will be shown, president tells 60 Minutes

Ed Bark — 2011-05-04T14:15:20-05:00
President Obama and his network interviewer of choice, 60 Minutes Steve Kroft, made big headlines Wednesday with his declaration that photos of a dead Osama bin Laden will not be made public. ..."It is important for us to make sure that very graphic photos of somebody who was shot in the head are not floating around as an incitement to additional violence -- as a propaganda tool," the president added.

Shout! Factory's Kovacs Collection celebrates the mondo bizarro that became the norm

Ed Bark — 2011-05-04T11:14:25-05:00
Her dedication to saving as much of his TV work as possible-- ABC, NBC and CBS otherwise would have erased it -- finally comes to full life in The Ernie Kovacs Collection, a newly released, six-disc collection from Shout! ...The Kovacs Collection, available at a discount price of $50.99 on amazon.com, is as good a look as we'll have of the master at work -- including some of his hand-made commercials for Dutch Masters cigars.

Former D-FW reporter Scott Pelley named next anchor of the CBS Evening News, replacing Katie Couric

Ed Bark — 2011-05-03T09:51:46-05:00
"Scott has it all," CBS News chairman Jeff Fager said of the San Antonio native, who worked in D-FW at both KXAS-TV (1978-'81) and WFAA-TV (1982-'89) before joining CBS at a time when Dan Rather helmed the Evening News. ...Neither man could be accused of being "avuncular" in the mode of Walter Cronkite or current longtime CBS anchor/reporter Harry Smith, who regularly has subbed for Couric after being transferred from the ratings-starved CBS Early Show.

Networks draw princely sums for royal wedding coverage

Ed Bark — 2011-05-01T13:46:22-05:00
ABC countered by crowing that its special edition of 20/20, subtitled "A Modern Fairytale," outdrew NBC's competing Dateline royal wedding opus by a score of 6.7 to 4.9 million viewers. ...In the cable news universe, CNN said that its 3 to 9 a.m. slice of royal wedding coverage averaged 1.7 million viewers, beating second place Fox News Channel by a 7 percent margin and MSNBC by 164 percent.

Bad form? Couric bypasses CBS, announces her impending departure in People magazine exclusive

Ed Bark — 2011-04-26T14:33:54-05:00
"I'm really proud of the talented team on the CBS Evening News and the award-winning work we've been able to do in the past five years in addition to the reporting I've done for 60 Minutes and CBS Sunday Morning. ...In the latest national Nielsen ratings, released Tuesday, the CBS Evening News averaged 5.7 million viewers for the week of April 18-22), again running well behind the NBC Nightly News (8.4 million viewers) and ABC's World News (7.7 million viewers).

Treme returns to HBO, as good or better than ever

Ed Bark — 2011-04-22T10:22:26-05:00
On other fronts, LaDonna Batiste-Williams (Khandi Alexander) is still struggling to keep her bar/restaurant in business while life-long resident and cultural heritage preserver Albert Lambreaux (Clarke Peters) is increasingly despondent over losing his home and getting diddled by insurance companies. ...The happier side of Treme's ensemble is helmed by radio DJ Davis McAlary (Steve Zahn), who still can't keep a job for very long but is both calmed and rejuvenated by his new live-in relationship with violinist Annie Tee (Lucia Micarelli).

Say it Loud, but not so proud. HBO's Cinema Verite re-tracks "reality" TV all the way back to PBS

Ed Bark — 2011-04-21T14:18:50-05:00
But Cinema Verite's strength is in dramatizing the off-camera seductions and betrayals that led to the Louds being vilified in many quarters before the entire family went on The Dick Cavett Show to both tell their side of the story and confront filmmaker Craig Gilbert (played by a bearded, toupeed James Gandolfini in the film). ...The film implies, but never actually shows, any physical coupling between Patricia Loud and Gilbert, who's portrayed as manipulative in getting what he wants on film but not entirely duplicitous in insisting that An American Family reflect its subjects in good times and bad.

Hi there, my name's David Hasselhoff. What's yours? (Well I'll be damned)

Ed Bark — 2011-04-15T12:18:41-05:00
Depending on how you might feel about such things, David Hasselhoff of Lake Jackson, TX is going to be lucky enough to meet and "trade lives with" the same-named Hollywood celebrity famous for Knight Rider, America's Got Talent and crawling on the floor drunk while eating a cheeseburger in an infamous video made by his daughter. ...The two Hasselhoffs will "live in each other's houses, meet and interact with family, friends and co-workers and experience how the other lives," CBS says.

Friday Night Lights returns to brighten NBC for a fifth and final season

Ed Bark — 2011-04-14T17:21:26-05:00
Those lowly Friday night ratings for Friday Night Lights are going to be looking better and better on a down-and-out network that averaged just 5.1 million viewers in last week's national prime-time Nielsens. FNL should be able to draw that many viewers without breaking a sweat. ...So when it's finally time to officially turn out the lights, FNL will resonate for seasons to come as a stellar series about coming of age in a scrappy small town that just happened to be located in Texas.

HBO's Game of Thrones can't seem to get going

Ed Bark — 2011-04-14T12:19:25-05:00
Starring: Sean Bean, Mark Addy, Peter Dinklage, Emilia Clarke, Michelle Fairley, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Jack Gleeson, Isaac Hemstead-Wright, Kit Harington, Lena Headley, Maisie Williams, Sophie Turner, Harry Lloyd, Jason Momoa and a host of others ...Against the wishes of his wife, Lady Catelyn Stark (Michelle Fairley), he agrees to replace Arryn as the "King's Hand" of King Robert Baratheon (Mark Addy), who's become a corpulent alcoholic in pre-AA times.

Oh yeah, that guy: The Paul Reiser Show begs and borrows from other shows while its star frets about fleeting fame

Ed Bark — 2011-04-13T08:24:45-05:00
Unfortunately it's also transparently derivative of all three shows, with Reiser playing himself as a flustered married father of two sons who wonders what his next act is going to be after becoming duly rich via Mad About You. ...Reiser otherwise seems content to cast himself as something of a hapless has-been whose agent can't get him anything better than a crummy game show with idiot contestants, an overseas spokesman's role for a tool company or a part as a violent drunken fisherman in a movie to be filmed in Iceland, where Mad About You reruns are just now airing.

All in good time: ABC's Happy Endings falters at first, then finds its footing

Ed Bark — 2011-04-11T16:53:28-05:00
Rounding out the cast are Jane and Brad (Eliza Coupe, Damon Wayans, Jr.) -- whose interracial marriage is peripheral so far -- and decimated Dave (Zachary Knighton), the guy who gets left at the altar when a rollerblading dude named Bo rolls into church to proclaim, "Alex, I love you!" ...Happy Endings will move to Wednesdays at 9 p.m. (central) next week, oddly slotted on a newly expanded, wall-to-wall ABC comedy lineup between new episodes of the returning Cougar Town and Modern Family repeats.

NBC's LOLA hopes to return from the near-dead by killing one of its own

Ed Bark — 2011-04-11T10:22:56-05:00
But events take a grim turn, prompting Molina's Morales to quit the D.A.'s office in disgust before quickly rebooting in the "Silver Lake" episode as the co-investigator of a double homicide whose victims are a mother and her young son. ...These are strong, straight-ahead, uncompromising episodes in times when murders most foul already are in abundant supply on the Big Four broadcast networks. LOLA for its part shows signs of getting that old Law & Order moxie back.

Auction Hunters stars shed light on their profession at Garland, TX storage unit

Ed Bark — 2011-04-07T16:47:56-05:00
GARLAND, TX -- It's a warm, breezy late Thursday morning at a storage facility off North First St., where the running mates of Spike TV's Auction Hunters have dropped in to scope out the remains of two repossessed "rooms," as they call them in the trade. ...Of course that's getting harder to do now that Auction Hunters is at the start of its second season (Tuesdays at 9 p.m. central) after drawing 2.3 million viewers for last December's Season 1 finale.

Showtime's Gigolos gives sex a sordid name -- but doesn't scrimp on it

Ed Bark — 2011-04-06T13:09:03-05:00
Paired on Thursday nights with the final season of the scripted Secret Diary of a Call Girl, this cock and bull concoction stars a quintet of purportedly real-life, Vegas-based studs employed by "the largest straight male escort companion company in the United States." ...Besides Steven, their "family" includes bragging Brace ("I've had so many women in my life, it's just a blur"); straightforward Jimmy ("Being a gigolo isn't always easy") and newcomer Vin, who just happens to bear a more than passing resemblance to actor Vin Diesel.

No mas: Peacock lately trailing Univision in key 18-to-49-year-old demographic

Ed Bark — 2011-04-05T13:46:55-05:00
And it happened again this past week (March 28-April 3), when Univision averaged 2.03 million viewers in this key demographic to the Peacock's 2.01 million. ...In this latest ratings week, with results released Tuesday by Nielsen, NBC still leads Univision in total viewers by a count of 5.38 million to 3.97 million.

Harry Smith's the best fit for a CBS Evening News of the near future

Ed Bark — 2011-04-05T09:48:45-05:00
He also would be a calming yet authoritative full-time anchor of the CBS Evening News, where Katie Couric's days apparently are numbered as she plots a future course that likely will land her a talk show of some sort after her contract expires on June 4th. ...It's vaulted from third place in the February 2010 ratings "sweeps" (with an average of 110,811 viewers) to a very narrow first-place finish ahead of ABC's World News with an uptick to 151,673 viewers in the most recent February sweeps.

Breaking In makes it a trifecta the hard way for hapless Christian Slater

Ed Bark — 2011-04-04T15:54:02-05:00
It's an attempted half-hour comedy in which Slater appears to be unclear about whether he's doing a sendup of Jack Nicholson or an amazingly prescient imitation of Sheen in the clutches of his "Violent Torpedo of Truth" tour. ...There are no relatable characters, every joke's a dud and Slater seems to have no earthly idea what's befallen him. Breaking In succeeds only in being a stupendously bad half-hour of television that should be charged with breaking and entering into unsuspecting living rooms.

Fools and their money: Sheen reportedly bombs in first "Violent Torpedo of Truth" outing

Ed Bark — 2011-04-03T15:10:43-05:00
Those holding tickets to Charlie Sheen's scheduled April 27th stop at Dallas' American Airlines Center might want to try unloading them on Mark Cuban in return for a nosebleed seat to one of the sagging Dallas Mavericks' last regular season games. ...The Detroit Free Press account is among several to brand Sheen's discombobulated stage show a disaster that left attendees booing if they hadn't already walked out.

Cardinal's sins: Showtime's The Borgias charts a treacherous path to Popedom

Ed Bark — 2011-04-03T10:18:50-05:00
Now Showtime's The Borgias, premiering Sunday with a two-hour splash, revisits the not so golden olden days of the late 15th century by presenting the Pope and his offspring as "The Original Crime Family." ...As the first four hours show, Pope Alexander also authorizes assassinations of his enemies and has a mistress named Giulia Farnese (Lotte Verbeek), whose marriage is on the rocks.

The Killing gives AMC another prime-time plus

Ed Bark — 2011-03-31T15:31:59-05:00
The Killing, premiering Sunday at 8 p.m. (central) with back-to-back episodes, leaves any sunny dispositions by the wayside during its peel-away reveals of suspects in the drowning death of 17-year-old Rosie Larsen. ...Rosie's parents, Stanley and Mitch (Brent Sexton, Michelle Forbes), are sledgehammered by their daughter's disappearance and murder. The Killing delves deeply into their grief, and how they comport themselves in front of their two young sons.

The Kennedys demands to be seen, but its venue is no easy find

Ed Bark — 2011-03-31T11:59:23-05:00
But it's very ably produced and acted, with at least two strong Emmy possibilities should the seas of political correctness part to the point of recognizing stellar work by Tom Wilkinson as old Joe Kennedy and Barry Pepper as Robert F. ..."Well, I'm not a kid anymore, but I keep acting like one," he tells Bobby after opting out of one his wife's charity functions to watch Spartacus in the White House theater, where a blonde briefly joins him.

Chaos ensues on CBS

Ed Bark — 2011-03-30T13:39:24-05:00
Let it first be said that the new CBS "comedic drama" Chaos is a shock to the network's systematic scheduling of procedural crime or legal dramas in all other one-hour slots not occupied by an unscripted "reality" series or 60 Minutes. ...Good luck remembering that, even though they skip the "h" and it's not nearly the mouthful THRUSH used to be on The Man From U.N.C.L.E. For the record, it stood for the Technological Hierarchy for the Removal of Undesirables and the Subjugation of Humanity while U.N.C.L.E. was short for United Network Command for Law and Enforcement.

Starz rewinds its way back machine to Camelot during a big month for Arthurs and royals

Ed Bark — 2011-03-30T09:57:09-05:00
April's a big month for Arthurs, with the same-named big screen remake opening on April 8th while Starz takes the reins on Fools Day with the Arthur-fueled, 10-episode Camelot. ...So away we go again, with Arthur, Merlin, Morgan and Guinevere parrying, thrusting and lusting all the way up to and through the latest royal wedding, on April 29th, between Prince William and Kate Middleton.

Coal takes the Thom Beers Deadliest Catch touch to the minefields

Ed Bark — 2011-03-28T16:57:00-05:00
Mines are next, with Spike TV's 10-episode Coal premiering just shy of a year after an April 2010 explosion took 29 West Virginia miners' lives. ...There's genuine poignancy in the plight of night shift digger Randy Remines, a grizzled survivor of three heart attacks who can't hope to be as proficient as Andy Christian Sr. or his boy.

ABC's Body of Proof has a familiar, off-putting stench

Ed Bark — 2011-03-28T11:05:12-05:00
Rewind to the coltish actress of ABC's distinctive and daring China Beach, which ran from 1988-'91 and nabbed her two best actress Emmy Awards as a field nurse during the Vietnam war. ...Please stop. Body of Proof for the most part plays dead within the realm of plausible crime-solving, interesting characters and assumptions that Delany's once-promising career would do more than wither on this vine.

HBO's new version of Mildred Pierce remains as American as its apple pie maker -- and with plenty of crust

Ed Bark — 2011-03-23T15:08:13-05:00
So this far more faithful version is being billed as a miniseries rather than a movie, with Kate Winslet in the title role and her name in suitably bolder caps than the rest of the cast. ...Crawford's Oscar -- and Winslet is almost certain to win an Emmy -- was eclipsed in later years by her daughter Christina's searing Mommie Dearest memoir and the sensationally campy film starring Faye Dunaway. Mildred Pierce is at its core a "daughter dearest" tale, with an enabling mother taking her guff and U-turning back for more of it.

This time it's personal: Charlie Sheen should take a few pages from The Chris Farley Show -- before it's too late

Ed Bark — 2011-03-21T09:37:08-05:00
I lived there for nine years, graduating from the University of Wisconsin, working for The Capital Times newspaper and imbibing enough stuff to perhaps even keep up with Chris Farley on some nights. ...Instead he had me laughing throughout the entire "Giant Baby" sketch, in which Farley crawled around a mock Sally Jessy Raphael set and basically tore it apart while also playfully tearing an arm off a guest.

Herman's hermitage: HBO presents extended Broadway production of Pee-wee's Playhouse

Ed Bark — 2011-03-18T09:55:27-05:00
Although it must be said that the audience in attendance at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre is hyper-enthusiastic throughout this 90-minute re-do of Pee-wee's Playhouse, which originally had a Saturday morning CBS berth from 1986 to 1991. ...Movies allow Pee-wee to get out and about. The Pee-Wee Herman Show on Broadway, stuck within the confines of his playhouse, provides more than a little too much of what used to be a pretty good thing.

Sign o' the times: Sheen still hot

Ed Bark — 2011-03-14T11:23:12-05:00
Still, let it be said that the above is one bitchin' logo for Charlie Sheen's latest enterprising effort -- the sale of official t shirts with communiques ranging from "DUH, WINNING" to "I'VE GOT ONE SPEED. ...As previously posted on unclebarky.com, Cuban's Dallas-based younger brother, Brian, is a recovering addict who has serious issues with Sheen for "outing" Lorre as a member of Alcoholics Anonymous.

First to worst: Has a big-time broadcast network ever been in sorrier prime-time shape than NBC?

Ed Bark — 2011-03-09T12:50:08-06:00
In the latest ratings week (Feb. 28 to March 6), Nielsen Media Research says NBC averaged just 5.5 million viewers in prime-time and a piddling 5 percent share of all TV sets in use. American Idol-fueled Fox had more than twice as many viewers (11.6 million) and double the audience share. ...It got no better for NBC on Monday of this week, when the two-hour return of The Event (after a 13-week absence) drew just 5.2 million viewers in performing below even the previous week's piddling prime-time average of 5.5 million viewers. The Event likewise was a non-event among 18-to-49-year-olds, running fourth in its time slot.

Sheen officially sacked; fires back with with another statment from Planet Looney Tunes

Ed Bark — 2011-03-07T18:38:48-06:00
"It is a big day of gladness at the Sober Valley Lodge because now I can take all of the bazillions, never have to look at whatshiscock again and I never have to put on those silly shirts for as long as this warlock exists in the terrestrial dimension." Whatshiscock no doubt is a reference to the show's executive producer, Chuck Lorre, who now has one more reason to take Two and a Half Men into another season and try to make it work without Sheen's portrayal of prostitute-loving, constantly drinking Charlie Harper.

The needy overcome the contrivances in ABC's Secret Millionaire

Ed Bark — 2011-03-04T09:51:10-06:00
In fact it's hard to envision a worthier twosome than 82-year-old twins Helen and Ellen, who cook and serve meals for the needy and homeless at Knoxville, Tennessee's The Love Kitchen. ...And during the course of Sunday's premiere episode, Johnson writes $100,000 worth of checks to four recipients after first pretending she's part of a "documentary on volunteering," according to Secret Millionaire's very sober-voiced narrator.

New on the menu at ratings-famished NBC: America's Next Great Restaurant

Ed Bark — 2011-03-04T08:12:34-06:00
The investors/judges on America's Next Great Restaurant are (from left) Steve Ells, Bobby Flay, Lorena Garcia and Curtis Stone. NBC photo ...There are too many cooks and not enough time for their presentations before the field is winnowed from 21 to 10 by ubiquitous chef Bobby Flay; "renowned" chef Curtis Stone (NBC's The Biggest Loser); executive chef/restaurateur Lorena Garcia; and Steve Ells, who started the Chipolte restaurants from scratch.

A&E's Breakout Kings doesn't raise the bars

Ed Bark — 2011-03-03T14:57:43-06:00
Also enlisted are former "gang banger" Shea Daniels (Malcolm Goodwin) and con artist Philomena "Philly" Rotchliffer (Nicole Steinwedell), a former Miss Idaho 2001 who lets it be known that she was taunted in school as "Feel my wiener crotch-sniffer." ...Breakout Kings also has a resident computer whiz/researcher named Julianne Sims (Brooke Nevin), who lets her fingers do the walking in much the same way that Penny Garcia does on CBS' Criminal Minds and its new spin-off, Suspect Behavior.

Music maestros: PBS hits high notes with Taylor/King in Troubadours and Harry Connick, Jr. on the Broadway stage

Ed Bark — 2011-03-02T08:15:19-06:00
Troubadours: Carole King/James Taylor & the Rise of the Singer-Songwriter (Wednesday, 8 p.m. central on KERA/13 locally) is hummable, strum-able and wistfully evocative. Harry Connick, Jr. in Concert on Broadway (following at 9:30 p.m.) is a straight-ahead dose of the retro crooner's repertoire. ...Troubadours also includes new interviews with the likes of Jackson Browne ("Running on Empty" sounds better than ever in these surroundings), David Crosby, Elton John, Kris Kristofferson, Steve Martin, Cheech & Chong and a number of producers and musicians from those times.

Russell and Rotolo -- two late women, two lasting images

Ed Bark — 2011-03-01T12:23:22-06:00
Rotolo, the woman clinging to Bob Dylan's arm in his landmark early album The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, is better known by that cover art than by name. ...The deaths of Russell and Rotolo remind us that a photo, rather than a youtube video, can still be the very best way to be in the right place at the right time.

Old Kirk livens up Oscars aimed at "desirable demographic"

Ed Bark — 2011-02-28T05:47:00-06:00
Youth was served on Sunday's Oscars, with Anne Hathaway telling co-host James Franco near the start, "You look very appealing to a younger demographic as well" after he told her she looked smashingly "hip." ...Kirk Douglas took the stage, with help from a cane, to eventually present the best supporting actress award to 50-year-old Melissa Leo for her role in The Fighter.

Latest Sheen diatribe prompts CBS and Warner Bros. to end Two and a Half Men production for the rest of this season

Ed Bark — 2011-02-24T19:42:18-06:00
Charlie Sheen's increasingly out-of-control conduct, spiked by Thursday's crazed radio interview, has prompted CBS to end production on prime-time's most popular sitcom through the rest of the ongoing TV season, which officially ends in May. ...Production already had ceased at least temporarily on the series, with CBS resorting to a Two and a Half Men repeat on Monday of this week during the heart of February "sweeps" ratings period.

Hathaway & Franco: Will they indeed freshen up Sunday's really big show?

Ed Bark — 2011-02-23T16:35:42-06:00
OK, here's why these two just might be surprisingly good together as hosts of Sunday's Oscar-cast on ABC. ...version=3">Less Than Perfect, says it's her "absolute privilege" to accompany them on this journey. ...First they'll have to sweat, suffer, "gag vomit" and try on bride/groom attire that doesn't fit them before the big weekly weigh-in sends the two least-losing couples spinning into a climactic " 'Til Death Do Us Part" elimination competition.

Criminy, it's Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior on (where else?) CBS

Ed Bark — 2011-02-14T15:37:42-06:00
OK, recess is over. Suspect Behavior is another wretched excess on a network that just can't help itself in light of its failure to launch a successful hospital drama (Three Rivers, Miami Medical); a musical (Viva Laughlin); a serial soap (Cane) or a bed-hopping period piece (Swingtown). ...And Suspect Behavior is in every way a grind, with even the usually very capable Whitaker looking lost at sea with his halting, stumbling, keep-pausing-for-effect portrayal of crime team head Sam "Coop" Cooper.

Supporting characters offer something to like in CBS' Mad Love

Ed Bark — 2011-02-11T09:48:37-06:00
Mad Love will be nestled between the fading How I Met Your Mother and the Charlie Sheen-fouled Two and a Half Men, which again has stopped production while its star battles or flaunts his various additions, depending on which account one reads. ...All of these comedies are equipped with laugh tracks, with CBS the last of the Big Four networks still steadfastly clinging to that old sitcom religion. Mad Love in fact is hardly a laugh riot, but might well prompt a few chuckles beyond the canned ones.

Former CBS11 anchor Suzanne Sena redeploys as Onion News Network's super-vain Brooke Alvarez

Ed Bark — 2011-02-10T16:33:28-06:00
isVid=1&isUI=1" />Deadwood and Newhart).

ABC's Mr. Sunshine a luster buster for Matthew Perry

Ed Bark — 2011-02-08T13:52:30-06:00
At the same time, his recurring bedmate Alice (Andrea Anders), who's also the marketing director, decides to break it off and instead commit to Ben's assistant, Alonzo (James Lesure), a former basketball star. ...Other less than riveting subplots in the opening episode are an escaped elephant, a rush to rid the arena of hockey ice in time for the circus and Crystal's big showy presentation of a check to the San Diego Kids Club.

Larry the Cable Guy's Only in America further exemplifies History in the remaking

Ed Bark — 2011-02-08T09:24:38-06:00
So the people have spoken, and History accordingly is taking another step beyond its former battleships 'n' brigadier generals motif with a series starring a pathfinder who's perfectly willing to both don a "Bootlegger Bonnet" and jump around with a bullfrog. ...None of this will cure cancer -- or even hemorrhoids. Only in America might qualify as a guilty pleasure, though, with the star of the show agreeably and likably throwing himself into a wide range of activities.

Stop and take a look at Fox's Traffic Light

Ed Bark — 2011-02-08T07:59:31-06:00
Their guy-centric byplay flows nicely, whether they're gang-talking on cell phones or discussing in Episode 2 whether a "burn notice" pact still holds in the case of Mike's wife re-establishing a friendship with a woman whom Ethan dated three years ago. ...ABC's Modern Family and NBC's The Office are very gainful properties but continue to fall well short of the ratings for CBS' Two and a Half Men and The Big Bang Theory.

Super Bowl XLV sets new national ratings high

Ed Bark — 2011-02-07T17:57:14-06:00
Final Nielsen data says the Green Bay Packers and Pittsburgh Steelers averaged 111 million viewers in easily topping last year's record of 106, 476,000 viewers for the game between the New Orleans Saints and Indianapolis Colts. ...The crowd for Sunday's XLV was 103,219 despite Cowboys owner Jerry Jones' getting extra credit for the thousands of fans who paid $200 apiece to watch the game on a big screen in the Cowboys Stadium parking lot.

Fox's Chicago Code again stirs the city's corruption pot

Ed Bark — 2011-02-04T13:15:45-06:00
But I don't think you can really do a show about Chicago politics and how the police interact with them without acknowledging that this is an element that has existed and still does exist." Chicago Code's Joan of Arc is scrappy police superintendent Teresa Colvin (Jennifer Beals), whose opening narration touches on both the city's long history of shakedowns and her shop owner father's gradual victimization at the hands of various thugs demanding protection payments.

Grace under fire: Two CNN reporters matter-of-factly recount being attacked in Cairo's Tahrir Square by pro-Mubarak gangs

Ed Bark — 2011-02-02T11:36:46-06:00
The Kennedys' executive producer, Joel Surnow, is an outspoken conservative who formerly helmed Fox's 24.

Mess-terpiece Theatre: But that's what Syfy's Mega Python Vs Gatoroid is supposed to be

Ed Bark — 2011-01-28T10:45:53-06:00
Mega Python Vs Gatoroid also includes a buncha knuckle-draggin' hillbillies suitable for snacking and a still-in-there-punching A Martinez (no, there's still no period after A) as a heroic herpetologist who declares, "I just encountered a gator of literally massive proportions." ...A surprise participant in this outing is good ol' Kathryn Joost, a two-time Emmy winner for her guest star role of Karen McCluskey on Desperate Housewives but better known by many as the devoted Mrs.

Star Melissa Peterman makes the best of CMT's shopworn Working Class

Ed Bark — 2011-01-27T14:39:03-06:00
Episodes 1 and 2 of Working Class, co-starring former Reba regular Melissa Peterman and Ed Asner in full grimace, give it the old hee-haw in back-to-back fashion Friday night. ...Peterman soars above her Working Class environment, though, whether eager to please a man who turns out to be her boss or fending off the advances of Buddy in Episode 1 and a dentist who's well-played by guest star Ryan Stiles (The Drew Carey Show) in Friday's second half-hour.

FX's Archer starts Season 2 by successfully getting away with just about everything

Ed Bark — 2011-01-26T15:00:31-06:00
The cartoon teen in Archer's Season 2 opener can do what none of MTV's can -- get naked and be sexually explicit without raising concerns that these might be violations of federal pornography statutes. ...Some of the actors in the cast are under the age of 18, which has put the network on the defensive after the Parents Television Council attacked Skins as a "dangerous" dramatization that includes possibly illegal sexual content involving minors.

Syfy ramps up creature comforts in new competition series starring budding special effects artists

Ed Bark — 2011-01-25T13:02:14-06:00
"It takes a lot of time in your mother's basement when everybody else is out having a party or playing football," is the way judge Glenn Hetrick put it during a recent interview session tied to Syfy's new Face Off competition series. ...They'll get their chances in an array of competitions judged by Hetrick (Heroes), Pirates of the Caribbean wizard Ve Neill and creature designer Patrick Tatopoulos (I Am Legend).

Yes, even Judy Woodruff has opinions -- and expresses them despite saying she doesn't

Ed Bark — 2011-01-24T18:33:25-06:00
And even though it's aimed at Judy Woodruff, it's not entirely meant to single her out for what she said Monday regarding President Obama's impending State of the Union Address. ..."Well, but tons of journalists do," I said, contending that "they have you on those shows not to do a recitation of what's going on in the world but to give your opinion of what you think about it."

Rivers again run shallow in latest mom-daughter "reality" gambit

Ed Bark — 2011-01-24T16:12:02-06:00
The premise: mommy not so dearest relocates from the East Coast to Malibu to get closer to both her 43-year-old daughter and grandson Cooper, who was nine during filming of this eight-part concoction for WE tv. ...Here's also a mother who in next week's Episode 2 incessantly lobbies her daughter to go topless for a Women of Hollywood Gone Wild video being put together by notorious sleaze merchant Joe Francis.

Olbermann out and about again

Ed Bark — 2011-01-22T09:49:00-06:00
Olbermann's sudden and rather shocking last day at MSNBC was Friday, when he said goodbye on his Countdown program by reading a James Thurber story with the motto, "It is better to ask some of the questions than to know all of the answers." ...But there's little doubt that he'd at least double the audience for Parker Spitzer, which on Thursday night had 522,000 viewers to Countdown's 1.1 million while The O'Reilly Factor in turn almost tripled Olbermann with 2.9 million.

Network TV "press tour" photo album -- January 2011

Ed Bark — 2011-01-21T13:20:03-06:00
George Lopez flaunts TCU colors in full view of University of Wisconsin alum who's still smarting from 21-19 Rose Bowl loss. ...Austin bar owner Brad Womack says he found made-for-TV love during his second go-around on The Bachelor.

IFC's Onion News Network an alphabet soup of CNN/FNC/MSNBC

Ed Bark — 2011-01-21T09:30:10-06:00
Trumpeted as "News Without Mercy" and "A 24-Hour Non-Stop News Assault," ONN barges into living rooms with its flagship The Fact Zone, helmed by the convincingly self-important Brooke Alvarez (Suzanne Sena). ...She even has a promo in which a pitchman bellows, "When you follow Fact Zone's Brooke Alvarez, you're following the news anchor with more stalkers than any other major network on-screen personality."

Lights, cameras, carnage, carnality: Starz's Spartacus prequel again bares all

Ed Bark — 2011-01-20T16:36:58-06:00
Compelling storyline: Well, you can't have everything, although in truth there's just enough plot to go around in the Friday, Jan. 21st premiere of Spartacus: Gods of the Arena (9 p.m. central). ...Meanwhile, Gods of the Arena is intended to keep the blood flowing -- and the flesh heaving -- with a flashback to the story of how vainglorious Batiatus (John Hannah) and his wife, Lucretia (Lawless), propelled themselves into the big leagues of the gladiator game.

Fairly Legal gives USA another soft touch

Ed Bark — 2011-01-20T09:43:08-06:00
She plays this lead role with assurance and aplomb, elevating the entire enterprise in the process. Fairly Legal in a sense is Shahi's coming out party as an actress capable of toting the load. ...Their prickly relationship also is complicated by the fact that he's an up-and-coming assistant district attorney who's regularly in a position to help her wade through various legal entanglements.

Perfect Couples: Wow, what a bad show

Ed Bark — 2011-01-19T15:08:44-06:00
Sneak-previewed to disastrous ratings on Dec. 20th, Perfect Couples makes its official debut Thursday as part of an all-night Peacock comedy bloc that also includes the return of Parks and Recreation and new episodes of Community, The Office, 30 Rock and Outsourced. ...During the otherwise wretched excess known as "Game Night," Vance says, "You Seacrest-ed me" after being made to believe he won't be on the same team as one of his friends.

Matched set: TV Land plays it again by pairing new Retired at 35 with returning Hot in Cleveland

Ed Bark — 2011-01-18T16:24:29-06:00
So TV Land will strike again Wednesday night, with the Season 2 premiere of Cleveland (featuring a cameo by Mary Tyler Moore as a jailbird) followed by the launch of Retired at 35. ...It doesn't tell you about another key plot development that involves his parents and frees up Dad to be the recipient of "a toke and a poke" (a pal's shorthand description of medical marijuana and Cialis).

Being Human gives Syfy a supernatural threesome -- all under one roof

Ed Bark — 2011-01-17T17:31:26-06:00
They share an apartment in Syfy's Being Human, a light/dark and fairly diverting melodrama launching in times when fangs seem to be fail-safe. ...The joking and biting occasionally give way to Sally's pining for Danny (Gianpaolo Venuta), who seems to slowly be sensing her presence near the end of next Monday's second episode.

Amid ample minuses, NBC's Harry's Law has a big plus in Kathy Bates

Ed Bark — 2011-01-17T13:19:54-06:00
Both are in abundance when the architect of Ally McBeal, The Practice and Boston Legal goes to court anew with NBC's Harry's Law, an improbably entertaining outing that initially finds Kathy Bates' character reclining at her office desk while smoking pot and bemoaning her fate. ...Walking the streets of downtown Cincinnati, she's then twice knocked flat on her back, first by a drug-addicted college student trying to commit suicide (he instead hits an awning first and lands on her) and then by a hot shot young attorney who hits her with his car.

Showtime scores with Episodes, struggles with Shameless

Ed Bark — 2010-12-30T15:43:39-06:00
Flush with increasing critical respect and an armload of Golden Globe nominations for the likes of The Big C and Dexter, Showtime starts the new year off right -- and very possibly wrong -- with a pair of new series fronted by old familiars. ...But on the other hand, she's also more than willing to drink and smoke pot with her old man, who by all odds should be hunted down by child social services before being thrown kicking and screaming into the clink.

FX's Lights Out gives TV its first standout look at the boxing game

Ed Bark — 2010-12-28T12:51:24-06:00
But the network certainly isn't about to discourage any renewed visions of Rocky Balboa in this new drama series about a retired former heavyweight champ who, in boxing parlance, "wuz robbed" in his last fight. ...Lights Out is in keeping with FX's male-centric motif while also standing out as the first weekly scripted drama series to take a hard look at the boxing world.

