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

 
 
2010
Feb
18
 
 
Now's the time when viewers start wondering if their favorite network shows are going to get renewed. Turns out The Hollywood Reporter isn't just wondering, they're laying odds...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2010
Feb
15
 
 
Today's culture is so celeb-saturated that we know everything about everybody famous, and start to wish we didn't. Yet "regular" people have almost ceased to exist. Every ordinary American now seems to be appearing on a "reality" show or rehearsing for one. That's why I'm so addicted to Mill Creek's four new budget DVD sets of vintage game shows...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2010
Feb
15
 
 
Bianculli here: I'm keeping this column up for another day to promote both curling -- there are more games today (Wednesday), starting at noon ET on USA Network -- and our newest contributor. She's Cindy Ronzoni, who has decades of experience as a high-profile TV publicist and analyst - and, more to the point for today's column, also has actual, and enviable, experience at my favorite Olympic sport: curling...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2010
Feb
15
 
 
The opening weekend of NBC's coverage of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games from Vancouver started tragically, ended thrillingly, and featured a lot of emotional and impressive moments in between. All in all, it was a strong start, establishing, once again, that the best - and worst - Olympic moments follow no set script...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2010
Feb
10
 
 
Why isn't Batman out on DVD? Or Max Headroom? Or The Wonder Years? Or China Beach? Our good friends at TV Shows on DVD have answers to many questions like these in a handy What's the Hold-Up?...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2010
Feb
9
 
 
Both CBS and the Nielsen Company give credit to Sunday's CBS telecast of Super Bowl XLIV as the all-time most popular TV event, slightly beating the finale of the same network's "M*A*S*H", a record that has stood for 27 years. But if you look at the statistics from a slightly different angle, that record STILL stands...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2010
Feb
8
 
 
Wow. Seems that Who-Dat/resurrection-of-New Orleans storyline attracted the masses. And having Peyton Manning in the mix didn't hurt. Sunday night's Super Bowl XLIV (that's 44 in non-pretentious language) scored more than 106 million viewers, Nielsen says, nudging out the 1983 finale of M*A*S*H as American TV's most-watched show ever...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2010
Feb
8
 
 
Live TV creates its own unique brand of electricity. We watch Saturday Night Live and American Idol as they happen -- and we see whatever happens. There's no second take, no safety net. We're sharing the same time and (virtual) space as the people staging the show. And that's a direct connection that taped/filmed shows simply can't match...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2010
Feb
7
 
 
After Super Bowl LXIV ends, and after the post-game interviews and final analysis, CBS will attempt to retain as many members as possible of that huge TV audience, and introduce them to a new reality series: "Undercover Boss", a program in which the heads of corporation pretend to be new trainees, with cameras along to capture both their performances and their treatment. As post-Super Bowl programs go, it's a pretty good fit...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2010
Feb
5
 
 
TV critics learn pretty quickly how to judge the importance of a show to its network. Sometimes publicists mail us a plain brown envelope with a screener disc in it. Sometimes they send out a swank press kit with info printed on custom show letterhead, in...And then there's the press kit for Discovery's upcoming Life nature miniseries...