DAVID BIANCULLI

Founder / Editor

ERIC GOULD

Associate Editor

LINDA DONOVAN

Assistant Editor

Contributors

ALEX STRACHAN

MIKE HUGHES

KIM AKASS

MONIQUE NAZARETH

ROGER CATLIN

GARY EDGERTON

TOM BRINKMOELLER

GERALD JORDAN

NOEL HOLSTON

 
 
2009
May
28
 
 
Looking ahead to the weekend, and back to what may be the season's most obscure in-joke TV Extra: Between Jay Leno leaving "The Tonight Show," "Pushing Daisies" returning to ABC and Alan Alda making a "M*A*S*H" joke on 30 Rock, there's a lot to cover. So let's get right to it...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2009
May
27
 
 
Conan O'Brien participated in a conference call with TV reporters, critics and bloggers yesterday, and one thing stood out above all else. He described talking to designers about the new "Tonight Show" set he envisioned when he takes over as host next week, and he distilled his concept down to one word: "Elegant." That, right there, says NBC's "Tonight Show" is in good hands...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2009
May
26
 
 
[Bianculli here: Memorial Day weekend is over, and so is Tom Brinkmoeller's TV WORTH WATCHING contest. He'll take over from here, to explain and award the winner...]
 
 
 
  
 
 
2009
May
22
 
 
[Bianculli here: Contributing writer Tom Brinkmoeller does two things in his latest column. One, he starts out by referring to my Extras, the in-jokes I collect that are hidden in TV shows -- which I mention only because, next week, I'm devoting a column to my favorite Extra in years (one which, so far, seems to have gone unnoticed).]
 
 
 
  
 
 
2009
May
19
 
 
More people will be watching tonight's performance final of "American Idol" than almost any TV offering shown this year. Here's hoping they keep their TV sets tuned to Fox immediately afterward, because tonight's advance taste of "Glee," one of its new fall series, isn't just a sneak peek. It's a sneak peak...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2009
May
18
 
 
The broadcast networks unveil their 2009-10 TV schedules officially this week, but word already is leaking out about some of the survivors and casualties. The most pleasant surprise of all: Fox has renewed Joss Whedon's "Dollhouse" for a second season...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2009
May
14
 
 
I had the same reaction last year. The second ABC's "Lost" ended, with a jaw-dropping cliffhanger, I did the math, perused the TV horizon, and sighed a sigh of mournful resignation. Already, I'm lost without "Lost"...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2009
May
13
 
 
Several shows are "on the bubble" this season, still unsure of their fates as the broadcast networks finalize their fall schedules for next week's upfront presentations to advertisers. All they can do is sit and wait -- and present the best season finales possible, in hopes of earning a reprieve by inspiring confidence that the best may be yet to come...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2009
May
12
 
 
Okay, I'm proud of myself on this one. Before throwing it open to guesses from readers, I estimated the opening-weekend box office for the new Star Trek movie at $80 million. The final tally? $79.2 million. But close, under my own rules, means guessing closest without going over. That means one of you won instead...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2009
May
11
 
 
I've already written one column today about why I thought Annie Duke, rather than Joan Rivers, should have won the just-concluded edition of NBC's "Celebrity Apprentice." But now, the day after that finale, comes some news about Rivers and her next TV project, the timing of which smells awfully fishy...