Bob's Burgers is way short on comedy condiments

Ed Bark — 2010-12-28T11:42:37-06:00
Youngest daughter Louise (Kristen Schaal) and only son Gene (Eugene Mirman) otherwise match up gender-wise in a dour half-hour that finds the big Labor Day weekend re- re- re-opening of Bob's Burgers jeopardized by rumors that its meat patties are made from human flesh. ...We pause briefly to ruminate on how The Simpsons was branded "subversive" by some in its early years but now is a veritable Mickey Mouse cartoon in comparison to Sunday night running mates Family Guy, American Dad, The Cleveland Show and, urp, Bob's Burgers.

NBC's The Cape falls apart at the seams

Ed Bark — 2010-12-28T09:30:12-06:00
The latter is notably superior, even if it's gotten a bit bogged down of late. The Cape, which swoops into its regular Monday 8 p.m. (central) slot on Jan. 17th, is a mash-up of overplayed villains and preposterous goings-on edited disjointedly into an overall slap-happy mess. ...Framed for the dirty deed is dedicated security cop Vince Faraday (David Lyons), a hometown boy and devoted father who clandestinely reads The Cape comic books with his son, Trip (Ryan Wynott), while wife/mom Dana (Jennifer Ferrin) thinks they're doing homework.

King and his court: Larry says "so long" with help from A-list celebrity gaggle

Ed Bark — 2010-12-17T14:10:52-06:00
But the host and one of his many big-name drop-in guests, former president Bill Clinton, combined for at least another mini-headline after King noted that "we're both in the zipper club." ...But hey, it added a little old spice to the sometimes goofy proceedings, during which King courtiers Bill Maher and Ryan Seacrest tried to guide him through a mix of surprise send-offs and a big group of guests in New York that King already knew about.

Showtime outdraws HBO in Golden Globes TV series nominations

Ed Bark — 2010-12-14T09:41:11-06:00
The Globes added an extra contender in the best comedy series competition, where Showtime's The Big C and Nurse Jackie will go against ABC's Modern Family, Fox's Glee, CBS' The Big Bang Theory and NBC's perennial 30 Rock. ...Laura Linney and Edie Falco, the respective stars of The Big C and Nurse Jackie, are joined by Toni Collette of Showtime's United States of Tara, Lea Michele of Glee and Tina Fey of 30 Rock.

HBO's Lombardi is both overdue and missing at least two essentials

Ed Bark — 2010-12-11T12:55:37-06:00
Vince Lombardi, who died of cancer 40 years ago at age 57, also is the subject of a new Broadway play and will be played by Robert De Niro in an upcoming ESPN movie. ...And all these years later, it's still hard to believe they played such a stirring game under nigh impossible conditions, with Green Bay winning 21-17 on a quarterback sneak by Starr with 13 seconds remaining.

TNT's Men of a Certain Age again winningly serves up a triple shot of angst -- but not a lotta whining

Ed Bark — 2010-12-03T09:02:40-06:00
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. ...Bakula's Terry initially resonates a bit more than his mates, particularly in a second episode that has him enduring dealership slings and arrows from a ridiculous old commercial that lately has gone viral on youtube.

It's "Bingle" all the way in new collection of Crosby Christmas specials

Ed Bark — 2010-12-02T10:25:54-06:00
Otherwise I'd give this collection a marginal yes, but not because of the Bing-Bowie interlude on an otherwise almost unbearable Bing Crosby's Merrie Olde Christmas (which originally aired 47 days after his death on Nov. ...One of the Brits, Ron Moody, also shows up on Crosby's final Merrie Olde Christmas, a positively creaky hour plagued by too little music and way too much lame exposition and comedy.

Babs back in prime-time spotlight with back-to-back specials

Ed Bark — 2010-12-01T17:26:57-06:00
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. ...The network warns viewers to "expect an avalanche of laughs as (contestants) take on a spinning ski lift, try to outrun polar bears and avoid hockey pucks to the head -- all in a completely new winter Wipeout Zone and amid a snowy blizzard."

R.I.P. Leslie Nielsen: Feb. 11, 1926 to Nov. 28, 2010

Ed Bark — 2010-11-29T17:04:36-06:00
fs=1&hl=en_US">The O'Reilly Factor. ...Ailes later apologized in a letter to the Anti-Defamation League, saying "I was of course ad-libbing and should not have chosen that word, but I was angry at the time because of NPR's willingness to censor Juan Williams for not being liberal enough."

Glory Daze goes to the back of the class with hackneyed college try

Ed Bark — 2010-11-15T14:12:13-06:00
But this is no Animal House -- because it's not nearly as artful. Daze instead is a truly dreadful one-hour comedy that's clumsily executed on all fronts besides resorting to some truly jaw-dropping racism. It all originates at a fictional Indiana University, circa 1986, where wide-eyed Joel Harrington (Kelly Blatz) is instantly taken with all the writhing, partying co-eds populating the campus grounds.

George W. and Oprah cozy up before Hannity rolls over

Ed Bark — 2010-11-10T07:05:12-06:00
This time around she laughed joyously at his self-deprecating jokes, clasped his hand during an emotional anecdote tied to the war in Iraq and told Bush "I had a good time" before cuddling with him while the closing credits rolled. ...Bush will keep making the rounds, with Fox News Channel's two other prime-time personalities -- Bill O'Reilly and Greta Van Susteren -- in the mix before he eventually turns to CNN's Candy Crowley and Jay Leno's Tonight Show.

NBC takes a few last jabs as O'Brien takes another late night shot with TBS' Conan

Ed Bark — 2010-11-09T07:27:02-06:00
His last Tonight Show was way back on Jan. 22nd, giving O'Brien much of this year to grow a beard, launch a reliably funny Twitter account and hit the road with his Legally Prohibited From Being Funny on Television Tour. ...Now the war of attrition sets in, with Jon Stewart's The Daily Show and Chelsea Handler's Chelsea Lately directly opposite the first half-hour of Conan before The Colbert Report, Leno's slumping Tonight, Letterman's resurgent Late Show and ABC's sturdy Nightline kick in.

MSNBC's suspension of Olbermann a laughable declaration of principle (updated)

Ed Bark — 2010-11-06T09:31:00-05:00
MSNBC president Phil Griffin, who has orchestrated the network's march toward partisanship, said in a statement: "Mindful of NBC News policy and standards, I have suspended him (Olbermann) without pay." ...The network's president, Phil Griffin, said in a statement: "After several days of deliberation and discussion, I have determined that suspending Keith through and including Monday night's program is an appropriate punishment for his violation of our policy.

Perry on Morning Joe: "I pray for Obama every day" (but with an asterisk)

Ed Bark — 2010-11-05T13:28:56-05:00
His tie was tightened to the hilt and his gray suitcoat buttoned to the max while he sat down next to host Joe Scarborough and assorted other panelists in the show's New York studios. ...Bush also has a new book out, which he'll be referencing on NBC Monday night during a one-hour interview (7 p.m. central) with Today show host Matt Lauer.

Rescued Chilean miner Edison Pena on Letterman: watch for the big finish

Ed Bark — 2010-11-05T08:51:11-05:00
It was all capped by Pena's apparently spontaneous rendition of "Suspicious Minds" after Letterman said he'd heard that some of the miners passed the time by singing Elvis Presley songs together. ...fs=1&hl=en_US">

Rangers-Giants World Series scrapes bottom nationally

Ed Bark — 2010-11-02T23:28:58-05:00
Giants catcher Buster Posey celebrates good times a second or so after Rangers OF Nelson Cruz strikes out to end the 2010 World Series and give San Fran its first national championship. Photo: Ed Bark ...But AMC programming executive Joel Stillerman says in an accompanying publicity release that "this is only the beginning of a long, intense and powerful ride." Walking Dead is adapted from a comic book series by Robert Kirkman.

Kill or be killed in AMC's bitingly bloody Walking Dead

Ed Bark — 2010-10-29T08:11:27-05:00
And so the meat of the story begins, with Grimes spending considerable time on screen as Walking Dead's only fully functioning character before he finally breaks down and cries. ...In just the past four years, AMC has reinvented itself as the Emmy-winning network of Mad Men, Breaking Bad and Rubicon rather than the place where movies are aggravatingly interrupted by commercials. Walking Dead is another very ambitious and provocative series.

Syfy's Hollywood Treasure a nook for schnooks who collect (including Uncle B)

Ed Bark — 2010-10-27T10:00:15-05:00
Joe salivates, but encourages Dawn to wait a bit to capitalize on the "sizzle" of a planned 2011Gilligan's Island feature film that supposedly will star the likes of Zach Braff, Jack Black and Emma Watson as Mary Ann. ...Meanwhile, check out your garage or attic to see if you might have a mint condition copy of William Shatner's The Transformed Man LP or some teeth kicked in by Chuck Norris on Walker, Texas Ranger.

PBS gets cracking with splendid new Holmes in Sherlock

Ed Bark — 2010-10-22T16:03:58-05:00
PBS' Sherlock, airing under the Masterpiece Mystery banner for the next three Sunday nights, is a bouncy and crackling good "re-imagining" of the Baker Street sleuth and his at times reluctant partner, Dr. ...The first case is subtitled "A Study In Pink." which unfolds in 90 minutes time on Oct. 24th at 8 p.m. (central) on KERA/13 in D-FW.

NPR's dopey dismissal of Williams is worthy of a dunce cap

Ed Bark — 2010-10-22T09:14:04-05:00
For this he was fired by NPR president Vivian Schiller, who said in a memo to member stations that "news analysts" (employed by NPR) may not take personal public positions on controversial issues; doing so undermines their credibility as analysts, and that's what's happened in this situation." ...In a very bluntly worded blog posted Thursday on foxnews.com, Williams said that his comments to O'Reilly on Monday night's program "are being distorted by the self-righteous ideological, left-wing leadership at NPR.

NBC News draws the line on election night by separating itself from partisan MSNBC and expanding coverage into late night hours

Ed Bark — 2010-10-21T13:42:53-05:00
The recent debut of Lawrence O'Donnell's 9 p.m. (central) program gives MSNBC a quartet of avowedly left-of-center hosts, with Ed Schultz, Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow the incumbents. Hardball maestro Chris Matthews is somewhat more even-handed, but not so much lately. ...During the mid-summer TV network "press tour" in Beverly Hills, MSNBC president Phil Griffin was asked by unclebarky.com whether viewers are really well-served by polar opposite 24-hour news channels offering almost entirely different slants on just about every issue of import.

Frontline begins new season by re-lighting Texas arson execution in Death By Fire

Ed Bark — 2010-10-19T17:41:35-05:00
Whether Cameron Todd Willingham of Corsicana in fact set the Dec. 23, 1991 home fire that killed his three young daughters has been investigated and re-investigated before and after his Feb. 17, 2004 execution. ...Addendum: Here's video of a recent update on the Willingham case, with WFAA8's Jason Whitely doing the off-camera reporting/narration for the Dallas-based ABC station while Fox4's Richard Ray, CBS11's Bud Gillett and an NBC5 microphone can be seen as part of his story.

Sacrilegious? Glee now bigger than The Beatles (with an asterisk)

Ed Bark — 2010-10-07T09:34:05-05:00
Now Fox says that Glee has become more popular than The Beatles -- at least on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. ...The Glee cast of course is cheating a bit by covering a wide range of previous chart-toppers, including Tuesday's performance of The Beatles' "I Want to Hold Your Hand" by cast member Chris Colfer.

Shedding new light on Springsteen's Darkness in superb HBO reprise

Ed Bark — 2010-10-06T13:04:15-05:00
It melds current-day recollections with newly discovered footage, circa 1976-'78, of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band rehearsing, recording and struggling to make a totally different album from 1975's breakout smash, Born to Run. ...The more than 30-year-old footage, of rehearsals in both the studio and Springsteen's home, harkens to times when the music was all that mattered no matter how long it took.

Michael Feinstein's American Songbook is chapter and verse on crooner/collector

Ed Bark — 2010-10-06T08:16:52-05:00
Wednesday's first hour, subtitled "Putting on the Tailfins," finds Feinstein onstage, at an Indiana flea market and knowledgeably dissecting performances from the likes of Frank Sinatra (whom he adores) and Rosemary Clooney (whom he adores even more). ...Kids who came over to the house to play Monopoly were told to go home if they didn't play it Michael's way, his mother, Mazia recalls in next Wednesday's Hour 2 ("Best Band in the Land").

HDNET's Drinking Made Easy hopes to make some viewers fall hard

Ed Bark — 2010-10-05T12:09:41-05:00
Later on, in a not-so-big finish, they arrive in black cowboy garb at Tombstone's Big-Nosed Kate Saloon, where two of the three feign collapsing from too much alcohol before Lamprey has a showdown with Pleepleus the Monkey. ...He's also the author of Three Sheets: 6 Continents, 15 Countries, 190 Drinks and 1 Mean Hangover and has been dubbed "the Indiana Jones of drinking" by someone who must have been under the influence.

Curtis couldn't quite manage any Tony awards on TV

Ed Bark — 2010-10-01T11:44:06-05:00
Curtis also played a Robin Hood-ish con man on NBC in 1975's short-lived McCoy before returning to ABC in 1978 as the recurring character Philip Roth in Robert Urich's Vega$. His made-for-TV movie credits included Agatha Christie's Murder In Three Acts, The Count of Monte Cristo, Portrait of a Showgirl, The Users, Moviola: The Scarlett O'Hara War and Mafia Princess.

Uppers for CBS, NBC; downers for ABC, Fox in first week of new fall season

Ed Bark — 2010-09-29T10:53:33-05:00
On the down side, Fox's made-in-North Texas Lone Star, canceled Tuesday after just two episodes, had a rock-bottom opening night haul of 4.1 million viewers to rank 88th for the week. Other new series with likely short-term futures include ABC's The Whole Truth (79th with 4.8 million viewers); NBC's Outlaw (78th with 4.9 million) and ABC's My Generation (73rd with 5.2 million).

NEW SEASON: Law & Order: Los Angeles impressively wades into Hollywood cesspool

Ed Bark — 2010-09-29T08:06:10-05:00
Paired with the long-running Law & Order: Special Victims Unit in the closing two hours of prime-time, LOLA has a new and very nicely matched pair of crime-busters in detectives Rex Winters (Skeet Ulrich) and T.J. ...Its front page headline, "Media Icon Hit By Crime Wave," has an accompanying picture of a battered NBC Burbank headquarters with its Peacock symbol defaced, the B missing from NBC and graffiti scrawled on the front walls.

NEW SEASON: ABC's No Ordinary Family is no extraordinary series

Ed Bark — 2010-09-28T06:15:09-05:00
Their respective acting U-turns take them to ABC's No Ordinary Family, the network's last realistic chance to emerge with a legitimate hit new fall series after tepid early returns for the likes of My Generation, The Whole Truth, Better With You and Detroit 1-8-7. ...There's always the danger that Fox News Channel will interpret this as an actual event, warning viewers that sinister clones of the President -- manufactured in a secret White House stem cell lab -- are bent on running roughshod over truth, justice and the American way.

Burns' Tenth Inning too often makes errors of omission

Ed Bark — 2010-09-27T12:26:55-05:00
In collaboration with longtime associate Lynn Novick, his four-hour PBS sequel to 1994's Baseball steps to the plate on Tuesday and Wednesday (7 to 9 p.m. central each night on KERA13 in D-FW) as the great game gears up for a post-season that will include the Texas Rangers for the first time in 11 years. ...The Eastern-centric nature of Tenth Inning -- with trips out West only because of Bonds -- mostly deals out the hardy breeds who have lived and mostly died with the likes of the Rangers, the Cleveland Indians and Chicago Cubs, whose last Series appearance was in 1945 and whose last win came in 1908.

NEW SEASON: Selleck puts the iron in CBS' Blue Bloods

Ed Bark — 2010-09-24T14:20:53-05:00
Tom Selleck talks up Blue Bloods, with co-star Donnie Wahlberg (light coat) doing likewise at CBS "press tour" party. Photo: Ed Bark ...The Reagan brood also includes Frank's rather sour father, Henry (a retired cop), his oldest son, Danny (a plainclothes cop) and youngest boy Jamie (a newly sworn in cop to the tune of Frank Sinatra's "New York, New York" in a scene-setting opening ceremony).

Zucker will be leaving NBC shortly; Klein already in past tense as CNN head

Ed Bark — 2010-09-24T11:37:16-05:00
Jeff Zucker, the one-time boy wonder of the Today Show -- and still only 45 -- announced to company employees via email Friday that he will leave his position as head of NBC Universal after completion of the takeover by Comcast. ...Klein, who had headed CNN for the past six years, said in a memo to staffers, "It is with a tinge of regret tempered by great expectations for the future . . . that I bid all of you goodbye.

NEW SEASON: ABC's Austin-made My Generation follows the script of our reality-saturated times

Ed Bark — 2010-09-23T15:26:47-05:00
The prying eyes of reality TV cameras weren't nearly as all-seeing back in the year 2000, when a film crew kept close tabs on nine graduating seniors from Austin's fictional Greenbelt High School. A decade later, ABC's My Generation lens and lends itself to another look at them in times when TV has more reality series than the population of Poughkeepsie.

NEW SEASON: NBC's Outsourced deftly finds the funny without being an Ugly American about it

Ed Bark — 2010-09-23T10:44:21-05:00
But in turn, this very promising workplace comedy (which follows The Office on Thursday nights) also jumps at the chance to twit the peculiarities of the American culture as seen through the eyes of the natives populating a call center in India. ...From this perspective it's the new season's most pleasant surprise -- a comedy that on paper is easy to slam but in reality navigates some tricky terrain without getting all clenched up about it.

NEW SEASON: CBS sends Shatner into over-kill with $#*! My Dad Says

Ed Bark — 2010-09-23T09:24:44-05:00
That's pretty much the tenor of Thursday's opener, in which Shatner labors through the rhythms of the live studio audience sitcom format while coughing up a steady stream of pointed and oft-blue insults that would make him a fine nursing home partner for Archie Bunker. ...My Dad Says, which will follow CBS' transplanted The Big Bang Theory, loads up on coarse jokes the way the network's Mike & Molly dished out fat jokes in its Monday premiere.

NEW SEASON: The Whole Truth comes courting on ABC

Ed Bark — 2010-09-22T15:50:22-05:00
Whole Truth is from the increasingly tiresome Jerry Bruckheimer, who already has built a crime series empire on CBS with the three CSI series and has the new police series Chase on NBC this fall. ...Bruckheimer invariably seems to prefer going at least a little over the top rather than depend on audiences to grasp anything resembling subtlety. Whole Truth even includes video snippets of testimony during the attorneys' closing arguments, lest any of the dummies out there forget what they've seen just minutes earlier.

NEW SEASON: ABC's Better With You manages to dodge a snarky retort

Ed Bark — 2010-09-22T15:01:29-05:00
Lacy as Casey is the best reason to watch while Finnegan remains an appealing actress whom some might remember as a dogged prosecutor for two seasons on CBS' Close to Home crime drama. In the end, maybe "agreeable" is a better way to go than "not too bad." Better With You so far is nothing to write home about but maybe worth letting into your living room.

New Idol judges are no surprise, but a botched live webcast provides a rude awakening

Ed Bark — 2010-09-22T12:39:23-05:00
American Idol's new on-air crew couldn't be happier: From left, judges Randy Jackson and Steven Tyler, host Ryan Seacrest, judge Jennifer Lopez and "in-house mentor" Jimmy Lovine. Fox photo ...American Idol's announcement of Steven Tyler and Jennifer Lopez as the show's new judges became an online fiasco Wednesday when a promised live stream of the event never really materialized.

NEW SEASON: No need to prosecute Belushi again in CBS' The Defenders

Ed Bark — 2010-09-21T16:10:31-05:00
Jim Belushi and Jerry O'Connell are mockups of real-life Vegas lawyers in the new Wednesday legal drama The Defenders. CBS photo ...It's a Las Vegas-set legal drama that's actually filmed in Southern California and has nothing at all to do with the same-named, Emmy-winning 1960s CBS series that starred E.G.

NEW SEASON: Spies win on style points in NBC's Undercovers

Ed Bark — 2010-09-21T11:46:20-05:00
The mission at hand is sauteed with the Blooms' sexual banter ("You look incredible"/"You look pretty hot yourself") and sweetened by a field agent who greatly admires Steven's previous accomplishments and never misses a chance to tell him so. ...Samantha also finds time to periodically instruct her frazzled sister, Lizzie (Mekia Cox), who's left to cater a big wedding back home while the Blooms globe-trot in search of missing agent Leo Nash (Carter MacIntyre) and his captors.

NEW SEASON: For richer and poorer in Fox sitcoms Running Wilde and Raising Hope

Ed Bark — 2010-09-20T16:04:53-05:00
Fox turns to the certifiable, er, loony, creators of My Name Is Earl and Arrested Development for a pair of new Tuesday night comedies without laugh tracks or perhaps long-term futures. ...For now, though, ABC's The Middle is a notably better and funnier depiction of hard-pressed working stiffs in action. Raising Hope needs a good scrubbing of scripts if it's going to ultimately find its footing.

NEW SEASON: Imperioli's performance spikes ABC's Detroit 1-8-7 cop drama, but who will want to be put through its wringer?

Ed Bark — 2010-09-20T13:03:39-05:00
The initial version of this series had a documentary crew in tow for a cinema verite, talk-to-the-camera approach that ABC described thusly in last spring's fall schedule announcement: "The cameras unearth the crisis and revelation, heartbreak and heroism of these inner city cops -- moments of raw exposure when they address us directly, as well as private moments when they forget they're being filmed." That motif was scrapped -- and parts of the pilot episode re-shot -- after a real-life incident in Detroit that involved both a TV camera crew and the resultant fatal shooting of a 7-year-old girl during a SWAT team raid in search of a murder suspect.

NEW SEASON: It's a North Texas two-step for Monday premieres of Fox's Lone Star, NBC's Chase

Ed Bark — 2010-09-17T13:14:34-05:00
Prologue: By now ya'll must know there's been lots of network TV series production in North Texas this summer -- even though Fox's Lone Star and NBC's Chase in large part are set in no-account Houston. Now the time is nearing for both new dramas to either deliver audiences or go down for the count. Lone Star premieres at 8 p.m. (central) Monday and Chase follows at 9 p.m.

NEW SEASON: Re-married to the mob, HBO walks the walk in Boardwalk Empire

Ed Bark — 2010-09-17T08:40:41-05:00
Add the fact that New Jersey's underside has been very good business for a premium cable network that birthed Tony "The Situation" Soprano and now is investing heavily in the state's formative gangland years with a socko series set in the Prohibition era. ...On the Jersey home front, Nucky also consorts with bimbo mistress Lucy Danziger (Paz de la Huerta), who pretty much fits a vintage nightclub comic's joke about how "my girl is so dumb she thought that daylight savings was a bank."

NEW SEASON: NBC's The Event merits your affirmative RSVP

Ed Bark — 2010-09-16T13:20:45-05:00
A saturation, multi-platformed promotional campaign likely has attuned most potential viewers to the fact that this is another of those peel-away-the-layers, mythology-rich puzzlers determined to string you along week to week without telling too little or too much. ...The producers of the series assured TV critics earlier this summer that they're well aware of all the perils and pitfalls at hand. The Event will have to deliver again and again on the promise of its pilot episode.

NEW SEASON: Making new waves with a Hawaii Five-0 that also takes cues from The A-Team

Ed Bark — 2010-09-16T10:45:49-05:00
Its pacing, quips and vehicle-flying action scenes are reminiscent of NBC's The A-Team, which also assembled a task force of four to fight heavy-duty crime. ...She offers him carte blanche immunity and full backing with no red tape if he'd care to form a task force in the interests of ridding the island of hard-core criminals.

NEW SEASON: CBS' Mike & Molly needs to trim the fat -- from its scripts

Ed Bark — 2010-09-15T14:26:22-05:00
Inheriting Monday night's coveted post-Two and a Half Men slot, it's a sitcom about two very plus-sized people who first begin meeting and bonding at an Overeaters Anonymous meeting. ...The studio audience howls, but we're only scratching the surface. Mike & Molly is never more than a minute or two away from throwing its weight around, whether it's two overeaters impeding Carl's progress down a staircase or one of Molly's nine-year-old pupils wondering, "How can you be a cop and be so fat?"

NEW SEASON: NBC's Outlaw is almost indictable at first, but its second episode makes a much stronger case

Ed Bark — 2010-09-14T08:14:00-05:00
She's in his face and then in his bed sleeping off their sex together while the womanizing Garza watches an old and suddenly cathartic Dateline clip of his deceased liberal father, Francisco, who died in a car wreck while Cyrus sat beside him. ...This Outlaw episode retains some ridiculous excesses, including an ongoing subplot in which young team member/law clerk Mereta Stockman (Ellen Woglom) retains her crush on Garza to the considerable delight of tart-tongued Lucinda.

Finally making the team: Jimmy Johnson talks about surviving his favorite show after getting cut twice (in celebration, he even cut his hair)

Ed Bark — 2010-09-09T16:34:47-05:00
Once, twice, three times a Survivor applicant, former Dallas Cowboys coach Jimmy Johnson at last got what he wanted -- a chance to spend sleepless, shivering nights in the rain on a bamboo bed amid lush but primitive surroundings. "I thought not having food would be one of the more difficult things," Johnson, says in an expansive teleconference tied to the Wednesday, Sept. 15th premiere of Survivor: Nicaragua (7 p.m. central).

NEW SEASON: Latest Nikita re-do a showcase for Maggie Q

Ed Bark — 2010-09-09T08:25:49-05:00
Hard-boiled, hard-bodied Nikita is played by Maggie Q (Maggie Denise Quigley), a 31-year-old veteran of intensive martial arts training who looks suitably smashing in her multiple action scenes. ...One of Nikita's executive producers, McG (Joseph McGinty Nichol), directed both of the Charlie's Angels feature films and also has produced TV series such as Sorority Forever and Pussycat Dolls Present: Girlicious.

TNT commissions pilot for potential Dallas TV series (2nd update)

Ed Bark — 2010-09-08T14:59:45-05:00
But TNT has ordered a pilot for a potential remake of the Dallas TV series that would focus on "the offspring of bitter rivals and brothers J.R. and Bobby Ewing." The announcement came Wednesday afternoon, with Warner Horizon Television backing a project being developed by executive producer Cynthia Cidre, who wrote the feature film Mambo Kings and created and produced the short-lived CBS serial soap, Cane.

This dog will hunt: FX's likably scruffy Terriers scraps, claws and leaves a mark

Ed Bark — 2010-09-08T10:03:53-05:00
Terriers, premiering Wednesday, makes for a light but hearty meal while also re-pledging allegiance to self-destructive men who live on the edge while walking a ledge between common decency and borderline depravity. If Lifetime is the uplifting network for women, FX is the downshifting destination for testosterone-fueled troublemaking in series such as Sons of Anarchy (which returned Tuesday night), Louie, Rescue Me and It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia.

NEW SEASON: CW's Hellcats bounces into view as yoo rah replica of -- "Gimme a G"

Ed Bark — 2010-09-07T14:35:07-05:00
Gail O'Grady (NYPD Blue, American Dreams) is back in harness as Wanda Perkins, a sloppy drunk who means well but makes her daughter want to run as though she's just seen a giant predatory gila monster. ...So too was the late mega-producer and Dallas native Aaron Spelling (Dynasty, Charlie's Angels, Beverly Hills 90210 , etc), who if he were alive today might be making a series just like Hellcats.

TV THEME SONG-ville -- Season Finale

Ed Bark — 2010-09-03T12:11:48-05:00
For our final pre-fall season installment, we take a return trip to Jack Lord's hair and the ever-pulsating theme song for Hawaii Five-0. ...fs=1&hl=en_US">

TV THEME SONG-ville -- Episode 9

Ed Bark — 2010-08-31T08:50:46-05:00
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TV THEME SONG-ville -- Episode 8

Ed Bark — 2010-08-30T13:20:33-05:00
Our pre-fall season journeys to TV THEME SONG-ville begin their final week with opening mood music for the classic ensemble police series that paved the way for Emmy caliber descendants ranging from St. ...In June of 1980, during the TV networks' annual summer "press tour" in L.A., it was the first interview session I attended as the new TV critic for The Dallas Morning News.

New era for Emmys, with a hit 'n' miss backstage webcast angling for attention while host Jimmy Fallon flattens out after fast start

Ed Bark — 2010-08-30T01:32:10-05:00
Jimmy Fallon proved to be an OK -- but not A-OK -- host of Sunday night's 62nd annual Emmys ceremony, which pitted the traditional NBC telecast against a companion live backstage webcast on nbc.com and other outlets. ...AMC's Mad Men at the same time extended its best drama series winning streak to three years while Bryan Cranston likewise made it three best actor Emmys in a row for his lead role in the cable network's Breaking Bad.

TV THEME SONG-ville -- Episode 7

Ed Bark — 2010-08-27T09:14:42-05:00
But the narration was backed by a suitably thrilling orchestral backdrop that made virtually every kid of the '50s (guilty, your honor) want to suit up and jump off the family garage. ...fs=1&hl=en_US">

TV THEME SONG-ville -- Episode 5

Ed Bark — 2010-08-25T11:48:57-05:00
Johnny Rivers' rockin', guitar-fused, definitive version of "Secret Agent Man" climbed all the way to No. 3 on the 1966 pop charts as the theme for CBS' Secret Agent, which lasted just one season. Patrick McGoohan, better known as the star of The Prisoner, played British spy John Drake in this offshoot of 1961's Danger Man, in which he was the same character.

Survivor host Probst likely won't deliver on this particular promise

Ed Bark — 2010-08-24T15:28:45-05:00
Jeff Probst (second from left) at January Survivor anniversary party with (from left) hero Rupert Boneham, executive producer Mark Burnett, villains Jerri Manthey and Russell Hantz. Photo: Ed Bark ...BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. -- Former Dallas Cowboys coach Jimmy Johnson's participation in this fall's Survivor: Nicaragua had been widely reported but not yet officially announced when CBS held its latest summer press tour "All-Star Party" in late July.

TV THEME SONG-ville -- Episode 4

Ed Bark — 2010-08-24T09:35:33-05:00
Written by Judy Hart Angelo and Gary Portnoy -- and performed by Portnoy -- "Where Everybody Knows Your Name" graced this classic NBC comedy from its September 1982 premiere to its May 1993 finale. ...fs=1&hl=en_US">

TV THEME SONG-ville -- Episode 3

Ed Bark — 2010-08-23T12:44:07-05:00
We're talking about Henry Mancini's driving music for Peter Gunn, which premiered in 1958 on NBC and Petered out three seasons later on ABC. ...fs=1&hl=en_US">The smoldering debate over public housing gives way in Monday's Part 1 to the good will generated by actor Brad Pitt's "Make It Right" initiative to build affordable, well-made homes in New Orleans still storm-ravaged Lower Ninth Ward.

TV THEME SONG-ville -- Episode 1

Ed Bark — 2010-08-19T09:54:36-05:00
Producers of CBS' new version of Hawaii Five-O, set to premiere on Monday, Sept. 20th, recently told unclebarky.com that the show's iconic theme song will get at least a little room to breathe. ...fs=1&hl=en_US">

Here's to her health: Linney carries Showtime to new heights with bravura star turn in TV's first "cancer comedy"

Ed Bark — 2010-08-13T08:28:56-05:00
In Monday's half-hour premiere episode (9:30 p.m. central), we quickly learn that Cathy has a semi-infantile husband named Paul (Oliver Platt's best role to date) and a rebellious teen son, Adam (Gabriel Basso), who resists any and all of her ham-handed efforts to re-bond with him. ...During a recent interview session with TV critics, Bicks said she made the same deduction in her own life. The Big C nonetheless is walking a tightrope here, striving to make Cathy's point while at the same time not completely ridiculing a true believer who tells her, "When life gives you lemons, squeeze out a smile."

Miniseries maestro: Roots producer David Wolper reigned in times when networks thought bigger

Ed Bark — 2010-08-12T08:43:12-05:00
And so North and South also included the likes of Elizabeth Taylor, Gene Kelly, Johnny Cash and Robert Mitchum, who earlier had played super-stoic Navy commander Victor "Pug" Henry in ABC's sprawling The Winds of War miniseries. ...Here was a guy who never shied from trying to knock your eyes out, sometimes to excess but always with the grand/grandiose objective of putting on a really big show.

"Press tour" picture book

Ed Bark — 2010-08-10T15:22:44-05:00
The 2010 network TV summer "press tour" is over and out, leaving your friendly content provider with already foggy memories of 13 days at the Beverly Hilton plus time off for bad behavior. ...Former ER star Laura Innes, now appearing in NBC's The Event, gabs with Peacock programming chieftain Jeff Gaspin.

AMC's Rubicon steps smartly to the head of the intelligence field

Ed Bark — 2010-07-26T16:09:06-05:00
The first two hours precede Season 4's second episode of Mad Men on Sunday, Aug. 1st. Rubicon then will move to its regular Sunday, 8 p.m. (central) slot, giving AMC back-to-back helpings of topflight textured drama for the next several months. ...And being strung along at length during this season and who knows how many more also is a built-in deterrent for many viewers. Rubicon definitely looks like the real deal, though, for those with an appetite for a cerebral spy experience rather than a weekly spy caper series.

P.S. on the Shirley Sherrod "scandal": they're still spouting B.S.

Ed Bark — 2010-07-26T08:33:36-05:00
Anchor Chris Wallace, presiding over Fox News Sunday, and Fox News Channel representative Stephen Hayes on ABC's This Week program repeatedly contended that Fox didn't use Sherrod's name on the air until after she had been forced out by Agriculture Department secretary Tom Vilsack. ...So yes, O'Reilly in fact did rush to judgment, even if his knee-jerk demand for Sherrod's resignation didn't actually air until after Vilsack had knee-jerked her out of the Agriculture Department while the national NAACP also made an ass of itself.

Mad Men's Season 4 makes some new sales pitches. Sold!

Ed Bark — 2010-07-22T16:48:48-05:00
Many are directed at Draper, who's living in a rather joyless apartment while estranged wife Betty (January Jones) still occupies the old Draper homestead with their three kids (including a newborn babe) and her boyfriend, Henry Francis (Christopher Stanley). ...The latter exchange comes in the early minutes of an altogether splendid hour. Mad Men then closes the night's books -- but not this particular sale -- with Draper's full-circle come-around.

FNC's Shepard Smith again a steady hand amid partisan provocateurs on both his own network and MSNBC

Ed Bark — 2010-07-22T12:07:36-05:00
But Smith's two principal FNC venues -- Fox Report and Studio B -- notably did not bite on the much-reported Shirley Sherrod "scandal" that turned out to be a doctored video disseminated by a right-wing blogger. ...Smith, who doesn't have a prime-time forum on FNC, at least has the temerity to both call out his network and hold off on stories of highly questionable origin and veracity.

Pillars of the Earth strives to stand tall, but doesn't live up to its Starz billing

Ed Bark — 2010-07-22T09:13:44-05:00
His vision is shared by the rather amusingly named Tom Builder (Rufus Sewell), whose eventual allies include an accused witch named Ellen (Natalia Worner) and her virginal son, Jack Jackson (Eddie Redmayne), an all-around good guy who also happens to be a helluva sculptor and visionary. ...Co-produced by Ridley Scott of Gladiator fame, Pillars weaves its tangled webs within surprisingly chaste surroundings. Spartacus, easily the most graphic weekly series in TV history, purveyed maximum-strength amounts of blood, gore, expletives and full frontal nudity (both male and female). Pillars comparatively is Candyland, with a few blood squirts/swollen eyes here and there, fleeting glimpses of bared anatomies and a wee pair of expletives.

Haggard twangs his magic twanger in exemplary American Masters film

Ed Bark — 2010-07-21T10:02:34-05:00
Learning to Live with Myself nicely meshes archival footage with current-day interviews in telling the story of a revered twanger who was in the audience for three of Johnny Cash's famed San Quentin concerts. ...

Steinbrenner's death rekindles interest in ESPN's 8-part The Bronx Is Burning -- for $3 at Big Lots!

Ed Bark — 2010-07-13T15:25:34-05:00
The packet I recently bought also included two other ESPN DVDS -- March Madness: The Greatest Moments of the NCAA Tournament and Sportscenter Year in Review -- 2006, which includes both the pulsating Texas Longhorns' Rose Bowl victory over Southern Cal and the stomach-churning Miami Heat comeback against the Dallas Mavericks in that year's NBA Finals. ...

Covert Affairs gives USA network another potential perennial

Ed Bark — 2010-07-12T15:40:41-05:00
Melodically named Piper Perabo gets a much more standard issue TV moniker in USA network's Covert Affairs, which rises a rung or two above the gratingly ordinary. ...This time around, Gorham is CIA agent Auggie Anderson, who was blinded in the act of duty but is still both a playa and Annie's new-found best pal.

TNT's Rizzoli & Isles: Sounds like a pasta dish, but served as a crime drama

Ed Bark — 2010-07-12T09:05:27-05:00
Harmon, veteran of both NBC's long-running Law & Order and ABC's short-lived Women's Murder Club, is joined by NCIS veteran Sasha Alexander as a stylish but capable medical examiner named Maura Isles. ...A particularly notable scene in tonight's opener finds Rizzoli platonically sharing a bed with Isles while they discuss the attributes of a mysterious, hunky new agent who's blown into Boston to help apprehend a very sadistic and twisted serial killer.

The Glades turns out to be an air-freshener for A&E

Ed Bark — 2010-07-09T12:28:41-05:00
In this case it's the discovery of a decapitated woman's corpse by a young dude who begins puking at length while his one-night stand remains asleep in her undies in an SUV. ...Also in the mix is comely nurse Callie Cargill (Kiele Sanchez), who's working her way through med school while also tending to a 12-year-old son after her no-account husband was sent to prison.

The Decision casts "The King" in a better light than expected

Ed Bark — 2010-07-08T21:26:04-05:00
But James seems like their Daddy, a mature-beyond-his-years Sears kinda guy whose outwardly indulgent one-hour ESPN special donated all money from ad sales to five designated Boys and Girls Clubs, including the one in James' hometown of Akron, Ohio. ...He hopes at least some fans will remember his contributions while the city where he became a star now is left with crappy teams in baseball, football and basketball.

Safe Haven? Not on Syfy

Ed Bark — 2010-07-08T12:35:46-05:00
Which means that Haven, Maine, site of Syfy's new Haven, is populated by people with peculiar powers and haunted by a mysterious back story that will be doled out in small doses. ...In future episodes, her character will be torn between Wuornos and Crocker while sticking around a spell to dig deeper into both the town's psyche and that mysterious long-ago newspaper picture of a woman who looks a lot like her.

Love lost is Bachelorette's gain: Jake and Vienna brawl 'n' bawl in close encounter of the lurid kind

Ed Bark — 2010-07-05T22:09:13-05:00
Dallas-bred Jake Pavelka looked vexed for much of his reunion with Vienna Girardi on Monday's festive The Bachelorette. ABC photos ...Pavelka, who was treated like a Nobel Prize winner during two recent guest host appearance on WFAA8's Good Morning Texas, came off as a smug and condescending cad during the first half of his icy cold return engagement with Girardi.

King leaving his court after a quarter century on CNN

Ed Bark — 2010-06-30T08:38:12-05:00
Beset by all-time low ratings, more highly publicized marital woes and the growing perception that time has passed him by, the 76-year-old King announced Tuesday on CNN's Larry King Live that he'll be leaving the show sometime this fall. ...

DVD review: Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story

Ed Bark — 2010-06-29T14:54:20-05:00
Almost benignly profane in the film, Rollins recounts how Atwater "betrayed" him during Reagan's 1984 re-election campaign before eventually getting what he wanted -- full control of George Bush Sr.'s 1988 run. ...And one Republican ally says to this day that Bill Clinton never would have beaten George Bush Sr. had Atwater been alive to run his re-election campaign.

Brace yourselves: FX's Louie can be very dangerously funny

Ed Bark — 2010-06-29T10:08:03-05:00
Louis C.K. fits right in, ending the second episode of Tuesday night's double-barreled premiere of FX's Louie with a riff on how he'd love to be intimate with animals, particularly monkeys. ...HBO took a chance in 2006's Lucky Louie, a profane, hit-over-the-head sitcom that was modeled after The Honeymooners and marked the network's first and so far last show taped before a studio audience.

Get real: Boston Med gives ABC a hospital series with a wealth of unscripted drama

Ed Bark — 2010-06-24T12:41:25-05:00
Next week's Episode 2 both introduces nurse Grabowski and tugs at emotions with compelling stories of an elderly man with a cancerous mass surrounding his lungs and an expectant mother whose husband is stationed in Iraq and who knows that her firstborn son will have a serious heart condition that demands immediate surgery. ...All in all, you'll get more genuine drama in one episode than in an entire summer season of ABC's new Rookie Blue, which premieres on the same night at 8 p.m. Boston Med grabs and holds, gifting viewers with a bracing hot weather "reality" series that for a change gives the genre a good name.

ABC's Rookie Blue clunks into view

Ed Bark — 2010-06-23T10:25:49-05:00
Viewers are soon smelling a bad show, with Andy nervously and breathlessly navigating a first day that includes lethal gunfire from a drug den and her eventual blowing of an undercover cop's cover. ...For now, though, Rookie Blue begins and ends in a bar, where the five newcomers happily get sloshed without any attention paid as to how they'll all get home without hurting themselves or others.

Memphis Beat tries to give Earl star a new acting rhythm

Ed Bark — 2010-06-21T16:23:52-05:00
Produced by George Clooney, Grant Heslov and their Smokehouse Pictures, Memphis Beat finds Lee's character throwing himself into Elvis vocals at a local club when he's not upbraiding suspects for failing to respect the city's traditions and legendary figures. ...Her legacy -- and its importance to him -- has Hendricks pursuing the perpetrator with a zeal that's not initially shared by his new boss, prototypical by-the-booker Tanya Rice (venerable Alfre Woodard).

ABC tries to reinvigorate summertime Sundays with new/noteworthy The Gates and Scoundrels

Ed Bark — 2010-06-18T13:26:41-05:00
That's why ABC's two Sunday night mainstays -- Desperate Housewives and Brothers & Sisters -- are not part of the summer mix while reruns of "procedural," self-contained crime dramas such as the CSI franchise and The Mentalist are very much a part of CBS' year-around programming strategy. ...Scoundrels, starring Virginia Madsen in showy and effective form, premieres at 8 p.m. (central) on Sunday, June 20th in the DH slot. The Gates, with a breakout performance by Rhona Mitra as a seductive vampire, follows at 9 p.m. in place of B&S.

Showtime adds The Real L Word, but subtracts the nudity

Ed Bark — 2010-06-16T12:47:52-05:00
Ilene Chaiken, creator/producer of both versions, had no reservations with the original, telling The Village Voice in a 2005 interview that "lesbians, in particular, have never had their sexual desires represented on screen -- or rarely, I should say -- and they just clamor for love scenes, and diverse love scenes." ...Showtime press materials say that the sometimes intertwined adventures of Tracy, Rose, Mikey, Nikki, Jill and Whitney will show "that these lesbian women can be every bit as fashionable, fabulous and even as cutthroat as those hetero housewives."

Planet Green's Fabulous Beekman Boys makes bid to be gay Green Acres

Ed Bark — 2010-06-15T13:39:18-05:00
Beautifully shot but also more than a bit stagey, Planet Green's The Fabulous Beekman Boys is the saga of two rather proudly prissy gay guys navigating a long-distance relationship under uncommon circumstances. ...And the still fledgling Plant Green channel, launched in June 2008, is hoping that the half-hour Beekman Boys series (with back-to-back episodes on opening night) will help put it on the map the way The Shield did for FX, South Park did for Comedy Central, Queer Eye For the Straight Guy did for Bravo, etc.

TV Land's Hot In Cleveland harkens to The Golden Girls but so far plays at room temperature

Ed Bark — 2010-06-14T12:55:39-05:00
Her three polished co-stars, all with hit sitcoms under their belts, are Wendie (Just Shoot Me) Malick, Valerie (One Day At A Time) Bertinelli and Jane (Frasier) Leeves. ...Still, it's a little bizarre to see Bertinelli's character weeping as though she's a veritable Whistler's Mother after learning she's been intimate with a married man played by the still fit John (Dukes of Hazzard) Schneider.

HBO's True Blood drinks to a third season while keeping Bill and Sookie sip-arated

Ed Bark — 2010-06-11T15:14:04-05:00
They're quickly elemental to the third season of HBO's True Blood, launching on Sunday, June 13th at 8 p.m. (central) with events immediately following the kidnapping of angst-ridden vampire Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer). ...But Bill and Sookie seem destined to do a lot of scenes without each other, which will still hold true by the end of June 27th's "Scratches" episode.

Staying too long at the party: a clear and ever-present danger

Ed Bark — 2010-06-09T13:01:56-05:00
Helen Thomas, until very recently the 89-year-old dean of the Washington press corps, provides the latest cautionary tale of someone who just couldn't let go until her mouth ran amuck on the subject of what Israeli Jews should do with themselves. ...It no doubt felt good to be queen, and even better to be in the presence of presidents who still called on her because she is, after all, Helen Thomas.

Horrid Neighbors From Hell defaces TBS

Ed Bark — 2010-06-07T14:55:39-05:00
Instead someone thought it would be a howl to have the amoral drill company boss (voiced by Kurtwood Smith from That '70s Show) refer to his company's Turkish drillmaster as a "poor little brown ape" among other things. ...We're only scratching the surface of a miserably inept and flat-out bigoted eyesore/earsore that TBS never should have green-lighted for any time of day or night. Neighbors From Hell fails on every level.

HBO's Smash His Camera re-pictures paparazzi potentate

Ed Bark — 2010-06-07T08:57:21-05:00
Famed photographer Neil Leifer, whose work has regularly appeared in Life, Time and Sports Illustrated, still regards Galella as a "bottom-feeder" whose "tactics are despicable." ...His obsession with the glamorous and famous -- mom named him after heartthrob actor Ronald Coleman -- yielded a treasure trove of images while also serving as the carbon footprint for TMZ and the like.

Fox's Good Guys hits its regular time slot running

Ed Bark — 2010-06-04T11:48:44-05:00
Monday's return, in the show's official summertime slot (8 p.m. central following Lie to Me), showcases Stark and straitlaced partner Jack Bailey (Colin Hanks) in another time-shifting, determinedly far-fetched adventure. ...Executive producer Matt Nix (Burn Notice) must first find a way to make this a summertime breeze capable of both finding and keeping a decent-sized audience opposite ABC's The Bachelorette, NBC's Last Comic Standing and formidable CBS repeats of prime-time's two most popular sitcoms, Two and a Half Men and The Big Bang Theory.

CBS, Fox take No. 1 spots at finish line of 2009-'10 TV season

Ed Bark — 2010-06-02T12:07:46-05:00
Its would-be usurper was the season's second edition of ABC's Dancing with the Stars, whose cast included pouty Kate Gosselin, purry Pamela Anderson, unpredictable Chad Ochocinco and former moonwalker Buzz Aldrin, who danced like the Tin Man while gamely smiling and saluting. ...And it wasn't even close among 18-to-49-year-olds, where Idol again ruled the prime-time universe while the performance and results editions of Dancing sagged to 11th and 40th place.

TBS' Are We There Yet? has a not surprising destination

Ed Bark — 2010-06-01T15:04:55-05:00
TBS, also home to Tyler Perry's House of Payne and Meet the Browns, makes it a threesome Wednesday night with the first two episodes of Are We There Yet? ...But it's drawn ample and mostly younger audiences for its two Tyler Perry-produced comedies, both of which also are shot on old-school videotape and affixed with a laugh track.

Idol finale: Paula salutes Simon; Casey James duets with Bret Michaels; Janet Jackson returns to the stage (and oh yeah, Lee won)

Ed Bark — 2010-05-27T08:18:32-05:00
The seven standardbearers, starting with inaugural victor Kelly Clarkson of Burleson, TX, were soon joined by various and sundry Idol castoffs for a group-sing that seemed to make the flinty Cowell just a tad misty. ...Performing with varying combinations of Top 10 finalists were Hall and Oates, Chicago, The Bee Gees, Michael McDonald, Joe Cocker and Alice Cooper, all of whom have moved well north of the show's advertiser-favored target audience of 18-to-49-year-olds.

Little in common except running out of gas: 24 and Law & Order go down for the count

Ed Bark — 2010-05-24T13:27:49-05:00
Both justice-seekers are being terminated after tonight. 24's two-hour series finale (7 to 9 p.m. central) ends the small-screen career of Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland), with plans to make a big-screen feature set in Europe. ...Meanwhile, Merkerson's character is quietly battling cervical cancer -- and the high costs of medical procedures -- while her two main detectives are constantly thwarted in their efforts to track down a potential terrorist bomber going by the blog name of "Moot."

Lost finds decent national ratings; ABC rediscovers Miss America pageant

Ed Bark — 2010-05-24T12:38:36-05:00
But Lost did win its time slot, beating NBC's runner-up season finale of Celebrity Apprentice by 4.2 million viewers while also dominating among advertiser-favored 18-to-49-year-olds. It's a sign of Lost's declining popularity, though, that the May 23, 2007 Season 3 finale drew more total viewers, as did the Feb. 21, 2008 episode, says ABC.

Jesus take the wheel: Lost ends and ascends

Ed Bark — 2010-05-24T05:50:57-05:00
Father also assured son that "everything that's ever happened to you is real" before they walked into the church and its congregation of beaming couples destined and meant to be together. ...Their Christian Shepherd -- named Christian Shephard -- finally walked between two angels and into a blinding white light before earthly Jack at last let go and expired from his wounds after saving the island from destruction.

CW adds two, plots 10th and last season for Smallville

Ed Bark — 2010-05-20T08:20:12-05:00
Smallville, birthed a decade ago on the defunct WB network, will launch its 10th and final season with an eye toward a "classic reuniting of the timeless romance" between Clark "Superman" Kent (Tom Welling) and Lois Lane (Erica Durance) during their grownup stint at The Daily Planet. ...But two fellow freshmen, Vampire Diaries and Life Unexpected, are getting sophomore years. 90210, Supernatural, One Tree Hill and Life Unexpected all will have new nights in the fall.

CBS' new fall colors include a quartet of high-profile show shifts, new Hawaii Five-O and the returns of Shatner, Selleck

Ed Bark — 2010-05-19T10:02:50-05:00
Mike & Molly (comedy) -- CBS sitcom potentate Chuck Lorre (Two and a Half Men, The Big Bang Theory) notches another one with this saga of a working class Chicago couple whose eyes for each other turn out to be bigger than their stomachs when they first meet at an Overeaters Anonymous session. ...***The Big Bang Theory, which had been safely nestled behind Two and a Half Men on Mondays, will have to fend for itself as Thursday night's new leadoff hitter, with the Shatner comedy following.

ABC's new fall season throws another Texas-made series in the mix

Ed Bark — 2010-05-18T09:57:00-05:00
ABC announced that My Generation, centered on a group of grads from Austin's fictional Greenbelt High School, will be among the seven new series coming this autumn. ...The Whole Truth -- Rob Morrow, former star of CBS' soon-to-be-officially-canceled Numb3rs, immediately rebounds as a rising criminal defense attorney whose chief adversary is a deputy DA played by Joely Richardson from Nip/Tuck.

Two made-in-Dallas series make Fox's fall cut

Ed Bark — 2010-05-17T08:42:14-05:00
It joins Fox's ongoing The Good Guys, which set up shop in Fair Park early this year. Good Guys, which launches with a preview episode on Wednesday, May 19th before beginning a summertime run on June 7th, will then move right into Fox's fall lineup. ...Fox also made other news Monday by announcing that Glee will be next year's post Super Bowl attraction when the NFL's super-powed end game makes its inaugural appearance at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington.

Peacock goes "back to basics" by re-embracing "quality" scripted series

Ed Bark — 2010-05-16T21:24:24-05:00
NBC's new fall prime-time lineup has both a made-in-Dallas drama and Jimmy Smits in a legal series from the banished Conan O'Brien's production company. ...Kelli Giddish, from the shortlived Fox series Past Life stars as U.S. marshal Annie Frost, described as a "cowboy boot-wearing deputy whose sharp mind and unique Texas upbringing her help track down violent criminals on the run."

NBC cancels Law & Order, keeps Chuck, orders a Law & Order spinoff and a new drama series co-produced by Conan O'Brien (double huh?!)

Ed Bark — 2010-05-14T15:20:12-05:00
Oddly enough, Conan O'Brien also is proving his enduring appeal with NBC, even after leaving in disgust earlier this year rather than have The Tonight Show pushed back a half-hour to make room for a half-hour Jay Leno program that never materialized. ...Plus it's already renewed Law & Order: SVU, Chuck, Parenthood, The Office, 30 Rock, Community, Parks & Recreation, The Biggest Loser, The Marriage Ref, Who Do You Think You Are?, Minute to Win It a non-celebrity version of The Apprentice, a Dateline or two and Woody the Upchucking Woodchuck.

A new window on The Doors in a striking American Masters film

Ed Bark — 2010-05-11T15:46:39-05:00
PBS' latest American Masters presentation, When You're Strange: A Film About The Doors, can't help but be mostly about Morrison, who died in a Paris bathtub in 1971 at age 27. ..."To some, Jim was a poet, his soul trapped between heaven and hell," narrator Johnny Depp says near the end of the 90-minute When You're Strange (Wednesday May 12th, 9 p.m. on KERA13).

Friday Night Lights back in play on NBC

Ed Bark — 2010-05-06T16:28:42-05:00
Stripped of his Dillon Panthers by a power play, Coach Eric Taylor (Kyle Chandler) now is stuck with the ramshackle East Dillion Lions while wife Tami (Connie Britton) remains as the embattled principal of his old school. Season 4 has 13 episodes, all of which are scheduled to run on Fridays at 7 p.m. central, beginning May 7th. Unclebarky.com reviewed the Season 4 opener when it launched on DirecTV.

Pretty damned Good Guys gets ready to roll through Dallas

Ed Bark — 2010-05-06T08:15:00-05:00
The scheduled 13 episodes of Good Guys, with the first directed by veteran actor Tim Matheson, look as though they're going to be both a boon for the Dallas economy and a bracing departure from broadcast TV's annual hot weather drought. ...And while you're waiting for May 19th, go ahead and click onto Fox's official Good Guys page for a lot of stuff that Stark wouldn't know or care how to access.

Lost finale has another growth spurt

Ed Bark — 2010-05-05T13:23:00-05:00
The 2004 two-hour Lost pilot also will be re-airing, on Saturday, May 22nd from 7 to 9 p.m. ...***Saturday Night Live's May 15th season finale will be hosted by Alec Baldwin, allowing him to tie Steve Martin's record of 15 such appearances.

O'Brien returns to TV as bearded laddy on friendly 60 Minutes turf

Ed Bark — 2010-05-02T21:50:46-05:00
Conan with Kroft and in costume on comedy tour during Sunday's 60 Minutes segment, his first contractually allowed TV appearance since leaving NBC's Tonight Show on Jan. 22nd. Photos: Ed Bark ...So Conan O'Brien picked 60 Minutes Sunday for his first permissible TV appearance since NBC paid him $32 million to go away and give The Tonight Show back to Jay Leno.

ABC's Happy Town is almost anything but -- plausible, absorbing, spooky or entertaining (which is sad)

Ed Bark — 2010-04-27T08:51:07-05:00
Those with exceedingly sharp TV memories will remember that both Stults and Jay Paulson (cast as a deputy named Eli "Root Beer" Rogers) logged time as regular characters on October Road, which lasted for 19 episodes. ...Would it be giving away too much to reveal that a bird flies through a central character's car window at the end of Episode 2 to the tune of Carly Simon's "You're So Vain?"

HBO's You Don't Know Jack -- namely Kevorkian -- moves Pacino further up the pantheon

Ed Bark — 2010-04-22T16:39:45-05:00
The first assisted suicide, with Janet Adkins releasing the medication that quickly kills her, is carried out in the back of Jack's VW bus after Hemlock Society activist Janet Good (a solid Susan Sarandon) belatedly has to renege on an agreement to use her home as an incubator. ...Pacino's full-immersion portrayal is virtually certain to bring him another best actor Emmy to go with the one he took home for his indelible turn as Roy Cohn in HBO's super-acclaimed Angels In America miniseries.

NBC's fourth SNL history lesson passes, yet fails

Ed Bark — 2010-04-15T13:23:28-05:00
Paul Simon's very memorable performance of "The Boxer" added to the overall somberness of the show's early minutes before Giuliani praised SNL as a national institution that both the country and New York couldn't live without. ...Going unmentioned is the fact that the next week's long-scheduled host, New Yorker Ben Stiller, in fact did pull out abruptly and without any apology or explanation, according to the excellent 2002 oral history of the show, titled Live From New York.

"You know what, a Latino and a redhead. It's worked before. Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball"

Ed Bark — 2010-04-13T13:07:11-05:00
And in truth, this just might work like gangbusters on a network that's going to lavish tons of promotion on both shows, pay O'Brien a reported $10 million a year and also give him ownership of whatever show emerges and the freedom to do it as he pleases. ...Idol hasn't had a Madonna week yet, but this year's Season 9 would only suffer in comparison anyway.

TBS coo coo for Coco, with Fox out of the picture

Ed Bark — 2010-04-12T12:08:00-05:00
NBC, in one of the most bizarre ongoing soap operas in TV history, had canceled Leno's 9 p.m. prime-time show after network affiliates threatened to preempt it because of lowly audience lead-ins to their following local newscasts. ...

Bauer bowing out: 24 will call it quits after this season stops ticking

Ed Bark — 2010-03-27T11:27:38-05:00
"While the end of the series is bittersweet, we always wanted 24 to finish on a high note," Sutherland said in a news release that was emailed at 7:20:36 p.m. central time Friday. ..."One of the things that I was always so unbelievably proud of is that you could have our show being discussed by Bill Clinton and Rush Limbaugh at the same time, both using it and citing it to justify their points of view.

Lifetime Movie Network keeps the faith with compelling Amish Grace

Ed Bark — 2010-03-26T15:23:20-05:00
For dramatic purposes, grieving Ida Graber (Kimberly Williams-Paisley) is the lone holdout in Amish Grace after learning that her 14-year-old daughter, Mary Beth (Madison Davenport), was among the victims. ...Gideon, a by-the-book practitioner, reluctantly says that his wife will be "shunned" if she makes good on her vow to leave the Amish community rather than forgive the murderer of their daughter or his widow.

ABC serves Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution (but will Americans eat it up?)

Ed Bark — 2010-03-26T10:05:13-05:00
Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution infiltrates the "unhealthiest city in America" in a six-episode effort to wean its denizens -- particularly school children -- off steady diets of breakfast pizzas, chicken nuggets and an overall "Aladdin's cave of processed crap," as he puts it. ..."I'm just feelin' really sad and depressed right now," she says before Oliver digs a backyard grave for the kitchen fryer and pronounces, "We're gonna bury this old grease ball thing, and we're not going to have it anymore."

CW's Fly Girls is grounded in pseduo reality

Ed Bark — 2010-03-23T12:56:56-05:00
Billionaire Richard Branson's Virgin America airlines is the takeoff point for Fly Girls, which stars five cute 'n' buxom flight attendants named Nikole, Louise, Farrah, Tasha and Mandalay. ...In Wednesday's premiere episode (they mercifully only last a half-hour), Mandalay gets all weepy after Nikole conspires to stand next to Branson atop a fire truck at a big Virgin America "launch party" in Fort Lauderdale.

Showtime's Nurse Jackie takes its meds for Season 2

Ed Bark — 2010-03-22T13:34:10-05:00
Starring: Edie Falco, Merrit Wever, Eve Best, Peter Facinelli, Anna Deavere Smith, Dominic Fumusa, Paul Schulze, Ruby Jerins, Mackenzie Aladjem, Stephen Wallem, Arjun Gupta ...Plus he's tweeting -- beginning in Episode 2 -- as part of a new gambit that will play out weekly in real time on the show's newly minted "@DoctorCoop" twitter account.

Breaking Bad snaps into Season 3

Ed Bark — 2010-03-18T16:00:33-05:00
The Cousins, played by Daniel and Luis Moncada, let their carnage do the talking Sunday night in the Season 3 premiere of AMC's devilishly good Breaking Bad. They've crossed the Mexican border to Albuquerque in search of the now desperately unhappy Walter White (Bryan Cranston), a chemistry teacher/meth cooker whose descent into the lucrative drug trade was triggered by a lung cancer diagnosis and his desire to leave a big pile of cash behind for his financially pressed family.

Sy fy fo fum

Ed Bark — 2010-03-17T14:23:44-05:00
Mongolian Death Worm -- A treasure hunter who has been searching for a tomb containing Genghis Khan's treasure teams with a humanitarian UN health worker to stop the Mongolian Death Worms, awakened by experimental oil drilling in the Mongolian desert. ...Stonehenge Apocalypse -- When the giant stones of Stonehenge begin to move and cataclysms occur all over the earth, only a fringe radio talk show host who's an expert in UFOlogy figures out that the ancient monument is really alien technology.

Badge of honor: FX's Justified cools it a bit without losing an edge

Ed Bark — 2010-03-15T17:44:14-05:00
Tuesday's premiere of Justified (the lead character originated in novels by Elmore Leonard) turns out to be notably darker in tone than two subsequent episodes sent for review. ...It's nice to see the network try a little tenderness for a change with a drama that curbs its enthusiasm for aggressively anti-hero males and instead gives viewers an easier to swallow blend of Southern Comfort and lemonade.

HBO's The Pacific joins its already vast collection of finest hours

Ed Bark — 2010-03-12T10:58:37-06:00
By this time, another real-life Marine -- Rami Malek as Merriell "Snafu" Shelton -- has come into full focus as a cynical, almost depraved combatant who in Episode 7 amuses himself by tossing pebbles into a dead Japanese soldier's partially remaining skull. ...The Pacific draws on memoirs by both Leckie (Helmet for My Pillow) and Sledge (With the Old Breed) to retell what they and their fellow Marines went through.

Sons of Tucson comes up stinko

Ed Bark — 2010-03-11T09:52:15-06:00
It's usually not a good idea to replicate a flop, and perhaps no one involved with Sons of Tucson has ever heard of A Family For Joe. ...Fox's Sons of Tucson, premiering Sunday after Family Guy, stars beefy Tyler Labine (Reaper) as lame-brained Ron Snuffkin, who's living out of his car.

Scum rises to the top in CW's High Society

Ed Bark — 2010-03-10T13:00:40-06:00
Being sneak-previewed in half-hour form after Wednesday's America's Next Top Model, this higher-end answer to Jersey Shore does a splendid job of making its real-life characters thoroughly despicable. ...She used to be married to a rich guy, but now can be seen play-sobbing in her Upper East Side loft after her recent separation from fund marketer Robert Livingston "Topper" Mortimer, whose face is digitized in Wednesday's premiere.

DVD review: ABC's Elvis now back in the building

Ed Bark — 2010-03-09T09:34:47-06:00
He's got the voice and mannerisms down, pulling viewers into a nuanced characterization that takes Elvis from a virginal, picked-on high schooler to a darker, insecure commodity who shoots a hole in a Las Vegas hotel TV screen when a local news anchor speculates on whether he can still deliver the goods "after nearly 10 years in seclusion." ...From there it's a leisurely, evocative journey back to the "present," with ample time for the formative music that made Presley an idolized, moneymaking machine whose wealth and generosity took Vernon and Gladys from the family's dumpy, Honeymooners-esque apartment in Memphis to the gaudy environs of Graceland.

Oscar audience up 5 mil from previous year's

Ed Bark — 2010-03-08T15:34:48-06:00
Sunday night's 82nd annual Academy Awards lured 5 million more viewers nationally than the last one, giving ABC its most-watched Oscars telecast in five years. ...The least-watched Oscars were in 2008, when just 32 million viewers cared enough to see No Country For Old Men win for best picture.

Limp Oscars fade away after less than dynamic hosting by Martin/Baldwin

Ed Bark — 2010-03-08T08:16:25-06:00
This year he came as a Na'vi from Avatar, improvising as he went along while joking that it seemed like a much better idea in rehearsals. Avatar director James Cameron agreeably laughed it up, but wouldn't have much to smile about later. ...Whether acting or not, he responded enthusiastically to her win and then had to repeat the process when Hurt Locker also beat Avatar for Best Picture.

The Office "Baby Event" struggles to be a special delivery

Ed Bark — 2010-03-04T15:19:28-06:00
"The One-Hour Office Baby Event," as NBC keeps billing it, seems more than a little too sitcom-y for a series of this caliber. ...Through it all, Dunder Mifflin boss Michael Scott (Steve Carell) as always makes an ass of himself, whether trying to act as a matchmaker or racing off to the hospital with the expectant couple in tow.

Leno re-takes Tonight, knowing that this time NBC will keep its hands off

Ed Bark — 2010-03-02T10:50:19-06:00
Sporting a new desk but sticking to the same format, Jay Leno welcomed Jamie Foxx on his first Tonight do-over Monday. NBC photo ...Yeah, except for her impromptu December appearance on O'Brien's Tonight, during which she mockingly read excerpts from one of William Shatner's books after he mockingly read excerpts from her Going Rogue.

NBC's Parenthood a long-needed feather in Peacock's plumage

Ed Bark — 2010-03-01T16:07:52-06:00
The network's disastrous dalliance with Jay Leno kept intelligent life at bay for what seemed like eight days a week. Parenthood, a very populated second coming of both a 1989 feature film and a short-lived 1990 NBC series, is a firm first step in restoring a little order. ...The drama initially unfolds with few if any genuine surprises, whether it's the grousing, old-school Zeek melting like buttah at crunch time or the insecure Sarah rising to the occasion of an impromptu date with a balding old high school flame whom she initially sees as an even bigger loser.

Young's "Long May You Run" had familiar NBC ring to it; Marriage Ref launch then waylays Olympics' closing ceremonies

Ed Bark — 2010-03-01T00:03:10-06:00
Determined to give Jerry Seinfeld's The Marriage Ref a showcase sneak preview, NBC plopped it in the middle of its live coverage of the Olympics' closing ceremonies Sunday night. ...But a half-hour edition of Marriage Ref, which NBC did not make available for review, instead served as a bridge between the Peacock's prime-time and late night coverage of the Vancouver curtain-closer.

ABC News plans big cuts as part of widespread digital age transformation

Ed Bark — 2010-02-23T17:23:48-06:00
To that end, ABC News will "expand our use of digital journalists" while also embracing "the example set by Nightline of editorial staff who shoot and edit their own material," Westin said. ...He positioned the upcoming bloodletting and leaner ways of newsgathering as a "rare opportunity to get in front of what's coming, to ensure that ABC News has a sound journalistic and financial footing for many years to come, and to serve our audiences even better."

The Olympian hair of Bob Costas: a seminar

Ed Bark — 2010-02-22T12:03:07-06:00
Bob Barker had the fortitude to renounce his hair dye bottle during the height of his fame as host of CBS' The Price Is Right. ...But former Hill Street Blues star Michael Warren took the plunge, as did Newsweek's Jonathan Alter, a frequent guest on TV's innumerable political roundtables.

A sorry apology from Woods? Not in this view

Ed Bark — 2010-02-19T10:37:28-06:00
"Please know that as far as I am concerned, every one of these questions and answers is a matter between Elin and me," Woods said before pointedly scolding those in the media who directed their glares on his immediate family. ...But Woods is absolutely right in his decision to not go public about who he slept with, how Elin found out and all the other attendant juice that has so many media outlets slobbering.

Jerry's Palace anointed anew on truTV's NFL Full Contact

Ed Bark — 2010-02-15T11:24:04-06:00
Those who aren't satiated with Jerry's Palace yet can turn right around and relive the first regular season Cowboys game on the second episode of truTV's NFL Full Contact (Monday, Feb. 15th at 9 p.m. central). "What the Roman Colosseum was to the first century is what Cowboys Stadium is to the 21st century," NBC Sunday Night Football announcer Al Michaels said by way of introduction to the team's eventual 33-31 loss to the New York Giants before an NFL record crowd of 105,121 on Sept. 20th.

Cowboy Colby and friends (and enemies) go back to the bush for Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains

Ed Bark — 2010-02-11T08:14:19-06:00
Heading west to Hollywood, Donaldson took acting lessons and popped up as a guest star on a few prime-time TV series before signing on with 2004's Survivor: All-Stars. ...Survivor host Jeff Probst, who's also been a friend of Donaldson's since the Outback edition, says that an acting career is "vibrant as long as it's vibrant in your heart.

Fox's Past Life needs to find a pulse

Ed Bark — 2010-02-09T12:03:22-06:00
The latest culprit -- and that's the case here -- is Fox's Past Life, which gets the usual post-American Idol launchpad Tuesday night before being sent to Thursdays to fend for itself. ...Ivey's quickly out of the picture, though, leaving Past Life to reach a resolution without enough bite, zip or basic believability to merit your continued patronage.

Super Bowl XLIV mashes M*A*S*H finale, says CBS

Ed Bark — 2010-02-08T14:40:45-06:00
Averaging 106.5 million viewers in the preliminary national Nielsens, the game edges CBS' Feb. 28, 1983 telecast of the M*A*S*H finale, which had 106 million viewers. ...CBS says that the first episode of Undercover Boss is the most-watched series premiere in any time slot since ABC launched the variety series Dolly (starring Dolly Parton) on Sept.

Come together: Letterman and Leno play act with Oprah as buffer

Ed Bark — 2010-02-08T09:36:28-06:00
The surprise spot of Super Bowl XLIV came at the 9:34 mark of the second quarter, when Indiana native David Letterman in a Colts jersey whined, "This is the worst Super bowl party ever." ...

Jobs well done: CBS' post-Super Bowl Undercover Boss pays as it goes

Ed Bark — 2010-02-05T13:39:50-06:00
O'Donnell infiltrates his own company by posing as Randy Lawrence, whose adventures as an entry level worker are being recorded by a camera crew as grist for a possible reality series. ...This provides the star of this hour with some built-in empathy before he tries to master the art of picking recyclable cardboard off a fast-moving conveyor belt while being encouraged by a dedicated employee named Sandy.

Danes in full bloom as autistic heroine of HBO's Temple Grandin

Ed Bark — 2010-02-04T16:32:47-06:00
That's the condensed review of HBO's Temple Grandin (Saturday, Feb. 6th, 7 p.m. central), which on paper has a less than scintillating premise. ...The film begins in 1966, with Temple spending the summer at her Aunt Ann's (Catherine O'Hara) cattle ranch in Arizona before being asked to make an abrupt transition to Franklin Pierce College out East.

Jones 'n' Joplin -- still smokin' after all these years

Ed Bark — 2010-02-04T09:59:53-06:00
For a truly blazin' hot twofer, though, return with us to 1969's This Is Tom Jones, during which the swivel-hipped underwear-catcher smoked TV screens with a wailing Janis Joplin. ...

Lost returns with double shots of intrigue (note: don't read if you still plan to see it)

Ed Bark — 2010-02-03T07:50:43-06:00
Jack Shephard (Matthew Fox); apprehended fugitive Kate Austen (Evangeline Lilly); con man James "Sawyer" Ford (Josh Holloway); paralyzed John Locke (Terry O'Quinn); former torturer Sayid Jarrah (Naveen Andrews); lottery winner Hugo "Hurley" Reyes (Jorge Garcia) and husband/wife Jin and Sun Kwon (Daniel Dae Kim, Yunjin Kim) were all back aboard their Oceanic 815 flight from Sydney to L.A. ..."I'm sorry you had to see me like that," he told a cowed Ben Linus (Michael Emerson), who's been reduced to his intimidated gofer while fake Locke has emerged as the island's brusque, sometimes brutal overlord.

Better late than never? Conan's last week a ratings triumph (plus, the Grammys get the words out)

Ed Bark — 2010-02-01T00:08:30-06:00
Jay Leno, who had dominated Letterman in both ratings measurements, gets a do-over on March 1st when he returns as Tonight host after a disastrous run in prime-time that will end on the Feb. 11th eve of the Winter Olympics. ...

"Just Jay and Oprah, speaking titan to titan"

Ed Bark — 2010-01-29T11:15:45-06:00
On Thursday's Jimmy Kimmel Live, he rebutted Jay Leno's contention -- on that day's interview with Oprah Winfrey -- that Kimmel had "sucker-punched" him during a "10 at 10" segment in which Kimmel took the opportunity to mock Leno. ...

Spartacus: Blood and Sand spews, spurts and somehow makes it work

Ed Bark — 2010-01-21T15:12:17-06:00
The new Starz series Spartacus: Blood and Sand is awash in the red stuff, whether it's splattering onto the screen, spewing from mouths or coursing from various severed veins and appendages. ...Balking at contrary orders from Roman commander Glaber (Craig Parker), he eventually is separated from his beauteous wife Sura (Erin Cummings) and sentenced to a kill-or-be-killed life of gladiator-dom.

Leno returning to saddle, Conan hitting the beach

Ed Bark — 2010-01-21T11:14:44-06:00
Jay Leno, pushed into prime-time after O'Brien took over Tonight, will return as the show's host on March 1st after NBC's telecasts of the Winter Olympics from Vancouver. ...Post-Leno -- at least in terms of his prime-time show -- the Peacock will be puttying its 9 p.m. (central) hour after the Olympics with two Law & Order hours, an expanded Dateline NBC, the new scripted series Parenthood and The Marriage Ref, a comedy panel show produced by Jerry Seinfeld.

ABC's The Deep End lawyers up without making much of a case

Ed Bark — 2010-01-20T12:35:37-06:00
There are many characters to digest here, even though one of them, first year associate Malcolm Bennet (Mehcad Brooks from HBO's True Blood), is only fleetingly introduced amid the rapid rush of events at the haughty Sterling law firm. ...Huddle's married -- but not happily so -- to firm partner Susan Oppenheimer (Nicole Ann Parker). Deep End also includes a "mentor" named Rowdy Kaiser (Leo Butz) and an unnamed paralegal (Rosa Pasquarella) whose extracurricular activities are key to the soap opera-ish aspects of the series.

CW's Life Unexpected is another one of life's little disappointments

Ed Bark — 2010-01-18T13:18:23-06:00
Her biological parents are Nate "Baze" Bazile (Kristoffer Polaha) and Cate Cassidy (Shiri Appleby), a well-known morning radio deejay who has an intimate relationship with her on-air partner, Ryan Thomas (Kerr Smith). ...Whatever your age, it's way too hard to swallow the premise that the irresistibly cute and smart Lux went unadopted because she had a hole in her heart that required a series of surgeries until the age of three.

Glee, Mad Men win top TV Globes

Ed Bark — 2010-01-17T23:32:05-06:00
"This is for anybody and everybody who got a wedgie in high school," executive producer Ryan Murphy said after the first-year series won in the best comedy or musical category. ...Cameron said he had to pee really bad, and would be quick with his remarks, which he pretty much was. Avatar also won the night's climactic trophy -- for "Best Motion Picture -- Drama."

Fox's Human Target triggers another alpha male into action

Ed Bark — 2010-01-17T16:00:58-06:00
In Sunday's "special preview event" -- preceding 24's two-hour Season 8 launch -- he's aboard a spanking new San Francisco to L.A. "bullet train" in the company of its comely design team head, whose life is endangered. ...Although his life is constantly in the balance, Chance seems to be having lots more fun than the ever-taut Jack Bauer. Human Target bloodies him up, particularly after Sunday's prolonged kick/punch, semi-cartoonish fight with a would-be assassin.

Which network can't you do without?

Ed Bark — 2010-01-07T16:15:19-06:00
As of this writing, Cablevision is still warring with Food Network and HGTV after dropping them from its systems earlier this month rather than pay the markedly higher carriage fees being sought by their proprietor, Scripps Networks. And at the end of last year, Time Warner Cable and Fox Networks Group had a big bout on a similar front, with their main disagreement over "retransmission" fees for Fox's broadcast channel, home of American Idol, The Simpsons and House.

Look out below: FX's animated Archer is fit for an R-rated review

Ed Bark — 2010-01-07T14:18:23-06:00
ISIS also is populated by the aforementioned lush Lana Kane (Aisha Tyler); plus-sized human resources director Pam (Amber Nash); dutiful secretary Cheryl (Judy Greer) and comptroller Cyril Figgis (Chris Parnell), who is Lana's new boyfriend. ...It's likely to hit the young male demo like a laser beam while also dragging along some older gray mules who can't help but be kind of amused by this equal opportunity offender.

The Simpsons: 20 years, 450 episodes and counting

Ed Bark — 2010-01-07T14:18:00-06:00
The filmmaker ranges fairly far and wide, going to England for a close encounter with a Simpsons collectibles fanatic while also collecting celebrity quotes from the likes of Conan O'Brien (a former writer on the show), Sting, Dan Rather, Brian Williams, Hugh Hefner, Jimmy Kimmel and John Waters. ...This is exactly the kind of cheeky approach that's worn so well, even if the show's maestros more or less acknowledge that The Simpsons perhaps isn't as funny now as it was a decade or so ago.

ABC's love connections are hardly heart-healthy

Ed Bark — 2010-01-03T22:08:51-06:00
For openers, studly Dallas flyboy Jake Pavelka begins sorting through 25 awestruck beauties on ABC's two-hour premiere of The Bachelor: On the Wings of Love (7 p.m. central). ...Then comes Conveyor Belt of Love (9 p.m. central), a one-hour special apparently designed to pound brain cells senseless with a two-by-four before implanting them in Joey Lawrence.

Everyman "Charlie" Gibson signs off ABC's World News

Ed Bark — 2009-12-18T18:13:39-06:00
Gibson, 66, briefly yielded to his emotions before a film clip showed a who's who of dignitaries, including President Obama and the four living former U.S. presidents, saying farewell and wishing him well. ..."Objectivity is not universally in favor in our business today, but it is critically important," Gibson said, a reference to Fox News Channel, MSNBC and a host of partisan talk radio programs. World News must always be relied on to be fair and impartial, he emphasized.

Lights, cameras, pageantry: TCM's Gigantic World of Epics is suitably towering

Ed Bark — 2009-12-17T13:41:18-06:00
Its spotlights shine brightest on Zhivago, Arabia, Gone with the Wind, The Ten Commandments and Ben-Hur, for which star Charlton Heston won a best actor Oscar in an epic best known for its unparalleled chariot race. ...The genre fell on hard times after Mutiny on the Bounty (1962) and Cleopatra (1963) burned money without making nearly as much as anticipated. The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964) then bombed big-time, souring studios on epics until Dances with Wolves (1990), Braveheart (1995) and Gladiator (2000) successively were critical and commercial successes.

GMA tabs Stephanopoulos, Chang to replace re-assigned Sawyer, Cuomo

Ed Bark — 2009-12-10T14:14:12-06:00
He'll also remain in charge of Sunday morning's This Week With George Stephanopoulos "until a replacement is named," ABC News president David Westin said in a news release. ...GMA also is adding Juju Chang, 44, as the program's news reader, with Chris Cuomo becoming co-anchor of 20/20 with Elizabeth Vargas and also serving as the network's chief justice and law correspondent.

Sign o' the Apocalypse? ABC slots Conveyor Belt of Love after January premiere of new Bachelor

Ed Bark — 2009-12-10T10:18:44-06:00
It's scheduled to follow the season premiere of The Bachelor: On Wings of Love, starring Dallas commercial pilot Jake Pavelka as the latest hunky rose-bestower. ..."If two or more of the women are interested in the same man, the tables turn and the man on the conveyor belt gets to choose which one he would like to wait for."

TNT's Men of a Certain Age gives older guys a welcome new guise

Ed Bark — 2009-12-07T09:56:47-06:00
In a very real sense, the Big Four broadcast networks (and little CW) no longer have any use for a weekly hour without gruesome crime, fantasy mythology or a cast predominated by characters almost a decade older than Brett Favre. ...Braugher, best known for his Emmy-winning work on Homicide: Life on the Street, is getting nowhere fast as Owen, a diabetic, overweight, married father of three who works for his stern father's car dealership.

Syfy's Alice "re-imagines" her as Wonderland-trapped action-hero

Ed Bark — 2009-12-04T14:39:06-06:00
Syfy's four-hour Alice, premiering Sunday at 8 p.m. (central) and continuing Monday at the same hour, bears the stamp of venerable Robert Halmi Sr. as co-executive producer. ...she demands after an elderly, double-ponytailed human form of White Rabbit leads her through the Looking Glass and into a Wonderland that at first seems like something out of the Great Depression.

Talkin' trash and grillin' for a grand prize on TLC's BBQ Pitmasters

Ed Bark — 2009-12-03T15:59:31-06:00
"Everybody's not Michael Jordan, everybody's not Tiger Woods and they damn sure ain't me," he brags in Thursday's premiere of TLC's BBQ Pitmasters. ...BBQ Pitmasters is kind of fun to watch, with the well-fed Mixon mixin' it up and pretty much casting himself as the guy on whom rivals and viewers would most like to bestow a can of whoop ass.

Comcast to take controlling interest of NBC Universal -- including that crummy old, loss-leading broadcast network

Ed Bark — 2009-12-03T11:51:17-06:00
A joint news release by Comcast and GE (which will retain a 49 percent ownership share for now), and CNBC's interview with the companies' CEOs accentuated the positives of cable's dual revenue streams and current-day profit margins. ...NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker will remain in place after taking the NBC broadcast network into a fourth-place dumper while at the same time building the company's growing arsenal of cable networks into big-time profit centers.

Jesse Ventura body slams brain cells in truTV's Conspiracy Theory

Ed Bark — 2009-12-02T13:28:51-06:00
An accompanying soundtrack, replete with drum-beating and other notes of urgency, quickly chaperones Ventura and a camera crew to the very gates of hell, where the former Navy SEAL is told by a man with a digitized head and altered voice that he won't be getting an impromptu tour of the HAARP facility. ...And Ventura also talks to a suspicious townie with a disheveled beard who says he was "havin' a beer" one night when a fellow bar fly talked about how they inadvertently "fried a guy" at HAARP.

Bravo? Not so for Lauer and the Salahis during Tuesday's Today show interview

Ed Bark — 2009-12-01T10:07:11-06:00
It had been reported that Michaele and Tareq Salahi were trying to negotiate a big payday for their first TV interview after bagging out on Monday night's edition of CNN's Larry King Live. ...Representatives of the Bravo cable network, owned by NBC Universal, have acknowledged filming the Salahis on the day and night they successfully made their way into last Tuesday's State Dinner, where they were photographed with President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden among others.

Salahis will see Lauer -- apparently for free -- on Tuesday's Today.

Ed Bark — 2009-12-01T00:29:20-06:00
After bagging out on Monday's edition of CNN's Larry King Live, America's most famous uninvited guests, Michaele and Tareq Salahi, instead have granted their first TV interview to NBC's Today. ...The Salahis reportedly were seeking a fee in excess of $100,000 for any TV appearance after canceling their appearance with King. Today, produced by NBC News, has a policy of not paying for interviews, although the network's publicity release makes no such disclaimer.

Latest Kennedy assassination rewind retains a firm grip

Ed Bark — 2009-11-23T10:35:45-06:00
Premiering one day removed from the 46th anniversary of President Kennedy's last day, it's two hours shorter than History Channel's two-part, four-hour JFK: 3 Shots That Changed America, which aired in early October as part of that network's "Kennedy DeClassified Week." ...Most jarring of all, though, is a local TV reporter (again off-camera and unidentified) telling viewers, "The report is that the attempted assassins, we now hear it was a man and a woman who fired the shots were on the ledge of a building near the Houston Street underpass."

Sarah and Oprah -- not really worth bookmarking

Ed Bark — 2009-11-16T18:07:17-06:00
Did Palin feel "snubbed" by The Oprah Winfrey Show after the Queen of Talk very publicly endorsed Barack Obama before deciding against inviting any of the candidates to chat with her? "No offense to you, but it wasn't the center of my universe" at the time, Palin said, prompting Winfrey to look just a bit taken aback before quickly recovering.

Take a number: AMC's The Prisoner strives to be six hours that count

Ed Bark — 2009-11-13T06:40:33-06:00
Six, who despises his numerical designation, has frequent flashbacks to New York, where he worked for a data gathering monolith known as Summakor. The Prisoner slowly unveils layers of his one-night relationship with Lucy (Hayley Atwell), a fellow employee who now distrusts Summakor while Six likewise has doubts about her. ...Other key players are Two's pill-fed, oft-comatose wife, M2 (Rachael Blake); their rebellious teen or twentysomething son 11-12 (Jamie Campbell Bower); and a doctor known as 313 (Ruth Wilson).

Apocalypse -- not now but then

Ed Bark — 2009-11-10T17:19:38-06:00
So it's hard to know how much of Smithsonian Channel's six-hour Apocalypse lives up to claims that most of its footage is hardly same-old, same-old. ...Hour 3 ("Shock"), also sent for review, is starker and more powerful in its footage of the Nazi Army's march toward Moscow in conditions ranging from dusty/bumpy to impossibly muddy to brutally cold.

Yanks-Phils highest-rated Series in five years

Ed Bark — 2009-11-06T17:09:31-06:00
The New York Yankees' 6-game triumph over the Philadelphia Phillies averaged 19.4 million viewers nationally after last fall's rain-soaked Phils-Rays 5-gamer hit an all-time low with 13.6 million viewers. ...Since 1973, when Nielsen Media Research began measuring total viewer ratings, the highest-rated Series is 1978's 6-game faceoff on NBC between the victorious Yankees and the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Minority report: Lopez, Sykes gear up for after-hours

Ed Bark — 2009-11-06T11:54:54-06:00
"Being of a different ethnicity and a different comedic approach, I don't think we're going after the same audience" as rival late night shows, Lopez says. ...Both late nighters are scheduled opposite local newscasts, with Sykes getting a half-hour head start on NBC's Saturday Night Live and Lopez doing likewise with NBC's Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien and CBS' Late Show With David Letterman.

Peacock plucked again

Ed Bark — 2009-11-03T17:14:53-06:00
At the same time it will have to re-program the 9 p.m. (central) hour with scripted dramas in hopes that one or more of them will be a reasonable facsimile of the next ER. For now, though, and likely for the rest of the 2009-10 TV season, NBC can thank its lucky stars for Sunday Night Football while waiting for the roof to cave in after a brief respite with the Winter Olympics.

ABC's V "re-imagines" NBC original -- but with flair

Ed Bark — 2009-11-02T15:59:15-06:00
And when you get right down to it, V then as now is about a clandestine master plan by camouflaged, lizard-skinned "Visitors" to take over Earth after wiping out its inhabitants. ...By hour's end, though, you'll clearly know the good guys from the bad ones. V now will have to keep its ball rolling without resorting to a predictable barrage of weekly shoot 'em ups between "freedom fighters" and the alien menaces among them.

Barry Levinson's Poliwood has less depth than plywood

Ed Bark — 2009-11-02T10:57:36-06:00
Therefore he's heavily interspersed throughout the film, cast as an earnest truth-seeker who climactically speaks at length about himself as a man of humble origins who may have a gardener now but worked at a number of menial jobs before striking it rich. Other celebs making more than cameo appearances include Susan Sarandon, Ellen Burstyn, Matthew Modine, Spike Lee, Anne Hathaway, Josh Lucas, Graham Nash and David Crosby, who tells Levinson that his dad was the cinematographer on the classic 1952 film High Noon before being blacklisted by Hollywood.

24 begins countdown to Season 8

Ed Bark — 2009-11-02T01:48:27-06:00
Season 8 of Fox's 24 begins on Jan. 17th with the traditional two-hour launch. ...) features three fistfights, a volatile parents-principal meeting and a full-blown rage by Coach Eric Taylor (Kyle Chandler), who's been exiled via re-districting to butt-ugly, cash-poor, blackboard jungle-ish East Dillon High. ...Other Season 4 additions are Jess Meriweather (Jurnee Smollett), a female East Dillon student with a football mind, and Becky Sproles (Madison Burge), 15-year-old daughter of a bar-tending mom bedded by recent West Dillon grad and star fullback Tim Riggins (Taylor Kitsch).

And now for something completely stupid -- the Obama administration vs. Fox News Channel

Ed Bark — 2009-10-23T13:46:37-05:00
As deputy White House press secretary Dan Pfeiffer said in the Times article, "We simply decided to stop abiding by the fiction, which is aided and abetted by the mainstream press, that Fox is a traditional news organization." ...It started to get out of hand in mid-September, when President Obama intentionally excluded Fox News Sunday and moderator Chris Wallace from his round of morning news program interviews.

While NBC blows it, sister network USA gives viewers another cool breeze

Ed Bark — 2009-10-22T14:36:37-05:00
The Friday, Oct. 23rd launch of White Collar (9 p.m. central) affords USA another chance to look down its nose at corporate sibling NBC, which used to be somebody in the grand scheme of things. ...But it all comes off quite winningly, giving USA another bright light in its growing galaxy while NBC can do no better of late than to announce a spinoff of The Biggest Loser titled Losing It with Jillian.

Local boy makes good on The Jeff Dunham Show -- which otherwise is terrible

Ed Bark — 2009-10-22T10:58:15-05:00
Finding themselves also agreeing that they "never want to be gay with each other," Jeff and Walter return to the therapist's office to praise him as a "gay yoda" who's brought them together. ...Oddly enough, it's the old-line broadcast networks leading a mini-comedy revolution this season with critically praised newcomers (ABC's Modern Family and The Middle) and holdovers such as NBC's 30 Rock and CBS' The Big Bang Theory.

CNN's Latino In America documentary puts Soledad O'Brien in the midst of minority explosion

Ed Bark — 2009-10-21T13:40:10-05:00
And Isabel Garcia is fighting on her behalf, arguing that it serves no one to send Torres back to a country in which she has no friends and pledges no allegiance. ...O'Brien chummily accompanies the excitable Lorena on her mission to become a Food Network personality, even though she's supposedly already a big star on the Spanish language network's Wake Up America.

Guess you could call it character development

Ed Bark — 2009-10-19T11:36:36-05:00
The November issues of Gentlemen's Quarterly and Maxim perhaps won't be purchased for the articles. Particularly GQ, whose cover girl, January Jones, otherwise emotes as Betty Draper on AMC's Mad Men.

Lifetime's Sorority Wars "rushes" without a football

Ed Bark — 2009-10-16T15:14:16-05:00
Lifetime's Sorority Wars (Saturday, Oct. 17th at 8 p.m. central) sprinkles a few lessons to live by into a pretty entertaining little story about the snippy, snooty Deltas vs. the more down-to-earth but still cute/cool Kappas. ...The Sorority Wars script can be a bit gamey at times, with "dry hump" and "douche" and "less ass-y" also coming into play.

CBS cleans up and shares the wealth with arsenal of hits in last hour of prime-time

Ed Bark — 2009-10-15T17:19:31-05:00
We're talking specifically about late night local newscasts, and a network's ability to help make or break them with the popularity of its 9 p.m. (central) programming. ...Now more than ever, CBS is nurturing its partners while ABC and NBC feed them gruel in the form of struggling series or The Jay Leno Show.

Rock's hard place: it's still a struggle on NBC's weak-kneed Thursday night schedule

Ed Bark — 2009-10-15T10:54:32-05:00
30 Rock, again stuck with a late fall season start, is funny as ever in Thursday's 8:30 p.m. (central) slot, where the Season 4 premiere begins with a cost-cutting "cheesie blaster" staff dinner at a Manhattan eatery. In tough times, bossman Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin) has a new "reaching-out-to-the-country" initiative in mind for TGS, the sketch comedy show produced by Liz Lemon (Tina Fey).

Baez then and now in exemplary American Masters portrait

Ed Bark — 2009-10-14T08:00:14-05:00
Joan Baez's most famous lyric -- about Bob Dylan and from "Diamonds & Rust" -- could just as easily be the subtitle of Wednesday's American Masters tribute to her. ...

Yet another JFK assassination special is nonetheless a grabber -- this time on the History Channel

Ed Bark — 2009-10-09T12:03:39-05:00
Premiering Sunday, Oct. 11th at 8 p.m. (central) and continuing at the same hour Monday, 3 Shots is the featured attraction of History Channel's so-called "Kennedy Declassified Week." ...On his old New York-based Tonight Show, he interviewed New Orleans district attorney Jim Garrison, whose dogged, but largely discredited assassination investigation was lionized in director Oliver Stone's controversial JFK film.

Worst show on TV? From this view, it's ET

Ed Bark — 2009-10-07T11:50:46-05:00
Or to put it another way, what show curls your toenails, assaults your sensibilities, prompts projectile vomiting and has you screaming like a banshee at your otherwise poor, innocent TV set? ...Through it all, hosts Mary Hart and Mark Steines -- in league with the show's toadying corps of "correspondents" -- unfailingly coo, gush and promote themselves in a manner that almost cries out for repeal of the First Amendment.

Oh what a night: Letterman revisits his sex scandal with jokes/apology; Favre gives the Pack a cheese wedgie; DeLay outscores "The Playmaker" despite dancing on two fractured feet

Ed Bark — 2009-10-06T10:16:19-05:00
"It did not occur to me," he said, that reporters "would start hounding the staff" after he told the world of a $2 million extortion plot tied to his admitted sexual dalliances with several women who had worked for him or, in the case of Stephanie Birkitt, are still Late Show employees. ...Still, Monday's performance only served to raise more questions about the moral compass and overall equilibrium of a 62-year-old man who professed to be surprised that anyone would be interested in which Late Show staffers had sex with him -- and when.

Better than nothing: Curb kicks off Seinfeld "reunion" episodes

Ed Bark — 2009-10-02T14:59:12-05:00
Sunday's third of 10 episodes (8 p.m. central on HBO) puts Curb's mock Seinfeld reunion in motion, with Jerry Seinfeld, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jason Alexander and Michael Richards all in the picture as themselves. ...He's referring to the May 14, 1998 Seinfeld swan song, in which Jerry, George, Elaine Benes (Dreyfus) and Kramer (Richards) ended up behind bars serving a one-year sentence for "crimes against humanity."

New season: CBS' Three Rivers is decidedly watery medical drama

Ed Bark — 2009-10-02T09:22:51-05:00
O'Loughlin is cute enough to make a few hearts throb, but his character has no discernible edge other than a sweet tooth and a proclivity to be late for staff meetings. ...In real-life, perhaps we'd all prefer a doctor who always says just the right thing and then benevolently smiles along with you after your life's been saved.

NBC's cancellation of JAG paying off more than ever for CBS

Ed Bark — 2009-10-02T03:55:34-05:00
The Peacock then picked it up and used one of prime-time's all-time ratings juggernauts to club CBS' Magnum, P.I. over the head on Thursday nights. Magnum went from Top 10 hit to a goner after the 1987-'88 season. Cosby led NBC to total dominance on Thursday nights, ranking as prime-time's most popular show from 1985 through 1990. ...The two military-themed dramas also have helped to make a first-year hit of CBS' following The Good Wife, which is easily winning its 9 p.m. (central) time period opposite NBC's The Jay Leno Show and ABC's new The Forgotten.

New season: ABC laughs last with fall's final pairing of new sitcoms -- Hank and The Middle

Ed Bark — 2009-09-29T13:41:04-05:00
In the show's redundant setup, Hank and wife Tilly (Melinda McGraw) watch their possessions being carted out of a posh Manhattan residence while he keeps overstating the joys of moving back to her hometown, little River Bend, Virginia. ...Frankie is the married mom of two under-achieving teens (Charlie McDermott and Eden Sher as Axl and Sue) and a gradeschooler named Brick (Atticus Shaffer) whose teacher assesses him as a "very quirky child.

New season: NBC's Trauma strives to survive with Tyrannosaurus Wrecks

Ed Bark — 2009-09-28T08:46:39-05:00
She protests to no avail until his survivor's guilt claims the finger of an inebriated motorist whose car he sideswipes. Friday Night Lights fans will recognize the actor as the same guy -- Brad Leland -- who plays car dealer/intrusive alumnus Buddy Garrity on the Austin-made series. ...So that won't help its chances on a Monday night when it then must face off at 8 p.m. (central) against CBS' hit comedies and ABC's expanded editions of Dancing with the Stars.

New season: Fox's The Cleveland Show is black and white -- and blue

Ed Bark — 2009-09-27T11:30:24-05:00
The humor is rife with shock value, whether it's Lester and his wife dining on a dead dog named Meadowlark Lemon in Episode 2 or Family Guy patriarch Peter Griffin opening Sunday's premiere episode by chortling, "And that is how I got Liza Minnelli's poop on my shoe." ...Lithgow also can be seen in the flesh on Showtime's Dexter, which returns for a fourth season Sunday at 8 p.m. (central). He's playing the not-so-mild mannered Walter Simmons, dubbed "The Trinity Killer."

New season: Fox's Brothers is mama's family

Ed Bark — 2009-09-25T13:54:44-05:00
But CCH Pounder is the playmaker in this loud, earthy and some might say all-too-prototypical "urban" sitcom. Brothers manages to be fairly amusing, too, with Pounder showing off her range by shifting from the very serious business of The Shield to playing a sharp-tongued but nurturing matriarch in a house full of childish squabblers. ...Brothers, being paired with the return of 'Til Death, isn't likely to rack up any big ratings scores on a night that's long been ice cold for Fox.

New season: ABC's FlashForward bets heavily on its future

Ed Bark — 2009-09-24T07:53:16-05:00
Also, many viewers are unwilling to be strung along at such lengths or be left hanging by an early cancellation, as happened three seasons ago with ABC's unresolved The Nine. ...The world suddenly is in the throes of a two minute, 17 second "blackout" in which just about everyone has their own "flash forward" to April 29, 2010 (or a day later depending on where one is in the world).

New season: it's a threesome on ABC, with still more to come after Modern Family, Cougar Town and Eastwick

Ed Bark — 2009-09-23T12:13:41-05:00
Steven Levitan's credits include Just Shoot Me and last season's under-appreciated Back to You, whose stars -- Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton -- will unveil their separate new comedies next Wednesday on ABC. ...She's sort of aghast, but still doesn't mind detailing Van Horne's member -- "a full-size SUV" -- to new pals Joanna Frankel (Lindsay Price) and Kat Gardener (Jamie Ray Newman).

New season: NBC's Mercy will have to be nursed in a too-early time slot

Ed Bark — 2009-09-23T09:23:00-05:00
They spent some time together out of uniform, too, and his surprise return complicates the budding reconciliation with estranged husband Mike Callahan (Diego Klattenhoff), who comes off as a well-meaning semi-dolt. ...Wednesday's premiere unfortunately ends with an old stereotype -- the three featured nurses all cooing over a hunky neighborhood bartender who has cut his hand breaking up a fight. Mercy is better than that for the most part.

New season: The Forgotten is best left . . .

Ed Bark — 2009-09-22T15:42:39-05:00
Painfully earnest and pedestrian, it returns an on-the-rebound Christian Slater (from last fall's My Own Worst Enemy) to the prime-time rat race as a tightly wound semi-vigilante who heads a team of volunteer gumshoes. ...Alex's helpmates include Candace Butler (Michelle Borth), who's bored with her mundane day job; portly telephone repairman Walter Bailey (Bob Stephenson); "street smart," aspiring artist Tyler Davies, who's been court-ordered to join the team; and homicide detective Grace Russell (Rochelle Aytes), who serves as a liaison to the Chicago cop shop.

New season: NCIS: Los Angeles spins off winningly

Ed Bark — 2009-09-22T09:19:51-05:00
Its principal men of action, played by Chris O'Donnell and LL Cool J, are special agents of OSP (Office of Special Projects), which CBS publicity materials say is a division of NCIS (Naval Criminal Investigative Service in case you've forgotten). ...In Tuesday's premiere, the unsolved murder of a seemingly kidnapped Navy officer springs G and Sam into overdrive while a support team of Nate Getz (Peter Cambor), Dominic Vail (Adam Jamal Craig) and Kensi Blye (Daniela Ruah) pitches in on a moment's notice.

New season: CBS' The Good Wife is far superior to its title

Ed Bark — 2009-09-22T15:42:55-05:00
Going against The Jay Leno Show on Tuesdays this fall, here's a crackling good legal drama with a side dish of what it's like to be married to the likes of Mark Sanford, Eliot Spitzer or John Edwards. ...Now Alicia is a junior partner on a trial basis as a defense attorney at a Chicago law firm where one of her ex-classmates, Will Gardner (Josh Charles), has tossed her a lifeline.

New season: Elfman again in overdrive as star of CBS' Accidentally On Purpose

Ed Bark — 2009-09-21T11:33:29-05:00
And if everything comes up roses in a comfy slot between How I Met Your Mother and Two and a Half Men, look for a "very special" season-ending episode in which Billie at last delivers the goods. ...And Fox devotes Monday to a two-hour House in which the not-so-good doctor is not-so-happily inhabiting the Mayfield Psychiatric Hospital after last May's season-ending breakdown.

Primetime Emmys come and go (yawn) during pulsating Cowboys-Giants game

Ed Bark — 2009-09-21T01:25:01-05:00
The respective big wins for NBC's 30 Rock and AMC's Mad Men, both of which repeated last year's triumphs, came during the fourth quarter of a wildly unpredictable, seesaw Cowboys-Giants game attended by the largest crowd in NFL history. ..."I think it's safe to say that the era of TV is over," he said before another Whedon favorite, Nathan Fillion from his short-lived Firefly series, interceded to more or less make the case for the old-school tube over the over-flowing Internet.

New season: HBO's Bored to Death chronicles misadventures of a limp dick

Ed Bark — 2009-09-18T17:13:43-05:00
Created by Jonathan Ames (whose previous works include the graphic novel The Alcoholic), it's the at times amusing tale of two super-nebbishes and an aging, Viagra-dependent Lothario. ...Unable to finish his second novel, Jason spends most of his time smoking pot, drinking white wine and commiserating with best pal Ray Hueston (Zach Galifianakis from The Hangover), a hapless comic book illustrator kept on a short leash by his needy girlfriend, Leah (Heather Burns).

Emmys vs. Cowboys: we'll make our picks anyhoo

Ed Bark — 2009-09-18T14:14:55-05:00
That's what happens when the competition is the first regular season game at Jerry's Palace, with the New York Giants visiting the Dallas Cowboys on NBC's Sunday Night Football. ...And the winner is . . . If Lost takes home just one Emmy Sunday night, then Emerson should get it as spooky, canny, good guy/bad guy Ben Linus.

New season: NBC's Community tries to sell a used Chevy

Ed Bark — 2009-09-17T09:07:20-05:00
Like its companion half-hours -- The Office, Parks and Recreation and in mid-October, 30 Rock -- it's without a laff track and with an ensemble of mostly infantile adults. ...And yes, that includes Amy Poehler's Parks and Recreation, which begins its first full season (at 7:30 p.m. central) in considerably improved form.

The Burning Plain: latest HDNet Movies freebie deftly mixes pain and sexual heat

Ed Bark — 2009-09-16T12:33:53-05:00
The one hour, 40 minute film, from Mark Cuban and Todd Wagner's Magnolia Pictures, is an absorbing puzzler that juggles times, locales and ever-popular "forbidden loves" while also keeping viewers guessing about the specifics of a trailer park explosion. ...Burning Plain principally is set in Oregon and the New Mexico border town of Las Cruces, with side trips to Mexico that introduce a crop duster and his pre-teen daughter, Maria (Tessa la).

New season: CW's The Beautiful Life: TBL hits the runway strutting

Ed Bark — 2009-09-15T11:12:38-05:00
Twig-thin model Raina Marinelli (Sara Paxton), an up-and-coming star with a secret past, is still a decent, caring, although highly ambitious human being in Wednesday's premiere of CW's The Beautiful Life: TBL. ...So it's time for a change of pace, and TBL indeed may have legs on a network where just a few million viewers makes you a blockbuster.

Premiere of The Jay Leno Show mixes Kanye, comedy

Ed Bark — 2009-09-15T00:45:13-05:00
It's supposed to be largely a chucklefest, a Monday through Friday respite from cares, woes and all those gruesome but still popular crime series that CBS will be sending against The Jay Leno Show. ...All in all it was a halfway passable first night, with West as second-half bait and Leno's climactic "Headlines" segment as further impetus to keep watching all the way up to late night local newscasts, which begin immediately after the host urges viewers to stay tuned.

What, him worry? Jay Leno prepares to shoulder the biggest burden in prime-time history

Ed Bark — 2009-09-11T10:36:07-05:00
He's just not a deep sea thinker, preferring to do his job, tinker with his cars, work weekends wherever a plane will take him and let others tell him that what he'll be doing in prime-time could change network television forevermore. ...CBS in particular is loading up, and salivating, at the prospect of torpedoing Leno with the likes of CSI: Miami, The Mentalist and a new Julianna Margulies series, The Good Wife, that many TV critics, including this one, see as a can't-miss commercial hit.

Fall season: Next to no juice in CW's The Vampire Diaries

Ed Bark — 2009-09-10T08:16:52-05:00
The ponderous, pretentious opening narration pretty much tells you that this at best will be a pint-sized, junior league version of HBO's True Blood. ...A little bounce is added late in Thursday's premiere when Stefan's super-sinister vampire brother, Damon (Ian Sommerhalder), drops in to sneer and crack wise.

Idol tabs Ellen, officially ending Paula era

Ed Bark — 2009-09-09T23:01:18-05:00
Ellen DeGeneres, a savvy, congenial performer best known as a joker/dancer/talker, has signed to replace Paula Abdul as American Idol's fourth judge of singing talent. Fox made the surprise announcement Wednesday night, with Idol executive producer Simon Fuller praising DeGeneres as a longtime fan of the show whose "love of music and understanding of the American public will bring a unique human touch to our judging panel."

Fox's Glee yearns for you to join its club

Ed Bark — 2009-09-09T09:05:10-05:00
Fox has done just about all it can for Glee, beginning with a saturation promotional campaign for May's sneak preview episode after the final performance edition of American Idol. ...Fox again is the only major broadcast network opting out, instead sticking to its schedule of So You Think You Can Dance's first fall season premiere and Glee's re-launch at 8 p.m. (central).

CW's Melrose Place kicks off fall season with nicely done do-over

Ed Bark — 2009-09-08T10:07:41-05:00
This time she's the 40-year-old landlord, but it doesn't take long for tenants to find her floating face-down in a pool of blood after someone took a stab at her. ...Also in this mix are recovering alcoholic Auggie Kirkpatrick (Colin Egglesfield), now a successful sous chef; medical student Lauren Yung (Stephanie Jacobsen); and sweetie two shoes Violet Foster (Ashlee Simpson-Wentz, who's also Jessica Simpson's sister).

From Woodstock to Manson: another 40th anniversary comes calling on History Channel

Ed Bark — 2009-09-07T10:04:07-05:00
Now comes History Channel's Manson, a two-hour re-dissection complete with Kasabian, Debra Tate, "Family" member Catherine "Gypsy" Share, prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi, and a big batch of no-name actors playing Charles Manson and various Manson-ites. ...Davis, a regular presence on the networks' semi-annual "press tours" for TV critics, is credited with laying out "the blueprint for the prosecution" by Aaron Stovitz, whose violation of a gag order resulted in his being replaced as chief prosecutor on the Manson case. Five To Die is a case study in old-school shoe leather reporting, with Davis quickly on the scent as the then West Coast correspondent of The London Daily Express.

Bombshell: Charles Gibson leaving ABC's World News, with Diane Sawyer succeeding him in January

Ed Bark — 2009-09-02T10:35:46-05:00
Succeeding him is ABC veteran and Good Morning America co-anchor Diane Sawyer, leaving two of the three longstanding network dinner hour newscasts in the hands of women anchors when she takes charge of World News in January. ...Gibson had been co-hosting GMA with Sawyer before agreeing to helm World News "during a difficult and turbulent time," Westin noted in an email to staffers.

thirtysomething and thensome in first season DVD set

Ed Bark — 2009-08-25T12:40:40-05:00
"It is so important to say that we did not want to do a television series," Herskovitz recollects in a two-way conversation with Zwick that's included in the three-disc set's bonus features. ...Re-watching the show's first episode is mostly an engaging experience, even though much of the "jeopardy" is over Hope's anxiety about whether to hire a babysitter for the first time so that the Steadmans can join their friends on an impromptu camping trip.

Unable to participate: otherwise Mike Wallace would have been part of Sunday's 60 Minutes tribute to Don Hewitt

Ed Bark — 2009-08-24T12:03:16-05:00
Sunday's 60 Minutes tribute to the program's creator, Don Hewitt, was notable for its absence of new comments from its other driving force, Mike Wallace. ...Wallace, who currently lives on Martha's Vineyard, had triple bypass surgery in late January of 2008, shortly after his headline-making interview with Roger Clemens over allegations that the dominating pitcher had used steroids.

Williams/Goldthwait collaborate in Magnolia's unflinching World's Greatest Dad

Ed Bark — 2009-08-19T14:30:44-05:00
"It's like Dead Penis Society," he recently told TV critics who otherwise gathered to hear about Williams' Dec. 6th HBO standup special and his ongoing recovery from open-heart surgery. World's Greatest Dad, hollowly emblazoned on the central character's coffee cup, can first be seen Wednesday, Aug. 19th on Mark Cuban's HDNet Movies as part of the network's ongoing "Sneak Preview" series.

Mad Men's back, but not quite smokin' yet

Ed Bark — 2009-08-14T09:38:34-05:00
Don Draper and Salvatore Romano wing it under assumed names in "Out of Town" opening for third season of AMC's Mad Men. ...The main focus instead is on a fence-mending sales trip to Baltimore, where Don Draper (Jon Hamm) and the still-closeted Salvatore Romano (Bryan Batt) reinforce their agency's fealty to the makers of London Fog raincoats.

Fox Reality Channel's Househusbands of Hollywood gender-bends while copycatting

Ed Bark — 2009-08-13T11:14:09-05:00
So the still fledgling Fox Reality Channel might as well take a shot with Househusbands of Hollywood, which turns out to be a surprisingly watchable and well-produced tagalong to Bravo's Real Housewives franchise. ...Wife Katherine, a "high-powered" attorney, sends him daily to-do lists and also makes him take his "kegerator" (a beer storage facility) out of the kitchen and into the garage, where he constructs a piss-poor "man cave" in retaliation.

Curb appeal: Seventh season will be well-stocked with Seinfeld stars

Ed Bark — 2009-08-11T13:38:34-05:00
The co-creator of Seinfeld has coaxed the show's four principals -- Jerry Seinfeld, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jason Alexander and Michael Richards -- to appear as themselves in five of the 10 new episodes. ...Jerry Seinfeld will appear in five of the new season's Curb episodes, with the other cast members "on at least four," David says before immediately recalibrating.

HBO's Nine Lives of Marion Barry hits his many high points

Ed Bark — 2009-08-10T14:05:48-05:00
HBO's The Nine Lives of Marion Barry, premiering Monday, Aug. 10th at 8 p.m. (central), is a revealing, 78-minute look into his life, times and crimes. ...A 1990 sting operation, in which Barry was set up by an ex-girlfriend, yielded blurry black-and-white video of the mayor snorting coke and repeatedly coming on to Rasheeda Moore, who testified against him.

Forgive me for I have sinned by saying, "Bring back Paula"

Ed Bark — 2009-08-05T16:09:06-05:00
Abdul, angling for more money and not feeling the love, had the TV world all atwitter after she announced Tuesday night, "With sadness in my heart, I've decided not to return to Idol. ...The network's official statement, released after Abdul's tweet, judged her "an important part of the American Idol family over the last eight seasons, and we are saddened that she has decided not to return to the show.

A Rivers runs through TV Land's new How'd You Get So Rich?

Ed Bark — 2009-08-05T13:14:14-05:00
ADDENDUM: At the annual network TV "press tour" in Pasadena, Rivers zinged Jay Leno in a way that's likely to merit her a permanent ban from his prime-time NBC show when it cranks up on Sept. 14th. "I think it's brilliant that they put Leno on at (9 p.m. central) now because Americans get bored more easily and go to sleep earlier," she said when asked to assess the changing talk show scene.

Television Critics Association awards hit quarter-century mark; Uncle Barky along for ride

Ed Bark — 2009-08-05T02:53:31-05:00
Grey ghost: Your friendly content provider gabbed about the history of the Television Critics Association, which held its 25th annual awards ceremony Saturday night in Pasadena. Photo: Barry Garron ...Most of my fellow TV critics are still out on "press tour," where one network after another will roll in with a lot of oddly instructive B.S. about new fall programming until Saturday's last dance with ABC.

ABC makes space for intergalactic Defying Gravity

Ed Bark — 2009-07-29T14:23:28-05:00
Not having anywhere that kind of money to spend, the network has gone the inevitable international co-production route, with Fox Television and Omni Film Productions working in association with Canada's CTV and Germany's ProSieben. ...And it has a capable international cast headed by Ron Livingston (Office Space, Band of Brothers) as jauntily named Maddux Donner, a womanizing and somewhat haunted flight engineer who 10 years earlier had to abandon two space colleagues on Mars.

More to Love -- less than meets the eye

Ed Bark — 2009-07-27T16:16:05-05:00
Premiering Tuesday, July 28th at 8 p.m. (central), More to Love is from veteran reality show provider Mike Fleiss, who has already hit the motherlode with ABC's The Bachelor. ...Nary a week goes by in D-FW without a new spate of diet and cosmetic enhancement stories on local newscasts. Biggest Loser also implores its over-sized inhabitants to take it off, as do Oxygen cable's Dance Your Ass Off and VH1's Celebrity Fit Club.

Silverman out in NBC Universal shakeup

Ed Bark — 2009-07-27T10:09:40-05:00
USA in particular has thrived with summer series such as Burn Notice, In Plain Sight and the new Royal Pains while NBC has mostly suffocated with scripted hot weather fare such as The Listener, Merlin, The Philanthropist and its Sunday night disaster-driven miniseries. ...And NBC's hitless 2008 fall schedule, the first with Silverman's full imprint, brought forth ratings clunkers such as Kath & Kim, Crusoe and the aforementioned My Own Worst Enemy and Knight Rider.

NBC's The Storm replete with latter day TV washouts

Ed Bark — 2009-07-24T12:57:09-05:00
Likewise is Van Der Beek, who spends much of this miniseries drenched and on the lam from bad guys while a recurring, grinding rock score pounds bumps on viewers' cerebellums. ...The Storm offers other subplots, including a pregnant woman trapped in a cellar with her "Poppy" (father) and a female bartender whose life is jeopardized while her former lover strives to make things all better again.

Please, please, Mr. Postman: Letterman wins two straight weeks in total viewers for first time since 1998

Ed Bark — 2009-07-23T16:13:59-05:00
No matter how NBC tries to spin it, the old man and the CBS Eye are increasingly taking it to Conan O'Brien's Tonight Show. ...And the Peacock crows that Tonight is still beating Late Show among advertiser-craved 18-to-49-year-olds, although by just two-tenths of a rating point in the week of July 13-17.

CBS repeats its summertime success -- again with mostly repeats

Ed Bark — 2009-07-22T09:49:03-05:00
On Thursday at 9 p.m. (central) for instance, The Mentalist in what will be its new fall time slot drew 8.37 million viewers opposite Private Practice, on a respirator with just 2.917 million viewers. ...ABC has done all right with new episodes of Wipeout and The Bachelorette, but bombed with the likes of The Superstars, I Survived a Japanese Game Show, Better Off Ted, The Goode Family and burn-off new episodes of Pushing Daisies, Eli Stone and now Dirty Sexy Money.

Eyes wide shut: ABC's Dating in the Dark is for dim bulbs

Ed Bark — 2009-07-20T09:06:07-05:00
Otherwise known as ABC's Dating in the Dark, it premieres Monday, July 20th at 9 p.m. (central) and is scheduled to run for six episodes. ...Programming note: NBC's The Wanted, a controversial pursuit of terrorists produced by the network's news division, premieres opposite Dating in the Dark Monday night.

Walter Cronkite up-close: Memories of the late, great journalist for all seasons

Ed Bark — 2009-07-18T10:03:53-05:00
I just hope we don't get into the business of having to walk onto the set from the shadows and have Dan wearing a big 'CBS Eye' patch on his blazer." ..."I certainly think he (Rather) should be remembered for his career successes," Cronkite told me in a telephone interview shortly before Bob Schieffer began an extended term as interim anchor of the Evening News.

Lohan remains vertical, stays the course in ABC Family's Labor Pains

Ed Bark — 2009-07-17T12:19:58-05:00
Her latter day re-entries, following two DUI arrests and some rehab stints, have been the recurring part of Kimmie Keegan on ABC's Ugly Betty and now the starring role in Labor Pains. ...Labor Pains also is populated by former American Idol dweeb Kevin Covais as a nerdy assistant and ex-Girlfriends star Tracee Ellis Ross (Diana's daughter) as another of Thea's co-workers.

Same old, same old: 30 Rock, Mad Men again head their classes while HBO leads all networks

Ed Bark — 2009-07-16T08:24:25-05:00
Rock led all programs with 22 nods, upping its total from 17 last year. Mad Men replicated the 16 nominations it received in 2008. Grey Gardens, starring Jessica Lange and Drew Barrymore as a batty mother-daughter duo, nabbed 17 nominations in supplanting last year's HBO pacesetter, John Adams. ...The surprise new nominee, Fox's Family Guy, joins Showtime's Weeds, CBS' How I Met Your Mother and HBO's Flight of the Conchords among this year's Emmy contenders. Mother supplants CBS' Two and a Half Men, which wasn't nominated after three straight years among the Emmy elite.

CNBC gets porn-y -- but first read this article

Ed Bark — 2009-07-15T13:08:23-05:00
Sounding like Jim Cramer in heat -- at least they don't have him hosting -- the guy figuratively drips drool while enticing viewers with come-ons such as "Up next, the most powerful players in porn -- women on top!" ...says the talking penis of a pitchman); Wicked Pictures vice president of special projects Joy King; Vivid Entertainment CEO Steven Hirsch; and dirty-to-the-touch Paul Little, currently serving 46 months in prison for his activities as "Max Hardcore."

HBO's Ted Williams doc hits the not-so-sweet spots, too

Ed Bark — 2009-07-15T10:35:29-05:00
Williams' youngest of three children, Claudia, has emerged as a defender of her cantankerous old man, who died on July 5, 2002 after a triumphant 1999 return to the All-Star game in Boston's Fenway Park. ...Robert Redford, who worshipped Williams from afar as a kid, says his 1984 baseball film, The Natural, was an homage to the Red Sox legend.

TNT's stark Dark Blue makes it a six-pack

Ed Bark — 2009-07-14T09:57:08-05:00
Suave in ABC's The Practice and suaver in the network's short-lived Big Shots, Dylan McDermott lately speaks in a rasp, eschews suits and sports a little carefully rough-hewn stubble in TNT's new Dark Blue. ...Shaw's other teammates are the recently married Ty Curtis (Omari Hardwick) and the freshly recruited Jaimie Allen (Nicki Aycox), whose ability to lie convincingly is greatly admired by her new boss.

Teddy bear treatment on HBO for the last surviving Kennedy brother

Ed Bark — 2009-07-13T09:08:41-05:00
HBO's 90-minute documentary, premiering Monday, July 13th at 8 p.m. (central), is from the producer of JFK: In His Own Words and Bobby Kennedy: In His Own Words. ...Many of the images still resonate, beginning with a still picture of a smiling little Teddy in short pants as his father and the family arrive in London to begin Joe Sr.'s tenure as U.S. ambassador way back in 1938.

Michael Jackson gets velvet glove treatment on wide array of cable/broadcast networks

Ed Bark — 2009-07-07T15:02:11-05:00
"However they were conceived and whoever their mothers were, he absolutely adored them," said ABC's Martin Bashir, whose much-discussed 2003 documentary on Jackson helped trigger a subsequent child molestation trial in which Jackson was acquitted of all charges. ...The memorial was equally notable for its sentiment and moving performances from the likes of Stevie Wonder, Mariah Carey, John Mayer, Usher and Jackson's brother, Jermaine, who sang "Smile" after longtime friend Brooke Shields said it was Michael's favorite song.

Sarah Palin and CNN? Far-fetched maybe, but betcha someone's thought about it

Ed Bark — 2009-07-06T11:13:39-05:00
The network has a 9 p.m. hole in its prime-time schedule after Ed Schultz, Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow take their swings from the left side of the plate. ...Hiring Palin -- and no doubt having to pay a pretty penny for her -- would jolt the cable news world and drive the conversation toward CNN for the first time in recent memory.

Endowment fun: HBO's Hung also scores with appealing sign-of-the-times storyline

Ed Bark — 2009-06-26T17:09:40-05:00
At rope's end, he finds himself heeding the call of a would-be poet and recurring bedmate (Jane Adams as Tanya Skagle), who upbraids him by saying, "You want to be a millionaire? ...Jane, who played Mickey Mantle in the acclaimed HBO movie 61*, manages to play this role -- and do this role-playing -- in an appealing, all-but-guileless manner that's almost guaranteed to make you root for him from start to finish.

Farrah Fawcett dies of cancer

Ed Bark — 2009-06-25T13:42:31-05:00
"I was looking for something to do that was not based on a life-or-death true story, which we've been inundated with in the past couple of years," Fawcett said in a second interview with this writer. ...In later years, Fawcett mostly made news playing herself in attention-getting projects such as 1997's Playboy: Farrah Fawcett, All of Me and the 2005 TV Land reality series Chasing Farrah, which the network will be repeating in part on Saturday night.

Earth shifts: Dave outdraws Conan in third week of late night faceoff

Ed Bark — 2009-06-25T11:22:37-05:00
For the week of June 15-19, Letterman's Late Show averaged 3.463 million viewers to nip O'Brien's Tonight Show (3.320 million). ...CBS says it's the first time Letterman has won since the week ending on December 2, 2005, when Oprah Winfrey made her much-publicized first appearance on Late Show.

NBC's The Philanthropist is a do-gooder that needs to get better

Ed Bark — 2009-06-24T09:27:24-05:00
While scheming to singlehandedly deliver medicine to the Nigerian boy's devastated village, Rist also stays in luxury hotels, demands a more civilized whiskey than Jim Beam and apparently participates in a fivesome after four beautiful young Nigerian women are delivered to his quarters by an influential local. He also meets a conveniently beautiful African doctor (played by Bonnie Henna), who initially views him as a self-centered Good Samaritan who enjoys dirtying his hands a bit before returning home to tell his rich friends "how meaningful his life is compared to theirs."

NBC's Merlin gets olde in a hurry

Ed Bark — 2009-06-18T10:10:18-05:00
In succeeding seasons, NBC has tumbled from first to fourth in the prime-time ratings and lost much of its luster via attractions such as Fear Factor, The Biggest Loser, Deal or No Deal, Celebrity Apprentice and the ongoing I'm A Celebrity . . . ...By the end of Episode 1 -- as in NBC's earlier series Kings -- Merlin gains a position in the royal palace after saving the life of the future king with a major assist from his magical powers.

Here's to his health care: ABC News draws GOP fire for extensive coverage next week of Obama's prescription

Ed Bark — 2009-06-16T10:02:20-05:00
ABC's Diane Sawyer and Charles Gibson will be joining President Obama in the White House for a prime-time Q&A on health care. ...ABC also will telecast that day's Good Morning America from the South Lawn of the White House and that evening's World News from the White House Blue Room. Nightline also will join in with a continuation of the prime-time special.

Back on its heals: TNT's HawthoRNe adds more meds to summertime cabinet

Ed Bark — 2009-06-15T16:12:22-05:00
She's all over the role of chief nursing officer Christina Hawthorne, a firm, fair, caustically compassionate caregiver who might want to hook up someday with Edie Falco's pill-popping, hell-on-wheels Jackie Peyton. ...There's also hard luck male nurse Ray Stein (David Julian Hirsch), blubbering rookie Kelly Epson (Vanessa Lengies) and yummy Candy Sullivan (Christina Moore), who otherwise makes a fairly minimal impression in the first two episodes sent for review.

Big Saturday Night dawns on still little GSN

Ed Bark — 2009-06-12T13:18:16-05:00
The two new game shows, respectively hosted by veteran sportscaster Fred Roggin and So You Think You Can Dance's Cat Deeley, will be surrounded by live comedy and music performances and interactive opportunities for viewers to "win big," says GSN. ...GSN doesn't say how much prize money is at stake, but Deeley likely can be counted on to inject this game with the same energy she brings to Think You Can Dance.

Conan twits tweeters -- nets laughs

Ed Bark — 2009-06-03T14:51:21-05:00
And for me, this one worked almost flawlessly, with use of vacuous, real-life celebrity tweets from Ashton Kutcher, Miley Cyrus and Dennis Haysbert. ...

Nurse Jackie the latest big booster shot for Showtime

Ed Bark — 2009-06-03T14:51:33-05:00
Once a Lilliputian to HBO's Gulliver, Showtime has all but reached parity on the series front with Weeds, Dexter, The Tudors, Californication and now Nurse Jackie. ...Falco, her hair very boyishly cut and parted, makes a complete break from Carmela in what's billed as a "dark comedy" but has more meat on it than that.

Royal Pains gives USA network another breezy summertime bright spot

Ed Bark — 2009-06-03T10:20:27-05:00
USA's likable newcomer is Royal Pains, which gives its star, Mark Feuerstein, a third crack at prime-time longevity after flopping in NBC's Good Morning, Miami and CBS' 3 lbs. ...He spends his days drinking beer, watching old movies and seeing most of his belongings repossessed before younger brother Evan (Paulo Costanzo) shows up to inform him that his pad "smells like a moose had sex with a bucket of Chinese food."

NBC's The Listener -- not on my watch

Ed Bark — 2009-06-02T12:41:21-05:00
Premiering Thursday with belatedly scheduled back-to-back episodes, Listener inevitably begins with a slice of narrative from its wan lead character, paramedic Toby Logan (Craig Olejnik). ...In Thursday's scene-setter, Toby and his paramedic pal, "Oz" Bey (Ennis Esmer), are trading lame banter before coming upon an overturned car in what looks to be the middle of Manhattan but actually is cost-efficient Toronto.

So-so, but over and done: O'Brien notches his first Tonight

Ed Bark — 2009-06-01T23:51:14-05:00
Leaning somewhat top-heavily on three taped bits and a star turn by first guest Will Ferrell, he made it to the finish line with his auburn pompadour in full bloom but not his comedic talents. ...O'Brien said he'd be glad to again have Leno as his lead-in, but we'll see about that after the competition for guests inevitably heats up between the two NBC shows.

Goodnight, Tonight. Not his idea, but Leno lets go

Ed Bark — 2009-05-29T23:51:28-05:00
He'll return in the fall with a weeknight prime-time NBC show leading into late night newscasts and then to Conan O'Brien's Tonight Show, which premieres Monday. ...Until late last year, it looked as though Leno would be going to a rival network after NBC chose O'Brien to carry the Tonight baton rather than lose him as it did David Letterman.

HBO's Churchill sequel wades into WWII

Ed Bark — 2009-05-29T08:22:02-05:00
His gruff private demeanor and soaring public rhetoric get another going-over in HBO's Into the Storm (Sunday, May 31st, 8 p.m. central), a followup to the network's 2002 scene-setter, The Gathering Storm. ...Meanwhile, HBO subscribers of a certain age can appreciate both the topic and the heroics of those days, even if Into the Storm falls a bit short on crackle and pop.

ABC's Goode Family is Judged OK

Ed Bark — 2009-05-27T09:06:03-05:00
From Austinite Mike Judge, creator of the dearly departed King of the Hill, comes a new animated brood whose matron wears a "Meat is Murder" T-shirt and whose hybrid is festooned with bumper stickers, including "Support Our Troops and Their Opponents." ...For better or worse, the Goodes consist of college administrator Gerald (Judge); his community activist wife, Helen (Nancy Carell); a teen daughter, Bliss (Linda Cardellini) and the adopted 16-year-old Ubuntu (David Herman), who initially was thought to be black but turned out to be a white South African.

O'Brien's Tonight countdown kicks into full throttle

Ed Bark — 2009-05-26T14:15:54-05:00
O'Brien, as he manfully volunteered during a teleconference Tuesday, is now 46 years old with two kids after first auditioning as a relative 29-year-old nobody to supplant David Letterman on NBC's Late Night. ...Leno's presence in prime-time will mean four nightly doses of comedy/talk on NBC, in addition to O'Brien's competition on CBS, ABC and TBS, which will be launching a new George Lopez talk show this fall.

Fox's Mental has House in mind, but also a mind of its own

Ed Bark — 2009-05-26T09:25:06-05:00
Gallagher is way too likable to attract all that much animosity, whether he's leading patients in a taboo outdoor dance session or sending two interns out on a little detective mission. ...It all makes for a pleasant summertime surprise -- a reasonably literate scripted drama in what will be an oncoming tidal wave of mostly reality swill from the Big Four broadcast networks and li'l CW.

Idol finale crunches competition, comes up short of past glories

Ed Bark — 2009-05-21T17:38:43-05:00
Wednesday night's Season 8 finale of American Idol easily had more viewers than the combined competing programming on ABC, CBS, NBC and The CW. ...The Tuesday and Wednesday editions of Idol remained network television's No. 1 and No. 2 shows for the 2008-09 regular season, which officially ended Wednesday.

The CW cancels comedies and Sundays, shrinks Fridays, adds a vampire show

Ed Bark — 2009-05-21T11:26:12-05:00
And the Wednesday night schedule has another installment of America's Next Top Model and The Beautiful Life, a scripted series about models. ...CW also has a midseason series in mind. Parental Discretion Advised is about a 15-year-old girl named Lux (Britt Robertson from Swingtown) whose quest to became an emancipated minor leads to her bar-owning, infantile father, Nate "Baze" Bazile (Kristoffer Polaha, Mad Men).

Idle thoughts on Idol as the finale nears

Ed Bark — 2009-05-20T13:54:28-05:00
And Wednesday's two-hour finale will trample everything in its wake before the winner is forced to release yet another treacly written-for-Idol ditty -- "No Boundaries" in this case -- as his first post-show single. ...***Don't ever rush the show. Idol ran eight minutes past its allotted time earlier this spring, delaying the start of a returning new episode of Fringe.

CBS adds four newcomers, axes two oldies, rescues Medium

Ed Bark — 2009-05-20T10:12:38-05:00
Three new dramas and a comedy are coming this September while Medium will be compatibly paired with Ghost Whisperer on Friday nights after NBC gave up the ghost. ...This season's biggest freshman hit, The Mentalist, will be moved from Tuesday's at 8 p.m. to Thursdays at 9 p.m., where it will inherit a lead-in audience from the network's still potent CSI: Crime Scene Investigation before going head-to-head with NBC's The Jay Leno Show.

NBC cancels Earl, reprieves Chuck, delays 30 Rock, pushes Friday Night Lights to summer in Phase 2 rollout of new season (updated)

Ed Bark — 2009-05-19T10:32:11-05:00
That's in large part because its prime-time window has been significantly reduced on weeknights with the Monday-Friday 9 p.m. (central) presence of The Jay Leno Show. ...Here's NBC's night-by-night fall schedule, with all times central. (Note: Leno will be at 9 p.m each weeknight, so we're not going to keep typing that in).

ABC's new fall lineup flaunts star-powered comedy

Ed Bark — 2009-05-19T07:12:51-05:00
Cougar Town (comedy) -- ABC is very succinct with its description of this one. Friends alum Cox stars as a "recently divorced single mother exploring the honest truths about dating and aging in our beauty and youth obsessed culture." ...But as ABC describes it, "convincing real-life millionaires to part with their own money is no easy task, because when the idea is poor, the Sharks will tear into the ill-prepared presenters and pass on the idea with a simple, "I'm out!'

Fox's Glee gives it the old golly gee

Ed Bark — 2009-05-19T05:27:09-05:00
For all of its on-air buildup -- including a super-gush by the Rupert Murdoch-owned New York Post -- Tuesday's "special preview" of Fox's Glee is merely good, not super-duper great. ...But by the end of Tuesday's opener, Finn has unshackled all inhibitions and is singin' up a storm with oft-taunted Rachel Berry (Lea Michele), who at the very least sees herself as the next Kristen Chenoweth.

Fox accentuates African-Americans in new fall lineup

Ed Bark — 2009-05-18T11:16:22-05:00
And So You Think You Can Dance will be in the fall mix for the first time after ending its fifth annual summer run, which begins Thursday. ...The Wanda Sykes Show (comedy) -- She's supplanting MADtv in what Fox describes as a "high-energy one-hour show" featuring "biting commentary (that we've already figured out) and heated panel discussions with recurring personalities."

Brute camp: Spike TV's 4th and Long finds Irvin throwin' down

Ed Bark — 2009-05-17T20:28:31-05:00
There's a whole lotta ralphin' goin' on during Monday's premiere, with would-be Dallas Cowboys receiver Montrell Jones the star player in this particular competition before host/taskmaster Michael Irvin implores him to "get that sickness out of you!" ..."Coach Joe" handles the six receivers, Bates takes charge of the defensive backs and a scowling Irvin presides as Major Payne in a 10-episode series that should have more than enough violence and upchucking to please Spike TV's young male target audience.

Leno announces last Tonight guest, repeats vows to never take a vacation

Ed Bark — 2009-05-14T12:19:30-05:00
Leno, who began hosting Tonight on May 25, 1992, also said he plans to exit in an offbeat manner before gearing up for the September premiere of his new, five nights a week 9 p.m. (central) show. ...NBC, desperate to keep Leno rather than see him return to late night on a rival network, initially proposed a half-hour show that would have aired week-nightly at 7 p.m. (central), Leno said.

Random bursts: Nimoy Treks through Letterman Top 10 list; Rather puts on a 'fro to report on burrito lunch

Ed Bark — 2009-05-09T10:57:50-05:00

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NBC spills beans on part of its new season, promises a second helping in 15 days

Ed Bark — 2009-05-04T10:30:48-05:00
Among the Peacock's six announced newcomers are an adaptation of the 1989 film Parenthood featuring a trio of familiar TV faces and the new comedy series Community, starring graybeard Chevy Chase and Joel McHale of The Soup. ...Also absent from Monday's announcement were nights and times for any of NBC's new and returning series, save for Jay Leno's previously announced entrenchment at 9 p.m. (central) with a new Monday-Friday talk/comedy hour.

Presenting Jimmy Fallon at half his current age

Ed Bark — 2009-05-01T01:51:03-05:00
The 34-year-old Saturday Night Live alum is now in his third month of hosting NBC's Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. ...

Leno back among the living; NBC exhales

Ed Bark — 2009-04-28T08:25:14-05:00
Leno's health is of no small concern to NBC, which will be bequeathing him five weekly hours of prime-time next fall after he leaves Tonight in the hands of Conan O'Brien, starting June 1st. ...Before re-taking the Tonight stage, Leno appeared in a wheelchair cradling nine baby dolls while Access Hollywood sycophant Nancy O'Dell asked him for comment.

CNBC's As Seen on TV an info-taining look at infomercials

Ed Bark — 2009-04-21T12:42:12-05:00
The CNBC cable network's latest original documentary, As Seen on TV (Wednesday, 8 p.m. central), manages to be at least as entertaining and informative as sitting through one of Ron Popeil's pitches for the Showtime Rotisserie ("Set it and forget it!"). ...You wouldn't know it from his jet-black hair and beard, but "there's a lot of pressure put on me when people believe that I'm the only one that can take their product to the next level," Mays says.

Fox's Sit Down, Shut Up is best watched on "Mute"

Ed Bark — 2009-04-17T11:33:58-05:00
Attention must be paid to Fox's Sit Down, Shut Up, if only because its behind-the-camera architects include Mitchell Hurwitz of Arrested Development and Eric and Kim Tannenbum from Two and a Half Men. ...Put them all together and then try to pick up the pieces. Sit Down, Shut Up, an animated comedy series set in a Florida high school, does little more than just lay there.

HBO's Grey Gardens finds Drew Barrymore at last in full bloom

Ed Bark — 2009-04-17T11:34:04-05:00
Vivacious Little Edie briefly ends up footloose in NYC, living on daddy's money while he tries to strong-arm her into getting married and in the interim at least holding a steady job. ...And a good deal of Grey Gardens is about the two isolated Beales succumbing to a co-dependence on one another, all the while denying their increasingly desperate straits.

Madden hangs it up; Collinsworth looks like a cinch to replace him on Sunday Night Football (updated)

Ed Bark — 2009-04-16T12:35:33-05:00
He began with CBS, moved to Fox from 1994 to 2002 and spent four years with ABC's Monday Night Football before the network punted the franchise to ESPN. ...NBC Sports chairman Dick Ebersol said that he "spent all day" Thursday with Madden, and "tried every way I could to make sure he was sure about his decision."

TV Land's The Cougar stars 40-year-old temptress and 20 Jungle Jimmies

Ed Bark — 2009-04-15T08:23:37-05:00
TV Land, which used to be the prime time preserve of evergreen sitcom reruns, takes another tumble into the reality genre Wednesday night (9 p.m. central) with the premiere of The Cougar. ...Her kids also say they're pulling for mom, who in an episode-ending preview of coming attractions is shown sharing a bubble bath with one suitor and a bed with another.

Friday Night Lights closes out Season 3, suits up for two more

Ed Bark — 2009-04-09T19:47:03-05:00
Fans of NBC's best drama series can savor the moments -- if they haven't already on DirecTV -- with the comforting knowledge that at least two more 13-episode seasons are already on order. ...Friday Night Lights, filmed entirely on location in Austin, has not made the mistake of keeping its actors in high school to the point where they look old enough to be returning for a 10th year reunion.

CBS' Harper's Island may just be a killer ap

Ed Bark — 2009-04-09T11:04:12-05:00
It's best not to think too hard about that basic impossibility. Harper's Island isn't overly concerned with making any sense or adding up to much more than a ghoulish guessing game. ... Elimination rounds abound, though, with at least one character getting knocked off each week until the climactic Episode 13 purportedly answers all questions, reveals the killer and leaves just a handful of characters still standing. Clue comes quickly to mind.

NBC tries to rebuild post-ER Thursdays with Amy Poehler-led comedy and ensemble cop drama

Ed Bark — 2009-04-08T14:43:52-05:00
Note to readers: Struggling NBC's Thursday night lineup, without ER for the first time in 15 TV seasons, re-gathers itself on April 9th with a new episode of The Office, the premiere of Parks and Recreation, another new Office episode, a first-run 30 Rock and the premiere of Southland. ...That telegraphs this next sentence, which goes a little something like this: But NBC goes very wrong in the flat and wholly derivative first episode of Parks and Recreation.

FX's Rescue Me blazes anew in Season 5

Ed Bark — 2009-04-07T09:40:20-05:00
Lest we forget, Tommy's still on the wagon and his belittling father remains newly deceased as the series reboots with an episode titled "Baptism" (9 p.m. central, repeated at 10 p.m.). ...That leaves Rescue Me as the envelope-pushing network's signature series, with Leary turning in the most under-acknowledged work of any lead actor in an ongoing television role.

Surviving Suburbia gives Saget another ABC port

Ed Bark — 2009-04-06T10:43:18-05:00
Or could it be that ABC simply has a lingering soft spot for Saget, who drops in Monday night as the still boyish-looking 52-year-old star of a comedy series that even The CW network junked before it could air? ...The show's surprise emergence on ABC -- in a cushy slot following Dancing with the Stars no less -- might remind some viewers that this is the network that once made its bacon with laugh track-driven family sitcoms such as Full House, Growing Pains, Roseanne, Home Improvement, Who's the Boss, Family Matters and According to Jim.

The Tudors and In Treatment are back in play on Showtime, HBO

Ed Bark — 2009-04-03T12:54:12-05:00
Henry, who rid himself of second wife Anne Boleyn at the close of last season, takes on his third wife, Jane Seymour (Annabelle Wallis), at the start of this one. Meanwhile, he's beset by a commoner rebellion of Catholics who resent the destruction of their places of worship at the order of Henry's principal deputy, Sir Thomas Cromwell (James Frain).

ER checks out after lasting long enough to go on Medicare

Ed Bark — 2009-04-02T11:30:00-05:00
Those days are long gone, with NBC estimating that Leno will cost the network roughly one-third or less of what it took to fuel the 9 p.m. hour with scripted drama series. Many of the high-quality, buzz-worthy dramas now are on cable networks, even if their audiences come nowhere near the 30 million viewers per episode that ER averaged in its first four seasons.

Osbournes: Reloaded -- What the @#$%&* was that *&%$#@ pile of #@$%*&?

Ed Bark — 2009-04-01T05:01:04-05:00
Mercifully delayed until 24 minutes past the hour Tuesday, the first Osbournes: Reloaded special spewed onto Fox with all the class and style of Ozzy relieving himself on the Alamo. ...Fox has aired some dreadful stuff over the years, but Osbournes: Reloaded proved to be shockingly inept and unfunny from the instant mom Sharon and daughter Kelly shared ice-breaking bleeped profanities while a studio audience howled with laughter.

Second coming of Cupid lacks that certain some-zing

Ed Bark — 2009-03-30T19:03:51-05:00
Just trying to help out in these sub-desultory economic times, where virtually everyone's budget is stretched far tighter than when ABC's original Cupid series failed to make enough viewers quiver. ...In Tuesday's opener, Trevor strives to hook up an Irish musician named Dave with a woman he met in the old country but hasn't been able to locate in NYC.

Looks like a stinker: Osbournes: Reloaded isn't giving TV critics much of a chance to unload

Ed Bark — 2009-03-30T14:04:58-05:00
Unavailable for review, save for a few unappetizing clips, Osbournes: Reloaded is premiering at the odd hour of 8:20 p.m. (central) following the latest American Idol performance show. ...So far that includes a silhouetted stripping granny (her "boobs were so saggy," Kelly notes); a blindfolded younger guy being duped into kissing an elderly woman; Ozzy spraying the audience with foam; and pint-sized "Littlest Osbournes" dropping bleeped f-bombs while insulting a young woman at a theater box office who tells them they can't see an adult-rated movie.

HBO couldn't be less explicit with first-rate No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency

Ed Bark — 2009-03-27T11:39:21-05:00
Ladies' Detective Agency, shot entirely in Botswana, Africa and drawn from the nine same-named novels, stars a plus-sized heroine who lives to honor her late, loving father. ...But things don't really get rolling until prim, proper, opinionated Grace Makutsi (Anika Noni Rose) shows up to take the job as secretary of an agency that initially has no clients.

Stay in the womb! ABC's In the Motherhood is coming

Ed Bark — 2009-03-25T12:39:30-05:00
Megan Mullally (Will & Grace) shouts her way through the role of Rosemary, a multi-divorced, self-absorbed mother of a son who goes entirely unseen in the first two episodes available for review. ...Also caught in the pincers of Motherhood is Saturday Night Live alum Horatio Sanz, who's notably trimmer and in a beard (perhaps he didn't want to be recognized?)

George Lopez to take a swing at late night in new TBS talker

Ed Bark — 2009-03-24T10:06:03-05:00
TBS and George Lopez will enter the late night talk arena for the first time this fall in a show set to air opposite local newscasts and the first half-hours of Conan O'Brien's Tonight Show and Late Show with David Letterman. ..."George and TBS are going to change the late-night television landscape and bring a brand new energy to the talk show genre by giving it a street-party atmosphere," says TBS programming head Michael Wright.

Warhorse redux: Rather hits the century mark -- in episodes -- on HDNet

Ed Bark — 2009-03-23T14:02:15-05:00
And each and every one of them is told from the beginning that Mark is prepared to spend whatever we need to get the story, but not one dollar more . . . ...I remain absolutely determined to find out what really happened, and to bring into the sunshine what the public needs to know about how these ever larger corporations are connected to Washington power for the benefit of making money at the expense of truly independent and free journalism.

Dummying it down

Ed Bark — 2009-03-23T10:37:41-05:00
Dallas-born ventriloquist Jeff Dunham (above) has just signed a big deal with Comedy Central, further establishing North Texas as a great place to throw your voice for fun and eventual profit. ...So he now has what Comedy Central describes as a "wide-ranging, fully-integrated, multi-platform initiative which includes a series order, stand-up special, major-market stand-up tour, DVDs and a consumer products partnership."

Better Off Ted has Office politics, but also a few sparks of its own

Ed Bark — 2009-03-17T17:25:09-05:00
But go-along Ted is also a single dad whose curly-haired daughter, Rose (Isabella Acres), looks like Shirley Temple and sometimes makes pop wonder whether he shouldn't be working for the Good Ship Lollipop instead of the Bismarck. ...This also is the Ted where dad brings little Rose to work and let's her sit in with him at a brainstorming session.

Stephanopoulos/McCain: THE TWITTERVIEW

Ed Bark — 2009-03-17T13:26:24-05:00
Now he's twittering with ABC News This Week anchor George Stephanopoulos, who's embraced this new form as if he were a one-year-old in a high chair with his first birthday cake set before him. ...At the network news level, few if any have used it more visibly than Stephanopoulos, who on Tuesday made much ado of his "Twitterview" with McCain.

Sopranos creator going Hollywood for HBO

Ed Bark — 2009-03-16T12:45:00-05:00
Titled A Ribbon of Dreams, the multi-part saga begins in 1913 and follows the cinematic adventures of a college-educated engineer and a "cowboy with a violent past," says HBO. ...But a lot of time will be covered, from 1913 through the "golden era of talkies and the studio system, to the auteur movement to television, and finally to the present day," according to HBO publicity materials.

NBC's Kings a biblical, bounteous feast

Ed Bark — 2009-03-13T11:10:45-05:00
In a thin soup season of low aspirations, Kings delivers an oft-stunning punch, beginning with Sunday night's two-hour "event" premiere (7 p.m. central). ...Egan, who bears a fairly strong resemblance to Matt Damon, is suitably torn between returning to his home of Port Prosperity or serving his king for what he hopes will be the greater good.

By George, he did it

Ed Bark — 2009-03-13T08:42:30-05:00
That's an odd approach to a hallmark series that will sign off on April 2nd after 15 seasons on the same night and at the same time. ER, a top 10 series for much of its run, has been struggling this season on a network whose overall ratings are on life support. ...Doug Ross, is now operating out of the University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle, whose staff also includes Carol Hathway (Julianna Margulies), his ER wife.

NBC's new summer schedule kicks off early in hopes of helping Conan's Tonight

Ed Bark — 2009-03-12T17:08:19-05:00
So it's come to this: Jason Alexander (Seinfeld) and James Van Der Beek (Dawson's Creek) are in disaster-themed miniseries this summer on NBC. ...O'Brien, who takes over Tonight on June 1st, supposedly will get "the best launch possible" on Monday through Wednesday of that week with 9 p.m. season-enders of Medium, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and Law & Order.

Chop-chop: Throw another cooking competition on the fire

Ed Bark — 2009-03-11T09:31:02-05:00
Chef Marco Pierre White, the British bloke who hosts NBC's new The Chopping Block, used to have Gordon Ramsay under his wing. But the bombastic star of Fox's Hell's Kitchen and Kitchen Nightmares got to these shores first, leaving his old boss to serve leftovers on yet another weekly cooking competition devised by an umpteenth U.S. network.

Dancing with the Stars welcomes Bachelor jilt-ee, angers North Texas couple for other reasons

Ed Bark — 2009-03-10T11:32:51-05:00
It was too hard to explain what Jackass was, what Playboy was, and what a number of the other off-hand and off-color remarks were to our nine-year-old daughter, who has been a passionate DWTS fan for the past three seasons. ...The Elons make some good points, particularly regarding Steve-O. DWTS didn't particularly dwell on Madison's Playboy portfolio, but did manage to make a Jackass of itself on several occasions.

Let's make a deal: AMC's Breaking Bad is boldly back in play

Ed Bark — 2009-03-06T14:16:56-06:00
This is Weeds on steroids -- or crystal meth in this case -- with Walt White (Cranston) and former student turned accomplice Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) wheeling and dealing with the most unsavory thugs New Mexico has to offer. ...AMC also has ordered almost twice as many new episodes -- 13 -- giving the show more room to maneuver within a still relatively small universe that also includes Walt's brother-in-law, Hank (Dean Norris), a DEA agent, and his wife, Marie (Betsy Brandt), a chronic shoplifter.

ABC's banter-laced Castle solves crimes without going medieval

Ed Bark — 2009-03-05T16:42:39-06:00
Viewers who began their TV-watching before the Internet hit also might recognize a little/lot of Moonlighting in Castle, which ABC hopes will be catapulted by Monday's preceding two-hour launch of Dancing with the Stars' eighth edition. ...And in a dismal season for both bottom lines and breakout hits, the success or failure of Castle could go a long way in determining whether actors and their roles have a long-term future at any of the Big Four broadcast networks.

Working without the net? Fallon's Web-footed Late Night wouldn't think of it

Ed Bark — 2009-03-02T12:24:28-06:00
And in case you're interested, he'll also be doing a little television show on the side, beginning Monday at 11:35 p.m. (central) on NBC's Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. ...He'll find out how many people are paying attention after Monday's first actual television outing finds Fallon in the company of Robert De Niro, Justin Timberlake and musical guest Van Morrison, of whom he says, "I can almost guarantee you he has no idea of who I am."

24 cranks itself to the breaking point with full-blown assault on White House

Ed Bark — 2009-03-01T22:54:19-06:00
Monday's two-hour "event" -- covering the 6 to 8 p.m. hours of Season 7 -- finds terrorists breaking into the White House with what seems to be the greatest of ease. ...In Monday night's never-dull two-parter (7 to 9 p.m. central), he again runs afoul of noxious Senator Blaine Mayer (Kurtwood Smith), who wants to lock him up for crimes against humanity.

Tom Selleck still rock-stolid as wrong-righting Jesse Stone

Ed Bark — 2009-02-27T12:26:28-06:00
He'll be playing gruff, hard-drinking, dog-loving police chief Jesse Stone for the fifth time Sunday (March 1st), in CBS' Jesse Stone: Thin Ice (8 p.m. central). ...Leslie Hope, who played Jack Bauer's murdered wife, Teri, on the first season of 24, drops in for a few scenes as a taut-talking internal affairs investigator who of course is not immune to Stone's rough-hewn charms.

March sadness: CBS is the only network on year-to-year upswing, but Fox will have usual finishing kick

Ed Bark — 2009-02-26T16:11:30-06:00
Fox will repeat as the season's No. 1 network among 18-to-49-year-olds, even though its average of 4.2 million per prime-time show is well off last year's 5.4 million at this time of the season. ...ABC used its Oscar-cast to heavily promote four new series coming next month -- Castle (March 9th); Better Off Ted (March 18th); In the Motherhood (March 26th) and Cupid (March 31st). Dancing with the Stars is returning as well, which will help.

Oscar audience grows from last year's all-time low

Ed Bark — 2009-02-23T14:00:10-06:00
Sunday night's 81st Oscar ceremony on ABC kicked up a few notches in the national Nielsens, averaging 36.3 million viewers during its three-and-a-half-hour running time. That's a nice boost from the all-time low 32 million viewers who watched last year's telecast, according to Nielsen Media Research.

Gibson regroups with stunt stint on Kimmel Live

Ed Bark — 2009-02-23T12:29:16-06:00
A goateed Mel Gibson, little seen or heard since his infamous drunken tirade in mid-summer 2006, dropped in on Jimmy Kimmel's post-Oscar show Sunday to announce his next film project. ...

Jackman-led Oscars end up long on ceremony

Ed Bark — 2009-02-23T07:58:35-06:00
ABC's cameramen as usual were on top of all the audience reaction shots, even finding best actress winner Kate Winslet's dad in the cheap seats after she asked him to whistle -- which he did -- to show her where he was seated. ...The age-old comic's use of a derogatory term for gays, most recently in 2007, made him a controversial choice, especially on a night when Penn's portrayal of a slain gay rights activist won Oscar gold.

Sexy women of substance populate BBC America's Mistresses

Ed Bark — 2009-02-20T09:03:01-06:00
So maybe it's time to invest in a new soapy yet seriously sexual drama about four thirtysomething gal pals whose lives are both intertwined and at loose ends. BBC America's 12-episode Mistresses, premiering Friday, Feb. 20th (7 p.m. central), is graced by four of the UK's finest, sturdiest actresses.

Drunk with power: unclebarky.com nails first three Idol finalists

Ed Bark — 2009-02-19T11:33:12-06:00
Top 12 Idol finalists Michael Sarver, Alexis Grace, Danny Gokey ...Which unclebarky.com did by correctly picking the first three American Idol survivors among this week's 12 contestants.

Play @%$!*#% Ball -- HBO's Eastbound & Down throws hard but misses the plate

Ed Bark — 2009-02-13T15:41:08-06:00
Just in time for spring training, here comes HBO's comedy series about a profane, loutish, sexist, homophobic, coke-sniffing ex-Big League relief pitcher who "looks like a big bag of mashed-up asshole" in the view of one cogent observer. ...Eastbound & Out, which has just a six-episode order, is breaking into HBO's usually prestigious Sunday night lineup (beginning on Feb. 15th at 9:30 p.m. central).

Fox's Dollhouse may not play very well

Ed Bark — 2009-02-13T09:45:48-06:00
And of course it almost goes without saying that "Nothing is what it appears to be," which mastermind Adelle DeWitt (Olivia Williams) tells minion Echo (Eliza Dushku) in the opening seconds of Friday's premiere (8 p.m. central). ...But amid all these extracurricular activities, Echo has a somewhat self-contained assignment of the week, whether it's acting as a go-between in a kidnapping or serving as human prey next week for a maniacal bow hunter.

CNBC's House of Cards shows how greed hit home and left the economy humbled

Ed Bark — 2009-02-12T14:26:39-06:00
It's a fine mess we're in, and CNBC's latest new documentary, House of Cards, is better than most at explaining how "the greatest financial collapse since the Great Depression" came to roost. ...He meticulously shows how the bubble burst without being a bubblehead about it in a compelling two-hour film that premieres on Thursday, Feb. 12th at 7 p.m. (central), repeats at 11 p.m. on the same night and also will air on Sunday (8 p.m.) and Monday (7 p.m.).

Oddly unaffecting Two Lovers nonetheless has intriguing big-star cast and free admission on HDNet Movies

Ed Bark — 2009-02-11T16:10:11-06:00
But just in case, here he is in a somber yet semi-uplifting film about a depressed would-be photographer who somehow manages to click with two disparate, attractive women. ...And when Sandra asks him to a party just moments after they make love for the first time, it's even harder to buy into Leonard saying, "I'll check to see if I'm free."

Important Things with Demetri Martin needs more pop but shows some promise

Ed Bark — 2009-02-10T13:04:55-06:00
Wednesday's premiere of Comedy Central's Important Things with Demetri Martin (9:30 p.m. central) brings forth a mop-headed, nimble-brained 35-year-old who looks quite a bit younger than he is. ...Next Wednesday's show, which trades on the word "Power," has appreciably better filmed sketches built around a battle for a parking space and a super hero named the Revenger" who later learns that his father died of Lyme Disease rather than at the hands of violent crooks.

Chuck tries 3D as last resort; House comfortably at home on Fox for Episode 100

Ed Bark — 2009-02-02T12:18:49-06:00
Her eventual diagnosis won't be spilled here, but as usual it takes most of the episode for House to deduce it after his usual verbal abusing of anyone and everyone. ...Chuck on the other hand is stuck as that night's table-setter on downtrodden NBC, which also will be relaunching Heroes and Medium on post-Super Bowl Monday.

Super Bowl XLIII: great game, decent commercials, Bruce cuttin' loose

Ed Bark — 2009-02-01T23:32:12-06:00

An explosive beginning to 21st season of American Experience

Ed Bark — 2009-01-26T12:00:23-06:00
The father of the World War II era atomic bomb was a "frail, frequently sick" pantywaist as a kid, never had a date at Harvard and was derided after the fact by President Truman as "that crybaby scientist." ...The PBS film tells of the constant government scrutiny of Oppenheimer, even while he headed the all-consuming U.S. effort to beat Germany to the atomic bomb punch at the height of World War II.

TNT's Trust Me not as good as advertised

Ed Bark — 2009-01-23T09:54:16-06:00
And the network also has positioned Trust Me to succeed by slotting Monday's premiere (9 p.m. central) after a new episode of its most bankable hit, The Closer. ...Viewers may not instantly be sold, though, on a present-time series about advertising that's set in Chicago and so far lacks Mad Men's delicious devotion to its characters' personal lives.

True story: Fox's Lie to Me looks like a keeper

Ed Bark — 2009-01-21T09:32:06-06:00
Tim Roth might be a bit afraid you won't like him in Lie to Me. ...Other members of the team are lead researcher Eli Loker (Brendan Hines), who has a little 'tude to him, and new recruit Ria Torres (Monica Raymund), plucked from an airport security post because she tested off the charts as a human lie detector.

Oh happy daze: Lost returns Wednesday

Ed Bark — 2009-01-19T13:52:23-06:00
Let the record show that Willie Nelson's heretofore less than hallowed 1973 ditty is spinning on a turntable during the opening minutes of Wednesday's two-hour return engagement on ABC. (8 to 10 p.m. central). ...

Three's company in Showtime's United States of Tara

Ed Bark — 2009-01-16T14:20:32-06:00
The show is United States of Tara, the star is Toni Collette and the execution is so-so in what creator Diablo Cody (Juno) describes as a "sensitive, humorous, humanist" approach to Dissociative Identity Disorder. ...Showtime is returning both The L Word for its sixth and final season (8 p.m.) and Secret Diary of a Call Girl for its second (9:30 p.m.)

Beast of burden: New A&E series a bad vehicle for game Swayze

Ed Bark — 2009-01-15T13:56:10-06:00
In that context it's hard to imagine him making it all the way through 13 episodes of The Beast, which recently completed filming of its first season on A&E. ...He's convincingly intense, whether barking out orders to Dove or shooting himself in the shoulder during next week's Episode 2 as a very odd means to bring a drug ring to an end.

Ricardo Montalban deplanes at age 88

Ed Bark — 2009-01-15T11:08:47-06:00

"I am not a numbuh!" Prisoner star Patrick McGoohan calls it a night

Ed Bark — 2009-01-14T17:23:15-06:00
The 1968 British-made series lasted just 17 episodes on CBS, but its lore lives on. ...

PBS at last plays for laughs in six-hour comedy opus

Ed Bark — 2009-01-14T13:23:02-06:00
Prominently featured are groundbreaking silent film star Harold Lloyd; the early Bob Hope ("a pompous coward trying to win the girl with the wisecrack," says Sedaris); Phyllis Diller; Andy Kaufman; Cheech & Chong; Steve Martin; Woody Allen and the wildly improvisational Winters, who's ordered to "Do something with a stick" during an appearance on Jack Paar's old Tonight Show. ...He has a point, but it would have been good to get a rebuttal from All In The Family creator Norman Lear, who's newly interviewed for Make 'Em Laugh.

Party on: Golden Globes again serve their purpose

Ed Bark — 2009-01-12T11:33:00-06:00
Rock rhymes with Barack -- Tracy Morgan accepted 30 Rock's Globe for best comedy series after explaining, "Tina Fey and I had an agreement that if Barack Obama won, I would speak for the show from now on. ...Suck it to me -- Tina Fey, voted best comedy series actress for 30 Rock, said she's learned that "If you ever start to feel too good about yourself, they have this thing called the Internet."

Jack in a box: 24 returns to re-save the world

Ed Bark — 2009-01-09T11:58:27-06:00
This little sermonette might hold a bit more water if Jack hadn't effectively threatened a scumbag with torture just a bit earlier while under the close eye of comely FBI agent Renee Walker (a strong 24 debut by Annie Wersching). ...Sunday's return engagement also marks the re-appearance of onetime CTU agent Tony Almeida (Carlos Bernard), who seemingly died in Jack's arms midway through Season 5. 24 executive producer Howard Gordon, in a form letter to TV critics, says, "Taking some creative license that we hope our fans will appreciation, we've resurrected one of the show's most beloved characters."

Fear Is Real -- add moronic and stupefying

Ed Bark — 2009-01-07T12:44:01-06:00
And perhaps needless to say, the show blows. Fear Is Real (7 p.m. central) has a dirt-cheap look, an antiquated Blair Witch hook and a piddling grand prize of $66,666 for the last contestant standing among 13 lambs to the pseudo slaughter. ...All of this is almost too much for 24-year-old model/hairstylist Lauren, who emotes, "I seriously feel like I'm gonna puke and cry and just like have a heart attack all at the same time --- if that's even possible."

FX's Damages returns in killer form

Ed Bark — 2009-01-07T13:55:54-06:00
Even those who devoured its first season might find themselves a bit disoriented as Season 2 begins Wednesday night (9 p.m. central) with two bangs from a pistol held by avenging young attorney Ellen Parsons (Rose Byrne). ...But most of the meat is in its six-month trip back to the present, where Parsons tells her unseen prey, "I lied, too," before pumping those two pistol shots.

Scrubs good as ever, Homeland Security a dud in ABC's new Tuesday pairing

Ed Bark — 2009-01-05T16:18:38-06:00
Tonight's first of two episodes, subtitled "My Jerks," introduces guest star Courteney Cox as new chief of medicine Taylor Maddox while also fleshing out new interns named Ed (Aziz Ansari), Denise (Eliza Coupe) and Katie (Betsy Beutler). ...But Scrubs still carries it off even after J.D. and Turk (Braff and Donald Faison) first relate a vision of the afterlife that segues from a dip in a milkshake pool to longing gazes at a Cloud of Lesbians.

ABC's new True Beauty plays tricks on Dallas magician's assistant among others

Ed Bark — 2009-01-04T19:12:22-06:00
But in ABC promotional clips, Kutcher summons all the wisdom at his command in deducing that "good looking people immediately assume that they are of a different sort of echelon of being than the rest of us . . . ...But he's lately had a trio of bombs -- NBC's The Real Wedding Crashers, ABC's Miss Guided and this season's earlier Opportunity Knocks, which ABC kayoed after just three episodes.

Play it again: compelling ESPN special marks 50th anniversary of "The Greatest Game Ever Played"

Ed Bark — 2008-12-12T07:30:05-06:00
Grandly dubbed "The Greatest Game Ever Played," 1958's Baltimore Colts-New York Giants championship game gave the NFL its stripes in times when baseball still reigned as the king of sports while college football outpaced the pro game. ...He also was involved in a very big way in "The Greatest Game Ever Played," fumbling twice, scoring a touchdown and coming up just inches short -- or so the referees ruled -- of a first down that would have allowed the Giants to run out the clock.

Jay's prime-time gain could be Conan's late-night loss

Ed Bark — 2008-12-10T11:40:58-06:00
The Peacock's blockbuster deal to keep Leno, officially announced Tuesday, will give him an unprecedented Monday-Friday 9 p.m. (central) slot next fall while O'Brien moves West to take over the Tonight Show a few months earlier on June 1st. ...And the GE-owned network's 9 p.m. performance has dimmed to a flicker after the still relatively recent bright years of Law & Order, Law & Order: SVU and ER, which will have its series finale on March 12th.

Redneck scrapper: Dallas-born Christian Kane fights for TNT's new Leverage

Ed Bark — 2008-12-08T15:29:39-06:00
The former high school wrestler is finishing off a second bottle of Bud Light and has a small chaw between his cheek and gum when we meet on a mid-weekday afternoon to talk about his new TNT series Leverage among other things. ...All of this makes him at the very least a Renaissance Redneck who also plays lead guitar in a southern rock band called Kane and proudly does all of his own fistfighting stunts as "retrieval specialist" Eliot Spencer on Leverage.

Brokaw passes Meet the Press baton to Gregory

Ed Bark — 2008-12-07T11:36:57-06:00
"I'm not Tim, but along with this great team, I can just work real hard to make Tim proud," Gregory told Brokaw, who noted that his first Meet the Press appearance was "at the height" of Watergate in 1973. ...Gregory, in his joint appearance with Brokaw Sunday, said that Russert had always counseled him to "be respectful, but ask the tough questions and think of the smart followup and hold 'em accountable" when interviewing newsmakers.

TNT's "high-octane" Leverage not quite a gas, gas, gas

Ed Bark — 2008-12-05T14:27:24-06:00
That might optimize your enjoyment of TNT's new Leverage, which in longer form is The A-Team meets Mission: Impossible meets Ocean's Eleven, Twelve, Thirteen or how many more of 'em they make. Timothy Hutton, a best supporting actor Oscar-winner at 21 for 1981's Ordinary People, is now the elder statesman maestro of four attitude-infested wrongdoers who say things like, "My money's not in my account.

HBO's House of Saddam could use a fixer-upper

Ed Bark — 2008-12-04T11:43:21-06:00
Those who stay the course might find the opening two hours appreciably more interesting than the concluding Hour 4, which abruptly sends Saddam on the lam and then drearily winds down to his eventual capture by U.S forces. ...Alternately chortling and glowering, his formative Saddam -- the story begins in 1979 -- is bedeviled by both a domineering mother and amoral older son, Uday (Philip Arditti), who in time becomes the headstrong, violence- and drug-addicted Sonny Corleone of the piece.

The Shield goes out like a lion with rousing finale

Ed Bark — 2008-11-25T11:16:20-06:00
Fans of The Shield almost assuredly will not be disappointed by this very satisfying resolution to the series that forged FX's barrier-breaking identity. ...The Shield also restored Chiklis to the good graces of his profession after a dispiriting period where he starred in NBC's mercifully short-lived Daddio sitcom and played Curly in a made-for-TV movie about The Three Stooges.

Colbert Christmas special is jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell mock

Ed Bark — 2008-11-21T14:51:23-06:00
Instead he's trapped in his ridiculously decorated mountain cabin by a ravenous bear that won't let him make it to a presumably festive Manhattan studio where Elvis Costello restlessly awaits as a drummer boy and later a pop-up clown. ...Jon Stewart fails to interest Colbert in Hannukah, John Legend can't sell him on the joys of nutmeg and single-named Feist pretty much falls flat as a tree-topping angel who tries to answer the host's Jimmy Stewart-esque prayer to "show me the way."

24: Redemption movie puts Action Jack back in harm's way before Season 7 follows suit

Ed Bark — 2008-11-21T08:22:07-06:00
From 3 to 5 p.m. in fictional, war-torn Sangala, Africa, Kiefer Sutherland's super-resilient soldier of misfortune has a prolonged gunfight, is tortured, loses another friend to a violent death and gets betrayed by a government official before again sacrificing himself for the greater good. ...24: Redemption, filmed in Cape Town, South Africa and L.A. is a serviceable although not exceptional place-setter that slightly shortens the unplanned, elongated gap between the May 2007 end of Season 6 and January's resumption of hostilities.

Gotta sing, gotta dance. But nearing her first prime-time variety special, Rosie O'Donnell of course slings opinions, too

Ed Bark — 2008-11-19T13:52:24-06:00
She insisted on doing the show live, with the understanding that NBC would order a minimum of six more hours if the Nielsen ratings click their heels on a show that will "be chock full of dancing boys and girls from Broadway." ...Maybe that's why her overriding pitch for Rosie Live -- "Imagine if you took out the judging and put even more talented people on!" -- went unanswered until NBC Entertainment co-chairman Ben Silverman finally bit.

What makes NBC's Big Ben tick? For one thing, using NBC shows as "integral pieces of marketing platforms"

Ed Bark — 2008-11-18T16:00:20-06:00
Were Hill Street Blues in Silverman's hands, partners Andy Renko and Bobby Hill might well have driven their GM squad car to an off-duty charitable function that would make both them and their vehicle seem civic-minded. ...He just seemed happy to bask in the presence of a telegenic, supposedly hot-shot programming exec who told him that NBC is in the futuristic driver's seat with shows such as Knight Rider.

Obamas and Steve Kroft spark 60 Minutes to another ratings high

Ed Bark — 2008-11-18T13:12:20-06:00
This time it was a landslide, with 60 Minutes romping over NBC's runnerup Sunday Night Football game between the Dallas Cowboys and Washington Redskins (19.3 million viewers). ...CBS and ABC are tied for the lead with 18-to-49-year-olds, but ABC is down 15 percent in this key demographic while CBS has slipped 8 percent.

Einstein's mind is an action hero in new History Channel tale

Ed Bark — 2008-11-17T12:46:19-06:00
This two-hour tale, set against a backdrop of World War I and warring scientists, adds up to a compelling look at how Einstein finally won the day and became an international celebrity whose "wild halo of hair" only made his thoughts seem deeper. ...Tyson -- and we'll have to take his word for it -- says that Einstein's Theory of Relativity had "no wiggle room" in terms of being right or wrong.

The Crash of 1929 -- seems like old times

Ed Bark — 2008-11-10T09:15:47-06:00
The Crash of 1929 (8 p.m. central on KERA/Ch. 13 in D-FW) is a one-hour crash course in events leading to the United States' first stock market-fueled financial crisis. ...It's about the length of time that it requires for a new set of suckers, if you will, a new set of people capable of wonderful self-delusion to come in and imagine that they have a new and wonderful fix on the future."

Tina/Sarah to Tina/Sarah/Oprah to Tina/Oprah -- and Oprah/Tina (updated 4:12 p.m.)

Ed Bark — 2008-11-06T08:59:33-06:00
The most under-appreciated and currently the best comedy series on broadcast or cable television is getting a mega-boost tonight courtesy of a path that has taken star Tina Fey through Saturday Night Live, Sarah Palin and now a highly advantageous outcome of Tuesday's presidential election. ...But in complete overall ratings for the 2007-'08 TV season, 30 Rock in its sophomore year ranked a subterranean 65th among 18-to-49-year-olds (an average of 4.06 million) and a sub-subterranean 111th in total viewers (5.98 million).

History Channels: Television brings home the sights and sounds of Obama's (and America's) night of nights

Ed Bark — 2008-11-05T07:24:14-06:00
"I urge all Americans who supported me to join me in not just congratulating him, but offering our next president our good will and earnest effort to find ways to come together to find the necessary compromises to bridge our differences," McCain said of Obama in his final act as a presidential candidate. ...At this point it's noticed that Fox4, still the last major local D-FW station not in high-definition, is unable to retain the Fox network's HD presentation whenever it inserts various local vote totals at the bottom of home screens.

Picky Picky (Vol. 17)

Ed Bark — 2008-10-30T08:38:23-05:00
Joe the Plumber, who by now needs no further introduction or identification, has signed a management deal with an eye toward becoming a show biz personality. "Joe the Plumber is fast becoming a brand," a representative of Nashville-based Pathfinder Management tells The New York Times.

Life's too short to waste on Lifetime's new Rita Rocks sitcom

Ed Bark — 2008-10-20T14:21:38-05:00
Instead she's mostly stuck in prototypical '80s sitcom hell with bratty teen daughter Hallie (Shannen Doherty lookalike Natalie Dreyfuss) and her ever-present, dim bulb boyfriend, Kip (Raviv Ullman), whose first words are "What ups?" ...Sullivan tries awfully hard to make a go of Rita Rocks in times when the once dominant sitcom genre is gasping for air time on both broadcast and cable networks.

Crash emerges as wreckage in weekly Starz version

Ed Bark — 2008-10-17T15:10:51-05:00
Notching another wacko on his bedpost, he has top billing as record producer Ben Cendars, whose first act is to expose himself to his female limo driver before laying a little heavy-duty profanity on her. ...Advertiser-supported AMC's Mad Men, nearing the end of a super-terrific second season, keeps showing how an adult drama should be done. Crash looks like yet another wearisome, pointless wallow.

Mr. Robinson we assume: NBC's Crusoe a truly great escape

Ed Bark — 2008-10-16T15:36:25-05:00
His name is Jeremiah Blackthorne and he's played by durable Sam Neill, last seen as scheming Cardinal Wolsey in Season 1 of Showtime's The Tudors. ...Your time will be well-spent and your brain won't be taxed to the breaking point in trying to figure out who's who, what's what -- or where this show might be going.

David Alan Grier paints it black in Comedy Central's Chocolate News

Ed Bark — 2008-10-15T12:10:51-05:00
Anchor David Alan Grier promises uncompromising dark comedy on the new Chocolate News, touted as "the only source for pure, uncircumcised realness from an Afro-centric perspective." ...Also included: an extended, leaden bit on a "multi-epithet mega-trade" for free use of the n-word and some closing newsreel footage of America's long-forgotten first black candidate for president, straw-hatted Lucius Trenton Johnson.

NBC's My Own Worst Enemy: a brain-twister that ties its knots too tight

Ed Bark — 2008-10-13T16:28:38-05:00
NBC press materials describe My Own Worst Enemy as a tale of "polar opposites who share only one thing in common -- the same body. ..."You ARE the experiment," she tells Henry after he literally poses the same question asked by Ross Perot's running mate James Stockdale, at the start of the 1992 debate with Al Gore and Dan Quayle : "Who am I?

Ex-cellent: The Starter Wife returns in even better form than before

Ed Bark — 2008-10-10T08:13:21-05:00
As USA's The Starter Wife begins a 10-episode first season Friday, its newly divorced heroine is holding to the "virgin queen" vows taken at the end of last year's crowd-pleasing miniseries. ...Her opening night performance in Starter Wife's return is sterling from start to finish, whether she's quipping with pals or turning up the intensity in scenes with her ex-husband and a hoped-for new friend named Liz (Danielle Nicolet).

Fighting crime on CBS: Eleventh Hour is just the latest practitioner

Ed Bark — 2008-10-09T08:30:54-05:00
Nicely nestled behind the godfather of "procedural crime" series, CBS' Eleventh Hour looks like another long-distance runner on a network that shot itself in the foot last season by trying something new. ...The deductions on Eleventh Hour seem somewhat more grounded than those on CBS' new The Mentalist, where the color of one's tie can be clear, incriminating evidence in the eyes of cocksure, pseudo-psychic Patrick Jane.

Kath & Kim: at best it stinks

Ed Bark — 2008-10-08T17:25:13-05:00
Desperately adapted from an Australian sitcom, this half-hour from hell co-stars Saturday Night Live alum Molly Shannon (who's really a very nice person off-camera) and Selma Blair (Hellboy 2). ...Kath & Kim is described in NBC press materials as the saga of a "hilarious and iconoclastic mother-daughter duo" immersed in a "love/hate, push/pull dysfunctional relationship that only a mother and daughter could share."

Life on Mars launches (but can it take off?)

Ed Bark — 2008-10-08T13:12:52-05:00
That's rarely a good sign, but it's not always a death warrant either. Touched By An Angel had its entire pilot scrapped and a new creative team brought in before CBS finally shrugged and put it in play. ..."You look like you've seen a ghost, and he was ballin' your mother," he says by way of greeting the super-befuddled Sam, who becomes a member of the squad because almost everyone apparently knows him although he knows no one.

Tina trifecta: her third Palin sendup in four weeks gets even better with strong support from Jason Sudeikis as bravura Biden

Ed Bark — 2008-10-05T19:57:40-05:00
Tina Fey risks putting herself in a Sarah Palin lockbox with three perfectly played parodies in the first four Saturday Night Lives of the season. ...

Fall TV: Worst Week does its best to break CBS' Monday night comedy mold

Ed Bark — 2008-09-19T13:14:47-05:00
Let's just say that Dick Clayton finds himself with a little down time shortly after deadpanning, "I'm just gonna rinse the urine out of my hair, and I'll be off." ...Doing this every week will be a big challenge, though. Worst Week risks being a one-trick pony if Sam Briggs is fated to make a hapless horse's ass of himself in each and every episode.

Asner still acting and punching with his left as presidential campaign carries on

Ed Bark — 2008-09-18T14:44:04-05:00
Asner doubled-dipped as Lou Grant in two classic TV series. The Mary Tyler Moore Show birthed the character in 1970 as the boss of a Minneapolis television newsroom before Lou Grant made a Los Angeles newspaper editor of him. ...His views of Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin are as predictable as Sean Hannity's deferential treatment of her during a Wednesday night interview on Fox News Channel's Hannity & Colmes.

And the Emmy goes to -- frankly, will anyone give a damn?

Ed Bark — 2008-09-17T11:27:51-05:00
The Emmys, to be hosted by a quintet of reality show hosts, air on the eve of a strike-damaged fall TV season with the fewest new series ever. ... Nor does it help that the three programs with the most Emmy nominations -- HBO's John Adams, AMC's Mad Men and NBC's 30 Rock -- have been seen by only a relative handful of America's TV-watchers.

Otherworldly, overlooked: SNL's night of Sarah-Hillary put the "Space Olympics" into virtual eclipse

Ed Bark — 2008-09-16T17:35:18-05:00
It attracted possibly one zillionth the notice on a night when Tina Fey and Amy Poehler stole the show from the top with their dead-on sendups of Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton. ...

Together again for the first time: Fey and Poehler paint a masterpiece with SNL's Sarah/Hillary sendup

Ed Bark — 2008-09-14T08:44:43-05:00
SNL's "Hillary" returned as a not-so-stiff upper-lipped loser who finally boiled over as "Palin" pronounced, "It's truly amazing and I think women everywhere can agree, that no matter your politics, it's time for a woman to make it to the White House." ...But SNL's Sarah-Hillary sendup had the good grace to be smart, funny and brilliantly acted by Fey and Poehler, the only duo to ever make the show's usual gang of dominant male cast members seem almost impotent.

Gibson vs. Palin -- call it a draw?

Ed Bark — 2008-09-12T07:37:28-05:00
"The Bush doctrine, as I understand it," he told/lectured her, "is that we have the right of anticipatory self-defense, that we have the right to a preemptive strike against any other country that we think is going to attack us. ...At the opening bell, though, it wasn't enough for her to basically say, "I'm ready" when asked whether voters should believe she's in fact experienced enough to be McCain's right-hand woman.

Fall TV: Inn-fantile Do Not Disturb leaves no vacancy for brain activity

Ed Bark — 2008-09-10T08:26:44-05:00
Fox's new Do Not Disturb, virtually certain to be fall's worst-reviewed new series, is best watched while repeatedly striking your noggin with a ball peen hammer. ...And it can only be hoped that Do Not Disturb hasn't injected a virus into the computer on which Wednesday's premiere episode unfolded.

Fall TV: To be Somebodies is not a bad thing

Ed Bark — 2008-09-09T11:40:31-05:00
In his on-camera role, he's Scottie, a passive, soft-spoken African-American Charlie Brown who pretty much absorbs life's punches while more or less advancing through college. Somebodies is shot entirely in Athens, GA, home of both the University of Georgia and R.E.M. -- not necessarily in that order. ...Scottie thinks he's got it made after spotting a pair of lush next door neighbors who alluringly wash their car in halter tops and invite him to watch TV with them -- as long as he doesn't mind porn.

Fall TV: CW's Privileged a rich blend of loose ends

Ed Bark — 2008-09-09T06:37:35-05:00
Not that it'll get any special privileges, save for a comfy Tuesday night slot following 90210, which got off to a nice enough start in the ratings last week after CW and the show's producers conspired to make it unavailable for review. ..."I dabble in everything, but I only commit to things that truly matter," she tells Megan by way of asking if she'd like to prepare Rose and Sage Baker (Lucy Kate Hale and Ashley Newbrough) for admission to Duke University.

Fall TV: Fringe takes its crack at sci fi fo fum

Ed Bark — 2008-09-08T13:06:00-05:00
A very bad development at a Chelsea, MA storage facility serves to put Olivia on the scent of jerk-ish Peter Bishop (Joshua Jackson from Dawson's Creek), son of the seemingly crazed Walter Bishop. ...Fox will repeat the Fringe pilot on Sunday at 7 p.m. (central) before it's left to do battle on Tuesday nights opposite ABC's Dancing with the Stars results shows.

FNC top dog at GOP convention; McCain's closer nips Obama's

Ed Bark — 2008-09-08T09:20:49-05:00
National Nielsen numbers for simultaneous coverage on eight broadcast networks -- ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, FNC, MSNBC, Telemundo and Univision -- say that McCain drew a total of 38.9 million viewers nationally for his closer. Obama's far showier spectacle in Denver, which unlike McCain's also was carried on the BET and TV One networks, had 38.4 million viewers.

O'Reilly vs. Obama: Was it good for you?

Ed Bark — 2008-09-05T10:02:55-05:00
Taped Thursday in York, PA, the pair's first one-on-one encounter will be strung out over four nights on Fox News Channel's The O'Reilly Factor after a Friday night recess. ...But in a post mortem with two analysts who evaluated O'Reilly's performance -- and basically gave it raves -- The big O' said of the big O, "He's a tough guy, Obama. . .

Hoping to suck in viewers, HBO has needed injection in True Blood

Ed Bark — 2008-09-05T10:04:07-05:00
Crafted by Six Feet Under maestro Alan Ball and adapted from the "Sookie Stackhouse" novels by Charlaine Harris, its first two episodes (in an inaugural season of 12) are an intoxicating blend of backwoods Louisiana and blood-sucking outcasts. ...They include best friend Tara Thornton (played with a good deal of sauce by Rutina Wesley); horndog brother Jason (Ryan Kwanten); and small businessman Sam Merlotte (Sam Trammell), whose down-home bar/eatery is the Chili's of Bon Temps, LA.

"Now, now, in Dick Morris' defense, he is a lying sack of (*&%@#*@)."

Ed Bark — 2008-09-04T15:49:18-05:00
From Wednesday night's Republican convention edition of The Daily Show (Note: picture takes a few seconds to form.) ...

"A star is born" -- blah, blah, blah

Ed Bark — 2008-09-04T09:36:46-05:00
...

Fall TV:: The Sopranos on hogs -- FX's Sons of Anarchy spins tales of crooked bikers

Ed Bark — 2008-09-03T10:11:02-05:00
Wednesday's premiere also includes rotting Mexican corpses; savage beatings of both a drug-dealer and an Asian Elvis; the point-blank face-shooting of a rival Mayan motorcycle gang member; another dead Mayan with a stick of dynamite protruding from his rear end; and the not-so-gentle twitting of a SAMCRO "prospect" known as Kip "Half-Sack" Epps. ...Still, it'd be nice to take the edge off for a change with a series that actually aspires to be life-affirming without all the attendant dirty laundry of The Shield, Nip/Tuck or Rescue Me.

Oddball out: MSNBC's Olbermann plays chicken with Republicans

Ed Bark — 2008-09-03T06:43:42-05:00
It's a stark contrast from the Democratic convention in Denver, where MSNBC's principal Republican attack dog sat on an outdoor set near a train station and rhapsodized about Barack Obama when he wasn't sniping at his colleagues. ...Olbermann and some of his MSNBC colleagues made much of the fact that President Bush would be addressing the convention from the White House in an eight-minute speech scheduled to end just before the Big Broadcast networks signed on at 9 p.m. (central).

CNN entitled to a St. Paul swagger

Ed Bark — 2008-09-02T12:09:31-05:00
On Thursday's closing night, CNN went where it had never been before -- to the top of the national ratings heap among all news networks during Barack Obama's curtain-closing acceptance speech. ...And on Thursday's closing night, it came within an eyelash of beating FNC in total viewers, losing by a score of 4.2 million to 4.1 million.

FX's The Shield resolutely plays dirty in its seventh and final season

Ed Bark — 2008-09-01T22:55:30-05:00
Absent the success of The Shield and the excesses of rogue cop Vic Mackey, there's no Nip/Tuck, Rescue Me or Damages on FX. The Shield, helmed from the start by creator/executive producer Shawn Ryan, literally badgered its network into branding itself with a hot poker. ...It can be tough-going in Tuesday night's re-start, even for devoted fans. The Shield isn't as densely plotted as Lost, but it's still easy enough to get lost in the transition from season to season.

Lower your expectations for TNT's Raising the Bar

Ed Bark — 2008-08-29T13:21:12-05:00
It's tough to muster much more enthusiasm than that for TNT's Raising the Bar, whose father figure, Steven Bochco, previously has crafted the likes of Hill Street Blues, L.A. ...Premiering on Labor Day, the series otherwise strives to intertwine the lives of defenders and prosecutors, whose clashes by day don't keep them from mixing and mingling nightly at their favorite bar.

Obama's big night: A tale of two networks

Ed Bark — 2008-08-29T08:21:05-05:00
"There was no stone left unturned here," he said before later assuring correspondent Andrea Mitchell that the speech in fact played as beautifully on TV as it did before an estimated 80,000 partisans gathered at Denver's Invesco Field. ...The usually sour-minded Charles Krauthammer likewise used Wallace's words -- "exceedingly smart" -- before also crediting Obama with making "a generic Democratic speech, because he realizes that if he becomes a generic Democrat in this election year, he wins by a landslide."

Katie does a handstand, but CBS isn't turning cartwheels over convention ratings

Ed Bark — 2008-08-28T10:25:36-05:00
But CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric, still fighting to have "embattled" removed from most descriptions of her, seems totally oblivious to some of the impressions she's leaving while in Denver covering the Democrats. ...pid=E3aPl8K4bMBQ1cYZ9unAXm4qVpBGwzYP&name=cbsPlayer&allowScriptAccess=always&wmode=transparent&embedded=y&scale=noscale&rv=n&salign=tl' allowFullScreen='true' width='425' height='324' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' pluginspage='http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer'>
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Superman swimmer adds another laurel

Ed Bark — 2008-08-27T15:26:31-05:00
Eight-time Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps will join the growing pool of athlete hosts, with musical guest Lil Wayne. SNL is making an unusually early Sept. 13th return and will have seven new shows before the presidential election, the network says. ...Other prominent athletes who have presided over SNL include Michael Jordan, Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Derek Jeter, Joe Montana, O.J.

Michelle, Teddy keep Dems from dozing before McCain has some last laughs

Ed Bark — 2008-08-26T10:57:21-05:00
More than a little hyper-caffeinated but definitely not lacking self-assurance, Russert reported from the floor early Monday evening on a poll that said potential voters between the ages of 18-to-24 favor Barack Obama over John McCain by a 55 to 32 percent margin. ...Segue to the 200-year-old man with Jay Leno -- In Hollywood for a fundraiser, McCain made what he said was his 13th appearance on NBC's Tonight Show after host Leno first aimed some monologue jokes at his age and the purported seven homes he shares with wealthy wife Cindy.

NBC extinguishes its Olympic torch and fires up America's Toughest Jobs

Ed Bark — 2008-08-22T14:29:16-05:00
On this Monday and next, America's Toughest Jobs will lead directly to NBC's one-hour treatments of the Democratic and Republican conventions, whose nominees will be competing for America's mother of all toughest jobs. ...So for the record, recent college graduate Steven Hopper, 22, of Dallas, and plucky 26-year-old schoolteacher Sandy Gabriel of tiny Winnie, TX (pop. 2,914) are both in the hunt for a growing pot of prize money sponsored by an American truck maker.

PBS again goes old-school gavel to gavel while rival broadcast networks let fly with reruns and reality

Ed Bark — 2008-08-20T14:49:22-05:00
"I would say to them, 'In other words, you are telling the American people that that stuff is more important than an every-four-year event at which the next president of the United States is going to be nominated?' ...Lehrer, 74, figures that his approach is still the best way to cleanse the palate, cut through the noise and accentuate the issues of genuine import before its enlightened recipients "go and listen to the shouting" if they choose.

NBC's Olympian ratings feats

Ed Bark — 2008-08-19T17:03:21-05:00
CBS, ABC and Fox averaged a combined 11.8 million viewers for the week, trailing NBC by a 143 percent margin. ...The overall Olympics audience on all of the NBC Universal networks -- including cable's USA, CNBC and Oxygen among others -- has reached 200 million total viewers and been seen in 83 percent of all U.S. television homes.

Beijing's opening ceremonies a ratings smash for NBC

Ed Bark — 2008-08-11T05:11:02-05:00
But due to ratings inflation over the years, Atlanta's 1996 opening ceremony, with a slightly lower 23.6 household rating, qualifies as the all-time total viewer champ with 39.8 million. ...NBC's Saturday prime-time coverage of the first full day of Olympics competition averaged a hefty 24.1 million viewers nationally compared to 19.8 million viewers for Day One of the Athens Games.

Joshua Allen's amazing feet

Ed Bark — 2008-08-08T06:35:18-05:00
Fort Worth's Joshua Allen made it a North Texas trifecta Thursday night, winning the fourth season of Fox's So You Think You Can Dance over fellow hip-hop/popper Twitch Boss. ...Melissa Lawson of Arlington took NBC's Nashville Star crown on Monday; on the same night, Ally Davidson of Dallas won the women's division of the network's American Gladiators.

HBO's Hard Knocks again shows it's the Fort Knox of sports reality series

Ed Bark — 2008-08-07T07:56:01-05:00
Love or hate the Cowboys, you've got to marvel at the artistry at work while wishing it was your team on display for five episodes stretching to a Sept. 3rd finale. ...Oh how owner Jerry Jones loves this. Hard Knocks had the Cowboys in its sights during the 2002 pre-season before the team came up big losers under head coach Dave Campo.

At last it's Brokaw; again it's Lehrer

Ed Bark — 2008-08-06T13:47:21-05:00
The presidential debate commission's executive director, Janet Brown, said at the time that a star anchorman (Brokaw was still in charge of the NBC Nightly News in 2004) might "overshadow" a presidential candidate debate. ...I hope at this stage of my career I have a certain standing as a political reporter who knows what the issues are and tries to generate a dialogue about them."

Lucy posthumously nears the century mark

Ed Bark — 2008-08-06T10:16:16-05:00
Yipes, I was at the ABC press conference for that one, and also shared a dinner table with Ball and husband Gary Morton during a session for the CBS movie Stone Pillow, in which she played a snarly but kindly bag lady named Florabelle. ...

Gotta move on: Nashville Star winner Melissa Lawson not much longer for Texas

Ed Bark — 2008-08-05T14:43:27-05:00
Lawson's debut single, "What If It All Goes Right," already is in rotation on country music stations after she performed it for the first time at the close of Monday's Nashville Star finale. ..."I love the fact that even with the cameras being around, they've been so casual and so accepting of it," Lawson says of her sons, who joined her onstage during Monday night's triumphant moment.

Two from North Texas prevail in back-to-back finales of NBC's American Gladiators and Nashville Star

Ed Bark — 2008-08-05T06:29:14-05:00
The twin wins on the shows' season finales gave the state more bragging rights in the wide world of TV's reality competitions, where the champs also have included Burleson's Kellly Clarkson on Fox's first American Idol and ventriloquist Terry Fator of Mesquite on last summer's America's Got Talent. Lawson, 32, prevailed over another Texas denizen, Gabe Garcia of Lytle, to win a recording contract with Warner Bros. and a performance slot on Aug. 12th at the Summer Olympics in Beijing, China, where she'll sing on NBC's Today show.

VH1's I Want to Work for Diddy raises an overriding question: WHY???

Ed Bark — 2008-08-04T08:50:50-05:00
That's debatable when the opening hour's "art of multi-tasking" challenge includes activities such as taking lunch orders for employees of Diddy's Bad Boy Worldwide Entertainment Group; cleaning his vehicle inside and out; and polishing 20 pairs of his shoes during an around-the-clock gauntlet of menial tasks. ...Anyway, the show's judges -- two of them former personal assistants of Diddy -- eventually team up to banish a gofer after one lucky sap arbitrarily gets dumped before the gofer-ing even begins.

It's "Nazi bitch" flip-off time: McKinney North High's "Fab Five" cheerleader scandal goes under assumed name in cheesy Lifetime movie

Ed Bark — 2008-08-01T12:38:02-05:00
And Lifetime's Fab Five: The Texas Cheerleader Scandal has plenty more where that came from before the music swells in the service of a tacked-on fairytale ending. ...Fab Five, which starts with a sultry cheerleader routine to the tune of American Woman, is a dumb but enticing enterprise that's sure to inspire numerous viewing parties in and around McKinney.

North Texans vie in three reality competition finals

Ed Bark — 2008-08-01T04:21:54-05:00
Monday's two-hour climax of NBC's American Gladiators (7 to 9 p.m. central) finds Ally Davidson of Dallas toughing it out in hopes of becoming the show's top woman challenger. ...And Fort Worth's 19-year-old Joshua Allen, whose specialty is hip-hop/popper, is one of four finalists trying to win Fox's So You Think You Can Dance.

Edd "Kookie" Byrnes turns a crazy cat 75

Ed Bark — 2008-07-30T00:01:11-05:00
Edd "Kookie" Byrnes played a comb-wielding, super-cool car parker on ABC's 77 Sunset Strip, a breezy private eye drama that ran from 1958-'63. ...

AMC's Mad Men still has ad-itude

Ed Bark — 2008-07-25T10:10:01-05:00
It deserves all of them for an evocative, provocative first season that rewound almost a half-century to a circa 1960 Madison Avenue advertising agency populated by thin-tied, vice-laden, tight-suited salesmen and makeup-lathered women who wore the hell out of their form-fitting dresses and rigidly constructed undergarments. ...These first two episodes of Season 2 also will reveal the whereabouts of Peggy's baby and depict a newly minted "Bohemian" lifestyle on the part of ad copywriter Paul Kinsey (Michael Gladis), who now has a beard and a black girlfriend.

Heidi Heidi Heidi ho'

Ed Bark — 2008-07-21T15:19:25-05:00
The former "Hollywood Madam," who served a 37-month sentence for "pandering" until her release in September 1999, is the focus of HBO's notably stuporous Heidi Fleiss: The Would-Be Madam of Crystal. ...Filmmakers Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato, earlier responsible for the likes of Inside Deep Throat and The Eyes of Tammy Faye, follow a none-too-steady Fleiss on her quest to establish a thriving "Stud Farm" on 60 acres of property that she managed to buy dirt cheap.

Leno's lame duck clock officially ticking to finish line (updated)

Ed Bark — 2008-07-21T15:20:08-05:00
But the Peacock has for the first time given official days and dates, with O'Brien to step in as only the fifth host in Tonight Show history on June 1, 2009. ...Poehler's former running mate on SNL, Tina Fey, stepped into prime-time two seasons ago with 30 Rock, which last week received the most single-season Emmy nominations of any comedy series in history.

Elder acting Brolin turns 68 before Barbra Streisand's eyes

Ed Bark — 2008-07-18T09:10:16-05:00
Brolin later stepped into the role of an inept, laughable Ronald Reagan in the controversial 2003 miniseries The Reagans, which was made for CBS and then dumped on sister network Showtime after an outcry on Fox News Channel among others. ...

30 Rock, Mad Men, John Adams set the pace for prime-time Emmys

Ed Bark — 2008-07-17T08:03:34-05:00
30 Rock sent a single season record for comedy nods, Mad Men led the drama series contenders and HBO as usual dominated the movie and miniseries categories in nominations announced Thursday for the 60th annual prime-time Emmy Awards. ...A new Emmy category, "Outstanding Host for a Reality or Reality-Competition Program," is populated by Tom Bergeron (the likely winner for ABC's Dancing with the Stars); Heidi Klum (Bravo's Project Runway); Howie Mandel (NBC's Deal or No Deal); Jeff Probst (CBS' Survivor) and Ryan Seacrest (Fox's American Idol).

Comedy Central fires up a putrid new Gong Show, then saves face with Reality Bites Back

Ed Bark — 2008-07-16T17:26:50-05:00
The thing premieres at 9 p.m. (central), with Attell and judges Steve Schirripa, Triumph the Insult Comic Dog and Brian Posehn (wow, what star power) kicking things off with an aging female impersonator who sings about her "cute, hot pussy" while cradling a short-haired cat on a leash. ...Following in no particular order are a super-fatso with man boobs the size of half-inflated beach balls; a "mystic" who shoves a giant needle through his arm; and a young performer from "the great state of Texas" whose gimmick is kicking himself in the forehead.

Generation Kill (or be killed) --in Iraq

Ed Bark — 2008-07-11T14:52:53-05:00
And just at this point, some might tune out in disgust rather than endure this "gritty, uncompromising account" adapted from Rolling Stone contributor Evan Wright's same-named book and brought to HBO by the team behind The Wire. ...Steven Bochco's relatively recent Over There series, killed by low ratings after a single season on FX, tried hard to get at the undersides of American soldiers in Iraq while also telling some rather lame homefront stories.

CBS' Flashpoint not your typical summertime dim bulb

Ed Bark — 2008-07-11T12:00:26-05:00
Then comes a relatively brief flashback that both shows how the assailant got there and introduces SRC member Ed Lane (Hugh Dillon), who's got a cute son, a cuter wife and apparently some commitment problems. ...For now at least, Lane is a very intriguing head case, Parker's a sturdy team leader, Jules Callaghan (Amy Jo Johnson) knows she's cute and Sam Braddock (David Paetkau) has the assignment of hunky newcomer.

Ted Koppel and Discovery rechristen China "The People's Republic of Capitalism"

Ed Bark — 2008-07-08T15:37:59-05:00
A still intrepid Ted Koppel discovers that it's tough to make a clean break after digging deep for dirt in a Chongqing coal mine. ...For four nights and as many hours, Koppel and his longtime producing partner, Tom Bettag, examine in depth what's become of Chongqing, China, a southwestern industrial megaplex with a population of 13.5 million and growing.

The Peacock plucks another cable property

Ed Bark — 2008-07-07T06:54:28-05:00
The Weather Channel is its latest acquisition, with NBC Universal president and CEO Jeff Zucker delivering another dollop of network-speak in a statement released Sunday. ...Under NBC Universal ownership since 2002, Bravo has been shorn of any art house ambitions and become home to a glut of gut-level reality series ranging from the bad (The It Factor) to the ugly (Being Bobby Brown) to the pretty good Project Runway).

Geraldo Rivera: Born on the Fourth of July and now Medicare-ready

Ed Bark — 2008-07-03T09:46:24-05:00
But Rivera is still right in proclaiming that The Mystery of Al Capone's Vaults was and likely always will be the most-watched syndicated program in TV history. ...

Spike TV's low-overhead Factory punches in and works a funny shift

Ed Bark — 2008-06-27T15:01:29-05:00
From there it's quickly open season on his job, with pals Gary (Mitch Rouse), Gus (Jay Leggett), Smitty (David Pasquesi) and Chase (Michael Coleman) all in the running. ...In the show's July 6th second episode, he manfully carries a good deal of the action after buying a used car for $2 grand from town shyster/sight gag Tovar Plotts (Mark Beltzman).

Ross Perot: 78 RPMs

Ed Bark — 2008-06-27T11:44:56-05:00
Perot's much-parodied brand of belligerent, pie chart politics got him 19 percent of the vote in a three-way match with victor Bill Clinton and President George H.W. ...

Gray area: Not much separates fictional Grey's Anatomy from real-life Hopkins

Ed Bark — 2008-06-25T14:11:21-05:00
Replete with originally composed music and a soap-ish storyline tied to a hunky resident's troubled marriage, Hopkins is an ABC News production aimed at those who supposedly won't sit still for one of those unadorned, old time religion news docs. ...Hopkins, premiering Thursday, presented in high-definition and scheduled to run for six weeks, mixes state-of-the-art medicine with the out-of-hospital angst of cardiothoracic surgeon Brian Bethea.

Survey says: Celebrity Family Feud is kinda cringe-worthy

Ed Bark — 2008-06-23T16:17:03-05:00
NBC has moved Celebrity Family Feud up a week from its original premiere date to take on the premiere of ABC's Wipeout, which leads into the network's unveiling of I Survived A Japanese Game Show. Neither of these summertime dollops was made available for review, but promotional clips from the shows leave no doubt that each gleefully trades in fall-down-go-boom contestant humiliation. Wipeout has them tumbling into putrid-looking mud-water. Japanese Game Show coats them in various other goops.

Fabric softener: Michelle Obama guest hosts The View

Ed Bark — 2008-06-18T17:34:14-05:00
The gabfest's grande dame, Barbara Walters, displayed the front page article -- "After Attacks, Michelle Obama Looks for a New Introduction" -- after the wife of presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama sat down and immediately said with a big smile, "I have to be greeted properly. ...Impeccable in a flattering black-and-white print dress, Michelle even praised First Lady Laura Bush for defending her hotly debated comments at a Wisconsin campaign rally where she said, "For the first time in my adult lifetime, I'm really proud of my country."

West Texas awl bidness gets reality check on truTV's Black Gold

Ed Bark — 2008-06-18T06:44:13-05:00
That's pretty much the basic drill in truTV's Black Gold, where the narration and production values pretty much match the crudeness of the oil and the West Texas roughnecks going after it. ...Their work is both important and expensive in times when gas prices are making many consumers bleed money. Texas Gold is pretty good at detailing the costs -- up to $60,000 for a "high-end" drill bit -- and the risks to oilmen Mike LaMonica and Autry Stephens, who are bankrolling the three rigs during their journeys to the center of the earth.

Katie gets slapstick-y on own youtube channel

Ed Bark — 2008-06-17T12:13:57-05:00
Still, it's a game effort, on Couric's part at least, to "humanize" herself in the eyes of those who see -- or don't see -- that side of her on the Evening News. ...

Showtime's Secret Diary of a Call Girl neither takes off -- or takes off

Ed Bark — 2008-06-16T11:29:20-05:00
Previous Showtime series, including The Tudors, Californication and The L Word, have been explicit in both words and deeds. Call Girl, with its first eight episodes written by women, is more likely to fleetingly show male clients' backsides than star Billie Piper's (Dr. ...We learn that she doesn't drink on the job, uses men's deodorant but not perfume, has a friend, Ben (Iddo Goldberg), who's apparently clueless about her profession and has "never been a very good girlfriend in real life."

Carvey's still got a little somethin' somethin'

Ed Bark — 2008-06-13T14:34:10-05:00
His Saturday, June 14th HBO special (9 p.m. central and repeated throughout June) returns him to the living after a bungled heart surgery and a desire to spend more time with his family kept him mostly out of public view for the past decade. ...Thankfully, Carvey doesn't dust off that relic, but eventually gets around to an array of politician impressions, including both George Bushes, Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Ross Perot, Dick Cheney, Ronald Reagan and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Hillary and sexism. Couric and Matthews. Showing and telling

Ed Bark — 2008-06-13T11:28:46-05:00

A commentary on Fox News Channel's history of not commenting

Ed Bark — 2008-06-12T14:33:25-05:00
FNC averaged 1.703 million viewers in prime-time for that eventful political week, with CNN close behind at 1.418 million and long-downtrodden MSNBC making a little noise with an average of 1.016 million. ...In both instances, FNC's numbers are up from a comparable week one year ago (June 4-10, 2007), when it averaged 1.564 million viewers in prime-time and 897,000 for the total programming day.

Funny business: Bill Engvall cut his comedy teeth in Dallas before taking a bite out of big time

Ed Bark — 2008-06-11T17:50:11-05:00
That's a nice-sized hit by basic cable standards, giving the 50-year-old star another comfortable hammock in addition to his standup comedy act and recurring appearances with Jeff Foxworthy and Larry the Cable Guy on "Blue Collar Comedy" tours. ...Viewing isn't heavy-lifting. The Bill Engvall Show, which co-stars Saturday Night Live alum Tim Meadows as a family friend/hair replacement specialist, equips its episodes with broad comedy strokes and a frequently deployed laugh track.

Fox's Dance finalists include six feet from North Texas

Ed Bark — 2008-06-10T13:12:49-05:00
She also hit hardwoods as a member of the 2006-07 Dallas Mavericks dancers and has a bachelor's degree in business administration/marketing from the University of Texas at Dallas. ...***There's also a Texas dog/human duo in CBS' upcoming Greatest American Dog, scheduled to premiere on Thursday, July 10th.

Swingtown flops around in a sea of sex, drugs and dreary characters

Ed Bark — 2008-06-05T09:42:12-05:00
Its principal provocateurs, Tom and Trina Decker (Grant Show, Lana Parrilla), have an "open" marriage that initially permits hubby to lure an airline stewardess to their lair while flying high on July 2, 1976. ..."Saturday in the park, every day's the Fourth of July" plays on Bruce Miller's convertible radio as he and wife, Susan (Jack Davenport, Molly Parker), leave their old neighborhood behind with a holiday block party in progress.

Chill in the air: Fear Itself registers on 'ooh scary' meter

Ed Bark — 2008-06-04T08:51:53-05:00
These are key indicators that NBC's new Fear Itself, a 13-episode suspense/horror anthology series, is making a pretty good stab at delivering on its title. ...So he sets up shop and soon starts hearing voices from within the spooky dump. Fear Itself doesn't scrimp when it comes to houses housing dark secrets.

What were the odds? TV wild man Chuck Barris turns 79

Ed Bark — 2008-06-03T11:12:13-05:00
Here's a clip from his last episode of The Gong Show, which NBC canceled on July 21, 1978 after recurring battles with the host over the show's less than rarefied content. ...

Warning: this look at Lost's season finale discusses major plot points in case you haven't seen it yet

Ed Bark — 2008-05-30T06:38:05-05:00
A still distraught Jack Shephard (Matthew Fox), whose ridiculous, glued-on jet black beard got a facelift for later scenes, broke into a mortuary to get another look at what turned out to be Locke/Bentham (Terry O'Quinn) reposing in a coffin. ...The show's late season episodes, after settlement of the writers' strike, have given the faithful a supercharged series of head-spinning twists and turns. Lost doesn't dally anymore -- or at least it hasn't of late.

Souped-up Password returns: Uma/Oprah; egg/yolk

Ed Bark — 2008-05-29T12:36:57-05:00
So here comes Million Dollar Password for at least a six-week summer run after premiering on CBS in 1961 with bespectacled Allen Ludden in its driver's seat. Back then, during the show's breathtaking "Lightning Round," commoners and their celebrity partners could amass a swingin' sum of $250 if they connected in one minute's time on all five words given to them.

Back to basics: 2007-08's big winners recall TV's formative years

Ed Bark — 2008-05-28T17:10:45-05:00
Rounding out the top 10 were ABC's Desperate Housewives (17.3 million); Fox's House (16.2 million); CBS' CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (16.1 million) and NBC's Sunday Night Football (15.9 million). ...Then came House; Desperate Housewives; ABC's Grey's Anatomy; Sunday Night Football; Fox's Moment of Truth; Heroes; ABC's Lost and fall's Dancing with the Stars performance shows.

Same old story: McCain's age his overriding issue on late night monologues

Ed Bark — 2008-05-27T08:56:55-05:00
Otherwise you risk letting your opponent -- in this case, Letterman -- define you as "the guy at the hardware story who makes the keys, the guy who can't stop talking about how well his tomatoes are doing, the guy who goes into town for turpentine . . ."

HBO's Recount expertly paints by the numbers

Ed Bark — 2008-05-23T08:44:23-05:00
Recount otherwise has a good number of "name" actors on-screen in this superb re-rendering of how Al Gore eventually "lost" the presidency to George W. ..."The guy's so tight he probably eats his M&Ms with a knife and fork," Whouley deliciously tells Gore's former chief of staff, Ron Klain (Kevin Spacey).

Idol finale ratings inch upward

Ed Bark — 2008-05-22T17:46:34-05:00
American Idol's Season 7 finale Wednesday drew 31.7 million viewers nationally, up a notch from the 30.8 million for 2007's closer. That's a tonic for Fox, which plans to give the show a limited makeover for next season after overall ratings for the still No. 1-rated series dropped about eight percent from last year's.

Idol: Do you smell what the Cook's rockin'?

Ed Bark — 2008-05-22T06:18:15-05:00
"I think I was verging on disrespect for you, and I don't think you deserved that," he said in apologizing to David Cook seconds before host Ryan Seacrest anointed him the seventh winner of American Idol Wednesday night. ...The two-hour extravaganza reunited the show's top 12 finalists and included appearances by ZZ Top (with whom Cook performed "Sharp-Dressed Man"), Donna Summer, Seal, Bryan Adams, Graham Nash, One Republic, Mike Myers (in costume to crassly promote his new film The Love Guru), Jimmy Kimmel, previous Idol champs Carrie Underwood and Jordin Sparks, and most notably, George Michael.

Simon/Davids: Idol rings out the 2007-'08 TV season with its seventh coronation

Ed Bark — 2008-05-21T10:18:33-05:00
Idol's previous six champs have a checkered record, with inaugural winner Kelly Clarkson reigning as the show's biggest star until being eclipsed in the past year by fourth season queen Carrie Underwood. ...Alas, he's become Idol's resident non-person of late, shuffled to the bottom of the deck while that season's fourth-place finisher, Chris Daughtry, lights up the charts.

Fox adds a couple for fall, puts 24 in play with two-hour prequel

Ed Bark — 2008-05-15T11:25:22-05:00
The big twist is 24, which makes an early return on Nov. 23 with a self-standing, two-hour Sunday night movie that Fox says "will set the stage and raise the stakes" for January's launch of the show's "Day 7" on Monday nights. ...Fox's tentative January plans include removing two fall returnees -- Prison Break, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles -- and replacing them on Monday nights with 24 and the new Dollhouse from Buffy, the Vampire Slayer maestro Joss Whedon.

Laughter still an option on CBS

Ed Bark — 2008-05-14T09:08:36-05:00
The Mentalist (drama) -- Simon Baker, featured in two previous CBS dramas (The Guardian, Smith), returns to the fold as detective Patrick Jane, who solves crimes by using his "razor sharp skills of observation." ...Eleventh Hour (drama) -- Producer Jerry Bruckheimer, whose string of CBS hits includes Without A Trace and all three CSI series, strikes again with the saga of a "brilliant biophysicist and special science advisor" who investigates various crises and oddities.

CW adds three new fall series while outsourcing Sunday

Ed Bark — 2008-05-13T18:11:22-05:00
Also added is Surviving the Filthy Rich, starring JoAnna Garcia (Reba) as a Yale-educated journalism grad who finds herself "slaving away at a tabloid rag" until getting fired. ...Incredibly, One Tree Hill is still part of the schedule while the network's remaining comedies, headed by Everybody Hates Chris, get shuffled from Mondays to Fridays.

ABC's "new" fall season -- more or less

Ed Bark — 2008-05-13T09:04:43-05:00
They'll have a chance to win an array of prizes packed into a semi-truck, but first must answer trivia questions "based directly on their lives, each other and articles found in and around their home." ...ABC's cancelation corral houses the aforementioned Men In Trees, plus Women's Murder Club (somewhat surprisingly), Miss Guided, Big Shots, Cavemen, Carpoolers, Notes from the Underbelly, October Road, Cashmere Mafia and the big-money game show Duel.

Jimmy gets the job

Ed Bark — 2008-05-12T11:48:06-05:00
He's the hand-picked choice of SNL creator Lorne Michaels, who also tabbed a then virtually unknown O'Brien to replace David Letterman when he jumped to CBS in 1993. ...That was an impressive feat, considering that Letterman's show made a separate agreement that allowed him to book big name guests while Leno persevered without his writers and with little star power.

Idol: Evicted Jason Castro seems glad all over

Ed Bark — 2008-05-08T06:58:25-05:00
"Someone told me that I shot the tambourine man yesterday," he told host Ryan Seacrest Wednesday, referring to the lyrics he forgot before judge Simon Cowell began lowering the guillotine by telling him, "Jason, I'd pack your suitcase." ...Castro had greased his skids with recent comments in Entertainment Weekly, where he admitted to struggling with Neil Diamond's songs the previous week and not really caring all that much how his performance fared.

Babs and Oprah: two queen bees spoonin' the honey

Ed Bark — 2008-05-07T09:41:29-05:00
Copies of Walters' Audition assuredly are already flying off bookstore shelves, in no small part because the most potent bookseller in the land -- Oprah Winfrey -- ordered her viewers at show's end to "Go get it." ...Yes, they definitely got the job done during a genuinely intriguing hour in which Walters decorously dished about Star Jones, Rosie O'Donnell, Donald Trump, her mentally challenged sister, Jackie and most important of all, her two-year affair in the mid-1970s with then U.S.

That's my boy: Son's troubled presidency burnishes his father's

Ed Bark — 2008-05-05T16:48:25-05:00
It is in large part rehabilitative, though, with critics far outnumbered by admirers, including Barbara Bush, their son, Jeb, and their only daughter, Doro Bush Koch in new interviews for this film. ...The Presidents , presented under the long-running American Experience series umbrella, previously has looked in-depth at the formative years and administrations of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Harry S Truman, Lyndon Baines Johnson, Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan.

Idol: Burbling Brooke's out, Rockwall's Castro in Final Four

Ed Bark — 2008-05-01T03:38:57-05:00
"Just for the record, the rumors are not true (about Abdul)," said host Ryan Seacrest, apparently referring to a report that she may have been a bit tipsier than usual. ...Castro and Mercado join David Archuleta and David Cook in the show's home stretch competition to be Idol's seventh big winner.

New series review: Farmer Wants a Wife (The CW)

Ed Bark — 2008-04-30T10:45:11-05:00
Farmer Matt has the charisma of skim milk, whether on a backyard "date" with lucky Christa ("I've had an absolute pleasure with you tonight," he tells her) or detailing the rules of a chicken-chasing competition that ends in a "coop off" between two women battling for opening night immunity. ...Farmer Wants a Wife, yet another U.S. import adapted from a "smash hit" in Europe, will be plowing little CW's north 40 into June if all goes as planned.

Idol: No thanks for the Memory, but Rockwall's Castro climbs another rung

Ed Bark — 2008-04-23T21:28:41-05:00
Carly Smithson, who had washed out with a previous professional recording contract, graciously left Idol's national stage after being paired with Bottom Two frequenter Syesha Mercado. ..."It came over as a young guy being forced by your mum and dad to sing a song at a wedding that you didn't want to sing," said Cowell.

"In honor of the WWE, you can call me 'Hillrod.' "

Ed Bark — 2008-04-22T08:30:03-05:00
That's because the three senators battling to succeed him were all appearing on WWE's Monday Night Raw, otherwise populated by the likes of Umaga the Samoan Bulldozer, Hardcore Holly, Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Super Crazy and The Undertaker. ...Over on USA network's Raw, also owned by NBC Universal, the three presidential candidates stooped to conquer another potential voting block -- the mostly young males who avidly watch the show's ring fakery, comedy, babe-a-licious "divas" and big-time bloodletting during pay-per-view events.

Let's play two

Ed Bark — 2008-04-21T07:34:28-05:00
It takes the field on Monday at 8 p.m. on KERA-TV (Channel 13) as part of a doubleheader that also includes Roberto Clemente at 9 p.m. under the umbrella of PBS' long-playing American Experience series. ...It's good to have all of this history in a tidy, one-hour documentary that might be just enough to spur a few trips to the Cats' home field, rebuilt on the same hallowed grounds as the old one.

ABC debate brings Dems into sharper focus on both issues and gaffes

Ed Bark — 2008-04-17T09:33:13-05:00
Furthermore, during the debate's first 52 minutes, they "dwelled entirely on specious and gossipy trivia that already has been hashed and rehashed, in the hope of getting the candidates to claw at one another over disputes that are no longer news." ...That's a far better course than rolling over and playing dead with a question on the order of, "Senators, for those who haven't heard it yet, could you please detail at any length you please your proposals to achieve national health care for all Americans?"

Idol: Kristy Lee Cook(ed); Castro now in Final 6

Ed Bark — 2008-04-17T07:41:41-05:00
Cook, 24, said goodbye by sitting next to judge Simon Cowell, her biggest tormenter, and singing, "Those days of love all gone, our time is through" from Mariah Carey's "Forever." ...She might barely make it, but look for Idol's first all-male Final 3 of Archuleta, Castro and David Cook.

Ha! The pathetic spectacle of Chris Matthews

Ed Bark — 2008-04-14T07:23:49-05:00

Tell a friend: VH1's telenovela competition is juice-a-licious

Ed Bark — 2008-04-11T15:52:02-05:00
Which means that it doesn't -- not even for a minute -- as 12 flesh-baring, egocentric "hot mamis" and "hot papis" convene at the show's "Casa De Locos" in hopes of mastering the "7 Deadly Sins of Telenovelas" in pursuit of mucho dinero ($100 grand) and a "breakout role" on one of Telemundo's upcoming sudsers. ...The others then decide who should oppose that person in a climactic "Duel" presided over by a champagne-swigging Alonso, co-host Carlos Ponce and, on the first episode, a stuntman.

Johns out while Jason's stock rises

Ed Bark — 2008-04-10T20:40:42-05:00
But Castro's rendition of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," in which he used a dinky, newly purchased ukulele, won his strongest comments yet from the only judge who really matters. ...Thursday's vote-off, delayed a night by Wednesday's Idol Gives Back special, also made room for several previously announced celebrities who instead were missing in action.

30 Rock returns to roll the dicey

Ed Bark — 2008-04-10T14:08:50-05:00
Donaghy wants her to write for a spinoff starring DeBORah, but Lemon views MILF Island as "kind of lowest common denominator," given that one of the competitions has the women eating bugs to win tampons. ...This isn't one of 30 Rock's funnier episodes, but it's hard to envision being much more daring on an advertiser-supported broadcast network during prime-time's earliest hour.

DVD review: John, Paul, Tom & Ringo (Shout! Factory)

Ed Bark — 2008-04-08T12:19:21-05:00
Factory's latest vintage DVD release, John, Paul, Tom & Ringo, is mainly worth having for Snyder's now historic one-on-one with Lennon, who later was joined by his immigration attorney, Leon Wildes. ...The host also quizzes Lennon about rock groupies, his current musical tastes, the heavily-publicized "bed-in" with wife Yoko Ono ("We were just promoting peace like you promote any product") and life in New York City as one of the most famous and deified celebrities in the land.

Seeing stars: Mega-watt Idol Gives Back ranks as season's biggest celebrity-fest

Ed Bark — 2008-04-08T11:16:03-05:00
Taped Sunday at Hollywood's Kodak Theatre, Fox's second Idol-infused charity special shapes up to be more star-studded than the Oscars, the Emmys or -- dare it be said -- Nickelodeon's Kids' Choice awards. ...This year they're shooting for $100 million on behalf of The Children's Defense Fund; The Children's Health Fund; The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria; Make It Right; Malaria No More; and Save the Children's U.S.

Last blasts for 'Frakkies'

Ed Bark — 2008-04-04T14:44:17-05:00
It returns for its fourth and final season Friday (9 p.m. central), with sinister Cylons still standing in the way of a return home for Admiral William Adama (Edward James Olmos), President Laura Roslin (Mary McDonnell) and assorted underlings aboard the good ship Galactica. ...Suffice it to say -- or say it to suffice -- there's a pretty showy space battle between the good guys and the Cylons, who then suddenly retreat to the puzzlement of Adama.

Idol: Eight is enough, and Jason Castro is one of 'em

Ed Bark — 2008-04-02T23:42:52-05:00
Another lashing from judge Simon Cowell didn't deter Rockwall's Jason Castro from making American Idol's Elite Eight Wednesday. The 21-year-old also dodged a second consecutive trip to the Fox show's so-called silver "Stools of Shame, reserved weekly for the Bottom Three vote-getters.

New series review: Bingo America (GSN)

Ed Bark — 2008-03-28T14:48:19-05:00
In an opening episode sent for review, though, he doesn't flex any of the quick wit he's shown as both a talk show guest and on Bill Maher's now defunct Politically Incorrect. ...Most quizzes in recent years have been hosted by a comedian -- Drew Carey, Bob Saget, Howie Mandel, Jeff Foxworthy, Wayne Brady, Dennis Miller, Jimmy Kimmel, etc. -- or a flamboyant Brit (Ed Sanders emceed ABC's bingo show).

New series review: Tracey Ullman's State of the Union (Showtime)

Ed Bark — 2008-03-28T12:38:05-05:00
Ullman also portrays an undocumented Bangladesh woman working three menial jobs in Manhattan; a dutiful Nebraska housewife with "restless leg syndrome"; a Latina morning anchor with an exaggerated way of introducing herself; and a Middle Eastern pharmacist who's being robbed at her workplace. ...And she's still twice as good and daring at it. State of the Union further embosses Ullman as a true original in what's mostly been a man's world.

All lathered up anew: Showtime's The Tudors still cleans up nicely as a hot-blooded, post-medieval soap

Ed Bark — 2008-03-27T14:04:50-05:00
Starring: Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Natalie Dormer, Maria Doyle Kennedy, Jeremy Northam, Peter O'Toole, Nick Dunning, James Frain, Henry Cavill, David Alpay, Hans Matheson ...Maria Doyle Kennedy again is superb as the exiled Queen Katherine while Natalie Dormer comes to full flower in the role of throne-thirsty Anne Boleyn.

Idol: Nine remain after Chikezie sings his last

Ed Bark — 2008-03-27T01:21:27-05:00
Rockwall's sleepy-time Jason Castro survived another beating from the judges, but first had to sweat it out in American Idol's Bottom Three during Wednesday's latest vote-off. ...Chikezie's previous night's rendition of Luther Vandross' "If Only For One Night" had been deemed "very cheesy" and unoriginal by judge Simon Cowell.

South Park from ground zero to now

Ed Bark — 2008-03-25T12:29:04-05:00
Click on the video below and thrill to the first documented killings of Kenny -- at least far as I can tell -- on the first episode of the first season of Comedy Central's South Park. ...

Idol: Rockwall kid in Top 10 while resident rocker goes home

Ed Bark — 2008-03-19T22:06:18-05:00
The former failed MCA Records artist, who used to be Carly Hennessy, remains on her second voyage of "discovery" after her previous label reportedly spent $2.2 million trying to make her a star. ...Tuesday's latest performance show drew 27.3 million viewers in the national Nielsens, crushing opposition in its second hour from ABC's Dancing with the Stars.

New series review: I Know My Kid's A Star (VH1)

Ed Bark — 2008-03-19T14:13:46-05:00
Ridiculous when it's not being reprehensible, VH1's eight-episode I Know My Kid's A Star reeks of exploitation, Danny Bonaduce, an execrable mom named Rocky and a kid spewing vomit in the early going. ...They're one of 10 parent-child teams vying for reality show chump change of $50 grand plus the right to be represented for a year by "a real bitch on wheels" named Marki Costello.

The long and winding 12 Miles of Bad Road

Ed Bark — 2008-03-18T14:47:50-05:00
It's no particular surprise to Harry Thomason and Linda Bloodworth that HBO leaked word Monday night of its decision not to air their broad but often very funny series about a Dallas realtor and her dysfunctional brood. ..."12 Miles represents the seemingly broad, but heavily researched and authentic world of Dallas billionaires, who think nothing of paying a million dollars for a Hannah Montana appearance at a child's birthday party, dispatching a private jet to England to deliver dry rub barbecue to Prince Charles or giving a trip to the moon as a wedding present.

New series review: Miss Guided (ABC)

Ed Bark — 2008-03-17T14:31:58-05:00
Latently attractive without her industrial strength braces, Becky's otherwise an unsympathetic and utterly incompetent advice-giver who fits right in with the rest of the school's idiot faculty. ...Miss Guided is without a laugh track -- the show's only good call -- and constantly has its aimless characters talking to the camera rather than amongst themselves.

HBO's Adams family is a revolutionary concept

Ed Bark — 2008-03-14T11:05:32-05:00
Now HBO is weighing in with a sumptuously produced, seven-part John Adams miniseries -- "He United the States" -- from the high-wattage team of Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman (HBO's exemplary Band of Brothers). Its first two chapters, premiering Sunday, March 16th and running from 7 to 9:45 p.m. (central), accentuate the title character's unbending will and enduring love of his devoted, yet strong-willed wife.

New series review: The Return of Jezebel James (Fox)

Ed Bark — 2008-03-13T11:26:04-05:00
Lead character Sarah Tompkins (Parker Posey) is a gratingly discombobulated children's book editor who's long been estranged from rebellious sibling Coco (Lauren Ambrose from Six Feet Under). ..."I want it in writing that if this baby comes out buck-toothed with crossed eyes, she's not gonna stick me with it," Coco rages.

New series review: Canterbury's Law (Fox)

Ed Bark — 2008-03-07T09:26:13-06:00
The mysterious disappearance of their son has rendered Canterbury both guilt-ridden and prone to lashing out at both her staff and the hapless D.A., who in turn brands his adversary a "bottom-feeding bitch." ...An upcoming episode -- but not the second one -- finds Canterbury defending a throughly spoiled gossip girl whom many might want to see thrown in jail with a sadistic pack of she-wolves.

Lone Star? A single Texan remains in Idol's Final 12

Ed Bark — 2008-03-06T20:41:10-06:00
A lone Texan still stands among American Idol's Final 12 after Thursday's herd-trimming left Houston's Kady Malloy on the cutting room floor. Jason Castro, 20, of Rockwall (but born in Dallas, raised in Rowlett) rode Tuesday night's rave reviews to the hit Fox show's promised land.

New series review: High School reunion (TV Land)

Ed Bark — 2008-03-05T12:31:30-06:00
Just trying to sink to the level of TV Land's High School Reunion, which turns out to be not all that bad a level in which to sink. ... Pearce High School's Class of 1987, here's a reality series that knows how to squeeze the juice, strum the heartstrings and tease with the laughably somber intensity of a defrocked National Geographic Channel spokesman.

New series review: New Amsterdam (Fox)

Ed Bark — 2008-03-03T15:16:22-06:00
Four hundred is the new thirtysomething on Fox's New Amsterdam, whose ageless hero has got a lot more living to do unless he finds true love. ...Thirty-five years later, as a Dutch soldier, he had a pointed experience with a sword while trying to save the life of a young Native American woman during an attack on her tribe.

New series review: Oprah's Big Give (ABC)

Ed Bark — 2008-02-29T14:35:50-06:00
Oprah's Big Give, sandwiched between the like-minded Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and something called Here Come the Newlyweds, spreads its do-goodism thicker than Britney Spears' skull. ...It's nice when Joe and Josette Blow -- in this case paraplegic Carlana and university researcher "Sheg" -- can call on Jamie Foxx to drop $50 grand toward payment of an idealistic med student's school loans.

News series review: Unhitched (Fox)

Ed Bark — 2008-02-29T13:14:44-06:00
It's not exactly Frasier when your comedy opens with a newly divorced guy in his 30s encountering a date who has a pet monkey and wants him to go ape with her -- literally. ...His best pals, forming something of a Seinfeld-esque quartet, are ill-kempt Tommy (Johnny Sneed), refined Kate (Rashida Jones) and the still socially awkward Dr.

One Tex out, two graduate to Idol's sweet 16

Ed Bark — 2008-02-28T20:22:29-06:00
Dubbed dull and ordinary for two weeks running by arbiter Simon Cowell, wobbly American Idol hopeful Jason Yeager of Grand Prairie took a knockout punch on Thursday's second vote-off show. ...Jason Castro, 20, of Rockwall and Houston's Kady Malloy, 18, survived to be among Idol's final 16, although the latter earlier was left dangling next to Whitaker as one of the show's lower vote-getters.

New series review: quarterlife (NBC)

Ed Bark — 2008-02-26T16:04:44-06:00
The quarterlife orbit also includes young filmmakers Danny and Jed (David Walton, Scott Michael Foster), bust-thrusting bartender/actress Lisa (Maite Schwartz), lovelorn Debra (Michelle Lombardo) and so-called "geek extraordinaire Danny (Kevin Christy), who easily is the least fleshed-out in Tuesday's opener. ...quarterlife excels because it speaks the language, hits the nerve spots and gets at the essence of what it's like to love/like someone who feels the same way not about you, but your closest friend.

ABC's Raisin In the Sun fullfills any and all grape expectations

Ed Bark — 2008-02-25T13:31:00-06:00
This is a business, after all, and the big broadcasters seldom are in any mood to "give back" anymore with productions that simply aspire to be great without any anticipated big payoff at the Nielsen box office. ...Rashad, so familiar to audiences as Clair Huxtable from The Cosby Show, is especially unforgettable as a nurturing but no-nonsense matriarch whose late husband's life insurance policy will be netting the family a $10,000 windfall.

Network News & Reviews

<i>Motive</i> gives ABC a second self-contained cop drama amid all those serials

Fox's new and well-hidden <i>The Goodwin Games</i>: not a bad little comedy, but who knew?

Abnormal's increasingly the new normal for CW's fall season

CBS makes a Robin's nest as part of rise in new fall comedies

ABC makes <i>Dancing</i> a one-step while otherwise crowding its fall schedule with eight new series

Fox's fall lineup announcements overshadowed by Jack Bauer's return next summer

NBC rebuilds Thursdays, accentuates star power in new fall schedule

Lame duck Leno just keeps winning. How do we know? His network tells us so

HBO's <i>Family Tree</i>: a sturdy oak of a comedy

The address is CBS -- even for prime-time's most-courted viewers

IFC's <i>Maron</i>: morose without remorse -- and quite funny, too

Lifetime's <i>Dear Mom, Love Cher</i> sings an old sweet song -- with Georgia on its mind

<i>Dallas</i> rides again, with TNT announcing a Season 3 for Larry Hagman-less Ewings

ABC's <i>Family Tools</i> another hammer-headed sitcom

Jaggedly uneven but not entirely unwatchable: a review of Netflix's <i>Hemlock Grove</i> based on seeing all 13 episodes

Great expectations fulfilled in Sundance Channel's <i>Rectify</i>

R.I.P. Pat Summerall: May 10, 1930 to April 16, 2013

HBO's <i>Mary and Martha</i> grips without being graphic

Five minutes with Robert Redford -- and the clock is ticking

A comic in full prime: HBO's <i>Louis C.K.: Oh My God</i>

Syfy's <i>Defiance</i> a visual plus but often an audio minus

"Leo" bares his chest, struts his 15th century stuff in Starz's <i>Da Vinci's Demons</i>

R.I.P. Annette Funicello: Oct. 22, 1942 to April 8, 2013

<i>Mad Men</i>'s anxiety-laden Season 6

<i>Rogue</i> lands with a thud as DirecTV's first original scripted series

Springtime for Leno: next year's will be his last as host of <i>Tonight Show</i>

NBC's <i>Hannibal</i> not a happy meal -- or a particularly fulfilling one

ABC longs for a hit sitcom with one of the longest titles ever -- <i>How to Live With Your Parents (For the Rest of Your Life)</i>

<i>Mr. Selfridge</i> gives PBS another grand entertainment worthy of the <i>Masterpiece Classic</i> banner

FX going to double X

<i>Game of Thrones</i> re-rules HBO, slowly at first

Philip Roth's life is something of an open book in new <i>American Masters</i> film

True story: Erik Estrada stars in Syfy channel's <i>Chupacabra vs The Alamo</i>

NBC's never-ending story: Leno on the ropes again

Mirren/Pacino pairing keeps HBO's <i>Phil Spector</i> in tune

A&E's <i>Bates Motel</i> driven by Farmiga's driven mother

A limp look at a tough subject in Showtime's <i>The World According to Dick Cheney</i>

Let's have a nice hand for Ovation's <i>Song By Song: Dolly Parton</i>

All the world's a stage, but Texas upstages the field on NBC's <i>Ready For Love</i>

History (Channel) further follows the scripts by filling Sundays with <i>Vikings</i> and <i>The Bible</i>

ABC's <i>Red Widow</i>: mob ties served with Russian dressing

HBO's <i>Parade's End</i> a downer for <i>Downton Abbey</i> devotees

Oscar host MacFarlane goes too far -- and also takes too long to do so

CBS' <i>Golden Boy</i> nicely primes the network's crime pump

CW's <i>Cult</i> aggressively defies convention -- and explanation

National Geo's <i>Killing Lincoln</i> lacks a firm pulse

Yep, it's her again. Beyonce tells her story her way in HBO's <i>Life Is But A Dream</i>

ABC's <i>Zero Hour</i> adds up to barely that

Having a little funster with <i>I'm Dickens . . . He's Fenster</i>

The Super Bowl is still ratings rocket fuel for any network that has it (Ask CBS)

A look at Netflix's revolutionary <i>House of Cards</i> -- based on watching all 13 Season 1 episodes

New Jennifer Love Hewitt video again sells sex -- and <i>The Client List</i>

Super Bowl XLVII ranks III on all-time list while post-game <i>Elementary</i> falls into late-starting ratings ditch

TNT's <i>Monday Mornings</i> resuscitates the hospital series genre

NBC's <i>Do No Harm</i> does no harm if you're first medicated into unconsciousness

<i>The Americans</i> takes FX to the head of prime-time's class

Hagman still a lifesaver in early Season 2 episodes of TNT's <i>Dallas</i>

<i>Spartacus: War of the Damned</i> ready for its last stabs at gory glory

<i>Rise of the Drones</i> a sky-high cautionary tale from <i>Nova</i>

Ex-<i>Lost</i> star Dominic Monaghan blisses out in BBC America's <i>Wild Things</i>

<i>Ripper Street</i> another reason to give BBC America a test drive

Lance & Oprah take the silver in all-time OWN ratings

Fox's <i>The Following</i> hopes to stake its bloody claim

Nerdy but nice: TBS offers up <i>King of the Nerds</i> competition

FX's <i>Legit</i> is crudely mined comedy gold

Comedy Central's <i>Kroll Show</i> no droll show

CW's <i>The Carrie Diaries</i> takes a <i>Sex and the City</i> time trip

TLC hopes to Charlie Hustle viewers with <i>Pete Rose: Hits & Mrs</i>

HBO's <i>Girls</i> still a gift in plain wrapping

<i>Banshee</i> increases Cinemax's original drama series output, but does little else

Celebrities reading mean tweets on Kimmel: hoo hah!!!

<i>Cougar Town</i> joins Conan in the TBS shuffle

FX's <i>Justified</i> remains on target as Season 4 marks its territory

NBC's new <i>Deception</i> not a notable exception

<i>Downton Abbey</i> gives PBS a third big rush

Big Al and his Al Jazeera America deal

The self-inflicted debasing of Anderson Cooper (and his credibility)

Uncle Barky's Countdown to Christmas: Finale

Crix top picks on HitFix